Teachers certainly help create pathways, but the learning platform does not have to be a pedestal. The learning occurs when the "student" fills the gap between the tension and reality-- when the student understands the "joke" as it were.
The element of surprise is also very important in relationships in general and in the learning relationship in particular. We learn from those who do the unexpected, who surprise us with their awareness of our needs or our acceptance of our limitations; not in necessarily a passive way, they are always looking for ways to connect with us, and that is the surprise. Even if family and friends are committed to helping us grow, that does not mean they always can; when this happens, it is a fortunate surprise for all and not generally related to the amount of tuition that has been spent. Whenever self absorption is overcome, that is a learning moment for all.
Mark Swed's Los Angele's Times retrospective on the influence of Charles Seeger and Ruth Crawford Seeger on their talented son, Pete, reinforced the importance of informal and formal learning and inspirational role of parents and other family members on all of us (Behind Pete Seeger, formative parents). Charles (Charlie) Seeger was a musicologist and activist who did much to inspire and teach Pete and other musicians on the West Coast in the early 1900s. Ruth Crawford Seeger, Pete's adoptive mother, helped expose Pete to many musical and other ideas, including the modernist sytle (anti-Romantic) that emphasized simplicity and consistency in musical and textual matters.
And, then there is Rachel Feintzeig's Wall Street Journal article "The Boss's Next Demand: Make Lots of Friends" that reminds us of the financial incentives possible when we can encourage and lead our coworkers and understand their likes and dislikes about company policies and products.
Jason Foumberg, art critic for New City (newcity.com) also writes persuasively in a Feb. 6, 2014 review of the book Your Everyday Art World by Lane Relyea that networking and informal art galleries like those in apartments are driving the local art scenes more and more (rather than the established museum curators).
We are rediscovering the power of social connections to build, create, and maintain. This might be stating the obvious (but obvious is all a relative term) but social networking has always been around and vital to our social and economic growth, such as the popularity and importance of the salon in building the Impressionistic art movement. How we can utilize these realities in traditional and non-traditional learning is a continual challenge and opportunity.
Alan "Ace" Greenberg, the head of finance company Bear Stearns for many years, was a very well connected person. Stories abound of him spending hours on the phone. When he died in July 2014 the Wall Street Journal put in a quote that captured some of his creativity and networking ability: "You could put him in an empty room and lock him up, and he’d think of some way to make money.”
As we move more strongly into the networked world, we are reminded that wealth is created not only through combining ideas, materials, labor, and capital, but also through connecting people and other people. As contacts and databases grow, the personal will also grow, including within the learning environment.
We might think of teachers as curators, as people who because we have an outline of where our students need to go in a particular area, we are able to create and collect evidence of this path. The evidence should be suggestive rather than definitive because the path forward has to be suggestive rather then definitive because we don't know exactly where we need to be. Creating inspirational imagery and text with incentives to innovate -- these are our challenges.
Instructors don't have to fill in all the spaces between the notes because the brain works quicker than the other senses. Provide some content and some activities and then let people's minds fill in the rest. Wants to connect.
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