1. You should be clear about what it means to see the world “small” versus seeing the world “large.” It will become clear later that for Greene these perspectives are a matter of both/and rather than an either/or. According to Greene, seeing the world "large" means viewing people collectively as "small and at a distance" in a detached and systematic manner; seeing the world "small" means viewing individuals "big... (and) in their particularity and integrity instead." (p. 10) While we may find synthesis in later readings, in *this week's* readings she is clearly favoring seeing "large."
2. It is interesting that Greene encourages us to think of what it would mean to educate young people so that they can handle “catastrophes” (p. 13); this was written long before 9/11. What might it mean to do that? What would you want students to learn?
My own focus would be to try and support the development of (Dewey-esque) habits such as metacognition, considering the situation from the position of the Other's shoes, "going up to the balcony" to gain perspective, conflict resolution skills, and physical stress reduction techniques such as deep breathing. Some of this (the shoes of the Other, the balcony) I think overlaps with what Greene is trying to do; some of it takes a different tack.
3. What is meant by “authentic assessment”? What, by contrast, would be inauthentic? Authentic seems to mean assessments that allow students to tell their own stories (Greene mentions portfolios and exhibitions; Elizabeth Langran-style digital stories and podcasts would also, I think, meet her definition). Closed-end tests, particularly multiple choice, and *particularly particularly* closed end multiple choice tests defined outside the classroom and administered to very large populations, would not. (p. 13)
4. What does it mean to be “onto something”? How does it connect with imagination? If imagination is important–as it certainly is from Greene’s perspective–what can we do to nurture this faculty; what is often done to squelch it?
3. What is meant by “authentic assessment”? What, by contrast, would be inauthentic? Authentic seems to mean assessments that allow students to tell their own stories (Greene mentions portfolios and exhibitions; Elizabeth Langran-style digital stories and podcasts would also, I think, meet her definition). Closed-end tests, particularly multiple choice, and *particularly particularly* closed end multiple choice tests defined outside the classroom and administered to very large populations, would not. (p. 13)
4. What does it mean to be “onto something”? How does it connect with imagination? If imagination is important–as it certainly is from Greene’s perspective–what can we do to nurture this faculty; what is often done to squelch it?
I think imagination is typically coupled with acts of *creation*; Greene here is arguing that imagination is necessary to *see* properly, which is a quite different connection. The surface-answer to the nurture/squelch question is something like "open ended child-led activities nurture/closed end rote memory based activities squelch." I think she is actually "onto" something more fundamental that, while it certainly includes this sentiment as an offshoot, is on a somewhat different primary trajectory, about the nature of surprise and empathy in transforming the self.
5. Note the emphasis on “looking at things as if they could be otherwise,” a phrase repeated at least twice in the text, and part of the title of an article we will discuss next week. Why should we? What is being called for here?
5. Note the emphasis on “looking at things as if they could be otherwise,” a phrase repeated at least twice in the text, and part of the title of an article we will discuss next week. Why should we? What is being called for here?
Idealism, in all its forms, for better and worse, is predicated upon looking at things as if they could be otherwise. It is the starting point for all change agents, and she certainly aspires to effecting change.
Greene, “Imagination, Community and the School”:
6. When we refer to students as “at risk” what are we typically saying? What should we be saying? We are saying that they are at risk of failure. What we should be saying... gets back, again, to what the point of education is supposed to be. If the point of education is to ensure the development of a list of *skills* such as (most fundamentally) reading, then to identify a student as being "at risk" of failing to learn to read, in order to provide the services and supports required to mitigate that risk, then... it's OK. Perhaps someone might come up with a better phrase, and that would be fine. To not meet the real need, for discomfort about the language, would *not* be fine. To disengage from the responsibility to teach students to read does not serve the students well.
Greene, “Imagination, Community and the School”:
6. When we refer to students as “at risk” what are we typically saying? What should we be saying? We are saying that they are at risk of failure. What we should be saying... gets back, again, to what the point of education is supposed to be. If the point of education is to ensure the development of a list of *skills* such as (most fundamentally) reading, then to identify a student as being "at risk" of failing to learn to read, in order to provide the services and supports required to mitigate that risk, then... it's OK. Perhaps someone might come up with a better phrase, and that would be fine. To not meet the real need, for discomfort about the language, would *not* be fine. To disengage from the responsibility to teach students to read does not serve the students well.
If the point of education is mostly about self actualization and expression, then the phrase "at risk" reads quite differently.
7. What are the features of a democratic community? How can we educate young people to participate fully in such a community? Are students being so educated at Summerhill? Interconnectedness and community (p. 33). Summerhill students certainly get *some* of this, though their exemption from cooking, cleaning, maintenance and other basic chores detracts substantially from the mutual obligations and *work*, some of which inevitably is tedious, associated with real interconnectedness. There's a sense in which Summerhill students experience the *pleasures* of community whilst paid employees take care of the *work*, which alters the thing.
8. Note the reference to a “range of literacies” on p. 34. We will want to explore what it would mean to take this notion seriously. These include the "habits of mind" that enable students to take initiatives in the learning process, to become active and critical learners, to tell their own stories, pose their own questions, be present...
9. When Greene speaks of the “recovery of imagination,” what kind of imagination is she envisioning? I think it comes back to this business of *seeing* properly as requiring powers of imagination -- of empathizing deeply with characters in literature, of connecting their situations and development with personal situations, of seeing in them potential to bring depth and power to the "recovery."
10. What is the connection between oppression (racism, sexism, etc.) and imagination? How will the recovery of imagination diminish the impulses that give rise to oppression and kindle the desires to end it? Well. I think the idea that people -- any of us -- can only relate to characters or depictions in art that reflect our own cultures or ethnic or religious affiliations is mighty limiting -- insulting, even. I can't relate to Odysseus because he's an ancient white man? If I were black, I couldn't relate to Tom Sawyer in Huck Finn? That's a mighty tragic view of the *limitations* of imagination, and I don't really believe it's what Greene is arguing. A great story *transcends.* That's what makes it great. That said, the "canon" is fairly criticized for its Dead White Maleness, and benefits from the inclusion of other perspectives, other dialects, other images. The trick is to be honest about standards of excellence. It may not be *fair* that women, for example, didn't often get to develop their gifts as mature artists during the Renaissance; or blacks during slavery: *but they didn't.* You can't just toss second-rate work in among the Dante and Shakespeare just for the political correctness of it. Or fall into the compensatory sin of too much modernism.
11. Note that ending oppression is seen as building community. This should be obvious, in one sense, but it is worth exploring. How does oppression disrupt community? Greene draws a straight line between what she sees as the stigma caused by labeling, and silencing: "Far too seldom are such young people looked upon as beings capable of imagining, of choosing, and of acting from their own vantage points on perceived possibility." Ending oppression allows these people to "wake up" and become fully alive, part of the interconnectedness of community, rather than mere recipients of benevolent services.
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