Two Notions

Our last discussion on Kumashiro was enlightening to say the
least.  Two things in particular came to my mind as we discussed particular quotes from the book.  First, the use of his words is intentional and necessary to evoke the fiery dialogue and passionate responses. The word oppression and is a loaded word.  Oppression defined by dictionary.com is: the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner.  The definition of oppression doesn’t seem to have anything to do with education.  However, there must be degrees of oppression.  I think Kumashiro uses this word to infuriate individuals. I, as a teacher, have authority over the students I nstruct.  Since I cannot change my identity I automatically educate from my perspective or lens. I may inadvertently treat students unjustly but certainly never cruelly.  Having authority over another individual leaves the subservient individual in a precarious position. The second notion that was brought up in our group discussion was awareness. All of Kumashiro’s examples fire passion in individuals causing reflection and thought provoking conversations.  Perhaps his intention is to raise awareness to educators and make them reflect upon their practice as they strive for excellence.

While this book was difficult to read and has no answers I believe Kevin Kumashiro’s book, Against Common Sense is a worthwhile read for educators.

“C”

As I read Kumashiro’s description of student “M”, I was reminded of a kindergarten student who I shall refer to as “C”.  C is unable to control himself.  This student can’t sit still for fifteen seconds.  C constantly asks, “Am I being bad?”.  I get the impression that C doesn’t understand what it means to be “good” or “bad”. Other staff members report that C is intelligent, however,  classroom behavior will supersede his intellectual development.  I definitely agree with Kumahiro’s observation that students like “M” and “C” are frustrating to educators.  Every school day is a battle because C’s behavior does not improve.  C is not particularly malicious or violent but is more like a young  puppy, constantly moving and getting into mischief.  Like M, C really wants to be good.  Perhaps as C grows up, and is able to understand better  it will help to control C’s impulsive behavior.  Until then, teacher frustration will continue to grow.  I think it might get to the point that a teacher may plan maternity leaves to coincide with C’s arrival in their class.  It is important we figure out C. What motivates C?  Unlocking the learning secret of C is a huge educational challenge. C is the latest student with severe emotional or behavioral problems to cross my path.  There have been some success stories, but tragically there have also been failures.  Kumashiro wants us to be aware of situations.  If I try and fail I have done my duty, however, if I don’t try I am not much of an educator.

Ignorant Comment Ticks Me Off!

“Those who can, do, and those who can’t teach” This smallphrase riles me.  The hair on the back of my neck stands up and I am ready to battle.  I constantly endure criticism from business professionals about the length of the workday and the amount of time off I have off as an educator. Much of the time I believe the  is put forth in jest, but enough already.  None of my professional friends have a clue what it means to be a teacher. Their only experience with education was that of a student. (Some of them probably always received social passes) Teaching is honorable profession. The day in and day out adventure of a teacher’s life is not for the faint of heart.

 

Kumashiro begins his book looking at the teacher as a learned practitioner. He first suggests that teachers must understand childhood development.  How do children learn?  I think this idea has serious undertones of psychology to me.  It is critical as a teacher to understand how children interact with each other. It is important to understand cause and effect situations which occur many times a day in my classroom. It is important for me to understand the correlation of hunger and learning, sleep and learning, the brain and learning, different types of learning. I should have aquired a psychology degree for the amount of times I am required to understand the psychological factors of a student and their learning.  Next, Mr. Kumashiro points out educators must be proficient in their subject matter.  For high school teachers this means understanding the material of their subject specialization.  But, for a middle years educator, (I am one) this means having competent knowledge in all subject areas.  This means having more than basic knowledge in language, mathematics, science, health, social studies, drama, dance, music, visual art and physical education.  I have always believed that you must be competent in your subject in order to teach it to someone else, therefore, my logic tells me a middle year’s teacher must be a well- rounded intelligent being. The last notion about teaching as a learned practitioner concerns methodology.  How do teachers present knowledge to students?  Since all
students are different, (I know this because I learned about children: see psychology rant above), each student learns in a different way. It is important for me to have an arsenal of teaching strategies to show a student how to perform a task.  This is definitely an important skill. Over the years I have learned to show the same concept in multiple ways so each learner can understand. The teacher as a learned practitioner seems to be a well-rounded professional.

It would be wonderful if I knew everything about my students; however, the reality is there are some things I will never know. Those students who are not problematic in the classroom seem to inevitably slide under my radar.  Those students who are troublesome are the ones I seem to know all about.  I also must be cognizant of the fact that my knowledge is not absolute.  There are things I do not know. Finally, I must remember that instructional strategies and infinite.  The only limitation I have on how to present material is based upon my creativity.

Kumashiro then looks at the teacher as a researcher.  I believe I am a life-long learner. I enjoy learning new things.  As a teacher, I have been taught to reflect on taught lessons to evaluate what went right and what went wrong.  This reflection is research. I believe as an educator is important to examine what we do daily.  Do we think of it as research? I think the answer is: no. As I have been learning about Action Research, I believe many components of an action research cycle are completed on a daily basis by me as a classroom teacher.  I identify a problem and try a solution and evaluate its effectiveness.  The components missing are general the literature review, (However, I may do some reading but not daily as I have too many problems. Sometimes I think I should be in therapy, but, as stated above, I learned about psychology and therapy is expensive) and written reflection.  Most of the time the reflection is more like: Did that work? Yes or no? Then I move on to the next challenge.

It is in this section Kumashiro begins talking about oppression. Don’t get me wrong, I feel that students should be free to learn and enjoy. I get the image in my head of some sixties tie-dyed, pot smoking, folk music hootenanny campfire where everyone is free to expand their minds. It sounds like fun, but how can that translate into today’s classroom. I must secure the safety and freedom every student to develop.  This notion to me means that I must limit or curtail someone’s individual freedom to achieve this goal. I will continue to think on this. Kumashiro moves on to his third topic in this chapter of teacher as professional.  I think my rant at the beginning of this post explains my feeling on teaching.  In the United States, teachers are ranked according to the achievement of their students on standardized tests.  This to me is farcical. I know some very good teachers who teach children with severe emotional, financial and medical problems. This is where that psychology part really comes into play. These excellent teachers would never be rewarded or acknowledged as being good at what they do because they are concerned with more important aspects of a student’s life.  The whole child must be educated.  How do you evaluate the spiritual, emotional, physical and mental development of a child?

Gee, it is a good thing I am a well-rounded person and professional!

Who is in my Pocket?

There have been many students who have influenced my teaching career. When I reflect I think about great literacy gains made by one low achieving boy. Or the one student with zero social skills who alienated everyone around him. My most influential student has to be the one student who taught me about teenagers, their dreams and desires. The student who influenced me was challenged. She taught me that regardless of physical and mental limitations she was the same as every other teenager. She wanted more responsibility and independence. Over the course of the year, I made sure she got her opportunity for both responsibility and independence. This young lady blossomed. At the end of the year, she moved on to the high school. She had gained her wings and the next year she flew. I am proud to say I taught this disabled young lady and was able to help her positively develop. I learned from her and will always remember the time she shared with me.

Constructivist Classrooms in an Oppressed Fragmented Educational System: I Don’t Think So!

Tonight I was reading a chapter in the book “The Case forConstructivist Classroom” by Jacqueline and Martin Brooks. The chapter wasabout posing problems that held relevance for students.  One of the complaints it seems towardsconstructivist theory is that students will not care if they don’t have
pre-existing knowledge in the material. The authors go on to refute that claim by pointing out that relevance can emerge through teacher mediation.  Dewey wrote that education should interest the student. The connection I make here is that problems or essential questions posed to students must have
real value and interest for them to become motivated and engaged at wanting to uncover the answers.

As I was reading a section of learning for transfer I thought of Kumashiro and his idea of oppression in the school system. Many of today’s school fragment education.  Courses are separated.  English, mathematics, social studies and science are the four main classes the education system has separated.   Grade seven students in my school have 5 different teachers. I teach their social studies class and another teacher instructs them in music. If for example, I was looking at the hippie movement of the 1960s I would not spend any time on the music of the British
Invasion.  The music would be taught by another teacher. This seems oppressive to me.
I believe that in order to understand the entire 1960 movement it is important to study the music associated with the era.  Therefore, constructivists would disagree with the design of today’s educational system and hence believe it was oppressive.

Many common sense traditionalists would argue that there is so much information to be covered in one subject area it would be impossible to fully integrate a constructivist approach to education.  I would counter that learning many facts out of context is difficult for students to employ unrelated pieces of information. I believe connected information would be more relevant for students and therefore
beneficial for learning. The more I read about constructivists, the more I am starting to believe. Things that make you go HMMMMM.

Mind Mapping is Messy

I spent the morning with a black marker attempting to get some ideas down on paper with hopes of lifting some of the fog surrounding my assignment for this 808 class but also for my fall project.  As you can see, ideas led to other ideas.  Then as Julie and I spoke, the red color was added.  Let me tell you, I was confused.

I still have a hard time seeing where the arrows and colors intersect.  What does it all mean?  Julie suggested I try using Inspiration to see if I could clear up my confusion.  I downloaded the 30 day free trial and began to work with a new program. Yes, it really does take longer when you use a new program for the first time.  I am pretty sure I could have rewritten the mess above neatly in a few minutes.  Hours later I finished the Inspriation outline.

Inspiration mind map

What do you think?  It is not difficult to map in Inspiration and I am sure I could produce it quicker next time!

Pigeon Teacher

When we enter Kindergarten we are told to share. We are expected to share our crayons, toys and friendship. As we grow older, we find out life is competition.  Life is full of competitive moments like making sports teams, earning scholarships and securing employment. In our materialist gathering, western society where the accumulation of “stuff” is prized, empathy has been forsaken.  Our capitalistic society has forced individuals to think primarily of themselves instead of others. The ability to
walk a mile in another man’s shoes has become a memory.

As I thought deeper about the word empathy I came up with the synonym of sympathy.  Sympathy, to
me, implies a level of pity. I don’t think having empathy involves pity.

It always amazes me how life will show you an answer to a question which is dominating your thinking. I am quite sure life always provides me with answers, but generally I miss the subtle way Mother Nature shows me the answers.  This morning was different. Let
me attempt to explain.  The wind had removed
a portion of the solar cover from the pool during the night, so I ventured out to replace the cover.  I got the solar cover replaced and made my way to the opposite end of the pool and to my surprise I found a white pigeon standing on the cover. The pigeon did not appear to be hurt; however it did not fly away. I thought it must have damaged a wing and was unable to fly away.  This bird must be scared to death.  Trapped and unable to escape while a large predator approaches must be extremely unnerving. I felt empathy for the bird. I wanted to help the bird out of its predicament. With the help of my pool skimmer, the bird quite willing walked onto the mesh surface. While it was on the surface it flapped its wings and I was elated because they didn’t appear to be broken or damaged.  I released the bird and he was off on another adventure.

I realize I could have killed the bird, but that would not have been morally right. Empathy towards others is based on our own set of morals and values. The violence and lack of empathy is related to changes in
the family and the rise of materialism.

I hope the bird survives!

Fishbowl

We had a healthy discussion this morning on student engagement. This was the first time I experienced “A Fishbowl”. (Actually I have had them before but only during happy hour!) Two circles of chairs were created: the inner circle was the position you could speak and respond to ideas; The outer circle was for listening. If you really had to say something, a “hot” seat was created in the inner circle where a member of the outer circle could jump in and share and then return to the outside. I enjoyed the idea. From the outside I could concentrate on what was being said. Today I felt no need to jump into the circle and participate in the conversation. I was however able to follow the discussion well. As I joined the inner circle to start the second question, I was startled by the closeness of the fish. It was also a very comfortable environment to share. It is an interesting instructional technique I will remember.

The Inner Teacher

Reading the article by Palmer entitled “We Teach Who We Are” gave me a new insight and perspective into the journey of an educator. I have witnessed many teachers lose their passion for the educational profession.  I once thought it was because they were confident, experienced and comfortable with their jobs, but perhaps it was something more.  Palmer suggested understanding yourself is one of the critical aspects for an educator. Understanding your strengths and weaknesses as an individual is at the heart of Palmer’s idea.  This master’s journey has certainly given me a chance to reflect on who I am as a human being.   I have been trying to discover: who I am as an educator?  I agree with Palmer in his article.  When I began my career I was eager and passionate.  I have witnessed other teachers and even felt my own passion waning as the years pass.   

Palmer suggests the piece lacking is a knowledge of one’s self.  He goes on to suggest there are three important paths for teachers must take in order to reach our inner-self.  These three paths include the intellectual, emotional and spiritual aspects of our lives.  These three areas make up an individual’s personality.  If I could attend to all of these  areas equally, I would become a well rounded individual.

Palmer relates a story about two men, Eric and Alan. In the story both men have the same experience but approached teaching from different perspectives.  Eric, from what I understood, felt inferior to others.  Quite frankly he seemed uncomfortable in his own skin.  Eric was unsuccessful in his teaching.  Alan, on the other hand, was comfortable where he was from and used his experience and knowledge to his advantage.  He was successful.  I think it is important to look into the mirror and determine who we are.  This master’s journey has began that self reflection.  Palmer, may in fact, have identified the secret to becoming a terrific teacher.

 I have been forced to examine the mortality of human beings.  I believe that soul searching makes us better people.  Forcing me to look at myself and to understand who I am is illuminating.  To understand and acknowledge strengths and weaknesses is difficult.  For me, trying to make sense of myself has caused me to find empathy, strength, humility and love. Palmer’s article has placed the notion that integrety and identity will make me a stronger teacher.  While it may make me a better educator, it certainly will make me a better person.  To look deep into your own eyes is an un-nerving exercise.  Try it!  Stare deep into your pupils and try to see your soul. It is an unique experience.