The Power Within

To what extent do you claim the power you have to set the tone of your day? Or, do you live with a sense of 'things are as they are'?

With the awakening of Spring I find myself unfurling, stretching, taking up space in my own life again... I find myself reclaiming a lightness and fullness that had (unfortunately) left aside for a while, thinking that I needed to 'be serious' or 'take myself seriously' or (worst of all) 'fit in' with the 'adult' systems of the world. It hurt me to do so. It hurt my Heart, because whilst attempting to be affective in amongst the supposed 'realities' of our contemporary world, I set aside mySelf. To quote Goggins (who has his moments), that's a "damn shame".

Again, however, with the dawning of Spring, I feel myself reemerging again, not because the weather this week is beyond spectacular (right??!)... but because I'm choosing it, intentionally, repeatedly. I'm reclaiming mastery over the feelings that I live my day with.

It got me thinking again about extent to which we accept that things 'are as they are', and the ways each of us will assume this about certain aspects of our lives, and not others. Interestingly, I find it only happens when we don't 'allocate our attention' (Grotzer, 2012) to the underlying processes and factors that are shaping what 'is'. Your face, for example, isn't your face(!!). It's a combination of the strength you've developed and sustained in particular facial muscles, or not... and gravity. Think about it. Think about how you look when you hang upside down. If it were your face, true and enduring, it'd be the same. Knowing this, we change our face. We can work those muscles, or remove gravity. ;)

We can attend to our outer world with greater affect, when we understand the inner processes shaping and sustaining it.

The same goes for education-based practices and processes. The syllabus is not a linear document (I know this is shifting particularly for primary... but there are many that still have that flexibility); there is no rule book that says the roll has to be marked at the outset of the lesson; and you - the teacher - are not responsible for 'teaching' anything because, in reality, you can't. This is because learning, fundamentally, is an interpretive endeavour. Biesta (2007) articulates the underlying mechanisms of this brilliantly, pointing to the fact that we can't 'teach' anything in the sense of transferring understanding of what we know to our students.

If teaching is to have any effect on learning, it is because of the fact that students interpret and try to make sense of what they are being taught. It is therefore only through processes of (mutual) interpretation that education is possible (Biesta, 2007, p. 298).

The more you give (time, energy, detailed instruction.... more worksheets!) does not mean 'the more they'll learn'. We can, however, give our own attention to more effectively help our students interpret and understand what we are saying or asking them to do. This is different from what we've commonly come to think teaching 'is' when, in reality, effective teaching as actually more a process of 'leading learning'. In an upcoming article I'll therefore be discussing why 'evidence-based practice' doesn't work.

Nothing in our lives simply is 'as it is'. Every single aspect of our experience of life has been created or curated, shaping us and our very sense of 'what is'. That idea alone is nothing new but, giving our attention to the inner workings of things in all aspects of our lives, including within ourselves, recognising and understanding the underlying power and forces that are shaping things 'as they are', can reveal new pathways of actually change. Utilising the power within education processes, and within ourselves, can enable us to be more affective in actually achieving the outcomes that we aspire to, both within social institution of education and, perhaps even more importantly, in the quality we experience of our own life.

If you'd to take that journey for yourself, practically, The Enlivened Educator is an opportunity to look inwards and, from the Heart and hearth within ourselves, to build a foundation for living and working, based on the recognition of all that is purposeful for us to create as the next chapter of what education 'is', is also possible... because we've chosen it. Join me... it's time to live our lives by design; professionally, personally and powerfully.

What: The Enlivened Educator

When: 6-8 October 2023

Where: Brahma Kumaris, 186 Mount Hay Road, Leura, NSW, 2780

Sources:

Gert Biesta. (2007). Bridging the gap between educational research and educational practice: The need for critical distance, Education Research and Evaluation, 13:3, 295-301, DOI: 10.1080/13803610701640227

Tina Grotzer. (2012). Learning causality in a complex world: Understandings of consequence, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Education