Module 2: Perceiving
James Frye
I understand perceiving to be the subjective action of interpreting what is seen in the mind of the beholder. My chosen object of observation and initial perception is a song, “Freshmen,” by The Verve Pipe. Since my topic is reflection and my content area is English, I chose to perceive and re-image the song’s lyric as well as the melody that accompanies it. The video with lyrics for "Freshmen" can be found here.
The lyrics contain elements that make it, clearly, a nostalgic and remorseful reflection on the speaker’s younger days. It is a reflection both in its form (written rumination) and in its meaning (coming to terms with the author’s past). As I listened (the primary sense for my observation) to the song, my initial observation struck me not only in the word, or lyric, which is what the basis of my topic and content area are, but in what my auditory sense could appeal to my feeling through the melody as well.
By the power of the lyric and melody that this song contains, just like many other powerfully reflective pieces, my perception and reception of the song through my senses birthed a new reflection of my own. In imagining the word “reflection” in a different context, the song (in a mirror-like sense) reflected its style of a nostalgic brand of authorial reflection onto me. I began to imagine in my mind my own nostalgic experiences that could, in turn, allow me to project and mirror my feelings onto other perceivers. I wrote a poem that, in its form and its meaning, is a reflection of my own nostalgia as inspired by the song.
Nostos (J. Frye, 2013)
Brown eyes; empty pages, to
Veiled lives, casted stages
Pursuing foggy windowpanes;
Neverending midnight trains
Felt, learned, fearless, now
Hard, fast, driven
For What have I to lose? Lost
Blue skies; new places, to
Wide eyes; worn faces
The staccato form of this reflective poem is a re-imagination of my own perception of “Freshmen.” It is staccato because it helps me to articulate the shift in events that took place in my nostalgic reflection, and helps the reader to feel that shift.
From birth, we are taught to see. What is not learned until later is the ability to communicate what we see. As an English teacher, I pride myself on my ability to help my students learn to glean the messages and feelings that hide in books, poems and plays that make them great. In turn, my students show me that they can trust their own feelings about that message by expressing, clearly and convincingly, what they think (or “perceive”) when they “see." That perception comes to me in much the same way. This activity taught me that reflection is an underestimated component to unlocking the multivalent importance of all objects and elements of this life. For this reason, I believe that the importance of reflection to the teaching of English is largely underestimated, and that was reiterated to me through this activity.
James Frye
I understand perceiving to be the subjective action of interpreting what is seen in the mind of the beholder. My chosen object of observation and initial perception is a song, “Freshmen,” by The Verve Pipe. Since my topic is reflection and my content area is English, I chose to perceive and re-image the song’s lyric as well as the melody that accompanies it. The video with lyrics for "Freshmen" can be found here.
The lyrics contain elements that make it, clearly, a nostalgic and remorseful reflection on the speaker’s younger days. It is a reflection both in its form (written rumination) and in its meaning (coming to terms with the author’s past). As I listened (the primary sense for my observation) to the song, my initial observation struck me not only in the word, or lyric, which is what the basis of my topic and content area are, but in what my auditory sense could appeal to my feeling through the melody as well.
By the power of the lyric and melody that this song contains, just like many other powerfully reflective pieces, my perception and reception of the song through my senses birthed a new reflection of my own. In imagining the word “reflection” in a different context, the song (in a mirror-like sense) reflected its style of a nostalgic brand of authorial reflection onto me. I began to imagine in my mind my own nostalgic experiences that could, in turn, allow me to project and mirror my feelings onto other perceivers. I wrote a poem that, in its form and its meaning, is a reflection of my own nostalgia as inspired by the song.
Nostos (J. Frye, 2013)
Brown eyes; empty pages, to
Veiled lives, casted stages
Pursuing foggy windowpanes;
Neverending midnight trains
Felt, learned, fearless, now
Hard, fast, driven
For What have I to lose? Lost
Blue skies; new places, to
Wide eyes; worn faces
The staccato form of this reflective poem is a re-imagination of my own perception of “Freshmen.” It is staccato because it helps me to articulate the shift in events that took place in my nostalgic reflection, and helps the reader to feel that shift.
From birth, we are taught to see. What is not learned until later is the ability to communicate what we see. As an English teacher, I pride myself on my ability to help my students learn to glean the messages and feelings that hide in books, poems and plays that make them great. In turn, my students show me that they can trust their own feelings about that message by expressing, clearly and convincingly, what they think (or “perceive”) when they “see." That perception comes to me in much the same way. This activity taught me that reflection is an underestimated component to unlocking the multivalent importance of all objects and elements of this life. For this reason, I believe that the importance of reflection to the teaching of English is largely underestimated, and that was reiterated to me through this activity.