When we wisely tear down the walls that we can intentionally and unintentionally erect to surround our thinking and understanding, then we can grow our neural and cardio networks in ways that nourish our heads and our hearts. Axons, dendrites, and heartstrings flourish. When we make our mental garden wall-less, we can do amazing things with others…like construct a network of gardens that grow miraculously behind walls all over a city and a world.
What are we reaping and sowing today with our decisions? What walls are we tearing down? What open gardens are we growing? How might we spread our roots and our shoots?
Plant a seed. Provide water and open up to let the light in. Help grow those seeds planted by others. And let others in to fertilize the seeds that you are planting.
It’s about learning…it’s about growth!
it's about learning 
Mr. Adams,
I liked how you said, “if we wisely tear down walls.” We can use that in our projects. If we carefully break down walls bit by bit, then we can discover the true potential in our projects and make them even better. For example in my sleep group, we are finding more and more information about sleep as we dig deeper and do more research. When we first started, the group only wanted to spread the word about the lack of sleep some students at Westminster. Now, we are going to talk to doctors and nurses around the school so that we can inform students at Westminster about sleep and propose new ways to get more sleep.
Dana, thanks for stopping by the It’s About Learning blog! I appreciate your feedback about the “wisely tear down walls” statement. In our professional-educator lives, Ms. Gough and I spend a lot of time working with a variety of schools about “tearing down walls” – both literally and figuratively. Learning is very much about increasing our nodes of connection – within the actual neurology of our brains, as well as among the network of our connected learners. As we say in Synergy, “WE are smarter than ME.” Kudos to you for engaging the sleep project as more than just an assignment in school. Brava to you for wanting to make a difference about people’s balance and sleep. Making connections around school is a great step. Have you looked at the various TED talks about sleep? There are a few!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this topic Bo. George Couros’ blog on Don’t Punish Everyone and your thoughts in this post speak to the need for school communities to talk with students. Let’s not wall them in, but let’s have a conversation about how to plant seeds and grow them. Help them learn how to express themselves in appropriate and meaningful ways. We might not need to sequester them behind the walls of our schools if we help them learn how to function most effectively inside and outside our walls.
Bob