Week 12: Chapter 6 Reading and Reflection

Chapter 6 of Teaching as if life matters  reinforces my opinion of teaching systems thinking in schools. The author explained different ways to get students to experience relationships that exist in a system. The chapter was also a good metaphor for living holistically. If a person can be in tune with the natural world, then perhaps the same person can listen to others' (students') personal languages and respond in kind...reducing conflict and frustration.

I didn't find Chapter 6 too controversial in content. The context of the classroom for the messages was different in that the teacher is enforcing a worldview. Education has already been revolutionized through the services now demanded of it. School isn't just a training ground of reading, writing, and arithmetic for a blossoming middle class. It has become the major socializing institution of most American children. The roles of schools are even more profound in economically depressed areas because they'd provide the majority of the food children eat, cultural exposure, health care, and often clothes and shoes.

By the way, You Are Stardust is a children's book that has recently been published. It is about the interconnectedness of being. I found it on the new acquisitions shelf at the library and read it to my GT kids this past fall. Upon second thought, it would also be a good beginning of the year book for art class, leading to a multi media project  in which students explore their relationships to the universe. It could also be continued into a u about change or interconnectedness.