One Clip At A Time

Wow. That's a big paperclip!

I want to put a plug in for the paperclip. Certainly, as a teacher, I already have a working relationship with the clip (we're on nickname basis with eachother), but as of last night I have a renewed interest in them.

Last night Susie and I watched a documentary recommended by a co-worker who is Jewish. The movie is called PAPER CLIPS . It followed the unfolding project at a middle school in the back hills of Tennessee. The project began from a simple question asked by one of the middle school students during a lesson on the holocaust: "What does 6 million look like?"

In the graduate class I am taking this semester to complete my Master's of Education, we are talking about how it is that people really learn. Is our education system really using effective methods? Our manner and styles have gently changed over the years, but the philosophy of education really hasn't. Basically, we function in a very "top down--dump knowledge into waiting minds" way. My own philosophy of education has evolved away from this mainstream flow. I love that this documentary showed the power of trusting kids to ask questions. Trusting kids to want to know things, to desire to discover, to work hard at uncovering mysteries, to reflect and connect deep human tendancies with their own mundane lives.

I loved that the paperclip project took a very ordinary object and made a monumental symbol out of it. Can a simple paperclip really impact a heart? One paper clip can attach two pieces of paper together. That same paper clip can also link two human stories spanning decades, distances, and differences.

Is there anything too small to be used in unthinkable ways?