What are the stories that get in the way of learning?

But part of the problem is that before we had any say in it, we were born into certain stories about us by reason of our region,race and  gender. Or our faith and class and sexual identity. We inherit a legacy that we take for granted as “reality” when all it is is the situation that preceded us, and the flow of time that we entered. It is what the philosopher Hegal calls “dasein” or “thrownness” to describe that sense of arriving late into our lives that have already been constructed for us and populated by others’ intentions for us. Some have compared it to alighting on to a moving train or jumping into an already fast flowing river.

The stories we tell ourselves about our lives are so powerfully shaping of what we take ourselves to be. They shape who we think we are and therefore how we show up. And they provide a kind of script for what we think we are capable of learning and creaing in our future.

Some of those stories we are born into and live into become obstacles to our learning. Back in the day, girls were not expected to go to school because that was what the culture demanded. Or people with learning disabilities were treated as lacking any prospect for a normal life. Or we had beaten into us that we were sinners and that we would always fall short of the grace of God. These are the stories that so inhabit us to inhibit us.

That means that a core question for all educators is to ask ourselves-What are the stories that get in the way of our learning? What are the beliefs and assumptions are make about ourselves that we need to challenge to make space for other possibilities?

And if that is true for us, it is as true for our students. But how would we know if we never engage in this conversation to ask the students what they believe about themselves, especially when it comes to the core life learning skills of confidence, curiosity, colloboration, courage and career-future focus. That is MYSORE is about.

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