Daily Short Thought Round-up #6

This week: Vivian Paley’s wonderful book about the power and importance of observing learning - Bad Guys Don’t Have Birthdays.

May 19, 2023

A warm hello to you,

There’s a poem I love called ‘The Hospital’ by Boris Pasternak. It’s about the experience of a man near death.

The one action the doctor takes is to fill in a form. Then the man’s bed is put in a corridor. There he looks out a window and sees a maple tree:

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“In its reflected light a maple
Signalled him its farewell
With a raised gnarled knuckle"

It’s the only moment of care, of solidarity, of acknowledgement, of being seen, the man experiences.

All our sophistication, expertise and knowledge are not enough to save the man.

It’s a real indictment of the society we have created, where process is more important than people, where doing your job is first and foremost about efficiently sticking to the script, not attending to the people.

I came back to the poem this week.

So many people are struggling. So many kids in schools are struggling. Do we really think that turning the ‘process screws’ is how they’ll be saved?

Much better, I think, to take the time to raise a gnarled knuckle.

woman walking under tree during daytime — Photo by Kevin Young on Unsplash

This week’s Daily Short Thoughts

Monday is at the top. Click on a Thought to read in full. (A reminder that you can see these each day in Notes.)

This week’s message from Pluto

“Hang on. Just give me a minute while I work out what’s really there. Woof!!!”

An interesting read

‘Valuing learning through play at school’. Read »

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☕️ Enjoy this post from the archives over a nice cuppa. 👇

On Learning

Nature

I’m in the river. It’s almost cold, which is welcome after the four hour walk in the heat. If I could, I’d float, but the current is just swift enough and I can’t. And so I tread water. Still, it’s nice to be the weight, to be held, after those hours with a heavy pack on my back. And this ‘heads up’ relaxing has its benefits too: I can engage in pieces …

3 years ago · 5 likes · 6 comments · Bevan Holloway

Next week @
On Learning

The Daily Short Thoughts will roam across five quotes from Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.

And for paid subscribers, I’d like to try something different with Chat. But I don’t know what, so I would like some guidance as to what you’d feel motivated to participate in. Here’s a poll with some ideas.

If you have another idea, please email me.

See you on Monday. 🙂

Bevan

The Idiosyncratic Classroom