kinds of questions, catching ideas

Blog entry December 21, 2012

THE LEARNING JOURNEY: Mrs. J’s ongoing musings…

More on questions and idea-catching;

From the book Poemcrazy by Susan G. Woolridge, p. 133

“Children naturally see and express things in a fresh way before we teach them the “right” way. When my children were little they said things like, “I have hands,” amazed by the discovery. (I remember a grade one student from many years ago, standing up for show-and-tell and  happily announcing, “I was born on my birthday!”.Mrs.J)

They were filled with questions. “What would happen if the moon burned?” or, “Can a fire burn a fire?” or, “Do bees pee?” or, “Are plants afraid of scissors?” and, “Do roots have minds?”.

       Poetry can bring me to the child-place where I begin to ask this kind of question, where I begin to discover the world all over again.”

Compare this quote to my last entry from the University dean (ADULT) who said, “I am not going to get answers unless I am asking the questions, and unless I am putting myself under the burden constantly to want to know why, or how.” Little children constantly want to know why and how; it is the adventure of learning for them, NOT a burden. And maybe they don’t need idea-catcher notebooks until they’ve been taught the ‘right’ way BECAUSE the world is full of ‘caught’ ideas; seeds that sprout questions (like the ones above) in listening minds.

“WE GROW IN THE DIRECTION OF OUR QUESTIONS.” Literally!

Questions,

From my child-place;

Discovered,

Again.

Yours in learning,

Mrs. J