More than just knowing stuff!

The story behind the stories

September 28, 2012

I’m a sucker for knowing the story behind things.  Whether it is a biography about a famous person, a film about an event in history or an interview with an artist.  I think as humans we want to make sense of things in the world, especially when they are just off centre with the norm.  We want to put the pieces together in a way that fit and are plausible.  It’s the stuff that refuses to fit or to make sense that leaves us thinking.

So what does this mean about who we are?  As learners?

Today I watched a video that Sir Ken Robinson posted on Twitter called Behind the TEDTalk 2010.  I found it incredibly refreshing to see and hear the stories of the speakers leading up to the Ted Talk.  It was moving and empowering to see what happens and goes through the mind of the speakers before they stand up on stage to deliver their talk.  The strength that Raghava KK gains from his family is heart warming as he shares with us his conversations with his parents.

As learners we don’t often get to share the stuff that goes on before the ‘real’ stuff is shared.  This is a shame.  It’s the insights or the behind the scenes work and thinking that probably takes the most time, the most effort and the most conviction.  As I type now, I am in the process of putting together my action research project for my Masters in School Leadership.  And today, I have spent most of my day thinking and reflecting.  Perhaps some might call this procrastination.  But for me I am still trying to make sense of stuff; where I fit with this research, what is relevant and worth sharing, what the purpose really is.

How often do we allow our students this time to wonder about where they fit in the picture of education?  To wonder about their learning?

My research is around the power of story: how story is the form that helps to put the pieces together, connects us with the various parts and allows us to make meaning of it all. It is compelling hearing, reading and watching stories.  It is also compelling being able to tell them.  But what is the story?  What if the story is still not clear?  And all the parts have not yet emerged?

My research will be written and I know the story is still not complete, but I think another a little piece of sense making may have happened today.

Behind the TEDTalk 2010 from m ss ng p eces on Vimeo.

Entry Filed under: 21st Century Skills,leadership,learning. Posted in  21st Century Skills ,leadership ,learning Tags: Raghava KK, reflection, Sir Ken Robinson, stories, story, study, TEDTalk.