{"id":3979,"date":"2014-11-05T09:48:18","date_gmt":"2014-11-05T14:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carleton.ca\/edc\/2014\/blog-carried-away-astronaut\/"},"modified":"2022-01-06T12:04:22","modified_gmt":"2022-01-06T17:04:22","slug":"blog-carried-away-by-the-astronaut-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/2014\/blog-carried-away-by-the-astronaut-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Blog: Carried away by the astronaut"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By <a title=\"Luciana Caffesse\" href=\"http:\/\/carleton.ca\/edc\/people\/luciana-caffesse\/\">Luciana Caffesse, EDC Instructional Designer<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Last week, the annual <a href=\"http:\/\/events.carleton.ca\/teaching-and-learning-symposium-with-dr-roberta-bondar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Teaching and Learning Symposium<\/a> featured a keynote address entitled \u2018Plastic Passion \u2013 The Brain Knoweth What the Heart Seeks\u2019 by national icon <a href=\"http:\/\/www.robertabondar.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dr. Roberta Bondar<\/a>, Canada\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_female_astronauts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">first female astronaut<\/a> and a renowned scientist, photographer and educator.<\/p>\n<p>Not only did her hour-long presentation carry the whole audience away, but it represented the \u2018gold standard for engagement\u2019 that was highlighted in several sessions at the symposium. Such successful rhetoric may be viewed as contingent on someone being an exceptionally talented individual, but it should not remain unanalyzed by attendees of a symposium on high impact practices; at least not for this forever learner in education, who is ready to blog about it.<\/p>\n<h3>Components<\/h3>\n<p>Three basic components stood out:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>The Story:<\/strong> As a guiding thread to substantiate her claim of plastic passion, Dr. Bondar selected <strong>meaningful examples<\/strong> in the autobiography of Bobbie, later Roberta, who grew up ordinarily in Sault Ste. Marie.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Storytelling:<\/strong> Dr. Bondar used a relaxed and <strong>joyful tone<\/strong> with changes in volume and intonation, spiced with hilarious comments and anecdotes. She appealed to human <strong>emotions<\/strong>; from passion, astonishment and joy to distress, shame and disgust for caterpillars. All these wrapped in memories that <strong>hopped<\/strong> from childhood in the \u201850s to a recent dinner with friends, carrying us away \u2013 back and forth \u2013 to the Yukon, to Africa, and to the moon.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Art:<\/strong> The components above could have been engaging enough. However, they were topped with neat sepia snapshots, an iMax-quality array of bird\u2019s eye views of Canada\u2019s Parks and space, even tinged with a colourful ancient engraving (<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Flammarion_engraving\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the Flammarion engraving<\/a>) to illustrate \u2018curiosity.\u2019 <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-15712\" src=\"http:\/\/carleton.ca\/edc\/wp-content\/uploads\/Flammarion.jpg\" alt=\"Flammarion engraving\" width=\"160\" height=\"160\" \/>Images were as large as the screen permitted, which let us feel closer, more involved. Except for less than a dozen unbulleted words (not even phrases), written text was absent.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3>Two Bets<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Are we, mere mortal educators, capable of accomplishing this? I <em>bet<\/em> we all are. Although outstanding, Dr. Bondar\u2019s presentation was definitely a speech, a presenter-to-audience one-way communication event. This can be equated with the address of a university instructor, before it is complemented with student-centered and collaborative activities to become a fine university lesson. Ultimately, it basically consisted of:\n<ul>\n<li>A narrative with <strong>meaningful<\/strong> examples<\/li>\n<li>Empathy with <strong>audience<\/strong>; for example, we all like stories (even adults and rigorous researchers), and we all dislike flat, pale, blurred, monotone, soporific speeches (students included)<\/li>\n<li>A slideshow to <strong>support<\/strong> the oral script, and not vice versa<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>I <em>bet<\/em> I was not the only one who almost fell down the slippery slope of intimidation (that ends in frustration) before a person who is highly accomplished in several fields, and has led a life filled with insights, experiences and rewards. But wait, don\u2019t fall! Take a few self-justifying steps backwards one foot at a time:\n<ul>\n<li><em>Maybe Dr. Bondar was not so \u2018ordinarily\u2019 raised. I wish many boomers had such experience-encouraging parents, got a camera for their own use or flew to see their grandparents all before kindergarten. <\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>In fact, as Dr. Bondar said, when she was already committed to missions, people in the audience hadn\u2019t even started shaving yet.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>That was close! That little bit of perspective helped you keep your balance against falling down the slope. Now you can breath; you overcame the paranoia in you as you continue thinking:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Dr. Bondar herself must have struggled, for example, with gender issues just to enter (and then excel in!) the fields of science and technology in the \u201860s.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Dr. Bondar\u2019s self-awareness in respect of personal passion and in appreciation of the endless possibilities of our context (as vast as the cosmos) is an accessible formula.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You feel your feet flat on the ground again.<\/p>\n<h3>Two \u2018Lets\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>You chose: you could have <em>let<\/em> yourself fall down; instead, you <em>let<\/em> her brightness encourage and inspire you, standing up safe to go. \u2018A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step\u2019, said Lao Tse. It may not be possible to catch up to Dr. Bondar\u2019s achievements, but maybe we can try to move closer to her successful formulas for audience engagement and passion-led life? Challenge accepted. Assumption confirmed: \u2018my brain knoweth what my heart seeks.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Luciana Caffesse, EDC Instructional Designer Last week, the annual Teaching and Learning Symposium featured a keynote address entitled \u2018Plastic Passion \u2013 The Brain Knoweth What the Heart Seeks\u2019 by national icon Dr. Roberta Bondar, Canada\u2019s first female astronaut and a renowned scientist, photographer and educator. Not only did her hour-long presentation carry the whole [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[142],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.2 - 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