Pedagogy?

We are starting back to school today at Clear Spring School following our Holiday break, with my classes starting tomorrow. I have lots of cleaning to do in the wood shop that I had planned to do before today, so my attention to the blog will be brief.

I have started receiving Hans Thorbjörnsson's text about the history of Otto Salomon's Sloyd School at Nääs, translated from Swedish to English, and am trying to help with the phrasing and clarity of meaning to make the direct translation more fluid and engaging for American readers. It is a wonderful time for me to get more deeply engaged in my own study of Sloyd, which may also pay off in that I will have more to share with you.

One of the first things I noticed in my visits to conferences in Scandinavia and my reading of early texts is the use of the word pedagogical, which refers to teaching and educational theory. This is a widely accepted term in Scandinavia, but in the US, a "pedagogue" is a teacher, but "a particularly pedantic and dogmatic one." So the first step in education, is to dispense with the kinds of pedantic language that tends to eliminate comprehension. I hate Jargon! It is the dividing line between those in "the know" and those presumed to be moronic!

Interestingly, the elimination of pedantry was a focal point of sloyd education. By moving education from academic lecture style to hands-on investigation, the pedant went to hell and the child became an enthusiastic learner.

You can see why I'm having fun? the great thing about the wisdom of the hands isn't what I can tell you here, but what you can learn from your own.

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