ACEI VIRTUAL PRESENTATION

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Using Fantasy to find reality in young adult
literature

• ACEI VIRTUAL PRESENTATION

www.seancoon.org
BY STACEY RHOADESSLIPPERY ROCK UNIVERSITY
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Whats the Deal with Imagination?

• Why has the Harry Potter series exploded in the
  young adult world?
• Who is Stephenie Meyers, and why does she write
  about vampires?
• More importantly, why do teenagers enjoy reading
  these books in the first place?

www.sodahead.com
www.stepheniemeyer.com
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Answer?

• Unfortunately, it is not that easy to answer.
  However, by the end of this presentation, you
  will have a better understanding on how and why
  fantasy literature helps young adults find their
  place in the world, and more importantly, how to
  incorporate imagination into the curriculum.

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Before you start

• It is important to know before you view this
  presentation that the imagination is not a small
  area in our mind it is not a thing that can be
  pinpointed, but rather an energy that comes from
  the ability to think. John Dewey writes
  Imagination is as much a normal and integral
  part of human activity as is muscular movement .

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Imagination and learning
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Imagination and Learning

• It is becoming clear that human learning does
  not involve simply mirroring what is outside the
  mind, but crucially involves constructing or
  composing (Bruner, 1986).

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Imagination and Learning

• This mind is not a filing cabinet or a computer
  system.
• Instead, information is overlapped, connected,
  and blended, and here, in the mind, is where new
  information is made, broken, or remade.
• Therefore, the livelier the minds imagination,
  the more combinations the mind can make with the
  already existing knowledge it posses, which gives
  a new outlook of the world!

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Imagination and Learning

• The more flexibly we can think of things as
  possibly being so, the richer, and the more
  unusual and effective can be the meanings we
  compose (Egan, 1992).
• In other words, an active imagination provides
  a greater possibility for learning.

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Imagination and social virtue
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Imagination and Social Virtue

• By imaginatively feeling what it would be like
  to be other than oneself, one begins to develop a
  prerequisite for treating others with as much
  respect as one treats oneself (Egan, 1992).

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Imagination and Social Virtue

• Every person is unique, distinct, and independent
  with goals that are just as important as our own.
• This type of attitude toward knowledge not only
  promotes a non-judgmental attitude, but a
  tolerance toward other views.

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Imagination and Social Virtue

• The ability to understand and sympathize with
  others reflects the multiple nature of the human
  being, this potentially leads for many more
  selves and kinds of experiences than any one
  being could express. The capacity to sympathize
  or to identify with the experiences of other is a
  most precious human attribute (Rosenblatt, 1983).

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Imagination and freedom
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Imagination and Freedom

• Imagination is what allows us to envision
  possibilities in or beyond the actualities in
  which we are immersed (Hanson, 1988).

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Imagination and Freedom

• Survivors of concentration camps or prisoners of
  war show that a powerful imagination can provide
  a sense of mental freedom.
• Imagination can break away from the predetermined
  future individuals set up for themselves
  genetically and environmentally.
• With a vast imagination we can change the world
  around us in ways we find desirable (Egan,
  1992).

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Imagination and Freedom

• Imagination, illusionary or not, provide those a
  sense of freedom, which goes without saying,
  freedom to think beyond our reality in hopes for
  change.
• In other words, imagination is power.

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Imagination and Freedom

• Literary texts foster the kind of imagination
  needed in a democracy the ability to participate
  in the needs and aspirations of other
  personalities and to envision the effect of our
  actions on their lives (Rosenblatt, 1983).

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Imagination in middle school
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Imagination in Middle School

• Before trying to develop appropriate teaching
  techniques for the use of imagination in the
  classroom, it is important to discover general
  characteristics of students imaginations
• The Affective Connection
• Extremes and Limits
• Romance, Wonder, and Awe
• The Heroic
• Revolt and Idealism
• Matters of Detail
• These categories are tools that will help
  educators focus on specific components of
  development.

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Imagination in Middle School

• It just so happens that the middle school age
  group (ages 8-15) have more common features of
  imagination than any other age span.
• Imagination is much like the intellectual and
  physical aspects of the body It changes with age
  and experience. This is also the stage of life
  where the most change will occur.
• I will present different examples that solidify
  my reasoning for this specific age group, like
  books, games, T.V. shows, and stories.

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The affective connection

• Imagination in Middle School

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Affective Teaching

• Knowledge is acquired through affective teaching
  narratives (in other words, engaging stories).
• Knowledge is not acquired through effective
  teaching (in other words, activities that are
  sorted and graded).

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Affective Teaching

• Students imaginations are more readily
  stimulated by content that engages their emotions
  than by content that doesnt (Egan, 1992).

www.clivebarker.info
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Affective Teaching

• A story will create an emotional involvement for
  all students.
• The term story does not mean to use a
  fictional narrative every time, but a narrative
  shaping (or a cookie cutter mold of a narrative)
  with the content thats being taught.
• The narrative context stimulates the imagination,
  which creates knowledge.

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Affective Connection

• Myth storyconceived as a symbolic form is a
  way of organizing the human response to
  realityand is a fundamental aspect of the way
  we process experience (Lavin, 1966).
• Fantasy is a marvelously adaptable tool of
  therapy (Bettelheim, 1989).

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Extremes and limits

• Imagination in Middle School

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Extremes and Limits

• The more bizarre and strange a phenomena, the
  more engaging it is likely to be to an
  individual.
• The strange or amazing knowledge is understood in
  terms of an individuals everyday experience,
  which can shed new light on their daily lives.
• The assumption that prior knowledge is a starting
  point can be very misleading. Although vital, it
  can only be used after the imagination is readily
  engaged with the distant and different.

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Extremes and Limits

• What topics would children choose to research
• Important features of your neighborhood
• Or
• Torture instruments through the ages
• (Although inappropriate , the answer is very
  clear).

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Extremes and Limits

• So what sometimes seems to some teachers as a
  regrettable fascination with exotic trivia, is in
  fact a profoundly sensible strategy for making
  sense of ones place in the scheme of things.
  Only knowing the limits and extremes of things
  can we make sense of our own place (Egan, 1992).

www.amazon.com
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Romance, Wonder, and Awe

• Imagination and Middle School

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Romance, Wonder, and Awe

• Romance the archetypal term that means a heroic
  journey filled with adventure and extreme
  events.
• Wonder something that is rare or strange, maybe
  even extraordinary, but can be understood in
  terms of reality i.e. the works of a computer.
  
• Awe a feeling that is beyond explaining the
  miraculous or mysterious that doesnt connect
  with the real world i.e. the supernatural.

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Romance, Wonder, and Awe

• Anything can be romanticized it just has to be
  viewed as going on a journey heading toward a
  greater truth or understanding. The Romantic
  Poets did it all the time.
• When imagination is developed along the side of a
  romanticized subject, students can then think of
  anything as wonderful or at least contemplate it.

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Romance, Wonder, and Awe

• Paradox
• We use the imagination to help understand
  reality.

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Romance, Wonder, and Awe

• Argumentative steps
• Familiar content must be made meaningful in an
  enriched way
• By making the content romantic, students can
  think of it as wonderful therefore, it makes it
  meaningful
• Then, we can flip that same idea and turn our
  everyday lives into a romantic journey and view
  it as wonderful
• Thus, proving the paradox correct.

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Romance, Wonder, and Awe

• Awe may not seem useful, but it is the step
  beyond wonder.
• A person familiar with awe is less likely to be
  a victim of surprise at the way life happens to
  clobber out events (Egan, 1992).

www.tv.com
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Romance, Wonder, and Awe

• Romance, Wonder, and Awe seem to have a greater
  effect with students at the ages of 8-15.
• This is the reason for their attraction towards
  Princesses, Star warriors, (the romantic figures)
  tarot cards, Ouija boards, spooky stories,
  adventure stories, the supernatural, (the wonder
  and awe).

www.geocities.com
sharetv.org
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The Heroic

• Imagination in Middle School

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The Heroic

• Students in middle school are relatively
  powerless.
• They are subjected to
• Parents rules
• School rules
• Societal rules
• A hero is a person who is subjected to those
• same kind of restraints, yet transcends them.

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The Heroic

• We move in the direction of what we admire, as
  far as we can, and, during this period of
  self-definition, students commonly admire and
  move toward a variety of heroic qualities (Egan,
  1992).

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www.kokasexton.com
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The Heroic

• This is the reason for their attraction towards
  teen-exploration movies, pop group bands, and
  anything that shows freedom from those
  constraints.
• When immersed in these stories, we reflect on
  our own self-definition and move towards those
  heroic qualities of the protagonist.

www.Amazon.com
www.Amazon.com
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Revolt and idealism

• Imagination and Middle School

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Revolt and Idealism

• Inevitably there will be tension between the
  adult world and the growing student (Egan, 1992).

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Revolt and Idealism

• Many forms of revolt are tried on by teenagers
  they are trying to find themselves in a world
  that does not yet accept them.
• If teachers are to figure out where our students
  are, remember that they are at a place of
  increasing idealism, with revolt constantly
  nudging their elbows (Egan, 1992).

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Revolt and Idealism

• This is the reason why teenagers
• sulk, use quiet resistance, to flaunting hair
  styles, clothing, music, and dancing.

www.pbase.com
The imagination is working through all of this,
thinking of what will work best for the
proliferating individual.
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Matters of detail

• Imagination and Middle School

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Matters of Detail

• During this period of time, students are coming
  more aware of the world around them however,
  they dont understand its limits.
• They discover meaning by exploring.
• And through exploring, students discover just
  what limits are limits in types of sets, limits
  in the imagination, and limits in the world
  around them.
• The set doesnt need to be completed, some are
  just as a satisfied with discovering what the
  limits are.

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Matters of Detail

• This is the reason why teenagers have obsessive
  hobbies and collections Pogs, stamps, trading
  cards, shells or stones, dolls, comics, etc

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It is through discovering everything about
something we will again get some secure sense of
the extent of reality. At least, we gain the
comfort of realizing that the world is not
limitless, and that we can get intellectual
control over some aspects of it (Egan, 1992).
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Not Buying It?

• These characteristics do over lap and may seem
  unnecessary knowledge for the classroom
  however, if this is where teenagers are, then
  this is where teachers need to be.
• Teachers can use these characteristics with all
  content that needs to be taught (math, science,
  language arts). Just construct the content
  around a narrative shape so that affective
  teaching takes place.
• Dont believe me? Lets take a look

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Fantasy framework

• Curriculum Framework for all Content

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Fantasy Framework

• How can we take what we learned and apply it to
  the classroom?
• This is a demonstration of a framework that a
  teacher can take and apply to other subjects and
  grade levels. It does not contain methods of
  instruction they will vary depending on teacher
  and subject.

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Fantasy Framework

• You can take parts of the framework or all of it,
  whichever works best for you. There is no right
  or wrong way to implement this idea it can be
  done in a day or an entire unit.
• The possibilities are endless.

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Fantasy Framework

• Identify inspirational qualities
• What awe-inspiring human qualities that can be
  seen and felt central to the topic (what are the
  amazing, strange, wonderful etc)
• What affective images are evoked? (imagine a
  story line, a picture to visualize, or a scene of
  a movie to better experience the topic)

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Fantasy Framework

• Organizing content
• Initial access
• What content, distinct from their everyday
  experience, best represents the awe-inspiring
  central topic? (Attempt to answer a mystery of
  the subject or take them on a quest. Use audio,
  illustration, inquiry, whatever )
• Does it expose an extreme or limit of reality
  with the topic? (expose the weirdness)
• Structure the body of the unit or lesson
• What content best describes the topic in a clear
  narrative story? Set the scene. (look at a
  timeline, or discuss social and political
  background of the timeif possible)
• Humanize the content
• How can the content be shown in terms of hopes,
  fears, or other emotions? (Dont just think human
  qualities, but feelings curiosity, frustration,
  persistence, stubbornness)
• What aspects of the content can arouse romance,
  wonder, and awe?
• What ideals and or revolts against conventions
  are evident in the topic? (science, religion,
  government, virtue, discovery)
• Pursue details
• What content best allows students to pursue some
  aspect of the topic in exhaustive detail?
  (charts, timelines, diagrams, maps)

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Fantasy Framework

• Conclude
• How can one best bring the topic to satisfactory
  closure, while pointing on to further dimensions
  or to other topics? How can the students feel
  this satisfaction? (what is still unknown,
  unclear, other connections with other ideas,
  etc..)

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Fantasy Framework

• Evaluate
• How can one know whether the topic has been
  understood and has engaged and stimulated
  students imaginations? (teacher assessment,
  student going beyond what is required,
  drawing/panting, obsessive engagement in a topic,
  self evaluation)

Click for Example
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Still Not Buying it?

• Kieran Egan has spent much of his work studying
  the imagination and how it effects education.
• Here are some extra links if you would like to
  further explore the subject
• Fantasy and Reality in Children Stories
• Memory, Imagination and Learning Connected by
  the Story
• http//www.educ.sfu.ca/kegan/

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Final Thoughts

• And if we deny our children their cultural,
  historical heritage, their birthright to these
  stories, what then? Instead of creating men and
  women who have a grasp on literary allusion and
  symbolic language, and a metaphorical tool for
  dealing with serious problems of life, we will be
  forming stunted boys and girls who speak only a
  barren language, a language that accurately
  reflects their equally barren minds (Yolen,
  2007).

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Work Cited

• Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment The
  Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. Vintage,
  1989
• Bruner, Jerome. Actual minds, Possible Worlds.
  Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press, 1986.
• Egan, Kieran. Imagination in Teaching and
  Learning The Middle School Years. Chicago
  University of Chicago Press, 1992.
• Hanson, Karen. Prospects for the Good Life
  Education and Perceptive Imagination. New York
  Teachers College Press, 1988.
• Lavin, Albert. Some Meanings and Uses of Myths.
  ERIC database, 1966.
• Rosenblatt, L. Literature as Exploration. New
  York Modern Language Association, 1983.
• Yolen, Jane. Touch Magic Fantasy, Faerie, and
  Folklore in the Literature of Childhood. August
  House, 2007.

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Example

• Area Science Topic Trees
• Identify Inspirational Qualities Trees provide
  building materials, fuel, paper, fruits, nuts,
  oxygen, prevent erosion, and homes for animals.
  They are crucial to our lives, the world, and
  civilization. They are faithfully supportive to
  our existence. Our theme will be, what trees do
  for us, and in return, what we do for (or more
  commonly, to) trees.

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Example

• Organize the Content Central topic Take a look
  at how the growth of human civilization depended
  on trees and then show how civilization declined
  due to the excessive exploits (this shows an odd
  perspective of trees as well as an obsessive
  tendency). Develop a new perspective on
  civilization by exploring the Roman Empire,
  Britain, or USA. Look at the characteristics of
  trees and how they helped develop a prosperous
  civilization. (The story content depends on what
  information needs to be learned by the student).

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Example

• Organize the Content Appeal to the emotions of
  the students show how the loss of trees to a
  particular tribe effects their existence. Make
  it Romantic, wonderful and awe-inspiring Look at
  a book of records of the tallest, smallest, and
  oldest trees in the world. Wonder about the
  technology that cuts or shapes wood. Expose the
  ideals and revolts explore the ecosystem
  conservation and management of trees. Discover
  the details learn in depth details of one
  particular tree.

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Example

• Conclude Read or watch a text on trees. The
  Oscar award winning film, The Man Who Planted
  Trees, takes the viewer on an expedition all over
  the world and how he planted trees and watched
  them thrive.
• Evaluate teacher assessment, drawing/panting,
  self evaluation,etc

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