HW 46- Research and Writing

For my research into the concept of "Pedagogy", I read the book "Dante's Inferno" by Dante Alighieri. The book is a tale of two men; Dante the pilgrim, and his guide: Virgil the poet. They journey into the depths of hell, going throughout the rings and sections of the "Hell" that Dante has designed. The book is representative of a pedagogical relationship when you focus on the interactions between Dante and Virgil. While Dante is guided on his journey by Virgil, he is not led by him. More or less, the two are experiencing these events together. The character of Virgil acts as a guardian to Dante. Dante and Virgil do not physically interact with one another, but they discuss their surroundings as they travel. The book follows the two of them from their entry into Hell, to the end of their journey where they meet Satan and escape back to the surface of earth.

The main message of the pedagogy in this book, as I interpreted it, was to highlight the importance of leading your own life, but having a companion or "guide" to ensure you don't stray from your path. The story is told in such a way that their is continuous progression in the plot, and no real obstacles come into the picture. That is because the story is about the setting of the journey, not the journey itself. The real objective is to get through the rings of hell, and than get out. Virgil is Dante's teacher, as much as he is Dante's guide. Arguably Dante is able to stay focused on the goals of his journey because Virgil is with him to remind him of his purpose.

My question for this unit is; How important in the pedagogy in schools? How much or how little should teachers intervene in the education of a student?

In my experiences in this class particularly, Andy plays a Virgil like role in my sociology education. He gives me the information I need, and allots enough time for discussion in order for me to understand a topic, and than takes himself out of the way. Once he is sure that I have enough information available to me, to complete a task or assignment, he leaves it up to me to do it.

In a similar way to how Andy teaches his class, I think that an interesting part of "The Inferno" is that their are many ways in which it could have played out, but only one way that it actually did. Dante could have strayed off his path, as their is no evidence that Virgil would have prevented him from doing so. Virgil provided Dante with enough guidance as to ensure that Dante stayed on the rout he was supposed to.

I think that the ideal teacher would be able to interfere as little as possible, while keeping students in line. Virgil was able to do this, and to quote an episode of Futurama; "When you do things right, people won't be sure that you've done anything at all". Guidance, not instruction is the way I envision an ideal pedagogy.