How to Teach Oneself About Wine and What It Means

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Pedagogy and Wine

For this study into my own personal experience with pedagogy, I chose the subject of wine and wine tasting to learn about. Over the course of 2 months, I immersed myself into the world of wine drinking in order to better understand and distinguish the types of wine. Knowing next to nothing about wine and not being a wine drinker at all prior to this study, I entered into this subject with essentially little more than curiosity and a willingness to be educated. Along the way, I found that this willingness on my part, supported by my overall curiosity, enjoyment of the subject and learning process, and sense of bettering myself by obtaining a deeper or wider knowledge of wine, all contributed to the success that I experienced throughout this pedagogical process. This paper will examine the ways in which I set about this process and show how I systematically paid attention to my own growth and development during the process. The fruit of this endeavor has been two-fold: first, I now know more about wine than I did when I started; and, second, I now have a better understanding of how the pedagogical process works on a fundamental level.

There are many theories of pedagogy that scholars have developed as a result of their own experiences with learners. Freire (2000) is famous for describing a "pedagogy of the oppressed" which puts the ultimate onus of learning on the student and the community, which is responsible for taking back "education" from the Establishmentarian system that uses "learning" as a tool to support the control of the ruling class. This pedagogical system is somewhat in alignment with the Herbart's theory of pedagogy in that both approaches view learning as an exercise that leads to personal development/betterment and thereby social betterment and the individual's ability to give greater contributions to society (Kenklies, 2012).

Method of Engagement, Pedagogical Approach and Choice Rationale

How a person learns can be as unique as people themselves are. Boyle, Duffy and Dunleavy (2003) for example show that, according to the four-factor Vermunt model, students can learn in a variety of ways: meaning-directed learning, which focuses on identifying meanings; reproduction-learning, which focuses and reproducing answers; application-learning, which focuses on understanding how to apply lessons and oneself; and undirected-learning, which has no real focus but the whim of the student/teacher. I began my study with a meaning-directed focus, but soon found that I was being too narrow in my approach. Thus, I converted to an undirected-learning approach and allowed my experience to be shaped by the various environments into which I entered so as to expose myself to more wines and thereby develop my palate. For me, this is an exercise in "primary learning" -- the sort of "random" learning that children engage in, which they must later modify and arrange as they grow older (Chodorow, 1999, p. 190).

The expectations I had about bringing strengths to this study was that I could be open-minded and committed to involving myself in the process. The challenge that I knew I would face was in overcoming that complete lack of knowledge that I had about wine. (For example, if it all comes from grapes, how/why are there so many varieties?).

The theoretical approach that I found to be most appropriate in my aim was that put forward by Wang (2016) in his work-in-progress manuscript on teacher educator William Doll. Wang's work is filled with anecdotal stories that embrace a style of teaching that is somewhat Socratic in a way but that also conveys a sense of how we learn from simple narratives. It is a pedagogical process that is similar to the use of parable as a teaching tool: complex ideas are communicated in simple plots that are full of dimension and depth. As Trueit (2012) notes, "story, with its origins deep inside a culture, represents that culture in a way science with its more formal, rational, and logical way of seeing never can attain. Story has a personal truth to it" (p. 22). Thus Wang does not describe his process as the collection of data, which he labels an "inauthentic" exercise in connection with what he is attempting to do, which is rather phenomenological in its methodology. Wang calls it a "topical life history approach" (p. 3) but it could just as easily be identified as a phenomenological approach because Wang is putting himself at the center of the study, drawing upon his own impressions of being in Doll's presence and conveying his own experience of this interaction as a springboard for deeper learning.

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This approach struck me as particularly applicable to my own endeavor for this learning project, as it dawned on me from that start that I had to open myself up to this experience -- to the world of wine, in fact -- and simply allow myself to be impacted by the variety and vitality that the subject offers those who approach it. For this reason, my recollections take a narrative form, with supplements from my journal of experiences being used to provide my process of development within the culture of the wine world.

Wang's assessment that "Doll pointed out that his journey from the parade child to the king of chaos indicates the transformation on his part to letting go of control (without giving up leadership) and following nonlinear flow in chaos and complexity" (Wang, 2016, p. 14) is an important one for me in that it identifies the heart of the pedagogical process that both he and I used. Robinson (2011) has also pointed out that "letting go" can be a productive way to experience "free expression" and "creativity in education" (p. 4). Chaos and complexity are not concepts that should be feared but are rather characteristics that can give way to order and understanding so long as the participant keeps focus on the nature of forms. What ideas are underpinning our encounters? By freeing ourselves to encounter various forms, we can shed prejudices and biases that we may have developed over time without even realizing we possessed them. This is what creative education is about -- and this was the approach that best suited my curious and enthusiastic immersion into this subject.

Learning Processes & Method of Self-Study

For my part, I decided to adopt this same strategy of "letting go" in order to allow my immersion into the world of wine to be that much more authentic and natural. Instead of concentrating on learning a single type of wine (Cabernet Sauvignon), I decided to experience a variety of wines under the assumption that I could judge better what is a Cabernet Sauvignon if I have other wines against which I can compare it. Instead of limiting myself and forcing my own dimensions on the subject (learning about wine), I opened myself to the subject and to others, and placed myself in their hands, allowing them to present to me wines that they thought I might like to try. In this manner, I learned about a variety of types of wine that I would otherwise have never encountered. I picked up tips on how to shop for wine (bottom shelf bargains are not necessarily better just because they are cheaper). In "letting go" of my own need to control my learning experience, I allowed myself to have an experience -- I enjoyed, in other words, the phenomenon of truly learning about wine tasting. There is really no other way to put it other than to say that sometimes the best way to experience water is to jump in feet first. Letting go of the rope, the flotation device, the controls in other words, and learning to swim -- this is what learning is all about. We learn by doing, by experiencing, by putting into practice our knowledge, testing ourselves by challenging our senses (Lopez et al., 2013) -- these are the thoughts that occurred to me as I submersed myself into the world of wine.

My choice to immerse myself into the world of wine, therefore, required that I participate in wine tastings and commit myself to a routine practice of trying different wines over a 2-month period. From my journal entries, which were made every 2-3 days over this time period, one can see the way in which my growth takes shape. As Hawking and Mlodinow (2010) point out, there is no one "right" way to look at the world -- just as there is no one right model of the universe (whether Ptolemaic or Copernican), as each has its particular uses (p. 41). What matters is that we engage with concepts and broaden our understanding with them on a consistent and regular basis, committing ourselves to a course of action that will bear fruit over time -- and this is essentially the conclusion of Freire (2000) in his discussion of pedagogy as well.

Insights from, and Analyses of, My Experience

Incorporated into this study are segments from my journal,….....

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