I actually liked this activity a lot. I found some interesting thoughts by students and a very interesting article in the NY Times.
“Think Different” is an article on Students 2.0. It challenges teachers and the current educational system to begin to “think differently” ourselves about the creative students who do not always fit into the square hole.
” Let’s face it; the current education system just doesn’t know how to handle these kinds of people. “The round pegs in the square holes,” as Apple refers to them. The system doesn’t understand creativity. It robs all students of their creative consciousness and replaces it with structure, structure, and more structure, only to prepare them for a 9-to-5 job, Monday to Friday, every week of every year for the rest of their lives.”
I am very guilty of the structure, structure, structure thing. It’s a control issue I have. When I was a student, this is the way we “did school.” When I played school at home, I imagined all my “students” sitting quietly in neat little rows listening to me (the teacher, the one in control).
When I actually became a teacher, I was the creative one. I cut and pasted cute little decorations and helped my students make adorable things to take home at the holidays. The thing that was missing was the students’ creativity. It actually took having a child of my own to realize how much better the child’s eye is than my own. She “colors outside the lines” so to speak. She is that artsy little one that likes to do things the way she sees it, not necessarily the way the world sees it. Sean “the bass player” is absolutely correct. These are the people who have changed our world. They don’t always do well in my class. Maybe they are “sitting in silence and hearing a song that’s never been written.” I understand them better now. I applaude their uniqueness. I am the one that needs change my way of thinking. Not them.
I also enjoyed the artice in the NY Times entitled “Home Again”. Oh how I dream of this!!!!!!! I grew up on a beautiful farm in Southeast Tennessee. I miss it terribly and would love to have the opportunity to own a “vacation” home there. 
When I return, the cobwebs of my life disappear for a while. Life is simpler and stresses seem less troublesome.
