Wednesday, July 28, 2010

The freedom of autonomy

The other day I was reading over the chapter of "autonomy" and the first thing I did was look up the word autonomy, because honestly I didnt know what it meant and plus I was curious. When I found out what it meant "independence or freedom" that like sparked this wirlwind of things of what the chapter could be about. I was thinking "okay maybe this is about the freedom of doing what you want to do, to self motivate you" and I was somewhat close. When I started reading the rest of the chapter and Pink was startig to go into how companies have been florishing because they have given there employees certain days to fix a problem on software or there own project and many thiings where coming out of it, like Google creating all their side branches like Gmail etc. Then it hit me. As seniors we have a responibility to set an example for the rest of the school and try to rub off on them and think that a way we could leave our mark on the school. Is to try to teach the students what we know about things. I was thinking we could have some sort of like "session" or whatever you want to call it for some students. I dont know if it could actually work but it was just a thought of mine.

6 comments:

  1. Do you mean you would like to take what you are learning about autonomy and self-direction and inspire others in that direction?

    Could this be a senior project for you? How would you go about this?

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  2. Well yes i would like for it to be a senior project, but not just for me, and I would like to help inspire others. I find joy in it. but most of all really I would like for maybe a group of us to do this. Well I dont really know how exactly to go about this only because I dont know how the schedule will work out this year and how the days would be. I was thinking though that maybe it could be during a study hall or something like tutoring just without the use of books.

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  3. Nyerere,

    Can you put into more practical terms what kind of inspirational project you would like to do with the rest of the students here at Chinquapin. How can you measure that joy and to what end? I find there is an inevitable connection between the grueling action of accomplishment and the gradual excitement that comes with completing a task. However, do you think we live in an age of too much immediate gratification? Specifically looking at Chinquapin as a tool-shed, what instrument will you be, how will you go about, and what do you expect to be the end result?

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  4. I like what you are getting at Tito. I too would like to motivate people to actually fulfil that motto of our school, Quid Pro Quo. Which slowly I find that ambition fading. I want to spark it back up. We could talk about it. I already have an idea for my senior project...but this intersts me alot. I may end up changing my desicion. The only thing I find is that it is hard to get people inrtuiged when they come in with a mind set of nat wanting to listen. We need to find a way to reach to them. To get to taht place where they hide/keep all their passions and cares and paint a pretty and captivating picture with them. This way we could definitely catch their eyes and attention. How could we do that? Individually, like one on one talks? Circle Ceremonies?

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  5. We could have Thank You Chinquapin days. Oh we need to talk. I think I just changed my senior project...thank you Tito!

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  6. Well, first off I agree with you that we are the seniors and leaders of this school. Secondly, I wanted to know whether autonomy would be available, seeing how busy we are this year? And not to mention, would the teachers approve on letting students have at least a 10 minute autonomy class everyday? I'm not confronting the teachers with a trust issue, but rather, autonomy can reached in a different manner. About the session, that's great, but I believe, that we seniors can have those "sessions" with the other students during advisory, through sports, dorms, and even during lunch hours. We are all in our own separate worlds, due to the different courses but the only times we have time for each other, is during those hours. Autonomy can prevail, but also lets not get the kids started up in letting them think that " freedom" to do what they want means doing bad things. Yet, I still like the idea of having autonomy in all classes, not just seniors, I mean we do have autonomy in our senior seminar, so why not give it to the rest of the student body?

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