Sources

The Experience of Singing Together in Christian Worship Adnams, Gordon Read these words out loud. What do you hear? Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! For the Lord God omnipotent...

Feeling Like an Imposter Altrows, K.J. Dennis Roark had dreamt of being a doctor since the age of nine, when he reconstructed an animal skeleton from bones his family found on their summer vacation. Fourteen years later, in 1982, Roark’s parents waved goodbye to him...

The Nature of At-Homeness Baldursson, Stefan Introduction Why should we be concerned with elucidating the experience of “at homeness?” Is there any experience more familiar to us than the experience of our home: the experience of being at home; being away from home;...

Birthing Pain Bergum, Vangie Birth is the art and mystery of women. We regard birth with awe; we are breathless, silent as we await the first breath of the baby. As women we birth, we become mothers, mothers like our own mothers ,like other women who have carried and...

Teachers Watching Students Electronically Tracy Boger Over the lunch hour, a fourteen-year old boy and his friends are gathered around a computer in the library, working on a school assignment. Suddenly the screen flashes, and a giant eye fills the screen. Looking...

The Lived Experience of Being Comforted by a Nurse Bottorff, Joan It is often the little things that count. Helen recalls a time she was at home recovering from a serious illness. A nurse came to see her and offered to “fix her pillow.” The nurse gently removed the...

The Lived Experience Of Making A Life Drawing: Drawing Amy Brooks, Margaret When a model sits for you for six to eighteen hours there is a tension that does not exist in other drawings. There is a commitment to the model and her effort. The time is set and framed. The...

The Experience of Time in the Very Young Burton, Rod Dimensions of Time We seem to have reached a point (in time) where we live not only clocktime, but some of us talk as though we were clocks, says Troutner (1974). For the most part, all of us in our culture, whether...

What is it Like for Nurses to Experience the Death of their Patients? Camargo, Pilar It is 6:50 pm. I am about to begin another shift. As I wash my hands, I look into my room 311. The patient, a man, is in his 50s or 60s. He does not look well. His face is pale....

On the Notion of Special in Crafting Cane, W B I have nurtured, persevered with, labored over, a dream for six years now. The dream is 60% complete and at this rate will transform fully into a special object some four years from now. To be brief, the object is a hot...

To the Edge of Existence: Living through Grief Clark, Graeme T. We usually know death from a distance. Death is an unfortunate event which happens to others. When death strikes someone unrelated to us, we may feel a passing sense of loss or upset for their misfortune....

The Experience of Living with an Absent Child Connolly, Maureen His name is Phillip Thomas. I had to walk him down here. Please could you take him to the hospital where he can get proper care and live in a clean environment. I would take him but I cannot afford it....

Loneliness Davies, Mark Loneliness as Searching Its only four in the afternoon, but the overcast sky makes it seem later. I step off a curb, careful to miss the puddle along the gutter. The road is blacker than usual with the pebbles of the asphalt holding the rain in...

Mathematics Teaching: Moving from Telling to Listening Davis, Brent A The senses are not only the basis for the epistemological constitution of reality, but also for its transformation, its subversion in the interest of liberation. Marcuse (1972, p. 71) Vision is a...

The Workout: The Phenomenology of Training Devine, Heather “I train three times a week.” “I work out regularly.” “I’m taking fitness classes.” “I get a lot of exercise.” “I practise for an hour a day.”‘ “Training. Practice. Exercise. Fitness. Working out.” What do...

Authority in Educational Administration Evans, Rod For those of us who work with children in schools, the question of authority is raised every day in our encounters with children in schools and classrooms. It is raised not in an abstract theoretical way in...

Understanding Imagination in Child’s Play Fahlman, Lila The Painting Almost every day, Yorgo paints a picture. Soon he will be coming up the walk, clutching, protecting his precious, painted picture from the elements. His walk and his eyes tell me about his painting,...

Giving an Injection Field, Peggy-Anne What is it like to give an injection? What is it like to hurt another human being? What is it like to violate someone else’s body in this way? Here is a personal account of one registered nurse’s experience of giving an injection:...

Therapeutic Listening Flickinger, Aprile How does a therapist listen to people in need? Is there a unique way of therapeutic listening different from the way in which people usually listen to each other? At first glance this may seem an odd question. Listening is a...

Understanding Depression Gagnon, Rochelle Sitting in a quiet little coffee shop, I glance at my best friend’s face. She doesn’t look up from her cup, but gazes into the liquid like she may find all her answers there. Even though my friend sits in front of me, I feel...

The Experience of Encountering the Sublime Goble, Erika Introduction Moving through the gallery, my eyes slide over the people and then to the paintings. To the left is a portrayal of a battle. I am drawn to the cavalry. Though still – frozen in time, the horses move...

Completing a Personal Directive: Signing Your Life Away? As a nurse who has worked with many dying patients, some young, some old, sometimes I think I have seen too much and know too much about death and dying. Yet, at other times I think that what I really understand...

The Nursing Moment Hawley, Patricia In “Nursing the finest art: An illustrated history”, Donahue (1996) includes a photo of a poster created by Melody Chenevert of a Victorian crazy quilt with the caption “Nursing-a career not measured in years but in moments”. She...

Living with an Incessantly Crying Infant Hewat, Roberta J. It was a beautiful day outside. I had a big table in her bedroom, all the diapers and everything were on it and she was laying there screaming and crying and all I can think about is shaking this child and...

Pedagogy in the Face of Wonder Hove, Philo In this paper I explore some dimensions of the phenomenon of wonder in human life. Such is its subtlety that wonder may be easy to dismiss or ignore; however, the resounding profundity of the ‘stillness of wonder’ (van Manen...

The Computer Encounter: First Time Adult Computer Use Howard, Dale We may become no longer free for the kind of thinking that would redeem us from the world we ourselves have created. We may have made ourselves incapable of such thinking. (William Barrett 1978, p....

The Experience of Speaking Through a Machine Kathy Howery First Words With power compelling, Mind triumphs, Quiet thunder, God, men hear words. Silent, I am no more! (Creech, 1992, p. 70) The author of this poem has never spoken a single intelligible word of through...

The Experience of Re-Reading Hunsberger, Margaret What is it like to re-read? Having had one conversation with the text, why should we seek to return for another? On the other hand, why not? When a human voice speaks to us and we appreciate the conversation, value the...

The Experience of Homebirth James, Susan Childbirth in Canada is, for the most part, a medicalized experience. Women who choose to birth their babies at home are by far the exception rather than the rule. In Alberta, in 1981, the College of Physicians and Surgeons...

Body Awareness and the Gymnastic Movement Johns, David P How do gymnasts and those who aspire to be gymnasts view the physically dangerous task ahead of them each time they mount the apparatus or step onto a free exercise area? Is it possible to be suddenly inspired...

The Mobile Lecture Peggy Jubien Prologue Baxter Wood is one of Hubert Dreyfus’ most devoted students. During lectures on existentialism, Wood hangs on every word, savoring the moments when the 78-year-old philosophy professor pauses to consider a student’s comment or...

How much subjectivity is needed to understand our lives objectively? Prologue It is March 17, 2001. Robert [i] and I are driving up to a popular tourist attraction � Rainbow Lake, with a friend. Ahead of us, one lone person on a mountain bike pulls out onto the road....

Block Play: the Creative Openness Kalyanee, Vorapassu Jordan and Tyler are building a spaceship. “Let’s make a spaceship with a trap door,” Jordan suggests. Large hollow blocks are placed vertically on end forming four walls leaving a small space inside. Jordan...

The Experience of Playing Chase I watch as three-year-old Emma moves from her quiet spot on the floor, where she has been watching television, and stands in the space between the chesterfield and chair. From the other side of the room, I can see the mischievous gleam...

Being Nostalgic Kim, Mijung The purity of nostalgic memories It is a late, lazy morning. The sun is already high and I can feel it’s going to be scorching today. I look out the window. People seem to have already started their daily routines. I hear the sputtering of...

The Experience of Living with Military-Related “Posttraumatic Stress Disorder” Kroch, Rachel One early morning in 1996 the telephone woke me. It was my son: “Mom, it’s me. I am okay, don’t worry!” “What? What happened?” Still half asleep, I was trying to comprehend...

Naming our Child Laing, Marie What terrible names Are Jamie and James Thought Jim. “Peter is sweeter And Patrick is neater” But when he was christened Nobody listened to him. (Robert Wesley-Smith) What is in a name? I think my name; I think the names of those I know...

The Experience of Studying in a Foreign Language Lee, Keun-ho At present I find myself in a somewhat strange and alienating situation. Labeled as “international student,” I can no longer use my Korean language as the medium of my study. I have to use English to...

Water Experience Lorback, Colin Water in its many forms is essential to all life. It is the medium in which most living cells exist. Our bodies consist of more than two-thirds water which is constantly being eliminated, to be replaced through drinking. Water is also...

Rewriting the Poem Luce-Kapler, Rebecca After basking in a rereading of Seamus Heaney’s (1996) marvelous poem “Personal Helicon,” I find myself whispering the first line: “As a child, they could not keep me from wells.” And I wonder: what could I not be kept from...

Falling Asleep Maeda, Chizuko I am lying with my three students, looking at the darkness. It was a few minutes ago that I announced to them that it was time to go to sleep and turned off the light. The romping and chattering which had filled the room until just before...

Phenomenological Reflections on the Failing Grade McPike, Grace We have all become accustomed to a world that incorporates failure into daily life. It is not a pleasing part of our lives, and we remember the hurt that each failure provides. Yet, we perpetuate failure...

The Joy of Teaching Mueller, Peter K My grade eleven social studies class is about to enter the room. I enjoy this class, and if someone were to ask me why, I would have a ready answer. This group of students, as a group, seems genuinely interested and involved....

What is it like to see something “as if” for the first time? Namukasa, Immaculate Kizito Even though most of us would admit that we sometimes are inattentive to little things, in general we may feel that we have a pretty good sense of the things around us. When...

Deep Cuts and Painful Scars: Athletes’ Experiences of Deselection in Youth Sport Kacey C. Neely Youth sport is competitive and selective. At the higher competitive levels of youth sport athletes vie for a spot on the team through a tryout process, at which point...

Stories of Paradise: What is Home When We Have Left it? Norris, Christine The Questioning As a concrete remembrance of our being together, at the end of every term I like to collect writing from my beginning English as a Second Language students into a book. While...

Homesickness as Quest Nungu, Joseph It is a cold Friday morning. I am a graduate student in Edmonton, Canada, and my laptop broke when I slipped on a patch of ice. Now I am in a hurry to get to a computer and finish up my assignments. I try to whistle some sweet tune,...

Difficulty in the Lifeworld of the Child Oldham, Val To our life according To that principle which counsels us That we must always hold to the difficult Then that which now still seems to us The most alien will become what we Most trust and find most faithful. (R. M....

Room for Learning Olson, Margaret Every day thousands of teachers and thousands more children spend part of their lives together in classrooms. Every year teachers return to their classroom before school starts to get ready for the day when their new students will...

I Have Called Thee By Thy Name Pallos-Haden, Katie As a teacher, I used to think it was incredibly important to be able to name kids on the first day of school. This act demonstrated (or so I thought) that I wished to know them and establish a relationship with them....

The Pedagogical Significance of the Look Paradis, Patricia Eye Contact Eye contact? Oh, yes. All the time. They taught us that in our education courses. You’re supposed to look at the students when you teach them. If you can’t do that, you’re supposed to aim your look...

A Mouse in the House Ranson Ratusz, Ann Then the tailor started: for suddenly, interrupting him, from the dresser at the other side of the kitchen came a number of little noises— Tip tap, tip tap, tip tap tip! ‘Now what can that be?’ said the Tailor of Gloucester,...

Did You Know That…? Redekopp, Dave E “I probably shouldn’t tell you this, and it may not be true, but I heard that John….” There it begins. The speaker now has the full attention of the listener, knowing that ultimately, this will not be a one-way communication. The...

The Child’s Drawing Reimche, Donna Interest in children’s drawings is a fairly recent occurrence, of the last thirty or forty years. And yet, children have always drawn, whether in sand or in mud, on wood or on stone, but prior to modern times, few people cherished...

The Lure of the Loom Reynolds, Karen We weave in and out of traffic or weave our way through a crowd. We weave tales or great stories, weave bits of humor into our speech, ribbons into our hair… Everybody talks about weaving, uses the word, but only a few know what a...

Deciding to have a Child: A Woman’s Perspective Robb, Marnie While I was chopping the parsley, my friend Sarah matter-of-factly disclosed her decision to have a child. I was excited and wondered how she could sound so casual about this momentuous decision. According...

The Experience of “Being Seen” for Persons with Disability Saevi, Tone Blinded seeing How do we experience being seen by others? Perhaps we are rarely fully aware of how others see us. But if we dò become aware, then it seems to be of great consequence, especially if...

The Experience of Becoming Clinically Self-Confident Scarlett, Yvonne Pre-clinical Jitters I was assigned to Ward 4 one of the busiest male medical unit in the hospital. It was rumored that the staff nurses ate first year student nurses for breakfast. I was going to...

Show and Tell: It’s a Window on their Lives Shapiro, Alan There was a boy named Mark. When he went up in front of the class he got scared and his friends laughed at him and called him names so he didn’t go up again. (Harley, Grade Three) Show’n tell is like you’re in...

Returning Home Shaw, Stephen We left the house early, David and I, before the household had really begun to stir and show signs of activity. Mum was up, but temporarily, making her first cup of tea to ease herself into the day. Edgar would sleep for several more hours...

Letting Go Smith, Claire Much has been written about the sense of hope that children give us as parents. Children fill our lives with care in all senses of the word and engender in us a vital sense of purpose. What happens when we have to separate from our offspring?...

Living with Children Smith, David In our investigations, we wish to understand what it is like to live with children. By defining our subject as this, we immediately limit it in important ways. There are some questions we will not ask. For example, we will not begin...

Seeing a Risk Smith, Stephen I dare you to Go on, Go on I dare you to. Bet you can’t You’re too afraid Go on-I dare you to. The Dare Hazards loom large when we are dared to do something. The dare exposes us to the chance of injury or loss in spite of what we might be...

Oneself as Another Spence-Campbell, Susan As I drive to the theatre, I practice my lines. They have become second nature to me. I say them fast and slow, with an English accent. I feel them in my mouth. I go to the dressing room, I chat with the other actors. Later,...

Matters of Consequence Sullivan, Mary The bag lady crossing the parking lot is an elementary school teacher making her way to work. The Safeway logo stretches over a bulge of grade 4 journals in one bag. String and coat hangers, sweatsuit and runners poke from...

Grief for Someone Else’s Child Underwood, Bill A Question Posed When parents come together at social gatherings, at some point they talk of their children. What is exchanged, on the surface at any rate, are stories or reminiscences that bring to life the “minute...

Touchstone: Finding a Lump in the Breast Underwood, Susan we never spoke at your deathbed of your death but from here on I want more crazy mourning,more howl, more keening (Rich, 1984) The only deaths by which we are not surprised belong to the dead. The day on which...

Pregnancy Van der Zalm “She’s expecting, you know!” I hear one of my colleagues say to another as I walk past the copy room. I know that she is not speaking of a parcel, a phone call, or a relative’s visit. She is speaking of expecting a child. Expectancy is the...

Playing School Weber, Sandra Nursery schools and kindergartens are sometimes referred to as “playschools.” They are not considered the same as “real” schools but are seen rather as places where children get ready for real school by playing or pretending. The label...

The Experience of Pedagogical Openness Sandra Wilde Waking Up?  It has been a busy evening. Finally, now that the children are asleep, I can begin to write. But it’s late; I’m already tired and I have so much to do. How will I finish my paper tonight? I shake off...

Homesickness Winning, Anne The box sat in the middle of the room unopened. I was afraid to open it. I had to steel myself. I had to wait for the moment when I knew I felt strong enough. The box took me back to my living room, to that time when I still had a home in a...

Learn to Skip and Skip to Learn Woitte, Sherry Cinderella dressed in yella Went upstairs to kiss her fella How many kisses did she give? One, two, three, four, five . . . I walk by a school playground. Groups of girls are skipping rope on the concrete sidewalks next...

The Lived Experience of Being a Foreigner Wu, Zhou Think thou how that this is not our home in this world, in which we are strangers, one not knowing another’s speech and language. (The Diary of Samuel Ward, entry for May 13, 1595) Several years ago, I was in West...

Experiencing of the Eyes Yeu, Hae-Ryung It was a steaming hot summer day afternoon. The airport was crowded with the people who were going to leave, their families, their luggage, huggings and farewells.The plane was going to take off about in half an hour.The last...

Giving Constant Care to a Psychiatric Patient Yonge, Olive What is it like to give constant care to a psychiatric patient? It may be argued that a person cannot possibly know unless they have the experience of sitting with a patient who is frightened and dangerous....