As an English Education major I am currently talking a class on assessment, which is basically how we discover if a student learns what was supposed to be taught. Usually teachers use something called "backward design" to make lesson plans by first finding the state learning standards, aligning them with objectives on what the students will be learning, and then creating the lessons. In this way teachers (theoretically) know what the students should be learning to assess if they succeeded in learning it.
I feel like this class can not easily fall in to this pattern. Though I feel I have learned many things and thought about a lot of interesting ideas throughout this semester, I doubt that Montana has any state learning standards that can put all of these things neatly in to a box to tie up with a bow.
Instead I have composed this: a list of ideas that I have remembered (because I must have known them at some point ) and wish not to forget again. These are themes from the semester and my attempt to produce one possible answer to the question of where we go from here...
1. This class was about reality. It was about humanity. It was about connection. It was about mythology. I will always remember it as being more than any other class I have ever taken because it taught me about things I really wanted to know; it taught me about life.
2. Nothing is ever lost, it is only displaced. When I heard this it gave me hope. To me this means that everything, ideas, people, the world, and even atoms are never truly lost, only turned in to something new. This means that though I am sad when I loose the ones I love or forget that perfect line of poetry before I can write it down or even when I wake up from the perfect dream and loose it the moment the alarm goes off, the world hasn't truly lost these things, someone else will pick them up on the way. Similarly, nothing is ever lost, it is only forgotten.
3. All literature is displaced myth. Myth is at the center. These stories are important and our lives mimic them.
4. Truth is a mobile army of metaphors.
5. Knowledge is not something you discover, it is something you invent.
6. PAY ATTENTION! Be present where ever you are. Living in the moment will not only make you more aware of your life it will make you happier.
7. We must make our experiences memorable. If you live every day and have nothing exciting, new , and memorable each day you really aren't living a full life. Even if it is the little moments, a smile, a beautiful sunset, or a kiss make sure that you have something in your day that you want to hold on to.
8. "Stories of your culture make you who you are. If you don't read, you don't live. Read Books." So tell your children bedtime stories. Read the newspaper and novels, especially great novels. Watch movies and see the myths they displace. Discover humanity.
9. Look up etymologies not definition. You will learn so much more when you see where the word came from.
10. The meaning of a poem is the experience of a poem. The moral of the story is the story itself. The literal and the anagogical are irrefutably linked. When you complete the circle of interpretation you can see how seeming opposites are the same.
11. Life is an imitation of art.
12. Apocalypse is an unveiling. It isn't just the end of the world. It may just remove a metaphorical veil so you can see something new.
13. It's all music; be the music while the music lasts. Experience things fully, especially music because it is something the supersedes both the arts and the sciences. Hear the music, joint the dance.
14. Dreams are important; they are improbable, desiring, erotic, and violent but that is ok. We should never be ashamed of our dreams. They may contain things that we would never do in our waking lives but that doesn't mean they are bad. There are whole cultures that believe that the dreaming lives are actually our real lives and maybe they might have a hint of truth to this.
15. Only connect. Humanity needs connection. This doesn't mean having 300 Facebook friends, it means real one on one conversations and true intimacy. We can learn to connect, learn empathy through books but you need human connection.
16. Wanting to know is the important thing. We may never have all the answers. Answers might be a form of death, but keep seeking them.
17. Be happy first. Don't work for the goal actually work for the sake of the action. If you only ever do something for the reward of it you can't be happy. You have to choose to be happy (despite the crazy chemicals in your brain) and do something for its own sake.
18. Science and the Arts are both forms of storytelling. So I guess this means I only get to smile when I am criticized for studying English because science is basically the same thing (only making more money). All good science is art and all good art is science.
19. Smile. Smile for freedom, understanding, and everything else.
20. It's ok to be vulnerable; this is when you are your strongest. Thank you Brooke for explaining this, I hope that someday I can take this idea to heart.
21. There is something going on here! I may not understand it yet but I know its there.
22. Memorization is important, someday it might save your life. Though I know I am going to fail at the Kubla Kahn poem today in class, this is something I want to work on in my life. Having great poetry or prose in your head can keep you sane in the worst of situations.
23. The past possesses the present. You can't escape it so you might as well see how it all connects.
So thats all I have for you. I'm sure I missed many things but this is what I have learned I hope that everyone else has enjoyed this class as much as I did. You are all interesting and brilliant people and I have been glad to be in this class with you.
No comments:
Post a Comment