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A New Horizon In Teaching

Lore, history and other content by the citizens of Underlight preserved for posterity.
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Uthanatos
Dreamer
Posts: 436
Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2016 11:08 pm
Character Name(s): Uthanatos
Location: the DMV, Northern VA
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A New Horizon In Teaching

Post by Uthanatos »

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It falls to me to have realized that our current methods of teaching are, inadequate to say the least. Dreamers enter the city and often, for several months they receive busywork. Nothing that actually teaches them any level of understanding or makes them feel like they can make a difference. Especially when they see higher sphered dreamers literally changing the dream. The following is an outline and will, of course, need to be flexible as each dreamer is different. I was going to include sample quests as examples, but it made the entire thing unreadably long. Thus, sample quests for any and all tiers will be available on request.

Unsphered,

This is the time to get to know the dreamer and find their areas of interest. There are only a few tasks during this time, but it is a crucial time in the development of a young dreamer. Try to avoid bland tasks that equate to busywork and actually use these tasks to get to know the dreamer. In this instance, I reccommend observational tasks. This helps in several ways. Firstly you can understand the perspective of the dreamer based on how they view things, the things they choose to see. Do they look for the obvious answers or are they more philisophical, or do they delve into the social? The report for an observational task says a lot about the mindset of a dreamer. In the case of the young dreamer used for research purposes, we find that they are a very visceral dreamer, focused on the physical and interactive properties of the city.

First Sphere,

First sphere is when we refine and cultivate those interests we found previously. We have significantly more tasks to work with here which allows us to really focus in and by this time, we should be getting to know our student relatively well. In the case of the test dreamer, there was a defined interest in arts, how they function and improving or creating them. So in this phase we focus on cultivating the knowledge and undestanding needed as well as introducing them to more advanced aspects of the city. Because of the expressed interest by the student in the area of art manipulation, the extra tasks from the focal minors here were used to help them understand and theorize how arts work and then expand on their own theories by incorporating existing. Really helping them get an understanding for the area of interest and decide how THEY want to approach it.

Second Sphere,

Second sphere is where everything gets a little different. Often students are still receiving basic tasks at this point that have little or no impact on one another or any sort of real and meaningful goal. In this new approach we bring students into doing actual meaningful work here, using the knowledge they've cultivated thus far, here we were able to start on project work, using several tasks to build a project and event. Tasks can be combined using one to gather specific information, another to formulate the plan from that information, yet another to gather the materials, and finally an execution task. This means that a full scale project, the kind that many 50 and 60 plat tasks incorporate, can be achieved at second sphere. Allowing the dreamer to have a sense of accomplishment and purpose.

Third Sphere

Third sphere is where, traditionally, purpose begins to flush out, but there is still a lot of senseless busywork. In this model we look to refine method and expand scope, using third sphere as a stepping stone where the student begins telling us what they want to work on and we begin working around it. I know that in the past this generally happens around 5th for most dreamers, but if we can move this process up, by using the method of breaking large scale projects into smaller tasks issued in conjunction, then rather than having eight different tasks to work on, the student has a singular focus, allowing them to progress, without having to be sidetracked by things outside their goalset.

Fourth Sphere and Beyond

At this point, the student should be telling the teacher what they want to work on, as before, but the scope of the tasks is expanded so that we can now branch out to multiple projects simultaneously, especially if they have related portions or overlap. This means that the adjustment of one art and the development of another art, can be worked on at the same time, since portions of the work and research for both will overlap. This brings the student into their own right in their chosen focus, lending to them becoming an authority much earlier than previous and giving them a great amount of background to work from in their later sphere tasks.

To some, this may seem obvious and to others a revelation, but there are two things that keep dreamers coming back to the city, our personal bonds and our purpose. I believe that by incorporating this long term style of teaching, we can enhance both, allowing us to keep more young dreamers dreaming.


Ü
“Sometimes it isn't easy to be sane, smart, and responsible. Sometimes it sucks. Sucks wang. Camel wang. But that doesn't turn wrong into right or stupid into smart.”
― Jim Butcher, Cold Days
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