Here's to the right brain coming out in all of us! The six senses: Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play, and Meaning give us the opportunity for personal and professional growth. The task is mastering the senses. "The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind - creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers."
If a person has the desire to succeed in this Conceptual Age then, the six senses lead the way. The first is design. The design needs to incorporate all the essentials to make it functional, but also incorporate beyond the essentials. The design needs to entice all senses. As an educator, I find this to be very true. We are required to teach the standards, but also add spice to the design.
Then, we have the story. Persuasion, communication, and self-understanding are all part of the story. Educators are the masters of the story. Our job revolves around the story. We are always educating ourselves and working on improving the story at all times.
Symphony is the next sense and it is the BIG picture. The symphony pulls it all together. The senses fit so well into an educator's world. We control the symphony to a certain extent. Our students are the symphony and we need to be the conductor. As the conductor, we guide our symphony in the right direction making the education process successful.
Next, there is empathy which is essential in understanding our students. We as educators need to remember, we need empathy with our students. We are not just teaching a particular subject or a particular grade level; we are teaching students! Can all teachers say they care more about the students or teaching the content?
The fun one of course is play! We all love to play! I always say if I'm not having fun I'm not doing my job. Enjoying our jobs can be play. Who says we can't teach our students and play as we? Play includes, "laughter, lightheartedness, games, and humor." I love play!
Lastly is meaning. It has to have a purpose. There is nothing else to say. If what we teach our students has purpose, our students are more apt to learn it.
Grasping and believing in the six senses can change the way we think. We as educators need to seize the opportunity to jump on board the Conceptual Age with our students. The time to say we are artists has come, we can never lose the excitement of calling ourselves artists!
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