More Updating: Grumbling about Teaching

Now that the 30 Poems in 30 Days challenge is nearly finished (4 more to go!), I can get back to this neglected forum for my thoughts.

The last post was a long update about seidr and my magical life. This post will be an update about other studies in heathenry.

Recently, Idhavelli Hof finished the third round of studying the runes of the Elder Futhark. After some deliberation on what we might want to cover between now and whenever we collected enough new interest to begin rune-study again, we decided on some historical and cultural topics to research and present. We had a presentation on Frigga, as well as one on textiles and clothing of the period. I presented the rudiments of the Old English language, and I'd hoped to do another presentation on Anglo-Saxon culture and a pared-down historical time line.

However, another member suggested we tackle The Troth's Intro to Heathenism Course as a group. There was a long, long discussion about how to go about this: dividing up the reading in to smaller chunks, how to disseminate information, who could present this information, etc. I did not volunteer for any of this, yet somehow I GOT volunteered for presenting at some point. I was not keen on taking this course as a group, since the goal of the course is to prep for The Troth's Lore Program, something I'm not keen on taking, personally. I'd much rather read this material at my own pace, doing my own research, and coming to my own conclusions than contrive something that almost works for everyone involved and that doesn't quite cover everything folks are interested in going into deeper discussion about for lack of time. I did petition for taking longer to read the required materials, but it fell on deaf ears.

The first discussion of cosmology was just awful. There is simply too much there to discuss in two hours, especially when there are folks who are truly new to the material combined with lore experts in the group. Too much information, not well organized or presented, discussions bouncing all over the place, and frustration from some more familiar folks with those who were giving their best effort to comprehend something that is totally new and different to them. (I encouraged criticism from those who experienced this, and I plan on reiterating my comment that the course needs to be taken more slowly, and not just because folks have a LOT of other things to do outside of this reading, but also because the reading can be difficult for those who HAVEN'T read it before.)

Part of the problem comes in the presentation of information. A few in our group have practice and experience at delivering lectures to people, and I find that this is helpful when listening to their information. Things flow logically, topics are digestible, comments are encouraged but not allowed to stray too far off topic. This is proactive teaching/sharing. Passive teaching/sharing relies on the group to lead the discussion, which in itself is not a bad thing. When a presenter is disorganized or attempts to present too much information during a short period of time, or, when that presenter does not attempt to reign in tangential discussion amid the group, then passive teaching/sharing can be a terrible experience for those group members genuinely interested in learning and understanding the material being covered in a given lecture.

It is good practice for passive presenters to attempt this method, to see and experience what works and what does not. It is also beneficial for passive presenters to listen and observe the tactics of proactive teaching/sharing and practice some of these techniques. I believe a hybrid style is possible, and that it would succeed with our group.

I will miss the next presentation, on the god Odin, while I'm out of town on vacation. I would be interested to see this presentation and the teaching style of the volunteers presenting. I have a feeling there will be a good mixture of the lore according to primary texts and UPG, since one of the presenters is a devout Odinsman. But, I feel I won't be missing more than that, as there is only so much one can know about Odin, after all.