Learning with kids

Yesterday I watched this really interesting lecture from the sociologist Sonia Livingstone. It was about an on going research with children of 9 years old. In collaboration with Julian Sefton-Green, for some months, Livingstone has been “following” a class of 28 students at school and at home. The idea is to understand the potentialities and problems that social media might generate to the kid's education. Some of the research questions are: How do young people use digital technologies within their daily activities and beyond the classroom, as part of their 'learning lives', and under what conditions is this constructive, enabling or impeding? How is youthful engagement with digital technologies shaped by the formal or informal practices, opportunities or risks, empowerment or constraints of the institutions and spaces in which learning occurs? 

For more information: http://www2.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/The%20Class.aspx

What was quite interesting was that one person from the audience said to interpret the discussion as the well-known fight between: on one side the media that “distracts” the students and on the other side the educational institution, trying to get them to concentrate on something that is important. And the questions that inevitably arise are: How disconnected from the others spheres of children’s life is the school’s content? How to build up a communication between those two worlds? And even further, does this institution no longer supply the kind of training that children deserve?

So, if the school insist in making children memorize stuff that has nothing to do (and maybe never will) with their routines, what the school should be teaching then? Or even better, how should be teaching? How may we transform an educational system that sometimes seems as an “industrial production” into something more personal and human?

Ted Robinson already proposed some interesting ideas at TED and the movie The Class, also brings some arguments for the discussion (both links below). I usually tend to completely agree with them, assume quite a radical point of view and understand that probably the desired education for children won’t come from the old system. But by the end of the lecture, Livingstone surprised me (and actually she was surprised herself). She told us how she asked the kids if they liked to be levelled by the school (kids are levelled between better and worst performance according to an ideal) and how they enjoyed the idea that now they could play football at school (an effort from school to offer other opportunities for education and creativity). The surprise was the answer that she got. They said that they didn’t want to play football at school and enjoyed being levelled: “at least we know what we are being levelled for”. To the kids, to know what was expected from them was a kind of security. And it’s funny, because when we think that we should stop levelling and start "gaming", they tell us that our job is to put them into levels and their jobs is to find their matches and games outside the school tradition. After all, independence and originality is a conquest or a given?

So… the winter has arrived

Today the thermometer pointed out 1^o Celsius outside. So, the winter has arrived. For many months I had wondered how it was going to be when this moment arrived: Will I be able to run in the park? Will I need to do what I hate and join the gym? Will I be forced to stop my routine of exercises that does me so good?

I stood looking through the window... the London grey sky finally showed up. No sun, nothing blue... just grey. No one at the street. Where is everybody? Just I planed to go out? I stood there for some minutes, gaining courage to go. I finally texted my boyfriend... I needed to share the angst. He told me not to go, after all, I was still recovering from a cold. But I needed to.

What I didn’t tell my boyfriend was that by doing so I was sending a message to my body: “it will be cold outside, might not be confortable, we might have to come back earlier, but we are still going... we won’t lock ourselves inside this apartment”. I wanted to tell my body that it has been suffering with this new weather, but it’s not alone. Mind and body are together in that… and when the body chickens out, the mind comes to encourage. It was something so small, but an attitude that meant so much.

Two layers of clothes, thermal top and pants, ear protector, gloves, iPod… and there I went. I warmed up inside my apartment and left home already running. For the first time I was one of those people that wait for the traffic light jumping at the same spot. I arrived at the park. There I was… facing it, feeling it. I could feel the cold passing through my gloves… but I could handle it. The wind challenged my jumper, but at least it was real. There was some cold smoke coming out of my mouth, I could finally see it. My feet were still warm, and I pushed the ground to go further. I was running… I was there… I was facing it… I could nearly touch my fear… and put it inside my pocket. And then my body told my mind: “We made it”.

Knitting

Back from my vacation, here I am…

Sometime ago I told you about how I was “talking to food” (please, read the post below before calling me crazy). Well now, inspired by my friend Luiza, I have engaged in something else. I started doing some knitting. Someone might think that this is the result of a huge amount of spare time. That’s not really the case. In my busy routine, I have been struggling to fit in some knitting time. The reason for that I have already mentioned... to make, instead of thinking, turns me into a better person. And I have learned some interesting things trough this new hobby.

I was always a really cautious person. As everyone else, I didn’t have everything under my control, but I enjoyed doing my best for it. Things could go wrong, but I was always sure to have done my best to get them right. So I planned, I reviewed, I worked, and reviewed (tiring, I know). And I would always imagine what could go wrong, so I could anticipate the solution in case that something did go wrong. Why to lose time with mistakes?

While knitting on the other day, I got one point wrong. And knitting has something that may be annoying: you just find out your mistakes once you have been insisting on them. So, as I was still not sure if the point was really wrong, I had to keep going, despite my dissatisfaction about insisting in a work that I wasn’t sure that was right. Well, it wasn’t “right”. I wasn’t what I had planned. Turned out that in the middle of my pattern, I created a new point and my knitting was becoming larger. What had the form of a perfect rectangle became closer to a triangle. But suddenly, trough this “mistake”, I could figure out how the knitting works... how we can enlarge or reduce the width of the fabric... suddenly I discovered a new path. Suddenly I realised how I could, for example, do a turtleneck.

It’s so obvious now... but how many times was I afraid to make mistakes in life.  I always thought that when people said they wanted to “learn with their mistakes” it meant that once they got it wrong, they would always know how to get it “right”. And this is nice, but if we can plan and avoid mistakes, why to lose time with them? But what I really got out of my knitting was that learning through my mistakes might not mean that from now on I will get it all right. Instead, from my mistakes I might get it different... I might see something better, worst, but new. Something not foreseen. Something unpredictable. Something surprising. Suddenly, to plan so much seems not just tiring but boring. I want to let life surprise myself…

Happy 2012.

my future scarf...

The Ides of March

Last weekend I went I to see the movie “The Ides of March” (trailer bellow). The movie is good; the story isn’t new, but still, worth repeating. Does the ends really justify the means? Machiavelli’s phrase is old, his words are still important. We tend to think that this question just relate to politics. But does it really?

I do have some maybe ingenuous thoughts that I could contribute to a better world. My ambitions provided me some challenging questions: What to do? How to get there? How to make a difference? etc. And I have worked pretty hard at the past years to answer those questions, to deal with those answers. And I cannot complain. I’ve worked with amazing people, at challenging projects and obtaining great results. Sometimes I even get the feeling that I might be really good in what I do and maybe make a difference. So, if I just work harder, if I just try harder, if I just think more, if I just give more... I might get there. But when I realise, by doing so, I find myself in this tornado of ideas and thoughts, crazy about getting something done, inspired by the possibility of success, obsessed about making a difference. Less hours of sleep, less time for healthy food, less laughs with my friends, less moments watching TV with my family... but of course it’s worth. After all, I am fighting for a change. Sometimes I even feel that I am actually in some kind of ring: my heart is beating fast, I am jumping in the same place, my eyes pop out in the expectation for the next move... and I may win. I may change something.

Is really that what I want for the world? The better world has racing hearts, nervous bodies and instable minds? How can I use the means that disagree with the kind of world that I want? And how I just don’t realise that by doing so I am not changing the world, but changing myself. Instead of being someone who could bring a change, I got changed.

This reminds me about one episode that I witnessed once. I was at a seminar and a friend of mine, who were still finishing her master degree, had been strongly criticised by a more senior lecturer about the paper that she had presented. Unluckily to the lecturer, my friend was supervised by the man who was the head of the seminar. So, when it came his time to speak, he strongly diminished the lecturer, he talked about how her posture wasn’t the proper one for a friendly seminar group. Strong recrimination and silence. Everyone thought that what he did was amazing. I thought that he had just done the same as the lecturer: to stop her violent attitude, he assumed a violent attitude himself. What difference did he really make?

So the question comes to: how to not lose track of who we are and what we want when facing the challenging events that life put in front of us? Maybe the big challenge is not to change the world, but to remain ourselves. No fights, no podium, no trophy, no big ending, no victory lap… but some integrity. Is this less adventurous?

ps: sorry for not writing last Tuesday, I wasn't feeling well ;)

Feeding a healthy world

Who knows me, knows that I think a lot. It’s obviously that everybody thinks... but some people has this ability (or disability, who knows?) when dealing with a though to consider every single aspect of it. For example... If I am going out, I would be thinking: should I wear a heavy jumper? But then the tube will be too hot. Ok, I am wearing two layers, so I can take one off at the tube. But then, how will a carry it? Should I take a larger bag then? Does it fit the clothes that I am wearing? I don’t have a proper bag. Ok, I am carrying the second layer with my hands. Will I have enough space when I get to sit in the university room? Will I bother other people with the amount of space that I am occupying? Will I... Ok, I will stop here because you are probably starting to think that I am a freak and I sometimes do too (and I just mentioned the issues about a jumper. Imagine talking to me about something as abstract and complex as love). So, that’s me... I think too much!

Sometime ago I was in this crazy puzzle: How to get out of this? How to think a little bit less? You know, it’s pretty damn tiring to think so much. Should I go to therapy? But would therapy help me to think about a way to stop thinking so much? That’s crazy! How to not think so much? (Please, don’t answer me to just “stop” because it’s impossible to stop an autonomous mind).

During my life I came to many answers for this personal challenge... but a turning point was when someone pretty smart said: “Just start to act, start to make things”. Really? No plan? But what if... “One thing is to think about what you wanna do, a whole new deal is to actually do it”. But how? When do I start? “No big clue, no big step... small things... small actions... just DO things”.

Since then, I am concentrated (an in action) on that. “Doing” something doesn’t just mean to read or to clean... it means to “put” things out for the world. So instead of engaging in a crazy and idealized dialogue with myself... I start to dialogue with the world (See now what this blog is for?). Everyday I make sure I “throw” some ideas out for the world. The important thing is less to really get an answer. The important thing is that by doing so I stop the crazy cycle...I am not wondering “if”, I am waiting for a real answer (or comments in this case).

But the funniest thing is that objects also talk. So, if people are too busy... let’s make things!!! Last weekend I made vegetables risotto. First I actually had to talk to a human being. Dad needed to tell me the recipe. But then I started to “talk” with the food... Onion and garlic told me that they have the best smell when fried... the carrots told me that they are harder, so they needed to be cooked for longer. The oven told me that I was operating it wrong, food was getting burned. But then the risotto told me how easy-peasy it is... It’s in good shape no matter how unskilled is the cooker. They were not just products of my imagination... those are things that actually have an impact at the world (despite not speaking English). By the end... instead of a “if” thought inside my mind, I had a good smell outside my nose.

I never proper read Descartes, so I will challenge to paraphrase him without knowing much.... But if he “thinks therefore he is”.... well, in my case, I need to make in order to be (a healthy person). Let’s eat!

A painted world

How does a painting REALLY impact our day-to-day life?

This weekend I went to this amazing exhibition called “Building the Revolution: Soviet Art and Architecture 1915-1935”. And it was not the political argument that amazed me; I am not communist or socialist. The reason why this event was so interesting was because it showed through a very simple and clear way the power of artistic paintings. We love to see Monet’s beauty or Picasso’s boldness. But do we ever see how their work of art might affect our lives? How many times do we just go to a museum to tick one more item in our tourist’s list?

The exhibition presented some paintings and drawings from some important soviet artists from the post-revolution decades. Their challenge wasn’t a small one. Through their paintings they aimed to investigate new possibilities in order to build up a new society - The Soviet Nation. They were fully committed with the development of a new architecture. They understood that if the Soviet Union wanted a new culture, this implied new walls and new windows. A new way to understand the world, a new way to “frame” the world, a way to “create their own words” to describe the world. The old words were not enough anymore. And they knew that the instrument to get to new possibilities was art.

So, you are probably curious to understand what kind of drawings and paintings did they do to enable this big accomplishment.  What kind of figure may construct a whole nation? Surprisingly, It was most geometric forms (triangles, rectangles, lines, etc.). Trough the juxtaposition, composition and inversion of those abstract geometric forms, they investigated 2D and 3D dimensions. But one could wonder, what the hell a triangle has anything to do with socialism?

                                                            El Lissitzky

                                                   Ivan Kudriashov

What we usually don’t get is that we are surrounded by those forms. We got so used to them, that we don’t realise that we think through them. A window is usually squared, a room is usually rectangular and a roof, triangular. Who has a circular living room? How does a circular living room fit our squared house? How does a circular living room fit our idea of home? Through rectangles, triangles, circles and lines, they were studying the “forms” of our everyday. And how those enabled some space and limited others.

It would be just paper… but just aside the painted canvas at the exhibition, you could see the photos of existing buildings. The ink became concrete. The lines became buildings. Real industries, houses, and clubs that were suppose to translate the values of a new society. The new values were chosen - equality, sociality, productivism, etc – and each wall should translate them, each corridor should take you in their direction:  housing with mainly common areas so people would interact, public kitchens so the women wouldn’t be responsible for the housework, building’s facades that would be integrated with their functions. For this new society, with a new mind, circular buildings please…

 

                      
                                                                         Photos Richard Pare

Not every art is political and not every art is engaged with the construction of a whole new society. Not every art aims to contribute with architecture. That one did… But through this example we can clearly see how those simple rectangles drawn on the paper might drastically influence the kind of walls that we build to our lives and the kind of doors that we see to ourselves.

How do you draw a house? What about a person? A stickman? Is that what you really see? Or better, is that what you would like to see and draw? Could you go farther? What could you use instead of lines? Could you use rectangles? What kind of person would it be then? What kind of world would it constitute? Will you keep squared or try to go circle?

… Shall we look Picasso again?

Xx CBalt

For more information about the exhibition, visit: http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/building-the-revolution/

Images from the exhibition catalogue

The slash people

I remember having always faced kind of a dilemma since I was young. I always had a hard time when dealing with the question: “are you this, or that?” Of course that when it comes to children, they don’t really pronounce so clearly the need to decide. But always when I would get to a reading book club at school with my posh outfit I would get that look: “so, are you preppy or smart after all”? Probably most of you faced similar things, or maybe not, but as I grew up the questions became more and more strong: so, are you more into history or into maths? An academic or corporative? Communication studies or anthropology? When I finally got to London the question was: So, which department are you from, social anthropology or material culture? “Well, I am kind of both. You see, my first supervisor is from material culture and my second is from social anthropology, and my thesis kind of stays in the in-between”.

Mary Douglas (a very important anthropologist) probably would say that the human being need those kind of classifications – maps to understand how to deal with life – and that’s why people are so against the in-between, what she would call “dirty”. Those maps are classifications that separate one thing from the other and, therefore, make things understandable. Those are “frames” that put each set of things into a different box. And I acknowledge that, as I mentioned in the second post of this blog, we need the frames and so, the separations that they imply. But I just cannot avoid my passion for the “in-between”. For something that is between one frame and the other, one classification and the other. And a few weeks ago, I got what I needed.

One of my PhD mattes was challenged by the same question that I was: So, are you from social anthropology or material culture? “Well I am social anthropology slash material culture”. My eyes sparkled! Is that an answer? Can I say that? Slash something else? And I realised how often they do this here. For example, if you don’t understand an Indian dish, one might say: well, this is a yogurt/drink (yogurtslashdrink), a bread/pancake (breadslashpancake). Or, if you don’t know a place, they might say it’s a pub/restaurant (pubslashrestaurant).

Not so surprising to see that in London. After all, that’s the city where nobody is English but everybody is half Greek/half Danish, half Indian/half American, half French/half Japanese, etc. That’s actually what they answer if you ask them their nationality. And do you know the funniest thing? Mary Douglas was a professor at my school!! The slash people school!! Maybe London has changed, maybe not…

Anyway I am already using it. So… Nice to meet you, I am an anthropologist/consultant/teacher/translator/something else that I am still finding out. And that’s not because I cannot figure out myself but because where you see difference, I see connection. Where you see separation, I see communication. 


                                            Another slash thing: House/school/screen

Jeremy Rifkin lecture 'The Third Industrial Revolution’

The lecture was projected on to the AA building. 

To see more: http://www.aaschool.ac.uk

Photos: TS