in Tryon Creek Park: Brent Wojahn/The Oregonian

In our professional development work we are often talking about the importance of being prepared to 'get lost'; ready for the unexpected, the new view, puzzle, and encounter.

A Sightlines' Community member has sent us this poem, following a discussion about the value of getting off the path, immersed in the experience of deep woods (we were investigating a possible woodland to use for a Learning in Nature course next year.) 

A most wonderful reminder, I thought: here's to us all taking those steps: adults and children, adventuring.

I hope you enjoy it too:

Educators, and schools, are often very keen to listen better to children: however there are often many day-to-day impediments; these are many and they include the general culture of education, its organisation and management. 

In our coursework we work to tackle all these. another is simply experience - we are unused to doing it.

​As adults we need to develop our habits and opportunities to listen and explore our ideas - in order to get nearer to the ideas of the children: this is perhaps the central necessity in 'developing environments of enquiry.'

Here is something for you to look at and try, individually or with colleagues (discussion is of course done better with others!) 

At our recent annual development meeting, the Sightlines Members group and Network representatives viewed a short observation and discussed it. We found it a very rich experience, debating our thoughts and different insights for nearly two hours before having to stop for the day. 

We invite you to do the same, and - if you are a Sightlines subscriber - you can also read the notes we ourselves made (in the resource library.) Read on to see the clip and the approach we suggest you take for reflection and discussion: