Learning Observations - Brian

What I got most out of this Learning Journey was the fact that such things could be meaningfully arranged to invite students to actually think about issues, beyond just being a field trip where they have to fill out worksheets with bits and pieces of information off exhibits. 

Personally, what I enjoyed most about it was how the poems chosen were linked to actual physical sites which helped to underscore its relevance to me as a Singaporean - it helped me realize that even though I may not have considered some of the things raised in the poems before, these are places and thoughts which matter to people who live on the same island with me. 

I think the strength of having a Learning Journey lies in the fact that it brings students to a location so that they can do two things: first, to see for themselves the subject of a poem; second, to form their own opinions and feelings about a place, which gives them some room to bring their personal viewpoints into the picture so that there is more to be discussed as a class. Helping students to make this connection serves to give them a voice of their own. In the context of looking at Singaporean poems, it drives home the point that the issues and ideas raised in the poems are not distant things which they cannot connect with; that these poets are writing about something that exists which the students can see, taste, smell and touch for themselves, and that they can (and should) form an opinion of their own concerning these subjects.

There are difficulties, of course, since this sort of process is inherently difficult to structure. Students may get easily distracted and may not actually make the effort to participate in such a dialogic setting. Despite the challenge, though, I believe it can be a powerful tool in the Literature classroom when trying to get students to have a personal stake in what is taught and discussed in class.