Sandra Dodd

A page of my site was linked on a blog post. I hadn't thought of it or seen it for a long time and it's really good. Amy Carpenter was responding to something about "passive" viewing and it's worth a read (second or third time for some of us, first time for most):

http://sandradodd.com/activeunschooling.html

Kim Housen linked it at the bottom of this post which is partly about the recent Always Learning Live event in Mebourne, and has a photo of me and the penguin tank at the aquarium near the TV station where I was interviewed the Monday morning after the exhausting (but good!) Melbourne event. :-)

http://featherandnestkim.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/unschooling-conference-with-sandra-dodd.html

Sandra

Justine Scholefield

Thanks for bringing Amy's response back into forefront…I have read it before but it is always interesting to re-read things and observe how my own thinking and responses have changed with time and experience. I was thinking about how this idea of seeing TV, games, movies as "passive" stimulation links in with the notion that just because kids are "not focused" on what is happening, they can't be paying attention. I'm thinking about how my own kids play on their iPads while they watch Avatar, or practice handstands while also listening to the radio or an audiobook. It is kind of like changing your understanding about what learning is…paying attention or listening can take different forms for different people. Focus doesn't require that you do one thing only at a time; in fact, for lots of people, focus requires more than one activity be carried on simultaneously.

Justine