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As always, Dr. Sung gracefully began our class with a gentle review and thoughtful enrichment of our previous topic, “the Book of Hours,” beautifully crafted prayer books created for distinguished patrons, often someone of notable prestige. She guided us through the evolution of book styles, tracing the journey from ancient scrolls to the more refined codex, and highlighting the delicate materials—parchment, papyrus, and even wood—that artisans once used. The Book of Hours, as we explored, was more than just a manuscript for prayer during the Middle Ages; it was a cherished companion, deeply intertwined with the rhythms of Christian devotion and everyday life. The world of manuscripts is vast. Beyond prayer, these handwritten treasures could be devoted to music, history, or even the mysteries of astronomy, each one reflecting the thoughtful spirit and creative energy of its time. Before delving into the layers of our discussions today, we were invited to pause and reflect once more on the Artful Thinking Palette and the accompanied thinking routines.  Dr. Sung, with her usual warmth and clarity, explained that our tasks today would be to explore the stroies woven into the painting, using the three strategies as our guide. The guiding questions were: (1) What do you see? (2) What happened in the picture? (3) Where did it happen? (Was it in the real world or imaginative world?) When did it happen? (Dawn or Dusk?) What led you to that insight? With every turn of our classmates’ thoughtful elaboration, I find myself appreciating not just the knowledge shared but the nurturing atomosphere that encourages us to reflect and connect with the artwork in a meaningful and heartfelt way. Stories in the Painting As we traced through the intricate details of this painting, narratives about the main characters in the foreground - their status, and surrounding environment began to unfold.
The garment’s hues of the four characters shifts gracefully between the earthy blue and heavenly red, symbolizing the contrast between the mortal and the divine.
After our delightful artisit journey from last session, Dr. Sung began today’s class with another enriching exploration about Egyptian art. She warmly revisited our discusssion about the beautifully balanced masterpiece, The Hunting of Nebamun. Dr. Sung suggested that the symmetry in this painting might actually reflect how the Egyptians thought about life and death, or day and night—as two sides always striving to remain in harmony. Her thought-provoking insight encourages us to look at any artwork throught a creative and historical lense, learning the people of that specific period of time. The ancient egyptians believe that chaos of the nature was inevitable, and that restoring order was essential. Much like a garden without a gardener, left untended, life could easily fall into neglect and disorder. This idea is beautifully refelcted in our painting of focus, which is filled with natural beauty—birds, plants and a sense of movement everywhere. Yet the human figures in the center seem to convey something deeper: that people had an important role in keeping everything connected and in balance. It is a soft and quiet reminder that Harmony requires care and attention, just like the world around us. Moving on to our second session, Dr. Sung gracefully wove in insights from Project Zero and Artful Thinking as she introduce of the Book of Hours. Drawing from the artful thinking palette developed by Harvard, we began with delight to observe carefully and reason deeply, searching for clues with our curious mind.  As we delve deeper into the artwork, more and more details began to unfold through our discussions. Jewelery, plants, colors, lighting and fabric textures all delicately complement one another, creating a harmony whole. Together, these elements brought the stories of the lady in the foreground and the lady in the background to life, weaving a rich tapestry that invited us to imagine their world and experience - a prayer to Lady Mary and Infant Jesus. The painter skillfully used various details to honor Lady Mary of Burgundy as a pure and holly lady.  Perhaps Mary of Burgundy in this painting was praying for a prosperous future of her Duchy as she prays along with her book of hour. Or maybe she was expressing the worries that came with her impending marriage, praying for happiness with her soon-to-be husband, Archduke Maximillian I. Either way, the artwork offers a temder glimpse of her hopes and inner world, connecting with her emotions and personal journey.
This is one of the lesson series organized by Cosmic Light, with Dr. Sung Pei. Dr. Sung commenced the speech with a brief but thought-provoking introduction of the book “Artful Thinking,” - a pedagogical framework derived from Project Zero at Harvard. These strategies aim to foster reflective, curious, and open-minded thinking through the lens of art. Throughout the entire speech, Dr. Sung skillfully applied this approach by guiding us to explore our own reasoning, consider divergent perspectives, and revisit our ideas from a broader and more inclusive point of view - all by simply observing a single image.  In the first task, we were asked to observe and share what we noticed from a small part of a painting called Nebamun. While seemingly straightforward, the task proved unexpectedly demanding to me. Having shaped by the traditional Asian educational paradigm - one that prioritizes accuracy, I felt hesitant to voice my own interpretation. The ingrained fear of error of social embarrasssment loomed large. After the discussion, Dr. Sung provided more details about this imagery, starting with the geographical background of the river Nile and where the painting was found. The reiver Nile and the flooded area symbolized life and death for the Egyptians and where the order of life was resotred. The tomb, where the painting was discovered, was naturally located on the west side of the river - the direction of the setting sun, symbolizing the end of life and the beginning of the soul's journey after death.   As we engaged deeper with the artwork, we noticed how our thoughts sometimes aligned with, and sometimes differed from, the philosophical lens of ancient Egyptian culture. The entire process feels like a dialogue between us and the those ancient fellows dwelling along River Nile. By making the conversation personal, we were brought closer to each other and the exchange of worldviews more intimate.
讀書會裡有位明德國小的孩子，說這本書他看了十三遍，我笑了。覺得孩子真是可愛，這樣著迷的程度，真的是活靈活現的呈現了愛不釋手。孩子說，他下課看，找到空擋就看。大概所有的心思都在角色的悲歡離合裡了。
看了前幾頁的人物介紹以及地圖，老實說這些並沒有特別吸引我。等著書一開始，拾參和他夥伴們的語言生動的呈現了北地曠野孩子的生活與氣慨，我開始佩服作者的功力。等到相關人物一個個登場，我開始感受到這個故事在時間軸上鋪陳三位一體的禪學抑或是道學。 最後一章，真的讓我淚流不止。一個十三歲的孩子，竟得領悟這樣的人生道理，做出那樣的選擇，實在令人心碎。父母輩的業，為什麼要孩子來承擔？累世的業又要何時才會停止？什麼是開悟？何時又是個頭？ 面對人性之惡，拾參與雅庫最後的一句「生生世世不再為人」，很是令人震撼。這樣對人的鄙視與反叛，讓西遊記裡的老孫，更加迷人了！ 資深AI 應用人程世嘉以麻瓜也可以懂的語言爲一般民眾提供了許多破解AI的迷思與實際的應對策略。這兩個月他也頻繁的進行宣傳，跟幾位知名的主持人進行了很精彩的對談。（有這些不同領域的對談真的很拓展思維）
書裡面兩個我認為最關鍵的核心思想是：
這些思維是對未知恐懼的解放，對於進入未來有個堅實的立足點。 感覺振奮人心 ！ References:
談及向上管理的書不少，網路上也有很多討論的短文。我不太喜歡厚黑學一類目的性太強的教戰守則。畢竟爾虞我詐的人生太勞心，我可能很難快活長命。 張瀞仁的這本書讀起來非常舒服，是一種純粹乾淨的舒服。沒有壞念想，只有一份同理心。每個人在對自己的角色任務都有不同的解讀，也因爲個性、文化的不同有各式各樣的詮釋與行動。有些人的表達方式很隱晦，只能不斷試誤飲恨；也有些人表達明快容易配合。書裡引用Dr. William Marston 的 DISC 分類法，其實是ㄧ個簡易應對指南，容易上手。仔細思考一下，我曾經或是現在¥的主管們，也好像真的能夠用這分類法排排坐好！（圖摘自p173）  總的來說，書裡用了 Jennifer Kahnweiler 的話總結了此篇：「你的目標就是要幫你的主管達成目標，而他的工作就是要協助他的主管目標。」說的簡單，但操作起來的困難就是「我不認同」跟「我不想」。結果人生最大的敵人還是自己。
跟著美國老闆工作的那幾年，真真切切的領悟到了宏觀和目標。大部分的同仁都是以這樣的理念和想法彼此照應著，後宮那些個你爭我奪的套路真的是玩不起來，頻率對不上的都是悄然離去。在那樣的磁場裡真的少聽到「我不想」、「我不要」或是「為什麽是我」，更多的時侯是感謝與「我們」。 想念啊！ 張瀞仁這本書雖然是寫給內向者的工作指引，但老實說對已在職場上的人是一種提醒，對於大學生或是初出社會的青年這樣ㄧ步步手把手解釋引導，真是佛心來著，我尤其推薦書裡解釋 Small Talk 的篇章。 對於還在英語學習階段，即將邁入雙語或是英語教學的學生們，這真的是寶典！哈哈哈哈！
Small talk, 對外國的孩子可能相當習以爲常，但對於臺灣的孩子（起碼對我來說），尤其是要自在的以英語進行small talk ，的確是ㄧ個需要學習的技能。 因爲是外語，平常沒在使用的話，ㄧ下子要口若懸河，看起來自在，無論你是外向或是內向我想都不容易。所以如書中所言，準備是重點，曾練習過的才是自己的。也因爲是聊天，「讓聽者愉悅地接受才是溝通的重點。其實，被討厭與讓人印象深刻只有一線之隔…。」 網路上說明亞洲大媽或大伯聊天方式令人哭笑不得的梗已太多：ㄧ定要負面評論一下你的外表、容裝、穿著，然后給個建議覺得為你好；一定要調查一下你的身家背景，還是要給個建議，告訴你如何可以更好（我有想知道嗎？）；本來以爲，時至今日這樣的情形已經不多，喔不，上週參加研習還真有個教師夥伴活靈活現的又在我身邊演一回。 （對，我就想這樣穿，不行嗎？） 如果，我們平日溝通的方式僅是向師長、家人抑或是某些酸言酸語的直播主取經，那真的要好好學習ㄧ回何為讓聽者愉悅接受的小閒聊。平等的尊重，我們似乎還有努力的空間。
真實的經驗是，我也是個太小心謹慎的人。第一次的國外小旅行，當地朋友開心聊完自己，回頭問了我： So, what’ your story? 我驚嚇的當場逃走！ If I can do it again, I would definitely have lots to share and say about me, my country and my great experience in that trip. 🥹 A colleague told me she started taking online English lessons to brush up her English skills. Kinda interesting and I signed up one. For one, I want to see how experienced teachers conduct a language class with a small group of people. I also want to practice the language on topics I am not that familiar with.
The first lesson was great. The teacher divided the time into two sessions: 1) conversation-how to really take turns to build the content on others’ response 2) discussion-read aloud a short paragraph, explain the vocabulary, trouble-shoot and share ideas. I truly enjoyed the first part! Gosh! Having a proper conversation without asking questions is so hard for me! It really takes practice. And studying the vocabulary words, ChatGPT really comes in handy. Some of the words are difficult to grasp without enough contexts. I asked ChatGPT to give me 10 sentences for each words. Solid and well-rounded. On a side-note, I scheduled the lesson at noon time, for 80 minutes. It was very refreshing and better than a nap, at least for me. When researching ideas of how teachers successfully build a learner-centered community, I found this gem on Edutopia. Mr. Chris Optiz speaks about his philosophy and strategies to engage learners in the math class.
I love how he describes learning as a social behavior. It is impossible for one teacher to teach students with a wide range of social or academic abilities. Therefore teaching them how to support each other, offer and accept help is more important. When I first think about SEL, I googled and saw sets of curricula online. It feels like a subject that requires additional time and effort to work it out in the classroom. Obviously, for me it is impossible because I simply do no have enough time to cover that on top of the materials/textbook I already have to cover. Then, I wonder when and how did education or my own teaching come to this end - how to efficiently transmitting content knowledge to the children. So here I take a different turn. And thanks to ideas and video clips. Edutopia- How to teach Math as a social activity Here Mr. Opitz showcased his ideas in action. Cooperative Learning Fits into Caculation Here Mr. Opitz shared his overall plans and step-by-step guide. From the podcast episode, this is a beautiful quote by The two, “seeing us as human beings and as brothers and sisters is to recognize that we are all capable of being good or bad; We cannot be fixed but we can always be better. “
I truly enjoyed the conversation between these two great individuals. Their words and actions about love, community and finding common grounds amongst US are uplifting and empowering. Although Chloe spoke from the concerns of racism, her central tone is to encourage all to face the demon inside. Instead of othering people, recognizing those needs and wants that we dislike or loathe are not unique but social-emotional complexity existing within every single one of us. As inner psychology lays out: what we do not like is a projection of ourselves. Separation is an illusion. It is always We and Us. To be WE is not an easy task. Communications and negotiations speaks to from and to our egos. It triggers anger, annoyance, disgust, superiority…and feelings that defines us at that particular moment. Oftentimes, it hurts. Looking within takes courage because it asks us to confront our own ego. One who chooses to go through that path could experience unpleasant interactions with our own ego. Indeed, as human beings I’m capable of doing all good and bad. I choose, I mourn, I learn and I choose again. such a lifetime hard work. It can be fun if we simply let it. |
Winnie ChiuAn enthusiastic ELT/CLIL teacher, passionate educator, researcher, teacher trainer, Apple Teacher. Seesaw ambassador and curriculum developer. Archives
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