Cultivating the Imagination

I have been reading A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change by DOUGLAS THOMAS and JOHN SEELY BROWN.
I was drawn to it by the title and their reference to the imagination as opposed to "cultivating imagination". The sense of purposiveness in the use of the definite article attracted my. I had deliberately chosen to do the same in my doctoral thesis. The imagination is more than a mental construct.

I found in the book a structured reflection on matters that concern me (education, teaching, learning, change, the digital world, knowledge, passion, the imagination, play). I am going to use this blog to reflect on the ideas that have challenged me and that I want to work into my efforts to re-think my approach to teaching and learning. I have chosen to post my thoughts here rather than in the security of my school's intranet because the system is clunky and the effort to provide such security works against what I think the internet can provide to the learning collective I want to belong to (which embraces and includes more than those with whom I work).

Fearing God

When I was preparing for my Confirmation a long, long time ago, I was taught that one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit is "fear of the Lord." I found that pretty difficult to understand and I think I grew up being afraid of God. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I suppose.

When I was much older, I started to discover that the "fear" of God was not the same as my fear of other things, such as snakes, death, and so on. I have spent some of my life reflecting on the loving mercy of God and have come to the conclusion that the "fear" I was taught about when I was about 11 years old, is really revering God, placing God before all, and acknowledging that God is the source of all that exists.

It was the death of my parents - my Dad passed away in 2007 and my Mum died in 2009 - that taught me about relying on God. I have to rely on God to look after them. Yes, I believe that there is life beyond this earthly existence and I pray daily that God will be merciful to my parents and grant them eternal life with all the angels and saints.

Today, I came across a reading about fearing God. I liked what I read because it resonates with my belief. You might find it worth reading, too.

http://www.godtube.com/devotionals/our-daily-journey/daily-devotional-may-27-2011-fearing-god.html?utm_source=GodTube%20Today&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=05/27/2011

This link is through GodTube. If you want to go straight to the source of the reading, then use the following link:

http://www.ourdailyjourney.org/category/daily-devotional/

The Kolbe Year 8 Retreat

Theme:
The theme that I propose for the Year 8 Retreat is: Navigating my way through life. This theme has been chosen for the following reasons:
1. I have spent a term with a Year 8 class and I have come to realize that they are at different stages of their faith journey. Psychologically, too, they seem to be at different points of a continuum from immaturity to maturity.
2. My observation of Year 7s leads me to believe that our students are encouraged to be independent learners when they enter Year 7. My experience of Year 8 RE, indeed of the whole RE programme, is quite the opposite. We force feed them a curriculum that is controlled by Rome.
3. When I consider the work of a small group led by Noburo, who are looking at challenge based learning for Year 9s, I ask myself: Shouldn't all learning be challenging?
Reflecting on these factors has led me to propose a retreat experience that challenges our Year 8s to reflect on how they approach the task of living with integrity and the responsibility this places on them to take charge of their learning. This seems a tall order for a one-day retreat with young teenagers, but retreats are not meant to sum up, but to open up. The retreat experience is meant to be an encounter with self, with others, and with God.
Style:
Fr Mark Link, SJ has suggested that there can be two types of theology: pioneer theology and settler theology. Basically, the former presents God as a risk taker who is always looking to improve creation. Jesus is his scout, moving ahead to survey the land so that he can warn his followers about the dangers that they will encounter. Undoubtedly, there are some Year 8s who would feel comfortable with this sort of theology. We can tell this from their behavior. They are the ones who test the boundaries and who try to create boundaries for themselves. I have come to think of them as the outcasts that Jesus came to save. The healing he offered included entry into the community which had rejected them. In the realm of salvation, everyone changes, both those who are saved and the community also.
This suggests to me that there cannot be one fits all type of retreat, however, our financial constraints prevents us from trying to break the year group into small groups based on a set of parameters that are likely to be inaccurate.
Venues: Navy Club for outdoor group - wagon train group
Gary Holland Centre for settler group- village green model
Structure: simulation for 2 hours
Break for 20 minutes
Debrief for 1 hour
Lunch for 40 minutes
Goal setting for 30 minutes
Groups gather on the village green to share experiences
Liturgy for 20 minutes
Return to school by 3.10
Students depart
Staff debrief