Oh it’s been awhile since I could write here! The last two weeks, especially, seem to have just filled to the brim (mostly with work but also with my eldest’s 11th birthday!), and I found myself missing out on the daily IEH reflections and even the Slack (which is saying something, as I love a quick way to connect and hear what other people are up to). I finally had something come up (the laundry, I had to put away laundry!) that meant I could just…have a few of the videos going as I did other things, and I found myself really thinking about what we mean when we talk about connection and reflection.
What I noticed, when I was listening in, was that I didn’t really have the capacity to muse on the specifics. I was already overfull with details of life in other ways (it turns out it is quite tricky to explain but not demonstrate how to inline skate to a kid who just got them for their birthday for example), and my brain sort of slid away from learning “something new” and was just reaching for a sense of welcome, a chance to feel included without taking anything else on. Because of that, I wasn’t listening, so much, for exactly what was said, and I noticed, instead, how each person in their own way was fiercely welcoming and warm–and every single one of them was specifically grappling with creating space for others to be with them in their teaching. I love the detail and tips we give out, and how everyone wants to help others and themselves do good work, but on some level I wondered if we also needed some space ourselves to let go of the detail and talk about the underlying anchors.
Someone told me once, when I was struggling to write something, that I should imagine myself dropped on a desert island–what would happen there just because of me? What are the core values and pedagogies and philosophies that I carry with me–the things that “create” the tips, strategies and practice? I thought about that person again, when I was listening to those videos, and feeling connected, not because of the tips or expertise, but because I could also hear, interwoven with that all, what they carry with them wherever they go.
I’m clearly not finished thinking about this!
I am very much appreciating the “desert island” line of thought/metaphor, less about those typical questions about the list of items you would bring, and more about what you have inside you to use/apply. Plus I always had a fascination for those stories, be it Robinson Crusoe or Tom Hanks in Castaway.
And I appreciate the practice you describe in the sessions, which I think I do in my background, but now will consider more a deliberate, to carefully watch and make note of from other facilitators/participants “what they carry with them wherever they go”
Thank you for this!
It was so helpful, that conversation about the desert island. I tend to do A LOT and so when I write things up it becomes a rapid fire “this then this then this also this and then that”, and she just wanted me to also consider what might be driving me to DO, so that I could reflect on what ties it all together. She basically said “look, if I dumped you on a desert island, you’d end up with a community of practice where the crabs and birds were all learning together, why do you think that is?”
I had always had the habit of explaining the why when I’m teaching (“we’re going to look at this together now, we’re working together because…” or etc) but I hadn’t really thought of…myself as something to look at on a wider scale? I’ve returned to that conversations over and over again since.
I can very much relate to your experience, being so full up with a day job that I can only connect with the IEH series in fits and spurts, and not nearly as often as I’d like, so I tend to listen to a few videos at a time. I was finding myself struggling because I wanted to take something to remember from each one, and while I could have created a doc or something for myself and jotted down all the gems I’m hearing, I felt like I didn’t have the time or mental space to do so. I love your reflection here about taking other things away from these videos, something underlying the specifics, and feeling a sense of connection on some level with that. I really appreciate you pointing this out!
Same! I went to sort of, create a space to “record my learning” (only nothing so formal, because it was IEH), but even that felt like pushing against a bruise almost–I was too over stretched to get something that specific out of the process. But I realised that the reason I still WANTED to listen to the videos and engage with IEH (as it wasn’t like I was looking for more things to do at work) was because I needed that sense of people working together towards a common goal–and I basically told myself that was enough. And it was! I am a giant dork, so I have marked a few things to “go back to later” in case there is an appropriate later, but really I got so much out of just being part of the community. And, of course, it means that next time I think about teaching, I’ll want to make sure that there is something there for people who are in similar places–who might be putting the energy they have into connecting.