In the article Beyond Decontextualisation and Cynicism, Stanton.E. F. Wortham explores the possibility of social critique in schools.
In the article beyond Decontextualisation and Cynicism, Stanton.E. F. Wortham explores the possibility of truthfully and blatantly addressing the complexities of the power politics of schooling.
Wortham argues for a “more complex account of schooling that reimagines the intertwining of academic learning and social identification without privileging one over the other.
As I explore his reasoning, I will be showing cases where at Mary MacKillop we are preparing the children to be discerning members of democaracy.
In my article Creative Arts Teachers In Year One I have shown how I use the context of communal visioning and the MIECAT Process to companion young children as we co create images for their wall. In the article, I talk about preferring the use of the word Conversation to the use of the word Therapy when describing what I do.
The Visioning Wall was motivated by the desire for Transformational Change. I companion the children while they reflect, evaluate and image forward. Their work truly reflects their own ideas about the world, as they know it now and can imagine it into the future. I also challenge their notions of stereotypic roles within society and draw their attention to the wealth of role models we have available to us within our tradition. As well, we look to traditions of children in our midst who come from other communities.
Vygotsky talked of (1934/1987) “Scientific Concepts” ...that “start from the abstract and grow toward making sense of experience, whether these concepts come from the humanities , the social sciences, or the natural sciences – they enrich human life. They are crucial for maintaining the disposition toward reflective thought and for passing it on to future generations.” Stanton.E. F. Wortham p15
The Visioning Wall was a part of a much larger process that sought to encourage middle schooling children to steer the curriculum for a day. They worked for many weeks to arrange and prepare the day. This gave them the opportunity to take responsibility and to experience roles, rights and responsibilities. Cooperatively they scripted a rap titled “You Can Be What You Want To Be.”
During the process,
- the conversation reflected upon why some people might not end up being what they might want to be.
- They looked at whether some people are so locked into stereotypical and xenophobic thinking that they can never even imagine being certain kinds of things.
- They were encouraged to act out and to devise scenario
- and to be reflexive if blocked by preconceived thinking.
To read about another example of Authentic Scripting A Word About Scripting Comics
Acknowledgement:
Jenni Proctor Career Clarity the Careers Officer and Librarian utilised a sum of money that had been awarded to the school for the Careers Programme . She wanted to exemplify the spirit of Programme Achieve by creating what we later called a Visioning Wall.
