1. Engaging imaginations in Learning Literacy The 9th
Engaging imaginations in Learning Literacy The 9th. Pan-African Literacy for all conference & The 10th. RASA national literacy conference
Kieran Egan
Simon Fraser University
Cape Town, 3rd. Sept. 2015

2. What is new about this approach?
The Imaginative Literacy Program is distinct because of the ways it uses feelings and images, metaphors and jokes, rhyme and rhythm, stories and wonder, heroes and the exotic, hopes, fears, and passions, hobbies and collecting, and much else in engaging the imaginations of both teachers and learners with developing literacy.

3. Introduction to the Imaginative Literacy program

4. Kinds of Understanding
IE is based on five distinctive kinds of understanding that enable people to make sense of the world in different ways
enable each student to develop these five kinds of understanding while they are learning math, science, social studies, and all other subjects
needs to be accomplished in a certain order because each kind of understanding represents an increasingly complex way that we learn to use language
Somatic Understanding (pre-linguistic)
Mythic Understanding (oral language)
Romantic Understanding (written language)
Philosophic Understanding (theoretic use of language)
Ironic Understanding (reflexive use of language)
The theory of IE is based on five distinctive kinds of understanding that enable people to make sense of the world in different ways. The purpose of IE is to enable each student to develop these five kinds of understanding while they are learning math, science, social studies, and all other subjects. This needs to be accomplished in a certain order because each kind of understanding represents an increasingly complex way that we learn to use language:
Somatic Understanding (pre-linguistic)
Mythic Understanding (oral language)
Romantic Understanding (written language)
Philosophic Understanding (theoretic use of language)
Ironic Understanding (reflexive use of language)
To explain these kinds of understandings in greater detail, we will look at the life of a girl named Sara.

5. Somatic Understanding
The first kind of understanding, called Somatic understanding, refers to the physical, pre-linguistic way that Sara comes to know the world around her while she is an infant. She makes sense of her experiences through the information provided by her senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell, and crucially with the emotions that these are tied up with. She also experiences the world and sensations of balance, movement, tension, pain, pleasure, and so on, through the way her body physically relates to the objects and persons she encounters.
Bodies and their tool-kits

6. Somatic: the body’s toolkit
Bodily senses
Emotional responses & attachments
Humor & expectations
Musicality, rhythm, & pattern
Gesture & communication
Intentionality
“little factories of understanding”
Ted Hughes

7. emotional responses & attachments
Orientors to knowledge throughout life
Fundamental organizers of our cognition
Expectation and frustration, or satisfaction
“perfinkers”
Setting us in a network of love & care

8. humour & expectations
The smile appears at a uniform time in children everywhere, even deaf/blind
Peek-a-boo
The unexpected and incongruous
Affectionate communication nets

9. musicality, pattern & rhythm
Singing Neanderthals (Steven Mithen)
Rhythm tracking
Walking, marching, and dancing
We are a musical animal
Meaning in pattern

10. understand experience through oral language
Mythic Understanding
understand experience through oral language
As Sara grows older and learns an oral language, her understanding of the world expands and she begins to develop the second kind of understanding called Mythic understanding. In this phase of her life, she is no longer limited to making sense of the world through direct physical experience. Instead, Sara can now rely on language to discuss, represent, and understand even things she has not experienced in person.
The tool-kit of oral language

11. Cognitive tools: Story
What is a story? Who cares?
We don’t tend to think about the importance of story…let alone its role in how we make meaning in our own lives…leave now, break you ankle, get a lotto ticket, win, get a boat, get stranded on an island…we know how to FEEL about an event/experience in our lives once it is over (not too promising for finding out the meaning of our lives now is it!)
The POINT - by shaping our own experiences into a story structure - a form that brings out the emotional force - things are meaningful…
In education, we talk about subject matter as kind of inert bodies of knowledge rather than as stories - teaching is storytelling, or it should be if we want to bring out the emotional force of what we are teaching
2. Story in education - 2 forms…the fictional account versus a form that brings out the emotional force of its content - it is the latter that we are most interested in IE
3. He Shot tom. Tom was dodgy - picked his nose, used foul language in front of children. Glad he shot Tom? Tom worked undercover to help rid the community of drug dealers and on weekends volunteered at a local orphanage. Sad he shot Tom?
A girl crossed the street - - She crossed the street to help a young boy who had fallen off his bike…she went to help because, well, she saw a $50 bill poking out of his pocket and she wanted to take it…she had witnessed the boy take the money out of a helpless old man’s wallet…the boy had stolen the money so the family could pay for some medical attention for his sister.
4. To think about the story form in education, we will think like the reporter sent out to get “the story on…” - to bring out the emotional force of a topic…

12. Cognitive tools: Abstraction and emotion
The structure of children’s fantasy:
articulated on binary oppositions;
abstract;
affective.
Concrete content requires abstract concepts.
The kinds of stories that most interest/engage children have certain features…they are articulated around abos that are ABSTRACT/AFFECTIVE- The Grimm Fairy tales -- Jack and the Beanstalk (UNKNOWN/KNOWN) /Hansel and Gretel - safety/danger; Cinderella (rich/poor; good/evil)
ABOs are not something we teach…rather they are structures children have available to them by virtue of speaking an oral language…we access them in IE…so in educastion, will, like the stories kids enjoy, articulate our topics around powerful affective abos…egg. The majesty/vulnerability of whales
2. One of the most unfortunate pieces of educational folklore is that children are concrete thinkers…that they understand what they KNOW, what they perceive (THIS IS, OF COURSE, basis for near-far SS curriculum…); while it is actually the abstract/affective meanings within stories/experience that most readily engage them
3. So, engaging students requires consideration of BOs

13. Cognitive tool: Opposites and mediation
Piaget - as you know - argues that children are concrete thinkers…that percepts are more important than concepts (or that children can’t really go beyond their percepts - what they know/experience first hand)
Conducted experiments with liquids in various containers…Why my brother SO LOVED the “you pour I pick” rule…
But this is problematic if you have ever met a child…children don’t KNOW talking middle-class rabbits, fairies or beanstalks that grow from magic beans and that lead to giant ville…and yet these are the affective features of the stories that so engage them…clearly children are NOT concrete thinkers…
So what is going on? Well, we might explain this in terms of MEDIATION
First we mediate with the body - well, we never stop doing so…but primarily we begin with the body - HOT = hotter than my body…
When children learn about other aspects of the world this mediation process continues…a child, by 3 or 4 has certainly learned about life and death…from these they generate/create FANTASY…the ghost; between nature and culture students understand Peter Rabbit…
POINT - these intermediary concepts do not exits; they are fictional and yet they make sense for sense…they inspire the emotions/imaginations…DISPROVES that children are concrete thinkers…
So what for education? Well, IMPOVERISH education when we ignore this…teaching should engage students understanding of abos in order to make curric meaningful/wonderful - - accessible

14. Cognitive tools: Affective images generated from words
Teacher and Japanese garden
Image and concept in teaching
Image and emotion
Little is said in educational texts about the power of images generated from words for learning/for making the world meaningful…
Imagine a teacher weary at the end of a day, headache, tea in the japanese garden, mosses, sound of water trickling in the pond, grey stones, two new water lilies - the image I have created here has resonated for you somehow
If you recall an important event in your life you evoke, no doubt, an emotional image in your mind…
Don’t recognize in education that the mental images we evoke from words have great emotional power
We tend to neglect the power of mental imagery in learning - the image carries great emotional force
We are not looking for pictures in text books for students - we are saturated on a daily basis by images in the media… - but rather thinking about what mental image might be evoked in the topic

15. Cognitive tools: Jokes and humour
When is a door not a door? What do you call a bear with no ear? Why did Lucy cross the playground?
Observing language as an object, not just a behaviour
Vivifies thought and language, and, incidentally, gives pleasure to life
- - groan
Not funny maybe for teachers but 6 year olds find them funny…
They make language visible - educationally important - see language as an object…
Plain old fun.

16. Cognitive tools: Metaphor
Tool that enables us to see one thing in
terms of another
Lies at the heart of human inventiveness, creativity
and imagination
Maintaining children’s metaphoric capacity
- - groan
Not funny maybe for teachers but 6 year olds find them funny…
They make language visible - educationally important - see language as an object…
Plain old fun.

17. From cognitive tools to planning teaching
1. Locating importance 
2. Shaping the lesson or unit
2.1. Finding the story
2.2. Finding binary opposites
2.3. Finding images
2.4. Employing additional Mythic cognitive tools
2.5. Drawing on tools of previous kinds of understanding
3. Resources 
4. Conclusion
5. Evaluation
So we have put together some frameworks in various shapes/sizes to help teachers incorporate these ideas in teaching
Our Frameworks are very UNLIKE what one learns in teacher education programs. In the IERG we don’t tend to think about children as refridgerators or automobiles…teaching isn’t a process of production or industrialization
But, indeed, as you well know, the objectives-based planning frameworks we are trained to use (how could one do it any other way?) are based on a very technical understanding of education - Taylors time and motion studies about how to more effectively produce steel goods, led to Ralph Tylers application of these ideas to education…
One identifies objectives, identifies the kinds of activities or intermediary steps required to fulfill this objective; designs activities that can assess how well the product matches the design (objectives)
A good way to make refridgerators, but is it an appropriate way to think about teaching/learning?
Instead, in IE we suggest shaping teaching in a story form and in other ways that engage the imaginative capacities students have throughout their lives
This framework would be most appropriate for oral language using children - probably ages 4-6 or 7 who are primarily making sense of the world with the tools of oral language

18. Example: Mythic understanding
Introducing “Too”
Too is clearly very big, because he eats “too” much, he is also “too” tall, is clearly hyperactive, and always going beyond what is sensible. Unlike everyone else in his group, even when he includes the letter “o” in his name, he has to include two “o”s.
Introducing “Two”
Two does everything in pairs when she can—she has two cell-phones, two bikes, and is obviously over careful, in case she loses one thing she always has a backup. It is clear from the spelling of her name that she really wishes she were a twin, as she’s managed to put a “w” in her name, which is half way to “twin,” even though there is nothing in her name that the “w” sounds like.
Introducing “To”
To is constantly on her way elsewhere, or pointing to different things and places. She’s clearly never satisfied with where she is or what she’s got: a bit of a complainer. But she is neat and compact and well-organized—she doesn’t need those extra letters that too and two insist on having. But, you could say, she’s in so much of a hurry to go to some other place that, unlike the other two, she’s dropped the third letter from her name, and is the slimmest from all her hurrying around.

19. Example: Mythic understanding
Try introducing a “metaphor of the week” competition
blank sheet of paper on a wall and invite students to either write, or have someone write for them, a good metaphor they heard someone use, or one they invented themselves.
Every Friday afternoon vote on the best metaphor. You will find quite quickly that the students all quickly understand what a metaphor is, and become enthusiastic in listening for unusual and surprising ones.
You can have a special “Metaphor of the Month” competition also, in which each week’s top three are pitted against each other. Then the concluding “Metaphor of the Year” event—for which an Oscar or something similar might be awarded..

20. Romantic Understanding
understand experience through written language
Several years later, Sara begins to learn and understand her experience through written language. At this point, she is developing the third kind of understanding called Romantic understanding. During this time, she begins to realize her independence and separateness from a world that appears increasingly complex. She relates readily to extremes of reality, associates with heroes, and seeks to make sense of the world in human terms.
The toolkit of writing

22. From oral to literate culture
Cinderella to Superman: Peter Rabbit to Hazel and Bigwig
‘win’ in ‘window’ : ‘at’ from ‘cat’ : stop and watch the stopwatch
White bears on Novaya Zemla; Blue shamrocks on Sirius 5.

23. Extremes and limits of reality
Prosaicness of daily life--suppression of wonder.
Focus on tools of the imagination that come along with literacy, and how to preserve the artist of oral consciousness.

24. associating with the heroic
11 years old

25. romance, wonder, and awe
Folklore of ed. --start with what the student knows.
Rather start with what the student can imagine, and capture their emotions.

26. The literate eye The list The inventory The table The flowchart
Organizing experience and features of the world in visually accessible terms

27. matters of detail

28. “Romantic” planning framework
1. Identifying “heroic” qualities
2. Shaping the lesson or unit
2.1. Finding the story or narrative
2.2. Finding extremes and limits
2.3. Finding connections to human hopes, fears, passions
2.4. Employing additional Romantic cognitive tools
2.5. Drawing on tools of previous kinds of understanding
3. Resources
4. Conclusion
5. Evaluation

29. humanizing knowledge
All knowledge is human knowledge--hopes, fears, and passions . . .
In some ways the book is the curse of education…book printed today is the same 10, 20+ years from now…tend to think about knowledge within human minds the same way…really, knowledge tied up with human emotion/imagination

30. Examples Punctuation: The Mighty Comma! Monks and courtesy.
Image: The comma as superhero! Greater impact that Caesar, Napoleon, and all warriors. The unsuspected power of the comma––along with its tiny allies, the full stop, spaces, quotation marks, etc.––as transformer of the world, makers of democracy.
And confusion: "Jane claimed John made the mess" is crucially different from "Jane, claimed John, made the mess."

31. Example : punctuation
THEFIRSTACTIVITYOFTHECLASSMIGHTINVOLVEGIVINGTHESTUDE NTSAPIECEOFTEXTWITHOUTANYPUNCTUATIONSIMPLYALLTHEWO RDSFLOWINGTOGETHERWITHNOBREAKSCOMMASFULLSTOPSOR ANYOTHEROFTHEELEGANTANDECONOMICALCUESTHATMAKETEX TSEASILYACCESSIBLETOTHEEYEHEYWHATDOYOUMAKEOFTHIST HETEACHERCOULDASKJUSTSEEINGHOWMUCHMOREDIFFICULTIT ISTOREADWILLGIVESOMEIMMEDIATESENSEOFAVALUEOFPUNCTU ATIONHAVETHESTUDENTSREADTHETEXTALOUDTOHEARRATHER THANSEEHOWMUCHEASIERITISTOTHENMAKESENSEOFCHOOSES OMETHINGWITHLOTSOFQUOTATIONSSUBHEADINGSANDSOON GR APHICILLISTRATIONEHWHATSALLTHATSOMESTUDENTMIGHTSAY

32. Example : punctuation
THE FIRST ACTIVITY OF THE CLASS MIGHT INVOLVE GIVING THE STUDENTS A PIECE OF TEXT WITHOUT ANY PUNCTUATION SIMPLY ALL THE WORDS FLOWING TOGETHER WITH NO BREAKS COMMAS FULL STOPS OR ANY OTHER OF THE ELEGANT AND ECONOMICAL CUES THAT MAKE TEXTS EASILY ACCESSIBLE TO THE EYE HEY WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THIS THE TEACHER COULD ASK JUST SEEING HOW MUCH MORE DIFFICULT IT IS TO READ WILL GIVE SOME IMMEDIATE SENSE OF A VALUE OF PUNCTUATION HAVE THE STUDENTS READ THE TEXT ALOUD TO HEAR RATHER THAN SEE HOW MUCH EASIER IT IS TO THEN MAKE SENSE OF CHOOSE SOMETHING WITH LOTS OF QUOTATIONS SUBHEADINGS AND SO ON GRAPHIC ILLISTRATION EH

33. Example : punctuation
The first activity of the class might involve giving the students a piece of text without any punctuation, simply all the words flowing together with no breaks, commas, full stops, or any other of the elegant and economical cues that make texts easily accessible to the eye.
"Hey, what do you make of this?" the teacher could ask. Just seeing how much more difficult it is to read will give some immediate sense of a value of punctuation. Have the students read the text aloud to hear rather than see how much easier it is to then make sense of. Choose something with lots of quotations, subheadings, and so on. Graphic illustration, eh?

34. Example : punctuation
Tyrone wants to send his girl friend a message that he wrote as: How I long for a girl who understands what true romance is all about. You are sweet and faithful. Girls who are unlike you kiss the first boy who comes along, Adorabelle. I'd like to praise your beauty forever. I can't stop thinking you are the prettiest girl alive. Thine, Tyrone.
Unfortunately, Tyrone read the message to Adorabelle's sister over the phone. She wrote it down, but had no idea how to punctuate in such a way as would capture Tyrone's meaning. Poor Adorabelle received this message:
How I long for a girl who understands what true romance is. All about you are sweet and faithful girls who are unlike you. Kiss the first boy who comes along, Adorabelle. I'd like to praise your beauty forever. I can't. Stop thinking you are the prettiest girl alive. Thine, Tyrone.
Donald J. Sobol's Encyclopedia Brown stories (1986).

35. Example : punctuation
Courtesy is the heart of punctuation, making the page more hospitable to the eye, and resolving confusion:
Let’s eat, Grandpa!
Let’s eat Grandpa!
Students could work in small groups to come up with a new punctuation mark that might help make reading a text easier.
You try it! -- e.g. the interrobang: ‽

36. Example : playing with plurals
Perhaps too often, basic word features are taught mechanically, but it requires only a little thought to recast those activities into humorous mini-stories.  Instead of simply giving the learners a list of singular words and asking them to write the plural forms, for example, you can make a list of singulars and wrote them into a brief story.  The stories you create do not need to be riveting, knuckle-whitening thrillers, but can be quite simple accounts of people engaged in everyday activities.  Obviously, the more entertaining you can make them the better, and it works better if you can form them into jokes.  The students can then be asked to rewrite a particular simple story using plurals.  In this case the list of singular words that are to be transformed into plurals included:
woman,   stone,   my,   he,   I,   boy,   pencil,   brother,   paper,   friend,   plant
Instead of putting the words in a column, with a blank space in which to write the plural, as is common, you can write a simple story in which you underline the words you want the students to write in the plural, asking them to write out the story again with plurals in place of the underlined singulars.
“A woman went down to the river to get some water for a plant that looked too dry.  A boy sat on a stone with a pencil and paper.  The woman asked the boy what he was doing.  “I am writing to my brother,” the boy said.  “But you can’t write,” the woman replied.  “That’s all right,” said the boy.  “My brother can’t read.”

37. Underlying principle
All knowledge is human knowledge; it grows out of human hopes, fears, and passions. Imaginative engagement with knowledge comes from learning in the context of the hopes, fears, and passions from which it has grown or in which it finds a living meaning.

38. Contact us Website: http://ierg.ca/ILP/ E-mail: ilp-ed@sfu.ca.
Phone numbers:
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Fax: (778)