It occurs to me that AS's question at the close of the post is precisely the demonstration of critical thinking that bell hooks says is characteristic of childhood - and which she argues we need to strive to not drum out. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/12/10/bell-hooks-buddhism-the-beats-and-loving-blackness/?_r=0

After I wrote this post, I came across this passage in Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me: "Why, precisely, was I sitting in this classroom? The question was never answered. I was a curious boy, bu the schools were not concerned with curiosity. They were concerned with compliance." Let's commit our schools to fostering curiosity - not compliance - in children and adults alike.

Hi, Diana - These are questions that the primary grade teachers at Opal School posed - ones that they're paying close attention to as they engage in Story Workshop. Story Workshop is an approach being developed at Opal School that takes many of the tenets of Writers Workshop and considers the roles of play and the arts in supporting literacy. If you'd like to learn more about Story Workshop, you could search this blog for that term, order our study guide, Geography of Story Workshop (http://www.portlandcm.org/teaching-and-learning/educational-materials), or see our videos and read our text focus on how Story Workshop supports diverse learners (http://origin.library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1102801309613-636/StoryWorkshop_VSAPublication_FINAL_Compressed.pdf & https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJVtbFRTqqS-JGHIMRo3RB7v0jQNtUB72). I'm curious: What do you see as the role of play in supporting writers? Matt