September 24 Exit Slip

 We modern-day humans are not great at embodiment. Many of the tasks and activities of our everyday lives - both leisure and work-related - are in some way assisted by machines or entirely given over to technology. The result is a sense of distance from the natural world and a kind of disconnect from the physical realities around us. The time we have spent in the Orchard Garden has brought these things to my attention, but especially on this past Tuesday. Both in the consideration of measurement and the movement of the sun through the sky, I felt connected in my body to concepts I had previously only thought of in more scientific/mathematical/abstract terms.

The measurement activity was fun and informative: I never knew what the "cubit" or "fathom" were, for example, or that pouce in French means "thumb" and "inch" for a reason! There were several such examples for me, reminding me that many concepts I simply accept as "normal" today have a history if only I take a moment to look them up. But beyond the fun of understanding where some measurement terms came from, there was something gratifying about using my own body as a tool to take measurements. Other than my height, I'd never measured any other dimension of my body, or of my step and pace. Somehow I think of my body as the means by which I use other tools, but not as a tool itself. But knowing the distance of my step, for example, makes me think more about the distance between everyday places I walk. I am better able to think of my body moving through physical space when I think in terms of measurements. And all of this connected me to people of other times and places for whom the use of the body for such tasks was (and is) quite natural.

But if the first activity gave me a better grasp of my body in the physical space in which I move day by day, the second activity gave me a better grasp of "space" on a much larger scale. It's a funny thing: before class, I could have offered a roughly accurate version of a scientific, textbook-like explanation for the movement of the sun in the sky, how that changes between the solstices, and why. But how well did I understand it? The simple act of roughly measuring angles with our outstretched arms and fists to locate the height of the sun in the sky at the equinox and at the solstices made this understanding more real, somehow. And I now understand how to calculate the angle of the sun at the equinox and solstices without needing to look it up. Embodying the movement of the sun will help me remember that information for a long time to come.

These simple activities in the garden have reminded me that I can use my body to understand the world around me, both near and far. The physical actions connected with the new information I learned will help me to remember for much longer. Both of these are important insights as I think about teaching secondary students in the years to come.