Integrating Knowledge

One of the daunting tasks for anyone purporting to be a teacher is the process of distilling what you know to a form which is appropriate for your audience. Mahesh Sharma, Chancellor of Cambridge College in Boston, states that a teacher should have two years of mastery beyond the grade they wish to teach. But mastery of a subject area is only part of the equation for stimulating growth of thinking. The other piece is what I call the integration process with the whole of what we experience. The ability to integrate knowledge allows insightful questions to be asked, disparate pieces to be collected into a creative whole, and a deep appreciation for the complexity of being. I recently went on a 'walk in the woods' with a person who has expertise encompassing the field of ecology and many subjects connected with understanding how ecological processes work. The person is Tom Wessels, associated with Antioch NE College, and the location was Crawford Notch. Tom displays the depth of kowledge which comes with sustained inquisitiveness and long experience. It goes beyond wisdom, in a sense, in that Tom's insights also have a bit of ground truth from data built into them. Integrating knowledge with experience is a goal for an elementary teacher, but my observation is that teachers who embody that tendency in their thinking unconsciously transfer integrative principles through modeling. Tom has a few of his musings available as books. is latest "The Myth of Progress" is appropo of this year of electioneering and decisions driven by advertising rather than data. Check it out!