KIDS

Jessie is specifically interested in how teachers and specific education systems could take a different approach towards children. This different approach would include listening more to them, being on an equal footing with them, and stimulating them instead of purposefully teaching them. Teachers should be a support to the children, be able to help them learn what they want to learn and explore what they want to explore. This also goes beyond the traditional school subjects and can also include their own special interests and hobbies. Jessie is also interested in the differences between children and how to adjust the way you teach and communicate with children accordingly. These differences can be both learning as well personality differences. She doesn't believe in putting a label such as ADHD or autism on children. Instead simply observing the child and seeing what he or she needs to grow mentally and intellectually.

To do

+ enjoy a lovely close group reading of texts by John Holt, yoga books for children, and --- together. Reflect and develop ideas based on those.

+ document the people you live with; visually, verbally, audibly, or any other way creatively possible. observe interactions between them, the living space, and yourself.

+ choose something you can hug while you sleep. make it constant; have it next to your bed at all times. choose wisely.

+ go for a swim; at the beach, the pool, or the near maas. enjoy the feeling of being in water. 

+ eat yogurt for breakfast. do it. then, put on loud music and dance. then, if you can, play your own music.

+ every morning, write down your dream as soon as you wake up. use the dreams collection below to archive them.

+ next time you are home alone, choose a song and sing it loudly. make sure your windows are wide open so neighbours can enjoy too.

+ go to a playground and get on the swings. how does that feel?

+ explain to someone in the group who does a different study what your study entails. get to the point where you feel a bit uncomfortable, like you don't know what you are doing there!

+ journal your flags (fearlessly life amazing goal): what is it that you actually want? do you want it because someone told you to or?

Reading & Writing week:

+ find sources (of any kindd) that you find interesting & share with others

+ writing a story (diary) from a child's perspective ("a day in the life of..."): one person starts with two sentences, then it is past on the next person etc. In the end we will have come up with an imaginary child and their life.

+ continue with rituals or whatever you want (hehe) for process documentation

The Dreams Collection

09/20 Bonnie:
I was held captive idk where but it was pretty ok, but I was told that horses cannot eat peanut butter because that toxic for them and then they die. Also something about a store that I had to open and I needed to flee but I don’t know anymore what it was truly about. I was thinking to myself, I should remember but if forgot 😂😂😂😂

09/20 India:
I dreamt that I was coordinating child negotiations for fae and human relations and I was going to go to the counsel because my cousin also fae has been impregnating an unusually high number of people.

09/20 Julia:
I dreamt I was famous lol. People came to our house and guys took a million pictures of me wtf hahaha. Then I was in the street and was supposed to take photos of the event ambiance for my mom, while she was going back and forth in the car. Last thing I remember is that there was one guy that I liked and he was practically naked hahahahha

09/21 India:
I dreamt that I was back in high school and for sone reason I have zero ducks and like brought aperol, gin and other alcohols to school to make cocktails for myself during lunch. I didn’t even realize it was weird until people pointed out to me that it was. I quickly gain a reputation of being a badass but I don’t get in trouble. Whenever teachers bring it up I make them a cocktail and we chill?

09/21 Emmie:
I was in a canoe on a beautiful river. Along the river there were these small cute little streams and everything was bright and beautiful. Suddenly I came across a castle with snow on top, a bit like a ruin. I decided to check it out, but when I wanted to go in, I couldn't find the entrance. After searching for a long time, I noticed a crocodile covered in glitter alongside the river. He told me that I shouldn't go into the castle, cause it was not worth it. Then I sat on his back and we flew away over the river. Then I woke up haha

09/21 Bonnie:
I was on some kind of hazing and we were in a huuuuuge house. Had to do all kind of weird things but I forgot my stuff all the time so I was basically only looking for my stuff... Hahaha. And another one: I was on a school trip that would initially go to Spain but that was a code red because of covid, so we went somewhere else. At the beach the waves were sooo high it was so scary!!!

09/21 Jessie:
I don't remember that much but I dreamt I was in an area with mountains and forests and I was working on two projects and a teacher came to tell me I was focusing too much on only one of the two. There was more, I just don't remember

09/21 Emmie:
Okay so my dream was really weird: I was in a canoe on a beautiful river. Along the river there were these small cute little streams and everything was bright and beautiful. Suddenly I cam accross a castle with snow on top, a bit like a ruin. I decided to check it out, but when I wanted to go in, I couldn't find the entrance. After searching for a long time, I noticed a crocodile covered in glitter alongside the river. He told me that I shouldn't go into the castle, cause it was not worth it. Then I sat on his back and we flew away over the river. Then I woke up haha

09/23 Julia:
I dreamt I was having dinner with my sisters at some lady’s house and Sara was trying out all her swimsuits cause she’s too big now and Nina was talking about underpaid jobs proposed by school teacher and I was blabbering about the color purple and the lady was showing us a book about this year’s sexuality that started with Robert Pattinson getting naked

Bonnie grew up in a city with two loving parents who always watched over her to prevent her from overworking herself. She didn’t always get along with her brother so well, but she thinks this has shaped her in some way. She has always been clever and extravert, but she did have to learn some social skills 😉. As a consequence of her living in a big city, she missed nature as a child and would therefore later maybe choose to live closer to nature in a small community.

Now, years later, she can still feel the love of her parents by the way she is sensitive when people stroke her hair or her back, because her mother used to do that when she was young. In some ways, she is still that little child: she still sleeps better when holding something, she loves swimming. Maybe she shouldn’t cry because her childhood days are over, but acknowledge they’re still inside of her.

HOW CAN WE IMPROVE EDUCATION?

Julia is interested in researching childhood as the first stage of defining our place in society, both individually and collectively. The study of pure human interaction and group dynamics being formed.

Julia is also interested in alternative models of educational environments, in which a sense of playful curiosity stimulates development, change and learning. She wishes to highlight the multiplicity of innovative educational forms, and the importance of such variety in a changing world.

HOW DO WE PERCEIVE LEARNING?

India has a very international background, ranging from Canada to France. Her parents are well-educated people hailing from Canada and Argentina respectively who have become yoga teachers. As they are part of the 90s alternative movement and were very much Burning Man and Lilith Fair people she spent her childhood in a very eclectic manner, surrounded by very diverse people fully believing in alternative ways of living and the mystical When she was a child, she spent a lot of time in nature, playing until the sun went down. She was very interested in the mystical; greek gods, crystals, tantric dance and so forth. She did a lot of dance until the age of 13 but had to quit due to a ligament injury in her ankle. Now, years later, she still dances every morning. She still loves the mystical and creating new worlds, and therefore pledges to tell her dreams every morning to her housemates. Furthermore, she is interested in following this passion perhaps with going into creative industries, publishing or possibly working in a museum.

Passion
India is specifically interested in the lived experience of children. How they interact and percieve with the world, she is also fascinated by the un-schematized imaginations that children have and would like to find in herself and others this unbridled way of being. She is the child of no less than five different scholastic curriculums and has been exposed to many forms of learning and knowing beyond academic activities. She wishes to engage with how a child sees the world and how they know and understand their reality: whether children give new names to plants or animals or if they can see faries she is most interested in documenting and legitimaizing their own experiences and beliefs.

HOW CAN WE LEARN FROM OUR LIVED CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES?

Ana // --> CHILDREN REPRESENT THE MINOR. WHAT IS THEIR ROLE IN OUR FUTURES?
I really love the element of children's imagination and how they do not have "re"- imagine anything, but just purely imagine. I think that this way of imagining is so important for looking at alternative futures as well as pasts..

Celeste // --> IMPORTANCE OF CHILDLIKE THINKING.

Emmie // --> HAVING NO BOUNDARIES WHEN IT COMES TO IMAGINATION; FREEDOM.

INSPIRATION

- Song: Amy MacDonald: This is the Life
- Song: Manu Chao
- Song: MC Yogi: Elephant Power
- Song: Michael Franti: Hello, Bonjour
- Song: Édith Piaf: Milord
- Song: Kinderen voor kinderen: Vuur en Vlam
- Song: Katy Perry - Hot 'n Cold
- Song: Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love
- Song: Miley Cyrus - The Climb or Party in the USA
- Song: JoJo - Too Little Too Late
- Artist: Taylor Swift
- Artist: Manu Chao
- Artist: Maria Mena
- Artist: Avril Lavigne
- Film: Brother Bear
- Film: Spirited Away
- Film: Kirikou
- Film: Across the Universe
- Film: Moulin Rouge (yeah I thought she was a dancer)
- Film: Princes et Princesses by Michel Ocelot (I swear its visually stunning)
- Film: Shrek (for real)
- Film: The Little Mermaid
- Film: Peter Pan (the live action) 

Music and Media Recs. in Honour of our Childhoods

to reform the world means
to reform upbringing.

children are not the people of tomorrow, but are people of today.

they have a
right to be taken seriously, and to be treated with tenderness and respect.

they should be allowed to grow into whoever they were meant
to be.

'the unknown person' inside of them is our hope for the future.

― janusz korczak

Grapefruit (book) by Yoko Ono

How Children Learn & How Children Fail (books) by John Holt

Nature Vs. Nurture Reflections

India:
In high school, I read this poem and at the time i was so excited about it, it was an honest admission of the faults of our parents. As I age the more and more I disagree many people see children as another chance, an opportunity to be better do better. This too I dislike but its not a blind process of passing on trauma but rather a sort of life that is lived vicariously through other. But that too is unfair. Man is not a handing off of misery, shame or sadness… or perhaps its not just the handoff of misery but the hope for a better future. Hope that next time, next time it will be better.

“Over the years, I have noticed that the child who learns quickly is adventurous. She’s ready to run risks. She approaches life with arms outspread. She wants to take it all in. She still has the desire of the very young child to make sense out of things. She’s not concerned with concealing her ignorance or protecting herself. She’s ready to expose herself to disappointment and defeat. She has a certain confidence. She expects to make sense out of things sooner or later. She has a kind of trust.”

- John Holt, educator and coiner of the term ‘unschooling’


“It is not the teacher’s proper task to be constantly testing and checking the understanding of the learner. That’s the learner’s task, and only the learner can do it. The teacher’s job is to answer questions when learners ask them, or to try to help learners understand better when they ask for that help.”

- John Holt, How Children Fail


“Of course, a child may not know what he may need to know in ten years (who does?), but he knows, and much better than anyone else, what he wants and needs to know right now, what his mind is ready and hungry for. If we help him, or just allow him, to learn that, he will remember it, use it, build on it. If we try to make him learn something else, that we think is more important, the chances are that he won’t learn it, or will learn very little of it, that he will soon forget most of what he learned, and what is worst of all, will before long lose most of his appetite for learning anything. Which is the opposite of what we need to do. Rather, we need to create constant appetite for learning through letting children learn whatever they are interested in at that moment.

What makes people smart, curious, alert, observant, competent, confident, resourceful, persistent – in the broadest and best sense, intelligent - is not having access to more and more learning places, resources, and specialists, but being able in their lives to do a wide variety of interesting things that matter, things that challenge their ingenuity, skill, and judgment, and that make an obvious difference in their lives and the lives of people around them.”

- John Holt


“Large scale education was not developed to motivate kids or to create scholars, but to churn out adults who worked well within the system.”

- Seth Godin, Stop Stealing Dreams


“Learning is not done to you. Learning is something you choose to do.”

- Seth Godin, Stop Stealing Dreams


“Universal education through schooling is not feasible. It would be no more feasible if it were attempted by means of alternative institutions built on the style of present schools. Neither new attitudes of teachers toward their pupils nor the proliferation of educational hardware or software (in classroom or bedroom), nor finally the attempt to expand the pedagogue’s responsibility until it engulfs his pupils’ lifetimes will deliver universal education.

The current search for new educational funnels must be reversed into the search for their institutional inverse: educational webs which heighten the opportunity for each one to transform each moment of his living into one of learning, sharing, and caring.”

- Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society


“Learning that is initiated and generated by a learner is uniquely different than learning that is expected and directed from the outside. I have consistently observed over many years that learning that is self-initiated is not entangled with learning difficulties or learning disorders. I have observed that if children are not neurologically or developmentally ready to read or engage in some specific learning task, then they demonstrate neurological deficiencies. It has been astounding to watch many learners achieve results on their own when experts could not help them.”

- Brent Cameron, Self Design


“People are centrally concerned with motivation — how to move themselves or others to act. Everywhere, parents, teachers, coaches, and managers struggle with how to motivate those that they mentor, and individuals struggle to find energy, mobilize effort and persist at the tasks of life and work. People are often moved by external factors such as reward systems, grades, evaluations, or the opinions they fear others might have of them. Yet, just as frequently, people are motivated from within, by interests, curiosity, care or abiding values. These intrinsic motivations are not necessarily externally rewarded or supported, but nonetheless they can sustain passions, creativity, and sustained efforts. Potential lies in the interplay between the two.”

- Self Determination Theory


“Human resources are like the earth’s natural resources. They are highly diverse and often buried deep beneath the surface. They need to be discovered, refined and applied. Education often promotes a narrow view of ability, as do many corporate organizations. As a result, many people are unaware of the variety of their talents and depth of their potential.”

- Ken Robinson

Why do people take or keep their children out of school? Mostly for three reasons: they think that raising their children is their business not the government’s; they enjoy being with their children and watching and helping them learn, and don’t want to give that up to others; they want to keep them from being hurt, mentally, physically, and spiritually.”

- John Holt

Quotes

By & For

September 29th meeting

We were discussing and we have been talking about how we don't really want to create an end product in the traditional sense but that instead, we would like to create a practice and a multimedia outlook that moves beyond the bounds of research, storytelling, music and video by combining them together. We would be asking children to tell us a story in whatever format they choose be it dance, painting voice note whatever. They would give themselves a nom de plume to protect their anonymity and we would include their age. Our output would perhaps include:

A collection of many stories made by children put together consisting of multiple formats of pictures, writings, drawings, and ideas.

A secondary publication that includes the contents of the former combined with research, zine-like images, newspaper clipping and media, the stories and our own understandings and ideas of these stories.

The video with music and videos, and dance that shows our interviews and our process.

``How do children imagine the world?``

``What can we learn from and with their ways of knowing?``

``Can it create new ways of seeing the future?``

1

2

3

Learning from & learning with

Sharing imaginations —> creating new imaginaries

Should we use the word 'stimulate'?

Together? New ways of knowing? --> Create new forms of knowing together with them…

How have people dealt wit the knowledge? —> look into art practice for example

Listen to podcast —> kids have been left out of academic scholarship

Other practices that deal with these notions of children’s knowledge

See how we can work together —> in relation to imagination, and expression of imagination

What can you do through engaging with these kids?

Ask the why of many different steps?

You have to know the why of everything?

Why do you have that openess? Why do you want to stimulate?

Engage! don’t Stimulate

How can you do this? How can you learn form each other? and create something new!
Collaborate on something —> creating something new!

Imagination as vessel, and goal is something else…

Non-hierarchical knowledge

What can you do together that takes away of you being superior to child?

Changing the way we think about education

Pedagogical endeavor —> outside of the school —> space is important

What do you do together?

Thinking of the most unrealistic opposite of school,education?

It’s a start!

Notes Meeting 8th of October

Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5CYXoW6x3Yuu15ObEuIlgW?si=9_SxRL2CTI2sdnl5ks16xw

- How is your collaboration going?
Overall we agree that our collaboration process is going very well. We feel that we really listen to each other, and always try to check in on everyone to see how everyone is holding up. Even though many of us have experienced working in group projects, we agree that this is the first time we feel that it actually works very well! We think this is mainly due to our motivation and passion towards our topic. Moreover, we continue to communicate properly, as there are not many misunderstandings between us. When there is tension in the group, we feel that we can easily solve it, we have created a judge-mental space, which allows for better communication and trust amongst the group.

We do feel that because we mainly meet online, our collaborative process is restricted. During the Zoom meetings we work together very productively, but as soon as we leave the meeting, it feels far more individual. So the periods in between the meetings do not feel as collaborative, which make sense given the corona situation.
Another ‘challenge’ we have come across is the difference in ECTs depending on the institution. As Codarts students only get 6 ECTs, they do not have to put in the same amount of work as us, and we still have not figured out how to work with that.

How have you created a constructive and productive working environment as a team? And if not, why do you think this is the case?

During the first couple weeks of the minor we were able to meet in person, which allowed us to feel comfortable together, and this definitely was a productive working environment. Because we have met in person, we do feel that we are able to work together productively, however due to the online meetings this is definitely restricted. It really slows us down. Because we mostly talk, it can often feel like we are not being productive even though in reality we are.


- How are you combining scientific, embodied and/or visual knowledges in your team?

During our meetings, we like to brainstorm a lot, and since we come from different institutions, this often leads to us combining different forms of knowledge. Throughout the weeks we have definitely combined and used different knowledge forms. We are creating mind maps, reliving childhood experiences, creating videos, having conversations, doing research (which includes reading, as well as listening, and watching), we are reflecting through academic practices, we are singing and making music etc.


- What is the influence of academic, artistic and societal practices on your project?

There are many different practices that influence our project. This includes academic research on education, and children's psychology & development as well as


- What audiences are reaching with your project, and how are you doing so?

We do not have one particular focus. We believe that this project is extremely relevant to variety of different people, ranging from children themselves, to people working within educational institutions, to parents, etc. We would love to make this project public through creation of a publication in a particular form.


- Why have you chosen this topic, and why have you chosen to approach it in the way that you do?

We have chosen this topic for many different reasons. All of us have our own intrinsic motivations, but we do agree on a couple of reasons.

Reflection

EXPERIENCES:

EMMIE: Olaf (6) & Oscar (4)
Different than expected → thought they would be hard to talk to, but was actually very natural, talking about random things.
4 year old child compared to 6 year old→ more realistic
6 year old → more ‘unrealistic’ imagination
Different opinions about leprechauns

JESSIE: Red (11)

Jessie emphasized the fact that it is not interview
Started talking about drawing → he showed Jesssie the drawings
Conversation switched back and forth
Sang a song
Drawing something together
Talked a lot about Pokemon
Drawing Pokemon → already thinking in rigid boundaries. Jessie’s response ‘you can do anything you want’
Talking more about the Pokemon → how does it have babies → dropping seeds in air
Went on for 2-3 hours!
Played afterwards

INDIA: 10, 5 & 9

Interesting because → 10/11 year old, very covid/environmentally conscious. More serious also uplifting


9 year old → imaginary world → candy world & trampolines
Likes to imagine worlds which defy laws of physics and gravity, very much interested in sugar (very relatable my dad asked me when I was 3 what my favourite word was and I swear my dad says i responded in a gremlin/gollum type voice *SUGAR*)
Flaps her arms when excited
Very aggressive with her brother
Actually loves to sing and sang for me
5 year old → mythical, fantasy --. Spent time tracing dragon
Loves to draw things exactly
Very detail oriented
Spent a lot of time tracing his dragon
Enjoys high fantasy particularly phoenixes and dragon
Loves to sing and learns many songs by heart, its actually really good because he was non-verbal for a very long time.
Interesting to do call with siblings + mother


JULIA:
Felt very healthy → mental detox. Felt so nice to have a conversation with someone who is so in the present/now.
Curious about you
So inspiring!
First one → 9 year old girl. A bit shy at the start, and then started opening up more and more. Later, a friend came over. Started drawing her swing, what food would u be (mango & how could you be the supermarket)
Kept playing word games
2nd one → 4 year old: has his own little office → appointment in the office.
Playing around in zoom → muting and unmuting
He really wanted to put backgrounds in zoom → really playing in space
3rd one → 2 girls (9 & 4): both really excited about the session.
Curious about where Julia was in the world & her room. Wanted to meet her roommates.
Very funny answers → interesting how their answers influenced each others answer
Also interesting to ask very direct questions: What’s your goal in life? What they talked about earlier influenced answer
Unicorns



ANA: 4 kids/3 instances

Siblings
2 in person: 4 and 6 yo
Different expectations
Not the happiest kid - direct to your face
Excited in a calm way
Kids are different - some need stimulation
fishing<3
Speaking normally to kids
drawing/painting fishes
Sister comes in grabs everything no thinking
Making a forest

Rowen 10yo
Used to babysit
Grew up with him
Normal friends convo
Prepared questions influenced answers
Zoom hard to go with their flow
Drawing imaginary world
Excited
British accent!!!! hjzqiosfhslfjdskl

Nai
Shy, short answers
Smiley
Drawing pandas/people world in silence lol
Went to park and SHE FELL BLED CRY SCREAM FULL ON WOULD NOT STOP FOR HOURS