More happenings on our Life Lab pilot: this week, Angela Pezzano saw a difference between 5 year olds who jumped on the task with unburdened colour and energy, and 12 year olds who have been moulded by school constraints…
Here is her account:
“Pushing the Margins in Life Lab
A simple instruction, or so we thought, asking students to draw their interpretation of the Super Villain; Super Stuckness©, ironically created it’s own polarity for these delightful 9 year olds;
“Excuse me Miss, do I need to do a margin?”
I can’t tell you the last time I took a ruler and red pen to the page to create a line, 2-3 centimeters in from the left hand side of a page.
I felt the polarity (Henchmen) pull at that moment – Would I impede their thinking with my opinion? Or support whichever influence they had obviously been encouraged by previously (whom I clearly did not agree with).
I did as any teacher does most days when faced with a “would love to give you my opinion but I can’t” moment – I asked the student; “Do you think you need a margin on this page?”
He took a (long) moment to respond with; “Nah, a margin can’t stop Stuckness, only we can”.
Perhaps it’s time we consider the margins we’re putting on our students. Or perhaps on ourselves.
Life Lab seems to have just pushed the thinking – off the page.”