Wonderings

What should schools that are preparing students for the future look like?

If we really valued creativity and creation - what would our assessments look like?

What if all teachers taught writing?

One of the entries for a Writer's Notebook is to capture "wonders."  I say capture, but I really should say "encourage."  We don't often find examples where we encourage students to ponder and question lately.  The wonderings at the top of the page are mine - and have been in my own writer's notebook for just about a year.  I've probably thought about them for a bit longer than that - but a year ago, I put them in a notebook.  They now get transferred to each new notebook as they are wonderings that I continually refine and have lots and lots to write about.

To teach wonderings this week - I started with this fantastic poem from Georgia Heard:

Straight Line

by Georgia Heard

All the kindergarteners
walk to recess and back
in a perfectly straight line
no words between them.
They must stifle their small voices,
their laughter, they must
stop the little skip in their walk,
they must not dance or hop
or run or exclaim.
They must line up
at the water fountain
straight, and in perfect form,
like the brick wall behind them.
One of their own given the job
of informer – guard of quiet,
soldier of stillness.
If they talk
or make a sound
they will lose their stars. (read the rest of the poem here)


I then showed the teachers this TED Talk video by Sir Ken Robinson:




Finally, we wrote our wonderings about the future of education and the future of our students.

I invite you to follow our path and share your wonderings in the comments below.