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Student Well-Being Opinion

Awakening the Curiosity Within - a poem

By Starr Sackstein — July 02, 2017 1 min read
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Although I haven’t written poetry for a while, it is always amazing to me the relationship we have with words (or at least it’s my inner nerd that tells me everyone has one of those kinds of relationships.)

Often when I consider education the images and emotions it provokes within me at challenging times, putting a landscape of ideas together in a different way helps me to tackle, name and start to move through challenges.

This realization is often the one that helps with students while trying to access what they know and can do. Naturally, many of us communicate what we know and can do differently and perhaps if we offer students other opportunities, they too will connect with their leanring in different ways.

So here is a poem I wrote about education I’d like to share:

Creeping quietly

below the surface

lurks and simmers

that which once reigned supreme

Born to all,

alive and vibrant

delicate and magical

we walked this

each as children

inherently armed with awe-

a sense of wanting to know

why and how

a desire to understand

and explore..

With age came formal schooling -

a place that was supposed to free

the spirit more -

provide answers

but instead,

the wicked irony of learning

within a system

violently suppressed

beneath the shroud

the very thing we covet most

As years eroded the beauty

of each day,

the light filled eyes

grew dim

and stayed that way

for

a

L O N G

time

Until now -

there is a rumble

in the distance

a growing, festering

acknowledgement of need

an awakening

of life and reinvestment

to connecting back

with the child

who naturally knew

curiosity.

Learning is that opportunity.

Outside the boundaries of the walls

the colors appear more vibrant

the answers more plentiful

no fear

no worries

just questions

with infinite answers

Life,

alive with passion

desirable aha moments

to be had

privately or publicly shared

investing in the betterment

of all

Education must seek

to reconnect the learner

with its inner child

unafraid of wrong

believing they can

encouraging promise

rejoicing in trying

success in...

As we each emerge

within the powerful

grasps of “I can”

We seek our collective truth

independently harnessed

to our desire to learn

How do you seek the curiosity from within and how do you get your students or colleagues to do the same? Please share

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