Question 4 Bruner

I always loved the story of how Alfred the Great's mother promised her illuminated manuscript to the son who learned to read it. Alfred's older brothers had their minds on other things, but Alfred applied himself to learning to read and won the book. (http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=tappan&book=alfred&story=manor I remembered this story when I read about Jerome Bruner's book The Process of Education (1960) and his concept of Readiness for Learning: 'any subject can be taught effectively in some intellectually honest form to any child at any stage of development'.(cited, Smith, http://www.infed.org/thinkers/bruner.htm). One of my happiest memories is showing two year-nine English students that French spelling had not always been standard (as their French teacher thought), by reading them Le Chanson de Roland and the even more idiosyncratic spelling of Piers Plowman: although the language of both texts was beyond them, they eagerly followed my translation - a moment when I felt I had blown on the flames of their intellectual fire. In Acts of Meaning (1990), Bruner also insists on the importance of 'mental states like believing, desiring, intending' in the development of understanding.http://evolution.massey.ac.nz/assign2/BP/Bruner.html
and emphasizes narrative rather than paradigmatic reasoning, as described by Murray: 'the paradigmatic... [describes] a world of fact, whereas the narrative... constructs a point of view which is capable of hope and fear.'http://home.mira.net/~kmurray/psych/in&out.html
Bruner's humane approach sees the importance of engaging the emotions - crucial when teaching challenging texts like King Lear. Students may be as unwilling to read it as Moses was to hear God's word from the burning bush, but if they take off their shoes and listen, they may find themselves inspired and empowered.

Exam reflection on Bruner:

I have tried to incorporate the elements of believing, desiring and intending in my blogs mainly by the use of poems (my Year 9 Blog) that really engage the emotions and may foster creativity and play with language in the students own writings. I have also used paintings - I have a fairly wide knowledge of art and I find it is very helpful in engaging interest and emotion. I have noticed that my students enjoy this aspect of my teaching, and I have incorporated pictures very freely into my blogs - but not just any pictures - pictures of cultural and historical and artistic significance.