escuela del desierto

Best viewed large so you can read the text :)

© Nicole Raisin Stern, 2004
* * *

The colored pencil drawing and text is a partial vision of my school-to-be, the one I have been building in my imagination for over 20 years.

I am now putting my vision "out there" into the Universe. The movie "Field of Dreams" brought us the slogan "build it and they will come." I am adding to this, "draw it and they will come." Draw it and they will come to help me build a learning community that respects and nurtures the whole person. A school for children K-12 to make discoveries, discover interests, and to nurture curiosity through language learning while making things, doing art, playing music, growing vegetables, and much much more, in a community environment.

If you are reading this and love children, learning, languages, have lots of money (or fund-raising ability), inspiration, creativity, and community spirit to contribute to the building of this school, let's talk. Until then, I'll keep on envisioning this school and drawing it into existence.

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Comments

alight says:

yes yes yes a thousand times yes *

i warmly, gratefully acknowledge and honor your intention .. intention is beyond-powerful ... and i See it coming to be, nicole... in Spirit, it already IS.
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

Kamala L says:

Beautiful dream for a noble purpose!
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

Ten Directions says:

great idea and dream!
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

yaxchibonam says:

Keep putting it out there!
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

Spanish Rose says:

Nicole, I love your school!
I can only see this size.
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

Nana Sainton says:

I'm with you, Nicole!!
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

labspics says:

Wonderful drawing, idea and vision! Have you heard of the Reggio Emilia approach? It sounds so close to your dream! It is a very holictic school system. Check this out. There have even been exhibitions of the art work of the children in our museaum of modern art. It surpassed the regular children's art by miles. They drew and made poems about their life. Very very touching and hope giving.
This is the Italian site (in English)
Also google 'Loris Malaguzzi', he'll inspire you even more.

--
Seen in my contacts' photos. (?)
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

Sue Magee says:

What a wonderful idea! I wish you lots of luck in making the dream a reality.
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

hialoakapua says:

blessings for your dream
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

Nicole Raisin Stern ॐ says:

thanks everyone!

labspics: yes, i have heard of Reggio Emilia and have been inspired by what i have read. Will goooooogle Loris Malaguzzi.

At the base of this school is language learning (after all, everything is learned through language). "Second" or "other language" learning in particular will be a main focus. Language learning and art-making (hands-on project doing) is integrated into the curriculum. It's time for Americans to stop being monolingual idiots. I mean no offense, my monolingual friends, it's our educational system that also needs to change. We need competent language teachers as well as advocates in the system to move us towards a more globally inclusive perspective. High school students should be graduating knowing how to speak, read, and write at least two languages well and preferably three or four. It can be done. And it can be fun.

Danielle: Thanks! I drew the original drawing for Booyeon's PF. She asked if I would draw a picture of my ideal language classroom.
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

Nicole Raisin Stern ॐ says:

*Nolleke: I'm not sure why you can only see the one size--I'll check my account. I might have turned off the sizing feature to prevent people from downloading/copying my art in larger sizes. I wonder if other contacts can use the "all sizes" feature.
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

labspics says:

@ all sizes: me neither

--
Seen in my recent comments. (?)
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

Nicole Raisin Stern ॐ says:

Okay, I turned on the "all sizes" feature; my contacts should be able to see the larger sizes now, too.
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

zanettco ( Back and slowly recovering! ) says:

This is really very nice !

This Great Photographic Art was made by a Diamond Class Photographer!
Please add your photo to Flickr Diamond: The Diamond Class Photographer
Read the group rules please and tag your photo DiamondClassPhotographer
You may tag your photo again as flickrdiamond
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

persisting stars says:

this is so splendid and illuminating ~ I love schools such as this and
even camped out for a week to get mine into a fine arts school)

Your vision is breathgiving;)
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

Nicole Raisin Stern ॐ says:

Hvala, Zana! Maybe you will come to teach languages in my school? i joined your diamond group, just because you awarded me:)

Thank you, Maddie. I laughed and smiled reading your comment because I always think of "breath giving" as a more appropriate expression than breathtaking (I'll save that word for when i die :) :) :) :)
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

conceptvessel says:

nicole!! your vision is wonderful and so essential... i am happy to support you in this project in the ways that i can... let me think... :)
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

Nicole Raisin Stern ॐ says:

thank you, jeanne, for your thinking... think away! "i can think, i can wait, i can fast" as Siddartha (Hermann Hesse) says.
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

Spanish Rose says:

Nicole, thank you!
We could do here with your school.
Nowadays children don't like learning and easily drop out, like my son. My daughter is on a Rudolph Steinerschool, that is closer to your school.
On the other hand my son doesn't like the soft approach either. Maybe you can draw him too;).
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

Nicole Raisin Stern ॐ says:

Hi Nolleke.
What I think is that children really do like learning and are learning all the time despite our efforts. Some methods, teachers, and systems do not encourage children's natural curiosity, but rather stifle it. Educators should be expending their energy towards heightening children's curiosity and zeal to learn with real life experiential projects that incorporate physical, developmental, social-emotional-communal, aesthetic-contemplative-spiritual, intellectual academic skills. The point of my school is to allow students to draw themselves into an existence that shines. To me, the 'soft approach' is when students are fed a bland diet of the standard curriculum and expected to merely pass tests and be just average, follow directions, sit down and shut up. In a school like the one I propose, students are directly responsible for finding what interests them (with guidance from the teacher-facilitators). In my experience teaching mask making, Japanese brush calligraphy, bookmaking, pottery, and Japanese language to American high school students, I found that they responded really well to being given a wide field to roam in and a set of methodological steps they could try out to see if my way worked for them. In 100% of the students I taught, I saw students complete useful projects that they could then replicate at home or outside the classroom. I feel sure that the lessons learned transfer into other acts and areas of their lives. When students are creating projects, they are taking steps that contribute to the process of conceptualizing an abstract idea into a concrete product or event. Children need to be trusted and yet given *some* direction. The direction should be in accord with the child's way (this educational aim is not a new age or "alternative" method! We can find this ideal expressed in the Book of Proverbs 22:6: "educate a child according to his [her] way"). Here are a few of my role models and inspirations for my escuela del desierto: Maria Montessori, John Dewey, Sylvia Ashton Warner, Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Rudolph Steiner/Waldorf, and for the second language learning part, all of my professors from the Graduate School of Language and Educational Linguistics at Monterey Institute of International Studies; Ofelia Zepeda, Stephen Krashen, and others. My list keeps growing. And the ideas keep flowing.

The concept of 'soft' approach vs 'hard' (?) approach is really interesting to me. I've experienced some pretty hard blasé high schoolers (in gangs or on probation) as well as middle schoolers who responded well to my patience and my direction. I often have used Japanese kanji and brush calligraphy as a way in. Kanji is very popular for tatoos and it is not Spanish or English, so is perceived as "exotic" or maybe hip and cool. From wanting to know how their names are "spelled" in Japanese katakana letters, this leads into isolated words and ideas (like 'love" and other words that teens might want to know and that I won't repeat here), and leads to some explanations I give about the language and culture (and imto explorations that they do as their interest- spark is ignited). What I think they see, also, is my inspiration and love of learning the Japanese culture/language/art form, and this settles them down and back into their curious and innocent loving selves. They really need teachers who like to learn, who are patient and playful, and can inspire them to learn. So, it's in the combination of soft & hard, being them and being a teacher that the students see/feel authenticity... I could go on and on.
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

conceptvessel says:

nicole, will you consider a book for publication... ? i imagine words and images, resources, etc. for teachers, parents, all of us... a manifesto, and a recipe book. :)
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

Nicole Raisin Stern ॐ says:

Good idea, jeanne! Do you know any publishers/editors who'd want to read my book? Manifestos are fun and need updating periodically as we change and the communities we live in change and grow. I remember at Naropa, one of the first assignments that Anne Waldman had us do in her poetry class was to write our individual manifestos. At MIIS, too, one of our professors had us write our whole group/class aspirations and goals in Curriculum Design and our individual ones in our Principles and Practices of Language Teaching and Classroom Observation classes.
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

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escuela del desierto

Comments

alight says:

Kamala L says:

Ten Directions says:

yaxchibonam says:

Spanish Rose says:

Nana Sainton says:

labspics says:

Sue Magee says:

hialoakapua says:

Nicole Raisin Stern ॐ says:

Nicole Raisin Stern ॐ says:

labspics says:

Nicole Raisin Stern ॐ says:

zanettco ( Back and slowly recovering! ) says:

persisting stars says:

Nicole Raisin Stern ॐ says:

conceptvessel says:

Nicole Raisin Stern ॐ says:

Spanish Rose says:

Nicole Raisin Stern ॐ says:

conceptvessel says:

Nicole Raisin Stern ॐ says:

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