Curriculum flows from currere—to run—coursing our past and future within our present lived experience.
As a young teacher, I studied curriculum through a lens of currere which informed my early theorizing of teaching and learning—curriculum as a verb, a living process (not a noun or prescribed manual of methods). What I didn’t see then, but I know now is that I was called into the study of currere by my inner listening of what felt most true to learning. Currere continues to feel true and deeply rooted in what I know about process… processes for learning, teaching, leading, creating, and being alive.
Everything is currency—condition of flowing—in and out, give and receive.
Everything flows—the course of our days, the currents of our exchanges, the breath of our presence, the paths of our learning, the discernment of our listening.
How we attune to this is our curriculum.
How resonant is the curriculum you’re living now?
Do your days unfold with the breath of your surroundings? Or does it feel like you’re pushing against a current inviting you somewhere else?
What about the children in your life? Does the curriculum of their learning let them listen to themselves? Does it flow with their light and joy and dreams?
Our curriculum lives inside us.
We breathe with its currents through what we pay attention to, how curious we have the courage to be, and how deeply we let ourselves listen.
Curricula isn’t to be outsourced. We are resourced from within. We receive as we give up, give over, give into our release at the bottom of the exhale.
Do you know this place?
This place of root and sky, seed and becoming, the source of all currency.
We resource here.
You may know this place well. You may visit it often or only sense a glimpse. You may call it by another name. You may not know what I’m talking about.
Whatever each of us may know of this place, we have access to its currency. We all breathe.
Each breath is a place to die and begin again, to choose how we attune to our present lived experience.
Marvel at a bee’s path through a garden. Listen to children immersed in their play. Carefully select what we turn on and off. Make space to hear ourselves. Follow the wisdom of our dreams. Open our hearts to our neighbors. Invite curiosity to what we think we know. Trust that it’s all connected—each thought, word, question, hum, and prayer.
Humans experience twenty-thousand or more breaths per day.
Pause and bring your attention to one.
Follow its path all the way in and all the way out.
When you get to the bottom of the exhale, stay a bit longer than usual.
You may feel nothing—a sense of empty.
Stay here.
Don’t fill it up or cover it up or run away.
The empty is the everything.
Attune to its current and find your curriculum.
*
with listening awe, Melissa
We are in a moment of collective emergence.
I’m in the compost pile along with you, and also… I can see where we’re going and how we build the bridges to get there. If you, too, are ready to step into and create in the new paradigm, let’s work together.
New website. New offerings. Take a look: here.
I’m delighted to offer a brand new course that I’ve been working on for quite some time. I trust it will be of nourishment for those of you who care for children—one child or many—in your family or as part of your work.
Children Whole and Free
An eleven-week course with four (optional) online gathering sessions for parents, grandparents, guardians, educators, mentors, and caregivers who want to nourish a strong foundation for children to know themselves as whole and free.
Course begins 26 January. Learn more and register: here.
If you’re a student of curriculum theory or would like to read more about currere in contexts of education, you might be interested in:
Curriculum theorizing: The Reconceptualists, What is Curriculum Theory?, or the books in this photo:
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Learn more about me and my work: www.melissaabutler.com
Work with me: parents | educators | community leaders | 1:1
And, because we all need as much nourishment as possible, here are some beautiful resources for your body and soul:
If you live in Pittsburgh, PA, there’s a new tea house in town: Tea Sanctuary Tea House located in one of my favorite, most nourishing nests: Sneha Collective.
If you’d like support to attune to your breath and connect with its wisdom, Madeline Giles is a beautiful breathwork teacher (who I have worked with for a few years). She offers free breath healing meditations for those interested in exploring more.
If you’re part of a community having conversations about AI (and who isn’t these days, eh?), this episode of The Emerald is essential listening:
This song:
This song, too:
And a return to Mary Oliver, I find, is always of nourishment. I recently re-read A Thousand Mornings. Here is one of its poems (p. 15):
Poem of the One World
This morning
the beautiful white heron
was floating along above the water
and then into the sky of this
the one world
we all belong to
where everything
sooner or later
is part of everything else
which thought made me feel
for a little while
quite beautiful myself.
Thank you for being you.
