Experiential Writing Defined
Lifelong Learning and the Future of Work
John Bennion, Jon Balzotti, Andrew Roberts
Brigham Young University
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Agenda
Intro to Experiential Writing and Website: experientialwriting.byu.edu
Reflective Practice
Reflective Practice
Write Prompts
Group Discussion
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Writing/talking Prompt:
Describe a travel experience you had recently.
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Experiential Writing-Defined
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Aptitudes | | Example |
�Introspection: the ability to identify and critically consider the specific ways in which one’s personal and cultural expectations might shape one’s experiences Openness: the ability to perceive and consider new ideas, perspectives, and emotions during an experience Flexibility: the ability to adjust one’s behavior and attitudes as one encounters unexpected aspects of an experience | | �Prompt: What have you learned this week about the relationship between thinking again and curiosity? Reflection: I struggle to connect with art normally, and modern art is even more difficult. So I was prepared to give it my best shot but not really interact with the art in a meaningful way. But, then I kind of just let my thoughts wander and see what connections I could think about. That was me thinking again about modern art. Being open to being wrong forces you to be curious about the things around you. |
“Curiosity”
…is a mode of engaging with the world that grows out of a deep realization that our current understandings of and assumptions about the world are incomplete and inadequate—a realization that keeps us perpetually open to "thinking again."
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Aptitudes | | Example prompts |
�Reflection: Using introspection, conversation, writing) to explore what made the experience difficult and to put it in context. Interdependence: Relying on other people to explore the experience and to find the strength to make meaning from the experience. Positivity: Viewing challenges and even failures as opportunities for change or growth. Re-vision: Revising the narrative of your experience. | | Journal prompt: What did you learn about yourself while climbing the mountain. Essay assignment: Something old, something new. Reflect on the connection between a new experience and an old one. What meaning can you make from the connections between these two experiences separated by time. |
“Resilience”
“the ability to recover quickly from difficult experiences and to learn from them—toughness, elasticity”
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Sample Student Personal Essay: Natalie
Something new: First mountain
“breath was saved for wheezing”
“the mountain became more and more barren”
“strangers; to look in their eyes would be to betray how inadequate I was, how afraid.”
Something new: Second mountain
“friends were nearby (there are certain things that turn strangers into friends, and summiting a mountain is one of them).”
“The drizzling, earnest rain brought out the brilliance of the color; I thought the world glowed.”
Something old
“I hated my body and my shyness and the way I never seemed to belong. . . I waited inside of stories, waited and waited for things to improve, for my life to change, for good things to come. But they didn’t.”
Synthesis
“cold and wet to her very soul” “fondness.”
“I have decided to look at the positive things around me. Of course, the miserable things are still there, creeping in the shadows of the corners, biding their time before they descend again. I am not sure what the best way to deal with them is, but, sometimes, the miserable things are all we get.”
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Sample Student Personal Essay: Anne “Green and Dying”
Wordsworth’s death mask
“His eyes are vacant, his skin creased, folded, and cracked.”
Wordsworth Trust Archives
“The cold glass room was a mortuary for books.. . . Though I wondered if preservation was a futile battle against inevitable death and deterioration. . . .”
Wordsworth’s Garden
I felt that the place was worth preserving and that it had been successfully kept alive to help me and
many others understand the life and work of Wordsworth: "heart with pleasure fills and dances with the daffodils."
Synthesis
“In my moment of cynicism I was permitted to peruse a collapsing first-edition copy of Wordworth
poetry. My reverent fingers tip-toed to a poem titled ‘The Power of Sound.’ My experience
reading this poem challenged my assumption that preservation is vain. The words from that
mummified book were embalmed in my mind. In the past I have felt the power of God expand
my soul with ‘dizzy rapture and aching joy’ while listening to or performing music.”
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Sample Student Personal Essay: Anne
Wordsworth’s death mask
“His eyes are vacant, his skin creased, folded, and cracked.”
Wordsworth’s Garden
I felt that the place was worth preserving and that it had been successfully kept alive to help me and
many others understand the life and work of Wordsworth: "heart with pleasure fills and dances with the daffodils."
Wordsworth Trust Archives
“The cold glass room was a mortuary for books.. . . Though I wondered if preservation was a futile battle against inevitable death and deterioration. . . .”
Synthesis
“In my moment of cynicism I was permitted to peruse a collapsing first-edition copy of Wordworth
poetry. My reverent fingers tip-toed to a poem titled ‘The Power of Sound.’ My experience
reading this poem challenged my assumption that preservation is vain. The words from that
mummified book were embalmed in my mind. In the past I have felt the power of God expand
my soul with ‘dizzy rapture and aching joy’ while listening to or performing music.”
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| | |
| | -Simple/easy/forgettable -More concrete, reflective, but does not directly connect with a TLO -Concrete and connects to the course TLO |
Sample Reflective Prompts: Three Types
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Drawing on specific characteristics of “curiosity,” describe a recent travel experience. Start with introspection and reflect critically on how your own expectations of that experience may have colored your experience of the place and culture you visited.
Next, focus on the characteristic of resilience (“the ability to recover quickly from difficult experiences and to learn from them—toughness, elasticity”). In what ways did you become more resilient during a recent travel experience? How have you used this new mode of resilience in other experiences?
Revised Reflective Prompt
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Reexamine your current learning objectives and transpose your learning objectives into one Transformative Learning Outcome.
Writing…
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Small Group Discussion
Think about a experiential education context in which you have been involved. Using your new Transformative Learning Outcome, develop a reflective prompt that would help students connect their experience to the transformation you hoped they would experience.
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Large Group Debrief
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Connect with us.
| balzotti@byu.edu; johnsergebennion@gmail.com; jamin_rowan@byu.edu |
| experientialwriting.byu.edu |
| twitter.com/ |
| facebook.com/ |
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