Reimagining the Classroom: Creating New Learning Spaces and Connecting with the World

by Theodore Richards

Overview

A practical approach to shared inquiry and exploration in K-12 classrooms

We are in a period of unknowns unlike any in a generation or more. As educators, we need new pathways and ideas that can help us educate children for the world to come. Reimagining the Classroom: Creating New Learning Spaces and Connecting with the World provides practical steps and examples that parents and educators can use to begin to create new learning spaces, approaches, and outcomes. Dr. Richards’ provocative book asks us to reconsider some of our basic assumptions about teaching and learning. It helps parents and educators question and recast these assumptions and practices while providing concrete, tested activities and ideas that will help readers reimagine educational spaces rooted in the notion that classrooms—and the stories we tell in them—are a metaphor for the world we hope to create.

Reimagining the Classroom is divided into two parts. The first offers the intellectual framework parents and educators are seeking; it identifies specific problems with current approaches, offers an alternative vision and set of narratives, and then offers a new pedagogy to satisfy this vision. The second part of the book moves from the theoretical to the practical. Dr. Richards provides tested pedagogical tools for classrooms in science and math; literature and fine arts; spirituality and mindfulness; practical arts; and justice and social-emotional learning.

• Discover practical tools for creating educational spaces that prepare students for the world they will encounter
• Help students express their values and learn to live in community
• Replace or supplement school with at-home learning and activities that will give students an edge for the future
• Learn how the traditional approach to education is failing our kids and leading to an epidemic of depression and anxiety

For educators and parents ready to consider a radical shift in service of our children’s wellbeing, this book explains what, fundamentally, education can and should look like.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781119877042
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	12/08/2022
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	1,140,738
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

DR. THEODORE RICHARDS is the founder of Wisdom Projects, a national organization dedicated to reimagining education and community. Dr. Richards has taught in numerous settings, from a rural adult literacy program in Zimbabwe to youth in Harlem and the South Side of Chicago. He is currently an adjunct professor of philosophy with the Odyssey Project.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Everything Is Education; Everywhere Is a Classroom 1

Part I Reimagining Education 7

1 The Crisis of Education: Childhood in the Age of Loneliness 9

Our Story 12

The Cosmology of Loneliness and Education for Liberation 14

Education 17

2 The Context for Education: The One-Planet Classroom 25

The Whole: Cultivating Planetary Consciousness 26

Depth: The Third Dimension 30

Difference and Diversity 33

Ecology 36

The Power of Circles 40

Wildness and Play 45

Notes 49

3 The Process for Education: A Pedagogy for Reimagining the Story 51

Holistic Education 52

Community: Sharing the Story (Reimagining the Classroom) 57

Intellect: Critiquing the Story 60

Soul: Feeling the Story 63

Hands: Embodying the Story 65

Oikos: Expanding the Story 68

Creativity: Reimagining the Story 69

The Whole: Integrating the Story (Reimagining the World) 72

Note 73

Part II Reimagining the Classroom 75

4 Cosmos: Science and Math through Cosmology and Ecology 79

Community 81

Intellect 82

Soul 87

Hands 88

Oikos 94

Creativity 96

Integration 98

5 Arts: Literature, Performing Arts, Visual Arts 101

Community 102

Intellect 103

Soul 105

Hands 107

Oikos 108

Creativity 109

Integration 113

Note 114

16 Spirit: Spirituality, Mindfulness, Meditation 115

Community 116

Intellect 117

Soul 120

Hands 124

Ecology 127

Creativity 128

Integration 128

7 Hands: Practical Life, Work, and Hands-on Learning 131

Community 132

Intellect 133

Soul 134

Hands 135

Oikos 137

Creativity 137

Integration 138

8 Justice and Joy: Social-Emotional Justice Studies 141

Community 142

Intellect 143

Soul 144

Hands 146

Oikos 147

Creativity 150

Integration 152

Part III Reimagining the World 153

9 Unstandardized Testing: From Classroom to World 155

1 Are we aware of the story? 157

2 Do we experience intimacy with the Earth? 158

3 Are we physically and mentally healthy? 159

4 Is our work meaningful and impactful? 160

5 Is everyone an artist whose story is heard? 160

6 Is each person valued equally? 161

7 Are we playing and learning joyfully? 161

8 Are our institutions and systems liberatory? 162

9 Are our stories about ourselves asset-based rather than deficit-based? 162

10 Are our stories about the world relational rather than the cosmology of loneliness? 163

Epilogue: Learning How to Love and Be Loved 165

References 169

Acknowledgments 173

About the Author 175

Index 177