This Is What We Do, and These Things Happen: Literature, Experience, Emotion, and Relationality in the Classroom
The role of emotion in clinical education and practice is discussed, drawing upon thinkers such as Derald Wing Sue, John Dewey, Joanna Shapiro, and others. Focusing on Alice Munro’s short story “The Floating Bridge,” different themes of classroom discussion are described, as well as an in-class writing exercise including examples of participant responses. Several questions and themes are explored: How does exploration of judgment in readers’ response to a literary text offer insight into the role of judgment in a clinical context? What is the effect of hearing the various emotional responses of other readers in enhancing an appreciation of diverse perspectives? How might we understand this classroom/workshop in light of John Dewey’s description of an aesthetic “experience” of particular clarity and intensity? And finally, what are the consequences of such pedagogical approaches integrating attentiveness to emotion for healthcare training and practice?