Rozisms

Fostering Understanding of Today’s Learners through Dialogue

bigrose — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 04:03:19 +0000

American educator and writer Robert M. Hutchins once said, “Education is a kind of continuing dialogue, and a dialogue assumes different points of view.” One of the most life-affirming aspects of being a member of society is the ability to engage others in meaningful dialogic exchange and being enlightened in return. When I use the term meaningful, that denotes dialogue with purpose that is followed by action. One of the key things that is missing from our educational systems today is the ability to engage one another as stakeholders (parents, teachers, school board, staff, community) to increase our understanding of what is needed to foster understanding and support of today’s diverse learners.

Often, changes that affect students are mandated from state entities or the ivory towers of leadership at the district and board levels. The missing component is engaging all parties involved in meaningful dialogue and exchange of ideas that warrant not only greater understanding but also a holistic perspective on how to address the needs of our children. Too often, conversational space is created in reaction to decisions that have already been made or when unforeseen circumstances arise that pose a threat to our sense of security in the status quo. As an emerging educational leader, I make it a point to engage my students in a way that creates dialogic exchange regarding their needs. Who better to ask about the quality of education being afforded students and their specific needs than students themselves? I will admit there was a time that I was apprehensive and dismissive about asking students how their needs could be met because my internal dialogue was too loud. In other words, I had preconceived notions about what students would say their needs were as well as a fear that what they would say would point to my deficiencies as a teacher. Openness to dialogue is often deterred by the ego and what people think they know. Deepak Chopra, Indian Ayurvedic physician and author put it best:

If you want to reach a state of bliss, then go beyond your ego and the internal dialogue. Make a decision to relinquish the need to control, the need to be approved, and the need to judge. Those are the three things the ego is doing all the time. It’s very important to be aware of them every time they come up. (Online citation via http://thinkexist.com)

While the tendency for thinking in ego-driven terms is real and can be combated by intrapersonal awareness and openness, sometimes leaders are afraid to ask for help, especially as it relates to macro-level change efforts. Public forums and meetings with the intent to encourage dialogue often end in shouting matches or miscommunication. During my master’s studies, I was fortunate to be a part of Appreciative Inquiry forums headed by members of The Public Dialogue Consortium (http://www.publicdialogue.org/). This organization is a wonderful resource for helping people learn to play nicely in the sandbox together through meaningful dialogic exchange. Wouldn’t the world be a better place if we could learn to simply engage each other constructively?

The Age of Instant Information and Responsibility in Education

bigrose — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 02:47:05 +0000

When I was in grade school, a research project required an afternoon in the library perusing musty shelves of oversized reference books. Nowadays, research (in the minds of most students) entails a key word search on Google or Bing and a quick trip to a few randomly selected sites among the hundreds or maybe thousands that turned up in the results listing. Let’s face it, technology has made access to information nearly instantaneous. While this has certainly made the research process speedy, the level of information available in just “three clicks” is almost overwhelming. It is imperative that educators teach students how to be discriminating information connoisseurs as not all information presented on the web is credible.

One of the key tools that I use with my students who are taking courses that require a significant amount of research is the CARS checklist (CARS document link). The CARS acronym stands for credibility, accuracy, reasonableness, and support. For each category, students are given checklists or items of evaluation to determine the validity of the source they are considering. I have found this resource to be particularly helpful in teaching students how to make informed and ethical choices in research. The point I reiterate when I present the CARS tool is this – the validity of the sources students use establishes their ethos as speakers and writers. In other words, they are only as credible as the sources they use to support their arguments.

Another challenge for educators is how to get students to refrain from the copy and paste temptation of plagiarism made easy. Part of the solution lies in teaching students how to properly cite the sources they use via MLA or APA format. Unfortunately, many students are not taught how to write using these methods or do not get refreshed if they are taught until their junior or senior year in college. Often it is too late during the later part of their collegiate careers to revisit proper citation as they are enrolled in upper level courses where the expectation is that they already know. Ultimately, consistent adherence to policy on academic dishonesty is the best way to curtail plagiarism. The consequences are far too great and many instructors use tools such as Turnitin to help determine the level of authenticity of student work.

Both of these challenges are rooted in educators’ ability to help cultivate a strong sense of ethics in students. Unfortunately, this is not something that is easily achieved or the sole responsibility of education. Creating a generation of students who understand how to manage responsibly the wealth of information and knowledge available to them should be the goal of collaborative partnerships between schools, communities, and

The Divergent Nature of Technology on Pedagogy and Preparation

bigrose — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 01:31:39 +0000

Issues of pedagogy and preparation are the two most prevalent and ideologically conflicting positions that affect educational practices and leaders. The discourse surrounding the use of technology in classroom instruction seems to be a double-edged sword. Today’s learners are engaged by me-media digitization and use such advances for social connection, artistic expression, and music/movie downloading. While all of these things seem relatively harmless, how are they helping students become progressive thinkers? It seems as if technology has become the answer to how educators should engage today’s students without any real thought as to how it should be strategically and appropriately incorporated (across disciplines) to supplement learning and not simply pacify students in a manner in which they have become accustomed. According to Palfrey and Gasser (2008), using technology because it is cool or for its own sake is not the answer to what ails the current educational system. In addition, the generational divide between students and teachers that often determines the level of comfort with using technology is incongruent. While support and appropriate training does exist to help teachers master technology or at least conquer their digital anxiety, the missing component seems to be emphasis on how to appropriately use it to support pedagogical practices and not upstage them.

The second component is an issue of preparation. How is technology truly going to benefit students’ cognitive processing and overall development? It appears that education is becoming so consumer based that its original purpose, to prepare students for life by cultivating the skills needed to thrive in society, is being undermined by the very industry that really makes us a nation of consumers – not thinkers or innovators. Much of higher educational experiences and the workplace are not centered on technological advancements that meet entertainment needs. Furthermore, can our children do long division or count change without a computer? Will they be able to relate interpersonally using proper business etiquette and not speak or write in text language? Will they be able to sit through a lecture course in college without disrespecting the instructor by texting or surfing the net the entire class period? While my questions may sound a bit dogmatic, I think they do require some reflection and purposeful action. Technology is not “the devil” but our dependence on it to engage the current generation is just as counterproductive as standardized testing.

Please visit the link below to see how the White Hutchinson company is capitalizing on the entertainment/educational aspects of preparing students for life via a number of various resources. While I do believe that technology should supplement instruction and learning, this company has an interesting way of using creativity, contextual learning and innovation to engage children:

White Hutchinson Link

Ol’ School vs. New School Educational Experiences

bigrose — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:35:35 +0000

There are some major differences in my grade school experiences from the current educational setting of today’s diverse learners. I can dedicate this blog just to fashion trends alone, but changes in popular culture come with the territory from one generation to the next. The focus of my “blant” (blog rant) is behavior. While there were unruly kids at times in elementary and even the occasional behavior anomaly in middle school, my generation seemed to have a level of respect for teachers and the learning environment that are harder to come by these days. Based on personal observations as a lecturer in higher education, most students are too preoccupied with technology to care about classroom dynamics. While I have a clear policy prohibiting personal use of technology in class, many students boldly text throughout class occasionally glancing up and chiming in when something peaks their interest. As soon as quizzes or tests are completed, the cell phones come out or the laptops with Facebook as the home page are turned on. Technology fixation is like a disease of pandemic proportions with this generation. The “ol’ school” educator in me yearns to reprimand such blatant disrespect for the learning process, but another phenomenon that is quite prevalent with this generation and causes me to refrain is the threat of “ready shooters” who wait for the smallest offense to set them off (Campus Safety Magazine). It is unnerving that we live in such violent times and people who need emotional, psychological, and spiritual support somehow slip through the cracks or are ignored until something tragic happens. What happened to the village concept of supporting our children? While I am not implying that schools should bear the sole responsibility of discipline and child rearing, kids of all ages spend the majority of their day in educational settings. It is easy to point fingers at parents and the age of abundance in which we live as catalysts to the decline of good behavior, but should we as educators being doing more to support our children? I believe the answer to that question is a resounding yes! By cultivating atmospheres of mutual respect, modeling the behavior we wish to see in our children, and developing innovative ways to engage students are imperative.

Leadership Imperatives

bigrose — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:05:14 +0000

While top 10 lists have their place (and are certainly more fun to read), the number 3 or the significance of a triad has implications of unity in mind, body, and spirit. While I cannot say that my list of leadership imperatives covers all three in an obvious sense, it does address reflection, action, and being in a way that contributes to the holistic development of a person.

Moral Imperative: “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it” (Holy Bible – NIV translation, 1984, Psalm 22:6). We are living in a society where anything goes. Where have all the “ol’ school” teachers gone? Teachers who demanded respect used to be present throughout the community. They were in the classroom, churches, homes, and civic organizations. Their presence alone was enough to warrant the best behavior from some of the most unruly kids. Educators have an obligation to be moral, ethical, and upstanding citizens of the community. The way in which they live their lives, treat co-workers, students, parents, and other stakeholders should reflect a high regard for something greater than themselves. While it is not an educator’s job to raise children and to impose their moral values (which often have religious implications or the lack thereof) on the students they serve, ethical conduct and respect should be modeled in educators’ behavior. Often, the greatest lessons taught are not those that are verbal, but those that are personified in the nonverbal aspects of living. Morality, much like any virtue is real and most powerful when it is demonstrative.
Learning Imperative: “Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning” (Holy Bible – NIV translation, 1984, Proverbs 9:9). While this verse refers to God’s word being intended for correction, admonition, and instruction in righteousness, what happened to learning in today’s society for the sake of acquiring a mind of wisdom? Merchant-based gimmicks promising game tokens for good grades and children being paid for every A seem to undermine the importance of education. While these external sources of motivation may work in the short-term, what are we teaching our children? The privilege we enjoy in this country to receive a quality education is not a freedom that people in many nations are blessed to have. A strong sense of entitlement has kept our children from understanding the power and the privilege of an educated mind. Educators have a responsibility to teach children by inspiring them to embrace knowledge for the sake of their personal and civic enrichment. While today’s standardized test fixation makes the previous statement a bit challenging, it is still possible. If educators maintain a spirit of life-long learning and translate that energy into meaningful experiences that inspire students to do the same, then and only then will this generation reach its fullest potential.
Application Imperative: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (Holy Bible – NIV translation, 1984, James 1:22). What good does it do to inundate our children with information and facts and call it knowledge, if we do not teach them how to apply it? One of the things that I appreciated most about my master’s program was the emphasis on the application of practical theory. Nothing was so ethereal in concept that it failed to have pragmatic implications for practice. Educators have a responsibility for helping students understand the relevance of what they are required to learn. Perhaps the learning imperative would be easier to achieve if the practical aspects of knowledge were made more apparent in instruction.