First blog; first interview!

How much excitement can one blog post contain?! (Answer: a whole big lot).

With this, my first ever posting to this little corner of the internet which I claim as my own, I share news of my first live interview. Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to have a wonderful conversation with ex-teacher and now movement specialist, Paula James (https://linktr.ee/paula_james), of Washington, DC. 

The interview was an opportunity for me to discuss ways in which mainstream schools may not cater to the needs of neurodivergent students and what families and professionals can do to help. I talk about excessive curriculum pressures, sensory hurdles and timetable by issues which might all impact our young neuron. 

The crux of the message I wished to relay was to respect and work with the child as an individual. 

Towards the end of the conversation, we began to talk about teaching as ‘containment’ and agreed that this would make excellent content for further conversation. We also agreed that it’s the educator’s responsibility to provide a container/structure in which knowledge can be imparted but which is spacious enough to allow learners to express themselves and flourish as individuals. 

We had hoped to discuss what my ideal learning environment would look like, but sadly ran out of time. That does not mean, however, that I won’t be exploring this in my own content in the near future….watch this space! In the meantime, why not let me know what your ideal environment would be. 

If you have Facebook, you can watch the interview here (https://www.facebook.com/share/v/8vXZiyAp2nMUR3GK/?mibextid=WC7FNe)

If you don’t, and you would like to watch it, please drop me an email to zoeaustinmusic@gmail.com

Thanks for reading!