The more a student is open to learning, the more their horizons are broadened. This author was a part of a discussion on Picasso’s bulls. When speaking sparingly, one is more apt to be a facilitator of his/her learning through the sharing of experiences. As a result, everyone in the conversation sat attentively in order to benefit from shared stories. This allowed everyone to form a thoughtful opinion. This class helped everyone see each other’s stories and form a collaborative opinion on Picasso’s bulls. In the future, this class can use this model to inform discussions and lesson plans. As we delve into the Crimes Against Humanity course we will need this open forum to guide the class into its potential. All classes in this school can benefit from this model because it will create greater conversations that lead to higher learning. Of course, the individual learner has different styles, and the most important part is fusing these styles to create the ultimate learning experience. So our class took a learning style survey. This author was categorized as an intrapersonal learner, or one who learns through speaking and discussion. This author’s style, combined with others’ learning styles contribute to the mixing of ideas. Our class saw the importance of this when we watched a TED Talks video featuring Nigerian author, Chimamanda Adichie. Ms. Adichie spoke about how it is necessary to have more than just the single story in order to truly understand the human experience. We come from single ideas, single stories. We need multiple stories to truly evolve. All these ideas and experiences have caused this author to come to the conclusion that the synthesis of collected stories is imperative to his growth.
*I’ve taken the opportunity in this introductory blog of 2011-12 to fashion an early offering that epitomizes my purpose.