Abstract
O’Sullivan, Morell, and O’Connor (2002) describe transformative learning as involving the experience of a “deep, structural shift in the basic premises of thoughts, feelings, and actions” (p. xvii). They call this “a shift of consciousness that dramatically and irreversibly alters our way of being in the world” (p. xvii). This chapter is about my own transformation, my personal shift of consciousness as a teacher. The chapter goes further to describe a classroom where this ontological shift leads to the development of an ecological pedagogy, a pedagogy based on interconnectedness and a holistic way of experiencing the world. Of particular importance is how my own transformation has a direct result on the experiences and growth of a particular group of young children in a classroom in Alberta. The change in class dynamics could best be described as a shift from a cluster of individuals, or as Davis and Simmt (2003) put it, a collection of “Is” going through the motions of school in the same space in isolation, to a unified collective, a collective “we” holding our knowledge in a shared, integrated, and democratic way.
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© 2008 Morgan Gardner and Ursula Kelly, eds.
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Cameron, M.M. (2008). Transformative Holistic Education. In: Gardner, M., Kelly, U.A. (eds) Narrating Transformative Learning in Education. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230610576_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230610576_12
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