I just finished reading Bruce Springsteen's autobiography, Born to Run. I spend a lot of time in my vehicle and I listen to a lot of books on the Audible app. What was cool about this book is that Bruce narrates it...nice!
He shared some nuggets of wisdom that stop and made me think. He describes himself as having "extravagant ambition". Imagine having ambition that is extravagant. It is out of bounds, over the top, wildly impractical ambition. Now imagine if we could help people peek into their own souls to tap into their own extravagant ambition. Now that would be fun! Another nugget that has made me ponder some things is: "Sometimes it ain't what your doing, but what happens while your doing it, that matters". At work I worry that I get caught up in creating or developing programs for kids and school districts and forget to look for "what is happening while we are doing it".
At the most basic level, learning is built on a relationship created between people. We can differentiate instruction, form cooperative learning groups, and rearrange the classroom, or any of a number of other things to try to "engage" students...and these are all good things. However, the magic is not in the dry, technocratic strategies used by teachers. The magic is in the relationship that is built between people that allows learning to take place. A learning relationship occurs naturally in the "real world" and we don't even think about it. We should approach our relationships with kids in the same manner and not overthink it. Build the relationship!
Building relationships can be empowering. It helps one to recognize what his or her potential is, where interests are, and what can excite him or her - that is, if we build the relationship with a functional, positive other. Focusing on functional relationship building may be a real key in all of us in reaching that extravagant ambition that Bruce has cited. I agree, let's build those relationships!
ReplyDeleteI have often said that all schools offer roughly the same things (ex. biology, busing and band). What will separate us from others are the relationships we form. I also love Susan Scott's book Fierce Conversations and this quote -
ReplyDelete“Our work, our relationships, and our lives succeed or fail one conversation at a time. While no single conversation is guaranteed to transform a company, a relationship, or a life, any single conversation can. Speak and listen as if this is the most important conversation you will ever have with this person. It could be. Participate as if it matters. It does.”
― Susan Scott, Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life One Conversation at a Time
Each conversation matters in the classroom! I agree that we should not overthink it and make it any more complicated than it need be. Treat the next conversation as gold.
Agreed - there is something magical that happens when positive relationship enhances learning, or is it, when enhanced learning experiences strengthens relationships?
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