Students often ask parents and teachers questions about what they are learning, and how we answer those questions conveys powerful messages that can influence a child's sense of their own abilities and confidence.
As my trail crew of 7th graders and I went over the plan for our final day in the Yosemite backcountry, we began preparing ourselves for a big day on the trail. Two days earlier, we had hiked seven miles and climbed more than 2,000 feet in elevation from Tioga Road to our beautiful campsite right alongside the largest of the Ten Lakes.
Over the summer I listened to an episode of the podcast Note to Self, which is described by its host, Manoush Zomorodi, as, "the tech show about being human." The topic of the episode was kids and screens and the special guest was Elizabeth Englander, a researcher, professor of psychology, and the executive director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center at Bridgewater State University. I found the episode surprisingly comforting. Why?
The opening of the new school year calls us to reflect: What present and future are we preparing our students for? What challenges and opportunities will they face in their lifetimes? How will they use all they learn here to act--to lead--in facing challenge and opportunity alike? Indeed, how will they turn challenge into opportunity?
Learning, at the core, is a relationship with the unknown. Anyone who is learning is interacting with knowledge, skills, and understandings that seem elusive, difficult, or vague, until they aren't. While some skills can be modeled and developed with repeated practice, some understandings require dialogue with a teacher or guide.