I’ve be having a lot of thoughts regarding not only difference between the history of something and a history of something, but also about what it might mean to have “a history with” something. Perhaps articles and prepositions are problematic as we tend to use them in conceptualizing learning. “The history of” seems to suggested a static and authoritative notion of human experiences that is to be learned by students. “A history with” seems to suggest a living engagement with human experiences, a playful inquiry in which students co-construct an understanding of their possible contextual and historical situatedness.
I don’t think I’d prefer to teach or learn about the history of rock music or the history of the French-American War, but exploring a history with rock music or a history with a French-American War seems fascinating to me. Notice here that my verbs are necessarily changed by my choices of articles and prepositions. We learn/teach about “the….of,” however it is hard to learn/teach about “a…with;” instead a more inquiry-prone verb seems necessary. Honestly, this differentiation of verbs was unconscious, yet unavoidable because “a…with” reframed how I conceptualized a focused “object” (for a lack of a better and less problematic word) of a learning experience. Subtle changes in my discourse elicited changes in my conception and then changes in how I approached acts of living-learning-teaching, three gerunds that Freire might see as completely wrapped up with one another.
As a thought experiment, let’s consider what other articles and prepositions might be problematic in living-learning-teaching. How might it mean to learn the theory of music? How might it mean to learn a theory with music? What might it mean to learn about melody? What might it mean to explore melody (no preposition)? What else might you think about? Please share below.
I don’t think I’d prefer to teach or learn about the history of rock music or the history of the French-American War, but exploring a history with rock music or a history with a French-American War seems fascinating to me. Notice here that my verbs are necessarily changed by my choices of articles and prepositions. We learn/teach about “the….of,” however it is hard to learn/teach about “a…with;” instead a more inquiry-prone verb seems necessary. Honestly, this differentiation of verbs was unconscious, yet unavoidable because “a…with” reframed how I conceptualized a focused “object” (for a lack of a better and less problematic word) of a learning experience. Subtle changes in my discourse elicited changes in my conception and then changes in how I approached acts of living-learning-teaching, three gerunds that Freire might see as completely wrapped up with one another.
As a thought experiment, let’s consider what other articles and prepositions might be problematic in living-learning-teaching. How might it mean to learn the theory of music? How might it mean to learn a theory with music? What might it mean to learn about melody? What might it mean to explore melody (no preposition)? What else might you think about? Please share below.
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