Project Wonder - Day 49 - Excuses

One of the things I'm really enjoying about teaching so far, is the degree of creativity hidden inside student excuses. It truly is amazing how much effort goes into making up reasons for NOT doing a task. I often encourage students to redirect their efforts into performing the tasks themselves, which often catalyzes yet another set of excuses from the students.

For example, report cards went home a couple weeks ago. One of the students came to me with a distressed expression.

"Sir, I don't like the comments you put on my report card."

"I'm sorry to hear that George, do you mean to say that you don't agree with them?"

"No, I guess they are right. But my parents won't be happy."

"Well George, remember that these comments are feedback for you. You know where you are, and where you want to be, so now your task is planning and working to reach your destination. We can improve your results for the final evaluation in the course"

George seemed to like the idea of working with me on a daily basis, to help him organize his priorities and plan to reach his academic goals. And yet day after day, it is I who remind him to come see me, to bring his agenda with him to class, to change his behaviour. And every time I remind him, he presents me with another excuse. He is a victim of circumstance, almost always.

And of course he's not alone. It's a common mentality not only in classrooms, but in circles of adults too. I'm sometimes amazed by the excuses some people tell themselves for not achieving their goals, or following through on what they set out to do. Why do some people create so many excuses? I suppose playing victim is an easy way to justify turning away from the work.

"I'm not strong enough to get over this hurdle."

Rather than trying and failing, it seems better not to try, and convince oneself that success isn't even possible. I think this is the mentality that many victims entertain. All too often we forget how much our mentality actually shapes our reality. If you learn to believe that you're destined to fail, well, then you're actual chances of success will be less. Like in this little classroom experiment to demonstrate the phenomenon known as "learned helplessness".



Sometimes we don't recognize the limits we create for ourselves. The students who performed poorer on the third word didn't realize that the limits of their performance were created by their own negative emotions.

While we may never realize all of the limits we impose on ourselves, all of the ways in which we victimize ourselves, we should remember that they are in fact there, and that our mindset makes a difference.

It's as a friend of mine said, "If you believe something to be real, it has real consequences."

Today I'm wondering about my own invented limits. What beliefs are holding you back?

Yours subjectively,

Brandon

Project Wonder - Days 47-48 - Can You Imagine?

My connection to the Internet was faulty yesterday. Which, I won't lie, was kinda nice in a way. It forced me to take another rest for a bit.

With our modems out of order, my housemates and I decided to go for a beverage at "Bouncy's Grill Foods", a small outdoor restaurant about five walking minutes away. We are getting incredibly busier and busier making preparations for our annual school inspection which is set to happen a week from Monday. But as Philip said so eloquently, "Even those who weep must pause to blow their noses." No matter how busy I get, I must remember to take breaks every once in a while, if only to catch a breath.

While we were out last night we spoke about the pace of time's passing, and the near ending of yet another year. Jennifer said something that caught my attention, "The days go so quickly, your semester will be over in less than a month. Can you imagine?"

Something about the way she said it nagged at me. It suddenly dawned on me that the students also frequently used the same expression. "Can you imagine?" An expression of disbelief roughly translating to "Isn't it amazing?" in my dialect.

But my usual question only seeks agreement. "Why yes, it is amazing." On the other hand, Jennifer's question pries open a can of possibilities. It presents itself as a challenge to comprehend something nearly unfathomable. But it also serves as an invitation to create a vision of some unlikely possibility. It's an excellent question to ask when pausing, and it's been on my mind all day.

I've been asking myself the question since I rolled out of bed this morning. Not only have I been in a perpetual state of amazement, but I've also been dwelling in ideals. The question has launched me deeper into a pursuit of ultimate fantasy, and I spent much of my day painting Utopian visions on the back of my eyelids. Students noticed my mental sojourn and started asking me why I ate my lunch with my eyes closed.

Yes, I can imagine. It's an incredibly powerful thing to be able to do. It's the reason we humans have overcome so many of our challenges. And knowing that we have this capacity fills me with great hope that we may continue to overcome barriers. To one day choose to live peacefully, respectfully, and willfully.

I used to think of imagination, and its cousins creativity and play, as perks of our existence. Now I recognize these mental capacities for their true utility to our continued future as a species. What if we treated imagination not as superfluous to our education, but central to it? What if we had as much of a responsibility to use our creative capacity as much as we're expected to be critical? What would the world look like?

Time is going by so fast. Can YOU imagine?

Thank you for reading.

Yours quixotically,

Brandon

Project Wonder - Day 46 - Negative Space

The world can feasibly be divided into two categories: that which I am, and that of which I am not. Me and Not Me. And I have a large say in where the border lies. And so do you. And everyone and everything else that is Not Me.

These two categories shape one another, constantly imposing and absorbing the others' spaces. Like the yin and yang. Or night and day. It's as a friend of mine recently said, "Freedom is only as far as the next human's nose."

We are interconnected, all of us. We interact with each other and impose ideas on one another. In a very real sense we share a space, and the borders between us are forever being negotiated.

This means that my choices affect all others, if only marginally. By extension, everyone's choices affect all others. This means we all have a responsibility to one another, if only marginally.

How marginal can responsibility really be?

We all have the capacity to create space for one another. To respect each other's struggles for survival, love, and purpose. We always have a choice to work with one another, minding each others' quests and ensuring each other's well-being. To teach about our worlds, but also to be students of others'. We can also choose to be forgiving of each others' impositions.

Easier said than done.

This morning our classes were filled with interruptions - other students walking in to exchange modems or computers, teachers coming to check out all of the costumes for pajama day, student conversations in class. I was having a difficult time following my personal f-word policy. I felt imposed upon, not being able to accomplish what I wanted. It put me in a sour mood.

It took me a while to realize just how sour I was being. It wasn't until Emily came to talk to me after lunch that I realized students had avoided me all morning. Completely isolating myself in my own victimhood.

She brought her laptop over. "Sir, you know that song you showed me in September? I saw it on an episode of Glee and thought you might like it."

I did like it. What a gift. It brightened my afternoon to realize that despite radiating negativity this student was still willing to be kind to me. I'm sure Emily has no idea the impact her sharing has had on me. It's easy to forget the impact we have on one another. That we make up one another's negative space with our choices.

I allowed myself to forgive the morning's disruptions, and I soon found that the students had forgiven my foul mood.

I chose to work with the students in the afternoon. And they responded by choosing to work with me. They wanted to go outside so we did. We studied under the mango tree in a circle of chairs. What a brilliant idea. Why I didn't do it sooner I'll never understand.

We create the spaces that make the world. To what goal can we work together?

Thank you for considering.

Respectfully,

Brandon

Project Wonder - Day 45 - Stuck

"Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were, 

but without it we go nowhere." - Carl Sagan

In my recently self-appointed capacity as the head of the Science department, I have taken to reading more of the science and technology sections of news websites, constantly on the prowl for curiosity triggers. Discussing current scientific discovery and debates with classes makes the stuff the curriculum tells us to learn   more relevant.

Today I found this article, which topically describes a carefully designed new material that bends light around objects. That's right folks, it seems possible that soon invisibility cloaks will be all the rage:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20265623

What's most fascinating to me, is that this sort of thing was almost certainly thought to be completely impossible when I was "growing up". The sort of fodder that was best left to children and their wild imaginations. Not the stuff of the regular, habitual, predictable world known to adults as "reality".

And yet, here we are, reading about technologies that are accomplishing, if only marginally for now, the very things that were once labelled impossible.

At least part of the reason we are afforded this amazement is because someone was curious enough to pursue that impish urging "what if" that so many of us were inadvertently (?) taught to ignore as immature.

I love to imagine what the world might look like if more and more people were willing to acknowledge the "sticky-ness" of their minds, and further willing to stretch their personal limits by considering "impossible" possibilities. What if more people recognized just how many limits are self-imposed, whether conscious or not?

As a demonstration, consider the technology discussed in the article. I'd be willing to bet that the majority of people who read the article, or hear about the technology think of the famous cloak in the Harry Potter series, and latch onto this single, though no less incredible, possibility. And here our minds try to settle again. With one new possibility.

But what other possible uses might there be for this technology? Even when we think we've stretched our limits, there are always more limits to stretch.

Today in class we played with possible applications of the technology. In addition to using it for espionage related activities, students came up with nearly 100 ideas for this sort of technology. Some of my favourites include protecting endangered species from predation/poaching, securing valuable possessions in invisible safes, and remaining cool on a hot day by shrouding one's naked self in the material (which may, in fact, be warmer than regular clothes).

Many of the ideas we have are silly, and unrealistic, and implausible. But unless we consider them, we will never find any possibilities worth pursuing. And we will remain in our stagnant, sticky-minded, limited ways.

There are solutions to our problems, and potentials to fulfill. What limits are you stuck within?

Thank you for reading.

Yours in play,

Brandon

Project Wonder - Day 44 - Azonto

"Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world." - Voltaire

Today's PW is less a reflection and more of a confession.

For the past couple of days I've been avoiding work, by doing work. I've been secretly sweating out Azonto in the privacy of my room.


Okay, so I'm nowhere near this guy. But the dance is pretty fly, no?

I was introduced to Azonto by our students of course. A few students blew my mind with a brief performance last week, and I'm afraid things are about to get ill. Because it's true my friends, I've come down with a bad case of Azonto.

Does dancing count as being productive?

Project Wonder - Day 43 - Remembering

Today is Remembrance Day in Canada.

I remember being confused by this day as a kid. I was always troubled with the task of remembering something I wasn't there to experience. I knew we were supposed to remember fallen soldiers, and the sacrifices made by previous generations, and the unimaginable suffering these people endured to secure the freedoms we've grown accustomed to having.

All of this sounded terribly important to my second grade self, so I tried really hard to remember this stuff. But I could never invent the scene I wasn't a part of, and so I pretended to remember for years. I wore the poppy without really knowing what stories it represented.

Of course, I didn't need to understand what I was meant to remember. What is critical is that I understood why I was meant to remember it. Many people died to make the world a better place. I knew that it was important to remember to be thankful to these distant strangers, and to be grateful for the life I am privileged to live.

The specifics of my made up memories are informed by history books, movies, and my imagination. But these don't really matter anyway, since I can never really imagine what life as a soldier in battle was like.

It's the "why" that's important. What do you choose to remember, and why have you made that choice? The reasons one remembers are revealing of one's character. Our reasons are the meaning, and form the basis of perception and decision-making.

In addition to your Remembrance Day whats, please consider making time to ask why. Thank you for reading.

Yours in re-imagining the past,

Brandon

P.S. The specifics of my Remembrance Day memorial were informed by these images of the past etched in the present.

Project Wonder - Day 42 - Bus thinking

My pal Jennifer and I took the bus to the market today, to pick up a few groceries. The actual term for the vehicle is "trotro", and it's the cheapest means of getting around next to walking. Trotros are vans that have been gutted and re-outfitted with almost 20 seats. It's something of a marvel to experience. I was in the second to last row when I took this picture this morning.

You'll notice the passengers gazing off into the distance, taking in the scenes while patiently waiting for their stop. A behaviour that's similar to many public transporters in Hamilton and Toronto. Passengers board with the occasional nod to a co-traveller, perhaps even a verbal greeting to the driver, then often reabsorb into the privacy of their minds and headphones. Many don't even acknowledge others with eye contact. I jumped through the door and looked only for my seat. I then directed my gaze out the window without so much as a smile to any of the passengers. In fact, the desire for privacy in public seems to be common to people in all of the places I've had the pleasure of seeing.

It seems odd to me that in all the spaces I share with others, much of the time I think only of minding my business. Given our incredible capacity for communication and connection with one another, often the best conversation I can think of has to do with the weather. Which worked well for me in Hamilton, where the meteorological spectrum was a little broader. Here in Accra there's not much to be said:

"It's hot today." I say, leaning toward the passenger on my left.

"Yea." she nods.

"Really hot." I add, for clarification.

"Oh... yea" she smiles and nods.

And that's all I've got. I'm unsure what else I might be able to talk about, that there's anything I could say that would be meaningful to my fellow voyager.

Don't we have more incredible things to chat about than the weather? What fears, or limitations prevent us from pursuing a connection with others in public? What might the world look like if public spaces, like city buses, were safe enough that interacting with others wasn't perceived as risky? How can public spaces influence and encourage meaningful interpersonal interaction? What role does art have? What value is gained from more social interaction?

Lots of questions, and even more possible responses. Our ancestors are all related, and yet somehow we prefer to keep our distances.

Thank you for reading.

Fellowly voyaging,

Brandon