“Are you with me now” A J Ryder
Over the years, I’ve read Tim Ingold’s work and have always been influenced by it. Sometimes it feels like we come up with language that without ever having met is so similar it boggles my mind. This week, when an article I wrote about Outlearners came out in Education Reimagine’s Voyager, I discussed using ‘becomes’ instead of or in addition to outcomes:
“This moves our assessment measures from just outcomes to “becomes” (that is, who the students are becoming through their learning).”
I received lots of feedback from readers on just this one sentence but what I didn’t realize until a week ago was that Tim Ingold co-wrote a book about becoming in a very thoughtful way.
Biosocial Becomings explores human life as a process of 'becoming' rather than 'being', and demonstrates that humanity is neither given in the nature of our species nor acquired through culture but forged in the process of life itself.
Although their research has little to do with formal education, it has loads to do with how we learn and become with the world, not just in the world. Their work should influence schools, places of learning and how and what we measure. I’m spending time on their take 'on becoming' this weekend. It is funny how getting a piece of writing out there leads to and challenges me to keep my curiosity on high.
This quote by Ingold ended the Navigating Our Way animation I did with FableVision years ago.
Back at The Met…..
My two days at The Met were filled with making connections for both Big Picture and Namahana. My meetings with Brian, Joe, Nancy and Andrew were about the bigger picture for BPLiving. Here we were joined by Quillen Dominique, a former k-12 BPL student from Santa Monica and now at the Rhode Island School of Design. Quillen spent his entire summer interning with Kapua, Anthonette and the staff at Waipa Foundation on the North Shore of Kauai, He worked on the opening of Namahana and B-U. A good part of that work involved putting BPLiving in a Hawaiian cultural context and moving it front and center as a school practice. Our meeting at the Met placed Quillen in the center of communication between the Met and Namahana, an important part of the growth of this new school. This year, Quillen will work with Andrew’s Advisory in the Park on BPLiving. He will continue this work with Joe and Andrew spreading BPLiving throughout the Met with a new initiative in the vein of Harbor Freight Fellows as BPLiving Lifestyle Fellows. This will be a B-Unbound program done after school hours with students both from the Met and the surrounding community. And this is where Brian comes in because he manages the afterschool programs. This set up meeting was a great start that will continue throughout the year and will also involve using the IBPLC with Andrea who first got Quillen involved in this work. This circle is still growing so if anyone has more to add please let me know.
Everytime I go to the Met, it is reunion time. Here I'm sharing a photo of Janet - Principal at Justice, Andrew - long standing advisor at Justice and Steve Bartholomew - Executive Director at New Legacy Charter School in Denver area. They all started in the same cohort about 20 years ago as advisors. 'Nuff said!
Finally while I was at The Met I was on a Zoom with Carlos, Andrew, Karla, Zeila, Anna, Sonn and Dennis about the 30th Anniversary of BPL happening at Big Bang in Providence. This brainstorm of a call is just the beginning. We are 9 months out and I’m sure this very special Big Bang will turn out to be a really moving time for all involved. It will have implications for our work going forward locally, nationally and internationally.
Next week, Sonn and I are off to Winnipeg where we will be working with the entire Winnipeg district and doing work with individual schools. Also, we have meetings set up with Brian O’Leary Deputy Minister of Education in Manitoba and another new district interested in BPL.
Congrats to the BPL Yass Team for winning the Yass Prize – YASSIR!
More to come.
Be well!
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