Since school has started up again we have started a new unit about fantasy and wonder. The first class back we started talking and brainstorming about wonder and what we associate with it and what it is. We came up with a long list including things like the unknown, curiosity, innocence and so forth.
Here is the list we came up with:
Curiosity
Innocence
Wonder the novel
Stonehenge
Children
Six flags (Canada’s Wonderland)
Conspiracy Theories
Mysteries
Aliens
Wondering about the future
Earth’s creation
The universe
Santa, Easter Bunny, Etc
Presents
Imagination
What if?
Inquiry
Space
Compensation
The unknown
Choices
Passion
Fascination
Devotion
Why?
After that we read an article about wonder by someone named Prinz. The article talked about his views on wonder and shared stories and quotes. With this information we had learned from the reading, we answered a few questions about the article. Here are the questions and answers.
How was Prinz’s experience with the Ringling brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus different from his parents?
Prinz was in awe of this amazing performance that was spectacular, “the greatest show on earth”. He felt like he was part of the performance just watching it but his parents just watched it as a show full of people in costumes performing for an audience.
What are the three bodily symptoms Prinz postulated as components of wonder?
The first bodily symptom is sensory which means it engages all our senses.
The second bodily symptom is cognitive which means we can’t use past experiences or information.
The third is spiritual which means we look upwards in veneration hence Smith’s innovation of the swelling heart.
How does Francis Bacon consider wonder?
Francis Bacon was the father of the scientific method and believed that wonder “broken knowledge” was something science couldn’t cure.
For the last question, it was a little different as we had to write a paragraph on a time we had experienced wonder but instead of just using words we had to draw a picture in the reader’s head by using similes and metaphors. This is what I came up with.
Describe one moment in your life when you have experienced wonder. Use imagery and figurative languages “show don’t tell”.
As I looked around I saw huge boulders standing tall like a skyscraper and I’m wondering how on earth this prehistoric monument came to be. Earth rock heavier than a shipping container filled with 10,000 weights. When I look around the horizon I see a blank canvas no rocks except for the ones creating Stonehenge, I wondered how? How did they make this ancient monument in the middle of nowhere, the strength of human power lifting and creating a masterpiece but in the end what does it mean?
During this class, we also wrote a writing prompt which is pretty much where our teacher puts an image of something up on the projector and we have to write a story, or a song, or a recipe ex. , whatever comes to our heads when we see this image. Because we are learning about fantasy and wonder and have started reading Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland the image was a picture looking up from the rabbit hole.
Here is my writing prompt:
As I close my eyes I can hear the wind blowing strongly, pushing the leaves off the huge tree that must be at least a hundred feet tall. The smell of the vibrant flowers surrounding me is overwhelming but yet it’s my favourite scent and is quite wonderful. As I take a breath in, it felt so fresh like human kind hasn’t even touched this magnificent world, I think to myself this must be my happy place. A small woodland animal hops past my face as I lay on the ground silently with only nature surrounding me. Suddenly I hear a sound, a sound of somebody’s voice in the distance. I thought I was the only one here. As I try to sit up my body falls backwards into what I think is a rabbit hole taking my last glimpse of this marvellous place before being descended back into reality.