first of all, let's just say that starting the first school day of the year with a girl showing us how to look nice for school even when we're running late: spot on. we're all gonna be using that eyeshadow trick from now on, and everyone will know we're exhausted by the white highlights in the inside of our eyes.
the 8 multiple intelligences are something with which i'm very familiar because the junior high i went to structured its teaching methods around them. if i remember correctly, back then, i ranked very highly in verbal/linguistic, visual/spatial, and interpersonal. i don't think those things have changed; that's definitely still how i work best. in my school, a public charter school which never failed to baffle the rest of the school district, students sat 4 around each round table, and rather than exams or papers to test our learning, we had what were known as "inquiries," which could take the form of any of a collection of different options dreamed up by the teachers, based around the different intelligences, whether it turned out to be a something written, a poster/brochure, a skit, or any number of other things to be done alone or with a group. this was designed to ensure that everybody got to demonstrate their learning on equal footing, as they felt they could work most strongly.
according to this absolutely puzzling 4 learning style questionnaire, i am a type one learner, with which i identify fairly well, seeking meaning, bringing unity and cooperation, fixating on people and culture, and looking at things from all the way around. the way the axes of the coordinate grid work, though, is a bit absurd... there's no reason they couldn't have run negative and positive numbers in their normal directions and labeled the quadrants to fit. this also read a bit like those experiments wherein everybody agrees with a fake personality assessment because it is just vague enough to apply to anyone who reads it, while having just enough specificity to feel personal.
i had seen this absolutely gorgeously animated presentation before, and was similarly blown away this time. i find it to be a very hard line to walk between the optimism and trust it takes to believe in these improvements being possible, and the cynicism to know that the overhaul necessary for such a change would be massive and devastatingly unlikely. in small ways, though, we're making progress, and this project, i think, will end up opening our eyes to that progress and allowing us to see where else it can go.
as for my own research, i've unearthed this documentary on unschooling.
unschooling is a philosophy that dates all the way back to rousseau musing that the best way for children to learn is for adults to set the environment and get out of the way. unschooling is based around the notion that the most productive and truest learning comes from people's own pursuit of their interests and passions rather than being forced into a stilted social scenario and having information banked into them. obviously with the development of today's interactive technology, we're in a better position than ever before to facilitate but ultimately not interfere with independent learning.
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