Kumano Kodo Walks Kii Mountains, Japan

Learning Process Project-Based Learning Module 3 Discussion Peter Y. Chou WisdomPortal.com

Ascending Tsurugi-san Shikoku Temple Trek, Japan

Assignment 3 for LINC 58: Project-Based Learning's Module 3 Discussion is "Learning Process Is More Important Than End Product". Tennis champion Arthur Ashe said "Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome." I've gone on hundreds of hikes in the Bay Area, and walking along redwood trails were more enjoyable and rewarding than completing the hike destination ("Walking Pilgrimages" poem). Posted above are photographs from Japan representing the walking process as its own reward. Tony Fahkry's article "The Journey Matters More Than the Destination" has many illuminating insights on this theme. Assigned reading: "PBL vs Product-Based Learning" (By Aaron Eisberg, PBL Blog, BIE, 3-28-2018), summarizing as to why PBL focuses on process and not the end product. More resources: (1) "It's the Process, Not the Product" (By Gene Bias and Melinda Kolk, Creative Educator)— Set Expectations; Form Teams; Planning; Brainstorm Ideas; Build Knowledge & Develop Focus; Create a Plan; Build the Project; Presentations of Learning; Assess the Project & Process. (2) "Process Versus Product" (By Susan Riley, Education Closet, 1-27-2012); 8:03 Video— What do you value? What do you do with the knowledge you possess? Product is richer when students focus more on process. Challenge yourself to look at project in a new way. (3) "Innovation is a process, not a product." (By George Couros, The Principal of Change, 1-16-2017)— "Have a mind that is open to anything, and that is attached to nothing." If all educators were open to embracing that notion that learning is about constant growth and development, not only in our students, but in ourselves, education would make tremendous shifts. After reading the first article, What can you share as your own experience where process ended up being greater than the end product?

I did biochemistry research (1970-1980) in predicting protein structures from amino acid sequences. "Prediction of Protein Conformation" with Gerald Fasman in Biochemistry (1974) is one of the most cited scientific papers. Since they're using my method for genetic engineering and biotechnology, I've left the field, and turned my love to poetry. Learning to Write Free-Verse in Poetry Went to the Foothill Writing Conference (Summer 1987). Poet William Dickey asked the class to name their favorite poet. When I said Algernon Charles Swinburne, because of his beautiful rhymes, Dickey said "Swinburne is not read anymore." I had written dozens of rhyming poems during my travels to Europe (1972, 1979) and Japan (1978). However, in Rian Cooney's Poetry Workshops at Foothill that summer, I was told that my sonnets are no longer written in the 20th century, since free-verse is the popular form now. Later, in Dick Maxwell's Poetry Workshops at Foothill College, he advised me to listen to modern poets reciting poems on tape, and attend poetry readings, to feel the pulse of current poetry. Many of my poems are philosophical in nature, where I condense teachings in Buddhism, Taoism, Platonism, Sufism, Zen into my poems. Classmates critiquing my poems would say "This poem should be published in a philosophical journal. Your poems are too prosy. You need to bring more emotion into your poems." Those were gut-wretching days, trying to write poems that would win class approval. I was on top of the world in my biochemistry research with international reputation. Now, I'm at the bottom of the heap, in my attempt as a poet. I read dozens of 20th century poets, and typed hundreds of their poems to learn their methods and techniques. Dick Maxwell told me not to use words like "magical, divine, heavenly". I recall his advice vividly— "A poem should never pontificate! If you write well, the readers will feel it's magical and heavenly." I bought dozens of books by modern poets and went to poetry readings of Gary Snyder, Gwendolyn Brooks, Czeslaw Milosz, William Stafford, W.S. Merwin, and Robert Bly. I pursued my quest to be a better poet. Revised my poems in Maxwell's Thursday Workshops, and read them to a live audience the first Friday each month at Waverley Writers, Friends Meeting House in Palo Alto. Joseph Campbell said "Follow your bliss!" I felt bliss when doing protein-structure research, and now am feeling blissful writing poetry. Acceptance to Squaw Valley Poetry Writing Conference (1989-1990) After two years of hard work in writing free-verse poetry, I was accepted to Squaw Valley Poetry Writing Workshop in July 1989. Fifty poets are selected from some 300 applicants. Terry Adams and I from Foothill College were chosen (1989 & 1990). Terry drove me there in his van. It was exciting learning from Galway Kinnell, Robert Hass, Sharon Olds, and Brenda Hillman. Galway's rule was not bringing old poems for critiques. Every poem must be written there within 24 hours each day for the week. Even the instructors had to do the same. Some poems written at Squaw Valley— "Seven Pines at Woeber House"; "Baseball Memories"; "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"; "Free Will Is Not So Free"; "Fate Versus Free Will"; "Blue Heaven, Green Earth". Teaching Poetry in the California-Poets-In-The-Schools (CPITS) Program (1990-1996) Lu Melanda from Waverley Writers introduced me to CPITS in 1990, where poets engage K-12 students to write poems in the classroom. My first class was at Palo Alto's Keys School (1990), where I handed 3rd-grade students art postcards to inspire their poems. Sasha's "My Dream" was published in the 1991 CPITS Poetry Anthology. 11th-grade students from Woodside High School, Tami Strack's "Something Greater Lingers" and Geoffrey Andrew's "Blocked" poems were published in the 1993 CPITS Poetry Anthology. My essay "Valentine ♥ Mints Poems" was published in 1995 CPITS Poetry Anthology. This lesson was given to 9th grade students at Menlo-Atherton High School. It contained poems by Paul Carter's "Be True to Yourself" and Elena Bustamante's "If I Were Cupid". Around 1999, received a letter from San Francisco Arts Waterfront Project. They found my essay "Valentine ♥ Mints Poem" from 1995 CPITS Statewide Poetry Anthology, and paid me $100 honorarium to cast it in bronze. Saw it six years later (7-27-2005) near San Francisco's Ferry Building. Never in my wildest dream, that my poem would be displayed at such a landmark. Travel writer Carol Meyers found my ♥ plaque, recommending it as a stop for lovers. Stamp design based on France B393 "Coco Writing" by Renoir (issued 12-13-1965) What's important is to be passionate in your projects and work. The end product will take care of itself. If the seed is planted in the right soil, flowers will bloom and fruits will result. Likewise if the learning process is ardent and sincere, the product will be successful. Found this to be true in biochemistry research and now in writing poetry. CPITS Poetry Workshop #1: "What Is Poetry?" The Chinese word for poetry, Shih (), is composed of Yen (): "word" and Szu (): "temple". Hence, poetry is a "temple of words". Yen is composed of T'ou () "above" (heaven), Erh () "two" (earth, duality) and K'ou () "mouth" (to pass). The Poet's Eye: William Shakespeare must have intuited the Chinese ideogram for poetry Hungary CB3: William Shakespeare 1 forint airmail (issued October 16, 1948) in A Midsummer Night's Dream, 5:1:12 (1595)— "The poet's eye... doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven... poet's pen turns them to shape." Denise Levertov had a similar vision: "The poet— when he is writing— is a priest; the poem is a temple; epiphanies and communion takes place within it... Writing the poem is the poet's means of summoning the divine; the reader may be through reading the poem, or through what the experience of the poem leads him to." (The Poet in the World, 1974). My freshman English Professor at Columbia, Kenneth Koch wrote a best-seller Wishes, Lies, and Dreams: Teaching Children to Write Poetry (1980). Cited Emily Dickinson's July 1862 letter to Thomas Higginson "My business is circumference". Told students "Let your imagination circumscribe the world, wander as a cloud, soar like the West Wind, and write a poem beginning with the line "I wish..." (Complete Lesson)