This weekend I was fortunate to attend a day long workshop in St. Paul, on "Non-violent communication." The title of the workshop comes from Marshall Rosenberg, author of a book by the same title. In a nutshell, his program outlines a series of steps to help create a more compassionate and mindful mode of communication. The steps include, observing carefully; being aware of feelings that underlie our communications; being aware of needs and wants that are trying to find expression; and differentiating between demands and requests. Although this is very difficult work, it seems vital for anyone in education to do some reflection on their communication, and this book is a great place to start. For more on this book, check it out here: "Non-violent communication" by Marshall Rosenberg.
On Friday of this week, our entire school took a break from our normal schedule, and instituted a day of "exploration." Teachers were asked to prepare lessons outside of their normal curriculum, and we offered everything from mask-making to "reading cafe," cooking, "Shrinky Dinks," one-act plays, thoughtful movie watching, and even a trip to the local police station (and much more). Although it was a busy time of the quarter, I decided to embrace it because in fact, "exploration" is exactly what education should be: less focus on grades or homework. Just trying new things, and engaging in some reflection to boot. I've been experimenting with abstract ideas in my own art, so I decided to try it with my students, entitling my workshop, "Intuitive Drawing." We be
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