It was Benjamin Franklin who famously said, "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." Even the most resistant student will come around when they are "involved."
At some point during my years of teaching, I discovered a most important educational tool: infectious enthusiasm. Whenever I delighted in whichever subject I was teaching, so did my students.
Whether I was homeschooling my daughter, working as a docent in science and tech settings, or instructing middle/high school math lessons, this approach became natural for me, and it really worked.
I've found this to be true when I am writing, also. Although my focus is on the depth and the mechanics of my poem, I am also aware that a potential reader will not linger long over a dry, impassive account.
There must be some compelling reason for a reader to accede to an author's story. To simply lay out the environment, place the pieces, and lead the way through a well imagined maze is not nearly enough.
The ability to invite, include, and engage someone else, whether in a lesson or a tale, is a skill all it's own. It must be enthusiastically applied, practiced, and honed if it is to work effectively, or at all.
I can't count the number of times when a student has pointed out some gem in a lesson that I was not, as yet, aware of ... which demonstrated that they were both aware and engrossed in it.
A science professor once told me that he regularly brought his students out on field rips. His unseasoned students tended to point significant finds which his jaded eyes would all too easily miss.
This happens with my poems too. Someone will cite some twist of meaning that I hadn't intended, but when I look at it, it's clearly there. Their perception of my poem added to it's depth and scope.
Immersion - both mine and the reader's - is the key here. When the reader enters into the story as a partner, and is not merely the audience, that's when it all comes together; that is the sweet spot.
Image: www.dreamstime.com
At some point during my years of teaching, I discovered a most important educational tool: infectious enthusiasm. Whenever I delighted in whichever subject I was teaching, so did my students.
Whether I was homeschooling my daughter, working as a docent in science and tech settings, or instructing middle/high school math lessons, this approach became natural for me, and it really worked.
I've found this to be true when I am writing, also. Although my focus is on the depth and the mechanics of my poem, I am also aware that a potential reader will not linger long over a dry, impassive account.
There must be some compelling reason for a reader to accede to an author's story. To simply lay out the environment, place the pieces, and lead the way through a well imagined maze is not nearly enough.
The ability to invite, include, and engage someone else, whether in a lesson or a tale, is a skill all it's own. It must be enthusiastically applied, practiced, and honed if it is to work effectively, or at all.
I can't count the number of times when a student has pointed out some gem in a lesson that I was not, as yet, aware of ... which demonstrated that they were both aware and engrossed in it.
A science professor once told me that he regularly brought his students out on field rips. His unseasoned students tended to point significant finds which his jaded eyes would all too easily miss.
This happens with my poems too. Someone will cite some twist of meaning that I hadn't intended, but when I look at it, it's clearly there. Their perception of my poem added to it's depth and scope.
Immersion - both mine and the reader's - is the key here. When the reader enters into the story as a partner, and is not merely the audience, that's when it all comes together; that is the sweet spot.
Image: www.dreamstime.com
RSS Feed