March 2020, the month the world screeched to a sudden halt and I found myself faced with the stark reality of what my life had become. It was a life that had increasingly become more 'face-paced' with every minute of the day filled with tasks, committee meetings and work, but increasingly more stressful, overwhelming, and joyless. My definition of productivity rested solely on the idea of 'busyness' as my life became increasingly devoid of space and time to be creative, generative, inventive, innovative, fruitful (just to name a few), all attributes of what it truly means to be productive. 2020 forced me to face the truth, my life had come to what I define as a 'hamster wheel' existence, constantly running and getting nowhere, professionally or personally. 2020 forced me (and the world) to slow down and hit the PAUSE button.
This PAUSE created time for mind wandering and space to work through ideas and generate projects that had long been placed on the backburner. Engagement in tasks I had long deemed frivolous, such as sketching and journaling, invigorated my day and renewed a sense of value and worth to my work. This slow down proved invaluable for me during a time of great social isolation and uncertainty. 2020 gave me time to WONDER and reflect on the current anti-boredom culture in which I had been personally and professionally caught up in. I began to reflect on my almost 20 years in the field of education where I daily witness the effects of the increasingly 'fast-paced' world on students, teachers and the educational system and where time has become a precious commodity. The increasingly frenetic pace of classrooms leaves teachers and students feeling depleted in the daily race to 'get it all in.' In the midst of the 2020 pandemic and quarantine where many were just anxious to get back to normal, I posed the question, 'What if we don't go back to normal?', 'what if things could be different?', 'what if things should be different' and how could we change the educational landscape for teachers and students if we reclaim time to PAUSE and WONDER?
And here is where I began to articulate a framework for the concept of Pedagogical Boredom and to CREATE this website meant to be an exchange of ideas around the transformational possibilities of boredom to education and the culture of doing 'more'. The relationship between boredom and creativity and innovative thinking is far from a new concept and this site is not the first to write and explore boredom. But it is my hope to CREATE a space that draws on what has come before, engages with professionals across disciplines and documents my personal pursuit of ennui.
And maybe, just maybe, help boredom make a comeback in a world greatly in need of slowing down.
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