After my recent reflections on how creativity and innovation in schools should be supported by decisions about use of physical space (both indoor and outdoor), it only seems natural that I should move to a discussion of time. But I've also been prodded by some of my readings on innovation and by my own recent experience of time being splintered by increasing complexity and choice.
I'll start with my personal observations. (Eventually, this comes back to arts learning.)
I have always had an outstanding ability to focus. Getting immersed in a task, finding the flow, and losing all track of time didn't happen every day but were pretty typical. I was never the type to make a detailed plan for the day or week unless time was extremely tight. I just dove into the work and always found a good rhythm. I tended to work long hours for four days a week so I could take a morning away from the work.
But recently, I noticed that I was struggling with concentration and taking longer to finish writing a book section or article. It seemed like it was taking an inordinate amount of time to get started and that I was doing a lot of thinking without much to show for it. So I started becoming more aware of how I was spending my time.
I was amazed at how I was jumping from one thing to another—and usually it had to do with something on the Web. Now I must say that I am not talking about fun and games, watching You Tube videos, etc. I realized that when I started my career as a public affairs writer, I used to extract every bit of good information I could from a few books or reports and usually had to spend time thinking about how it fit together. Now I just keep searching.
So could it be that the ease with which students can do things now using technology, the many "important" pieces of information they can find online, and the myriad "edutainment choices" may need to be balanced with some "slow" thinking? And what better way to slow down than an art project or learning a piece of music or rehearsing a play or dance?
More tomorrow about the brain and slowing down.
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