Yancho

I met with Dr. Gibbons to talk about some approaches to my question. He suggested some readings for me to peruse. I narrowed down my question a bit after some of my reading. I need to finalize a question, but I'm feeling more confident in the direction.

A new question: What qualities of engagement can instructors glean from the domains of film, novels, dance, and music to help them to fully and consistently engage their students in deep learning and maintain that engagement? My interest in storytelling as a pedagogical tool stems from an interest in engagement -- starting with how stories portrayed in a variety of media can make one feel . They draw one in, not just in attention, but in whole identity. People tend to invest themselves fully in stories and many other aesthetic endeavors. It has been suggested that certain qualities of aesthetic experience, patterned after narrative structure, can inform instructional design. It seems that this area of study has some good beginnings, but directly transferable concepts that a teacher or instructional designer could put into practice do not seem to be readily available yet. Admittedly, I have much reading to do before I have a good grasp of where this concept stands in the literature....

This week's assigned reading from the mouth of a prophet: Mosiah 23:13-14 13 And now as ye have been delivered by the power of God out of these bonds; yea, even out of the hands of king Noah and his people, and also from the bonds of iniquity, even so I desire that ye should stand fast in this liberty wherewith ye have been made free, and that ye trust no man to be a king over you. 14 And also trust no one to be your teacher nor your minister, except he be a man of God, walking in his ways and keeping his commandments. The phrase "Absolute power corrupts absolutely" comes to mind. In a more cynical, but perhaps not unwarrented, vein, I have heard my father adapt the phrase to leave the absolute off the beginning: "Power corrupts absolutely." This calls to mind a scripture from the Doctrine and Covenants -- Section 121:39: We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as th...

Tim O'Reilly made mention of this poem in a post  that I was directed to recently. I think the poem is very rich and taps into what education and learning mean to me. Success and Failure -- the grade 'A' means success to some, but in some ways it can mean failure because maybe we haven't learned how to be great. Pushing against something hard is success when it reshapes you. But all I say seems to pale to the imagery of the poem. The Man Watching Rainer Maria Rilke I can tell by the way the trees beat, after so many dull days, on my worried windowpanes that a storm is coming, and I hear the far-off fields say things I can't bear without a friend, I can't love without a sister The storm, the shifter of shapes, drives on across the woods and across time, and the world looks as if it had no age: the landscape like a line in the psalm book, is seriousness and weight and eternity. What we choose to fight is so tiny! What fights us is so great! ...

In light of my previous post here are some questions that interest me: How does narrative structure aid the learning process? Is there any difference in life satisfaction at the start of junior high school between those who have had a curriculum devoid of recess during elementary school years and those who have recess? Can stories be integrated into a curriculum for increased retention of knowledge? Can stories aid transfer of learning from one realm to another?

The Shower, Dish Washing, and Lawn Mowing Test - When your hands are busy and your mind is not, where do your thoughts go? As an introduction, I would like to cite some thoughts I shared with my parents (and the world at large) last year: As you know, I tend to shoot from the hip. I don't know precisely where my degree will take me, but I do know that there are a lot of empty tin cans piled up in front of me at the shooting range. Good ones, too. Big family-sized cans with fancy labels. So, as I shoot from the hip, I'm bound to hit something good. Especially if I keep shooting and don't run out of ammo. Or maybe I should work a little more on my aim. I hope at this point my aim is getting better. I might not have hit a can yet, but boy  the dust is flying nearby! I ponder a lot of things that pertain to education. I think of the problems that need to be overcome. As I root through the problems seeking for solutions, I always seem to come back to the idea that people shou...