Embodied Thinking

        To me embodied thinking results when a learner is set about a topic from a new, different, odd angle. At first it might not seem like where the teacher starts and where the learner is to get will ever connect but through the process the learner creates the links and results in a perfect “aha!” moment. The knowledge is more deeply understood by the learner as they have made all the connections in their own brain.

            For this project I have stuck with my subject matter of oceanography but have not narrowed down to one topic. The reason is that I have had a hard time with my topic this week. For those who follow the news you may be aware that the Tall Ship Bounty was sunk off the coast of North Carolina last Sunday in Hurricane Sandy. I used to work aboard her and called her my home for almost a year. Many of the crew onboard are my friends and the man lost one of the best men I have ever sailed for. (If you have not heard I suggest her Google it – she was a beautiful ship). This is a photo I took back in 2008.

 For the project I wanted to bring other people – who may have never even seen the ocean - into my feelings for it. To teach them the draw of the waves and the power it has. I went through tons of the pictures I took but none lead even me to beginning of understanding. Movies seemed to fake as well. Then I remembered a poem I had actually memorized at one point and could not shake from my head once it popped in. It works perfectly to give the experience of the draw of the ocean to others.

            So I would like to share John Masefield’s poem Sea Fever first published in his book Salt Water Ballads 1902.

                      

                        I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and sky,

                        And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,

                        And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s dong and the white sail’s shaking,

                        And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.

                        I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide

                        Is a wild call and clear call that may not be denied;

                        And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,

                        And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

           

                        I must down the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,

                        To the gull’s way and the whale’s way, where the wind’s like a whetted knife;

                        And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,

                        And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

            To me this poem has the ability to lead anyone into a physical and well as mental understanding of the power the ocean holds over men. The mental images created have such a strength in their imagery that they last once the reading is done. I think this links well to the idea of the ocean: once you see it, it never leaves you. In fact I am sure many people once they are done reading this poem actually read it again. Just like those who see the ocean will always be drawn back to it.