Changing the Nature of Education One Teacher at a Time

Lewis, Richard
Living by Wonder: Writings on the Imaginative Life of Childhood
New York: Parabola Books, 1998

Lincoln Center Institute (LCI) hosted an “Imagination Conversation” on June 25th as part of the National Dance Education Organization’s annual conference, bringing together a diverse group of artists and artist/educators (digital artist Paul Kaiser of the Open Ended Group, writer/activist Jonathan Mooney, LCI executive director Scott Noppe-Brandon, and university dance department chair Susan Van Pelt Petry), with a government official (Dr. Anchi Hoh of the Asian Division of the Library of Congress) for a discussion moderated by Stanley Pierre-Louis, associate general counsel for Viacom, to explore the role of imagination in our ever developing lives and society, and in education. Mr. Pierre-Louis began by inquiring about the place and role of imagination in the panelists’ daily lives. In the ensuing conversation, themes emerged including the importance of location, a light hearted environment of fun, setting aside time to cultivate an imaginative life, having curiosity about something as well as a platform to share ideas with others, and receiving support or reinforcement from others.

This event was the most recent of a series of such conversations sponsored by LCI. According to the Institute, these discussions are being developed to help

…build national awareness for imagination as a key cognitive capacity; engage policy makers, business leaders and thinkers across professions in a series of dynamic discussions about the vital role of imagination; and produce an action plan for making the cultivation of imaginative thinking an integral part of education in our schools.

Many of the ideas articulated by panelists on the 25th are at the forefront of Richard Lewis’s book, Living by Wonder, and postulated in the book as conditions and tools for fostering imagination in children.

This book is littered with examples of Lewis’ work with students, primarily in elementary and middle schools, whereby he employs techniques such as taking students out of the classroom, either physically or imaginatively, allowing time for playing with ideas and for wondering, and inviting students to take a journey of the imagination with him. These ideas are masterfully integrated within a curricular focus, such as Chinese culture and concepts, lifecycles of a tree, or the underwater world of the ocean.

Lewis begins with the assumption that children possess the innate ability to perceive a spectrum of possibilities and to link seemingly incongruous things together, a controversial and contested premise among contemporary educators and philosophers examining imagination. From here he poses the question, What if imagination is the basis of learning? Since schools generally don’t concern themselves with the inner lives (including the imagination) of the children housed under their roofs, this poses a challenging question to ponder.

In a previous blog entry, I’ve written about the importance of emotional engagement and the power of narrative in learning. Lewis also believes in their importance, pointing to the ability of stories not only to teach, but also to nurture the spirit and challenge ideas. He takes the narrative approach one step further to include students’ telling of their own stories. “In a time when children can easily lose the birthright of imagination, we must find new ways to help children to the sources of the stories they urgently wish to tell. Each time they speak their stories, they establish once again the fertility and importance of their imagining selves” (71).

Though not explicitly stated, I deduced from the breadth of his work in location and population that Lewis works in classrooms as a specialist, much like Lincoln Center Institute teaching artists, partnering with classroom teachers in various schools and communities. The language of poetry is Lewis’s medium, and in the book he places poems by well known masters side by side with the writings of his students, making no distinction between them, illustrating the richness of children’s interior worlds.

I suggest beginning this book three quarters of the way through at the chapter “The Deep Water Had Deeper Fishes.” Here Lewis poses pertinent questions aimed at drawing out children’s imaginations and gives a complete concrete example of an approach he utilized in a first grade classroom on the lower east side of Manhattan, starting from a simple set of keys he had in his pocket. After reading this chapter I returned to a reoccurring thought; imaginative teaching breeds imaginative learning.

“We’ve spent the entire 20th century attempting to perfect a 19th-century educational system. It’s time for us to move into the 21st century,” panelist Jonathan Mooney stated on June 25th. How do we, in an environment of systematized testing indoctrinated into our education system as a result of No Child Left Behind, move toward a more complete education of the whole individual child, bringing imagination to the forefront? “The Imagination Conversation” provided me with a possible answer.

All panelists alluded, directly or indirectly, to a belief, also held by Lewis, that imagination is relegated to a back seat in our culture. When asked about imagination in the workplace, Dr. Anchi Hoh frankly stated that in some work environments people find it much safer to simply do their jobs according to their descriptions and stated requirements. She works in a library environment, where rules and standards—such as the way books are cataloged—are fundamental to the organization. Despite this situation, she finds ways within her purview to inject creativity through specific initiatives. For instance, she has created a new program, bridging both cultures and the different sectors of her work that reflect her education and areas of expertise. Though small at this formative point, she has, in a structured, bureaucratic environment, followed her intuition and passion to make strides toward making creative connections. It appears that change, at least at this point, will happen one individual—or in this case one teacher—at a time.

[Note: As recently reported in the Washington Post, the Obama administration is looking to make changes to No Child Left Behind.]

Click here to learn more about the Imagination Conversations initiative.

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