Module 3 - Patterning

Patterning:

This activity is divided into 2 parts: identifying patterns and creating new patterns.

1.              First, after completing the reading, think about your selected topic. What are some existing patterns that exist? How do these patterns help you or learners access your topic? Do they help? Do they hinder? How can you capture and represent these patterns and share with us on your webspace.

• Standard arc of a children’s musical – exposition, conflict/villain introduced (goals of the protagonist/villain), rising action, climax (battle between villain and protagonist), falling action (decline of the villain), resolution (a happy and hopeful ending of the protagonist)
• Expectations of adult audience for the performance – uptempo songs, energetic music, happy ending, bad guy, transformation/lesson learned from the protagonist
• Simple dialogue and word use
• Bad guy is evil but usually doused with a bit of humor (Ursula, Hades, etc.)
• Pattern of music – can be a sing-a-long type feel
• Great article about the power of music to assist with mathematics instruction http://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/201201/Geist_Patterns_of_Music_Jan012.pdf
• Children need to relate to protagonist or side with him/her.
• Protagonist will wear bright colors.
• What is hindered by these patterns?
• Stories can be predictable
• Students are not challenged enough.
• Don’t learn that much from simple characters – need complexity to further the growth of complex, analytic thought
• "kids love musicals that get their toes tappin'" (CommonSenseMedia). This is a quote from a large corporation that sells the rights to children's musicals. What a broad, unimpressive selling point. Why do kids really love musicals?

2.              Now, how can you come up with new patterns that can be applied to the same content? This may mean breaking down or breaking apart your content area and existing patterns. Then explain how this would help your students to better understand and handle your topic? Again, capture these new patterns that you have generated and represent them on your webspace.

• Adjusting the standard arc - adding an unexpected plot twist.
• Villain is actually good. Maybe the villain is framed?
• Protagonist/villain the same person - that would be an adventure!
• Betrayal of the family unit or group of friends. These things happen in real life too - how can we include them in these shows without making the material depressing or vicious?
• A critic referred to the Lion King as "powerful, scary." Is that why it is one of the most effective Disney movies? It creates a darker villain, introduces death, and discusses running away from your fears.  I want to research more into this idea of "scary."

Once you have re-patterned your topic in a new way post it to your workspace and write about 500 words discussing: a) briefly your understanding of the cognitive tool of patterning (approximately 1 sentence), b) your original pattern, c) your new patterns, and d) how this understanding impacts your topic.  

A) Patterning is the cognitive organization of stimuli into the most understandable logical sequence to that individual; new discoveries can only be made with new patterns.

B) Children’s theater musicals are filled with stereotypes and patterns: over-the-top acting, up-tempo songs, energetic dancing, simple dialogue, a happy ending, a lovable, adventurous protagonist, and an evil yet not-too-terrifying villain.  They typically follow this simple, literary pattern: in the musical, we first meet the protagonist and his/her friends and family in the exposition, the rising action is when the conflict/villain is introduced (as well as the goals of the protagonist/villain), the climax is the battle between the villain and our heroic protagonist, the falling action is the decline/riddance of the villain, and our resolution is a happy and hopeful ending of the protagonist and his/her family and friends. In grade school, we have all been taught the phrase “show, don’t tell” during an English course.  Children’s theater often falls into this category, which I label as “fluff.” I feel that many of these theatrical elements are effortless and straightforward for our newest, easily unimpressed young audience surrounded by the power of video games, fast-paced cartoons, and advanced technology.  It’s time to teach this audience what can’t be learned from a television screen and give them a break from the repetitive patterns of technology.

C) For my new pattern, I challenge a work of children’s theater to let the kids “fill in the blanks” with their imagination and intellect.  Add complexities to the plot, take away naïve protagonists and write bolder, realistic ones, and compose a score with less bouncy piano and more emotional violins.  I’m not entirely sure it would work, but I don’t think that’s the point.  Children are accustomed to this stereotypical, Disney-fied pattern of stories from reading in school and seeing blockbusters on screen.  Theater is a heightened opportunity to help children realize that their imagination is the most powerful tool they will ever have.  Here are some examples to challenge the imagination of children: what if the Cat in the Hat lived his entire afternoon in Sally’s house without physical props? What if the protagonist was also the villain? What if the kids could become characters in the show?  Kids wouldn’t know what hit them.  A change in this pattern of children’s musicals could become the strongest memories of their grade school years.  Why? Because new patterns are the only way we can make new discoveries.

D) As I re-visit this topic a few days later, I thought about it from an actor’s point of view.  They are cast in the same role in the same play with the same lines, costumes, and props for months or years at a time.  If actors did not strive to adjust their characters daily, make new experiments, and take the stage with a fresh perspective for each performance, then the show would become a lackluster, lifeless pattern.  The same goes for the creation of the shows.  What is going to make a kid sit up, lean in, and think, “What the heck was that?”  Silly, over-the-top theater may be entertaining to watch, but add a dose of heart, imagination, and honesty into the piece and kids won’t be able to look anywhere else.  The power of a pattern can help us master a new concept, but as the Root-Bernsteins suggest, “discovery occurs when, willy-nilly, something about our observations and experiences forces us to make another pattern” (94).  Teach our children to discover new patterns, and they will never want to stop.