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Priscilla Norton |
The
course description says that this course examines various 'ways of knowing'
and makes us aware of our own ways of knowing.. It also exposes us
to ways of knowing which have not been a part of our lives and encourages
us to expand our way of thinking.
Academically it was a challenging course, not only because it consisted of mind stretching activities but also because the work requirements included 6 books, assorted articles, 10 reflective papers based on the readings, one analytical paper, a research paper and a project/presentation. In this course we stretched out minds to discover ways of knowing which we had rejected or had never even thought of. We were challenged to use these new ways, to try them out and to see how they would aid us as we discovered more about our universe and about ourselves. Our first assignment entailed watching Looking for Richard and The Name of the Rose. We had to write on our understanding of the words knowledge, understanding, meaning, knowing and learning. It was a way to get us thinking before we discussed the terms and the movies. (Reflection 1) |
We read Descartes' Discourse and discussed the scientific method of inquiry. (Reflection 2) Descartes talked to me because I look at myself as a very organized thinker. I want to see where I am going and where I came from. I was comfortable following a step by step procedure. I looked at myself as a very rational thinker. That was my comfort zone. But then we started into different ways of knowing. C.P. Snow's book, Two Cultures challenged us to see the world's knowldege base divided into the scientific and the artful. In the reflection for that week I struggled with definitions of rationalism, empiricism and positivism. The exercise was worth it in the amount of research I did to tap a multitude of Philosophy resources on these definitions. It also provided a lively email exchange with my son, the Philosophy major as I ran my ideas by him. (Reflection 3) The result was a paper which reflected my confusion and my struggle but was rewarded by Dr. Norton's comment that the value of the exercise was in wrestling with the terms. As I reflect on the next assignment which was an analysis of a quantitative research article in my field, I believe that I looked at it in a very naive way. Now that I am taking a research course I see that I didn't know how to analyze research. In the fourth reflection, I took an article and critiqued it on the basis of the surface information rather than on the methodology and on the standards of adequacy for quantitative research design. With regret, I submit Reflection 4. If I were to do it again, I would be more analytical and less judgmental. While we were studying C.P. Snow and seeing the world in terms of two cultures, we had to take a concept or an idea in our field and represent it "artfully". Then we had to write about the process. I chose to present an artful series of collages representing a non-English speaking child going through the language acquisition process. Reflection 5 tells about the posters and the process. Since this class, I have used these posters to illustrate second language acquisition and will do so in the next workshop I give in January. Doing the posters helped me to analyze what I wanted to portray and how to artistically do it. After C.P. Snow's Two Cultures we read Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolution. The title scared me since I am not known for reading science books in my free time. But it fascinated me. Some of the illustrations of scientific points went over my head but the explanations didn't. I enjoyed the book and have referred to it a number of times since the course. What struck me most was Kuhn's concept of paradigms. Our next assignment was to reflect on paradigms and answer whether there were any in our lives. Reflection 6 is the result of that soul searching. |
Staying
with Thomas Kuhn, our next assignment was to examine our discipline for
paradigms. I chose to look at second language teaching/learning theory
over the past 50+ years to see whether there had been a paradigm shift.
What I discovered is that even though there have been attempts to change
the way we teach, the theory has not reached to the practical level. (Reflection
7) Writing this paper made me realize how difficult it is to
make institutional change. David Tyacke and Larry Cuban talk about
educational change in Tinkering Toward Utopia. They say that
if we look at the education system as if it were grammar,
we realize how difficult it is to make changes. Think about
it. We resist any changes to the way we speak because that is our
way. End of the discussion! Language teaching has been like
that. We try new ways. We research the most effective ways.
We keep doing the way we have for the past 50 years.
We moved on to Bruner's narrative mode in his book Actual
Minds, Possible Worlds. We studied the elements of a good short
story and we talked how narratives entered into our work in education.
As teachers we tend to use stories to relate a point or to provide the
context in a situation. As an ESL teacher, I find that I use narratives
to describe the background of what I will be talking about and what I want
my students to be able to tell.
In order to demonstrate our understanding of the narrative in our discipline, that week's assignment was to write a short story. The short story had to illustrate a concept in our field. I chose to utilize my background knowledge of the visa process and of the Mexican culture to describe the cultural ideas which are reflected in a young man's quest to come to the US. (Short Story) This is my first attempt at short story writing. I found that it was the easiest assignment and that I was able to finish it in under an hour. The ease of writing this story made me want to write more of this genre as you can see in my final reflection. (Biography) When the course was over I wished there was EDUC 800 Part Two. But then I guess that I am in part two, the continuation of the learning process. Through this process I am beginning to see the connections between the courses and the readings in the courses. I can see that James March is very Cartesian in his approach to decision making. March would not be a fan of McLuhan or of the Chaos theory described in James Gleick's book Chaos. But I can see that Max DePree writes in Bruner's narrative mode. The connections are there. This course helps me to see them. And, I am starting to see my own 'way of knowing'. |
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