This is my inquiry site on how educators can work together to develop their adaptive expertise of land-based learning in order to embed it as a core pedagogy.
This being a living inquiry, the best place to start it is wherever one finds oneself existentially. One looks inwardly into one’s own thoughts and feelings, while facing the world, noting how one reacts with conditioned thoughts and feeling responses. Usually we are too busy reacting that we do not stop to reflect and examine our response. Inquiry starts at this point of stop. From this place of stop, we question the necessity of “the way things are,” and address the possibility of seeing the world and the self differently and hence relating to the world differently. “What if I were to…?”
—Heesoon Bai, 2005, p. 47
3 replies on “How do we want to learn together on this land?”
“How do we want to learn together on this land?” I was really engaged by this question. I think it is one that needs to be discussed as we change our definition, thoughts and ideas of “learning” and “education” in today’s world.
I think the immunity map is a great idea to get teachers reflecting on their practices and their underlying assumptions of why they do what they do. The fears and uncertainties of doing something new are often overtaken by feeling like they are not meeting the curriculum (math, science, language) and it is important to work through this in order to change our ideas around what learning could look like.
I am also thinking about how this could be condensed into a day workshop. Although I like the weekend workshop idea I am thinking that it may be more practical for teachers to participate during a 1 day Pro-D day. Or maybe it could be provided in a few Pro-D days scattered throughout the year. 🙂
I really loved this quote by David Sobel. “Knowledge without love will not stick. But if love comes first, knowledge is sure to follow” (Sobel, 2008, pp.12-13). So true, thanks for sharing! I think this is a good place to start with learning.
I agree that we need to spend more time as teachers being able to look inwards at our own values and beliefs, instead of using professional development to be told what principles to believe. Thanks for sharing Clint! Maybe one day I will be taking this workshop with you!
All the best, Angelina Thomson
Thank you for your comments, Angelina!
This is definitely something I’d be interested in facilitating in the future. I think a necessary element is that this work needs to be something the group returns to on a routine basis (monthly maybe?). A one-day workshop could definitely kickstart the learning community, and I feel the other professional development days might be a part of those routine meetings. Thank you for that suggestion!
Clint
Hi Clint,
I appreciate the land-based learning you proposed in your project design. It is a very effective and practical inquiry pedagogy! Limited space like only studying in the classroom is not beneficial for students to put what they learned into practice, suppressing their imagination and association with the real world, but land-based learning is like a walk curriculum which develops students’ creative thinking and practical abilities. Students have chances to get in touch with local places and communities, which is helpful to their future development in society when graduation from school. In education, I think that classroom teaching and land-based teaching should be combined if better learning outcomes and real life skills are both needed for students. “The inward thoughts and feelings” as responses while facing the world is a lovely point relying on land-based learning. Hope your project will be successful conducted. Sorry for my late reply. Have a nice day!