Image

photo credit of underlying photo to camwelchphotography

In my image, a picture of a collection of lights is superimposed upon a photo of a mountain ridge in which two large rock features are connected by a bridge. I chose to combine these two images because I like the contrast between the solid connection of the bridge between two separate structures and the muted, clustered connection of the lights. In the photo of physical, real nature, the connection between two structures is clear and linear. In contrast, with the digitally fabricated cluster of lights, the connection seems to arrive in more of a ‘bursting’ effect. When I think of where my big ideas come from, I think of two systems of knowledge and thought at play. I have a linear side, a thought process that depends on words and phrases to draw greater connections amongst the fragments of my knowledge. However, I also have a strongly emotional side that encourages rash exuberances of thoughts that are often rooted in the cognitive version of magical realism. These two systems do not exist separate. I depend on both my linear side to push my knowledge to new boundaries, while I depend on my emotional side to constantly check that my thoughts and knowledge are foremost rooted in humanity. In Bolivia, a teacher once introduced the concept of sentipensamientos. In English, this word is a combination of ‘feelings’ and ‘thoughts’. In the West, we often like to separate the two, but I believe my good ideas arise when the passion from my gut whirs the gears in my brain to spin faster toward better horizons. I think, I feel, together.

One of the most compelling components of the reading is the idea of ‘transfer’. While the concept of ‘transfer’ was used to articulate the difficulties of bringing and drawing upon knowledge achieved in one context to a new context, I also think the process of transferring knowledge from one’s internal state to others is a crucial step in developing expertise. In the chapter, distinction arises between experts in content and experts who have the pedagogic capacity to transfer this knowledge to others. Expert teachers also “know how to tap into their students’ existing knowledge in order to make new information meaningful plus assess their students’ progress” (50). I think this is not only an important pedagogical consideration, but a crucial social function. ‘Big ideas’ should be shared- but they must also be able to be adapted to meet various knowledge levels. Particularly in social justice contexts, discussions of privilege and oppression can often be divisive even when ‘big ideas’ are rooted in valid personal experiences and empirical evidence. If social change is to be enacted, pedagogic expertise must be achieved alongside the mastery of content on these issues. Big ideas, like stories, have the capacity to be transformative. Even revolutionary, perhaps:

“The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution which has to start with each one of us? A revolution of the heart is a paradigm shift in which our collective deck, our model of the world, gets reshuffled, changing the story for everyone. In a revolution of the heart, those who have put themselves to sleep awaken and healing begins to emerge where there has been harm” (Goldblard, 2005, p.5).

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Goldblard, A. (2005). The Story Revolution: How Telling Our Stories Transforms the World. Community Arts Network Reading Room. http://wayback.archive-it.org/2077/20100906202511