A Cool Educator

Another guest post by Fiona Birkin, Head of Learning Resources and member of my in-school PLN. Fiona, how about I just add you as a contributor now?

A wonderful text I read in my recent two-hour technology blackout was The Pink Refrigerator by Tim Egan. A simply gorgeous picture book that is, I believe, about finding that sense of curiosity that often sparks inquiry.

Dodsworth is an individual who is filled with ennui. The motto he lives by is “Try to do as little as possible”. I’m afraid to say that there are times when I look into the eyes of a student or read their body language and behaviours and I suspect that the ennui monster has also smothered their spark.

One day Dodsworth comes across an old refrigerator and through a series of mysterious notes attached to the door, he finds he is a capable learner, that the world is a wondrous place and that there is an inquiry he must pursue.

To me the refrigerator is an educator of the 21^st century. Through providing provocations, suggestions, encouragement and a variety of tools it leads Dodsworth out of the sea of ennui and points him in the direction of the ocean. Read the book!!