The temperature fell this week and our air conditioning hasn’t been humming for a few days, so now we are definitely in the autumn/fall season. People seemed a little caught out by the change, as I was, feeling a bit chilly while around me, passengers in shorts and t-shirts and others in coats and trousers waited for the bus.
I am on high alert while on public transit. Super-sensitive about correct mask-wearing, but I would never say anything because you don’t know how people are going to react, and besides it’s only a short ride into town. Instead, I glare at those that transgress, hoping somehow they’ll pick up on my vibes and bring their masks up over their noses. Come on people! At least I’m reassured by the relatively higher numbers of those vaccinated in the city that the risks are lower than elsewhere, the busses tend not to be too crowded and people keep to themselves.
I enjoy the bus mostly because I get to listen to podcasts and look out of the window. I can check my phone for emails so that there are no surprises when I get to work and I order a coffee to collect from the coffee store by my stop. It’s not a bad way to start the day, even if the car would be about half an hour quicker.
Stephan
Teaching & Learning
In the first of a few podcasts I listened to this week comedian Josie Long presented an episode of BBC Radio 4’s Seriously called The Imperilled Adventures of the Adventure Playground. It includes an interview with the writer Michael Rosen who mentions loose parts theory, an idea introduced by Simon Nicholson which suggests that instead of providing children with toys that have a prescribed use, you just give them stuff that only becomes a toy when the child uses their imagination to turn it into something. He uses the example of a fork, so a child might pick it up and say that it's a telephone and you can pick one up too and you can both have a conversation, and ask “how are you today?”. This loose parts theory is epitomized by adventure playgrounds, for instance, a tire on a rope becomes a swing or a few bits of wood a structure that you can climb up or shelter under.
It’s clear from Josie’s radio documentary that we need more adventure playgrounds, whose numbers have decreased over the years through funding cuts. They are also imperiled because grown-ups are so worried about all the accidents and injuries that might befall their little angels, that they feel their role is to continuously risk-assess when actually children are already very good at staying safe and ask when they need help. I had a colleague in a previous role who was worried about their kid’s hearing and thought there might be an issue where they couldn’t hold their balance very well or were generally a bit wobbly. The doctor asked how often they went to playgrounds and how often their child fell off things, hardly ever was the answer. I came a cropper all the time when I was young, various bike accidents, cut chins, grazed knees, and I was always picking the grit out of my palms. I’m so grateful for all this looking back. As one contributor puts it “..we ferry our kids around in metal boxes and take them into places with locks on them, we never let them out in the wild.”
It’s all about learning. I love the idea of students walking into a room only to find a selection of items on a table, perhaps a few instructions, and being asked to build or design something. Rarely do we get the opportunity to do this, I’m not even sure some students would see it as learning. I know that they can be anxious about structure and the need for clear instruction, but I honestly don’t mind if they set out to do one thing but end up making something entirely different. Loose parts theory can be encountered in maker spaces, and children’s museums, in spaces, chock full of materials and tools that children can use to play and build. There’s some more info here at Louise Penfold’s wonderful site and more examples at the Wide School.
Life Lessons
Perhaps all this talk about adventure playgrounds and children’s museums is a symptom of my struggling through the changes as our big kid becomes a fully-fledged teenager. I already miss going places to play and explore, which we still do with our youngest. I’m not going to talk too much about all this, but safe to say that he’s handling the adjustment a lot better than I am, I seem to be constantly nagging, anxious about his whereabouts, wondering how he’ll be fed and what state his room might be in. I need to get a grip, frankly. I’m not being helpful.
My partner, so much wiser, reminded me of the need to be positive and to give lots of encouragement. His needs for us have changed, we’re now primarily service providers, taxis, food, money, lodgings, etc and occasional emotional backup or at least giving reassurance that there’s a safety net when things go wrong. Those of you out there who have teenage kids will be either nodding sagely or tutting at my naivety. I need to figure some of this out quickly, it has sort of crept up on me, or perhaps I just didn’t want it to happen so soon.
I’ve just written about the need for parents to let their kids fall off things, and now I realize that this advice is good for a lifetime. I know that being a teenager is different now and I’m wondering just how much it really is like Catlin’s Moran’s famous quote?
“Because what you are, as a teenager, is a small, silver, empty rocket. And you use loud music as fuel, and then the information in books as maps and coordinates, to tell you where you’re going.”
He’s got this.
There is help out there, a library full of advice books that I should at least leaf through, please send recommendations and booze.
Lost and Found
All this time on the bus means that I’ve been catching up with podcasts and thinking too about recording audio, I know you’ve heard that before, but this time…
Anyway, here are a few recommendations for you.
Josie Long (again) presents Short Cuts, radio documentaries, and found sounds curated by themes. I listened to the episode Repetition, which includes a difficult and moving segment by producer Talia Augustidis, embarking on a project as a carer with a woman who is suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia. Each day when Talia gets out her microphone and checks the levels she asks “What did you have for breakfast?”
Human Resources is a podcast from Broccoli Productions exploring the story of British involvement in the slave trade. This is a brilliantly made series hosted by Moya Lothian-McLean, a journalist and descendent of both Black African Slaves and White slave owners.
I’m still subscribed to the Third Coast Audio Festival newsletters which offer so many great podcasts that you just won’t have time to listen to them all. A good place to start is to scroll through some of the nominees and past winners of the Third Coast/Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition, some are included in a new category for short documentary. I enjoyed this fascinating episode Centurians in Lockdown, featuring Joe and Anita Newman, 107 and 100 years old respectively, talking about the 1918 pandemic.
Finally, I know that there are so many places to get your podcasts from and ways to play them on your computer, phone, or any other device where you can listen. I’m still using overcast.fm created by Marco Arment who is a creator and developer and also co-host of the Accidental Tech Podcast. Its features have been steadily rolled out and the app has kept its unfussy and accessible user interface.
Thank you
Apologies, that there’s little to no language learning content this week, and you might have to wait a little longer as we’ll be enjoying some guest written issues as I hand over the controls of “Spaces” to a few friends in the coming months. I’m excited by the prospect of introducing you to some new people and hearing from them for a change.
I need to tidy the garden and put away a few summer things. The work of leaf raking hasn’t started just yet, I’m in no hurry, but I will have to set aside some time over the next few months. Perhaps the shorter day will bring much-needed creativity to my evenings, it all seems to be work at the moment, committees, papers, lesson planning. I’ve signed up for a few more courses, some coding refreshers, and hopefully learn some new skills that I’ll be able to employ during my sabbatical.
We’re still missing people at home, but there was welcome news this week that travel might open between the UK and US around Thanksgiving. Who knows, we might get some visitors? I’m afraid I can’t see an end to facemasks and the sort of everyday caution that is now baked into our routines. I’m not sure there’s a way out of this just yet. Anyway, I hope that you’re taking care, staying safe and looking after yourselves. Let’s stay strong together.