Teaching for Transformative Experiences:

An Example

The movie Dead Poets Society, provides a salient example of a teacher who takes the goal of transformative experience seriously. For Mr. Keating, Poetry is not just a subject to be learned, it is a tool that teaches us to perceive life in an exciting new way and to live life to its fullest. The video clip below illustrates this point.

(click here if the video clip doesn't play)

Not only poetry, but all subject areas can teach us to perceive aspects of our world in exciting, new ways. I often challenge my students to take Mr. Keating's phrase "We don't read and write poetry because it's cute, we read and write poetry because . . . " and apply it to their own subject area. I want the students to dwell on the "because" part. Why do we learn your subject area? What is profound about it? How does it transform our lives in wonderful ways?

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