Module 3 – What’s the big idea?
In Sparks of Genius, Robert and Michele Root – Bernstein recommend that we can learn to master tools for thinking and creating. In Chapters 6 and 7, we learned how to recognize and use reproducible patterns as tools. The idea of forming patterns is to “focus on how original and innovative patterns are formed (p.116),” so we are able to discover that new patterns already exist but have previously been overlooked. In my personal experience, I always like to listen to soft Jazz while I am reading a novel. I did not realize the connection between the two until now. The pattern of Jazz is soft, creamy and swingy; the pattern of a novel is chewy, speedy and tasty, thus, the two patterns “cross disciplinary boundaries and transfer simple ideas in one realm of human experience to another realm (p.118).” Based on this discovery, I understand that it is important to learn how to create new patterns from the original patterns. As Robert and Michele Root – Bernstein suggested, “combinatorial and visual pattern forming can be enhanced by playing with puzzles such as the ancient Chinese tangram puzzle (p.133)”. By playing puzzle games like the Chinese tangram puzzle, we can learn to observe, organize, discover and create, which is the process of mastering to use reproducible patterns as tools.
Meanwhile, I am planning to apply these two thinking tools into my Chinese teaching class.
First, as Root – Bernstein suggests, learning to create patterns is one of the keys to innovating in every discipline. I am planning to utilize this information to teach Chinese reading and writing. For example, I can design a 20-minute activity that assigns students to make as many sentences and phrases as possible by using 6 Chinese words. Through this exercise, the students will understand the original pattern from each word and try their best to create new patterns by their own hands. It helps the students not only to improve their Chinese reading and writing skills, but also to learn to create new patterns.
Meanwhile, I am planning to apply thess thinking tools to improve students’ speaking performance. When Chinese people are having a conversation, even though non-Chinese-speakers cannot recognize what a specific word means, the sounds - the patterns, the rhythms of the voices as they rise and fall, intersect and diverge, beat and syncopate- can be recognized and discovered. Once students explore the different patterns from the Chinese sounds, it will help them to recognize the “strange” sounds, and be able to create their own new patterns in order to understand and learn from it.
In conclusion, learning to master reproducible patterns not only guides me to be more creative in my personal life, but also helps me to successfully apply what I have learned into my teaching content—Chinese speaking and writing. While I am considering teach creatively as an effective teaching strategy, I should also consider how to help my students to develop these creative tools in order to help their own learning performance, so that the seemly challenging and abstract Chinese teaching can be much more lifelike, interesting and fun! At the same time, through various practice and exercises, the students will ultimately master these creative tools and become creative thinkers and innovators!
Xin Wang
