Development Pathways

The ‘work’ of Talking Hands Talking Feet is about encouraging creative education pathways. It’s about the moments when the spark of learning happens! One of our moms calls it ‘stealth learning’. We love that. One of our teacher collaborators describes it as – ‘back door learning’.

It’s true. Learning happens through the ‘back door’, or the subconscious mind, when you are fully captivated in something intensely creative, challenging, relevant and new. It happens when you’re ‘green’, ‘in the green’, as a first timer, a beginner. The challenge is – can we be first time, keen green beginners every time?

Here’s another quote which helps to paint a picture: “It’s easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than it is to think your way into a new way of acting.” (Millard Fuller)

It’s not ‘work’ at all. It’s more like, well…play!

There is an arising of highly sensitive, attentive and perceptive parents and teachers who share a common feeling of being moved to catch and respond to newly appearing ways of human education.
Here are some of the symptoms:

You feel something new is possible but don’t know how to get to it.
Existing models and ideology seem absurdly irrelevant and obsolete.
Many of the young lives in one’s care represent the face of the future pressing in with urgent need, in the flesh, with clear eyes and bright minds,    hungry for new ways
It seems to require an ongoing spirit of open inquiry, research and experimentation without assumption or conclusion.
It is exhilarating, inspiring, challenging and won’t leave you alone.
It’s about catching the subtle and elusive hints that represent threads of connection, life lines to a whole new universe of perception.

Here is a little story. This winter and spring we did a multiage program called Wild and Free in a Santa Fe School. It explores endangered species and their habitats, ecosystems and biomes, biodiversity and sustainability. The story involves the fourth grade class.

We were into our fourth session with the fourth graders working on a newly arriving song about Biomes and Biodiversity. It was cool. We feel incredibly honored to introduce such vital concepts through the arts.

There was a wonderful creative atmosphere in the room. It always comes with a certain look in the eyes. Something spontaneous, new and green was appearing. First there was the rhythmic rap to the words – “Biosphere, Biomes, Biodiversity”. Then an accompanying line showed up – “The earth is a place of variety. Variety is the spice of life.”