I’m reading a book called Complexity, by M. Mitchell Waldrop, which is written for a nontechnical audience, and gives the history of this scientific movement. It’s a good read, written in a journalistic style….no big words or tortured syntax.

I’m not sure myself how useful this will be. But I do know that looking at the classroom from a variety of points of view yields different, and sometimes useful, understandings.

I absolutely agree with Freire about the importance of the teacher’s intelligent use of his/her authority: the teacher has authority, that cannot nor should not be denied, and the line between authority and authoritarianism is a very thin one. What stops you overstepping it? An understanding of authoritarianism and how it works in practice, what the costs and benefits are, would, to my mind, be more useful than complexity theory.

My year is starting unlike any other. With similarities and a kind of sweetness. It takes a long while for me to find the path and for my students to see how i will fit their paths.
I enjoyed the extended exchanges here.

I’m thinking of doing some watercolors after the last recess. 1stgrade rs enjoy this and i would like to see if i can actually say to you later that I was able to watercolor “on the first day”. That would be quite a thing. Perhaps I will ask them to draw what they think learning here together can be. ummm.
Very nice posts.