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Unsorted Bearings
Page history last edited by Mindy 3 yrs ago
1). I commit to never being satisfied with mediocrity in our practice; I will not allow either of us to settle for this. Mediocrity leads to complanceny; Excellence is the only goal worth working for; If I die tomorrow will I have no regrets about where I am and where I was headed? Have I made the contribution I wanted to make?
| Could we lump the next into something like ,.. I commit to building an individual relationship with each student built on... (list). We could then explain whether we think the building the relationship is a means to an end or an end in itself. Right now it reads as a means to an end. I think the ideas on "teachable moemnts" for conflicts is excellent --- sort of saying that we would kind of look forward to the opprotunity to teach students the more important life lessons --- and not see them as obstacles to what we had planned to teach. |
What is an effective teacher? An effective teacher is one who works with/manages/convinces all students to do quality work. MD: "Manage" and "convince" don't sound like choice theory vocabulary because they imply controlling other people. Maybe we can think of other words. What I mean by convincing students to do quality work is this: I want my son B. to be a nice person, and I also want him to have meaningful relationships throughout his life. If he hits his sister, I am going to choose to "manage" or "convince" him that hitting is not need-satisfying to him. In the end, all I am doing is giving him information. I tell him that hitting hurts people, and that other kids don't like playing with people who hit. I also tell him that kids like playing with people who are nice to each other, and it feels good to have friends who you are nice to and who are nice to you. In the end, I hope he chooses not to hit because it's need-satisfying for him (his need for love and belonging is met through not hitting).
| So can we say that the approach/strategy/methodology is to demonstrate/lead/cognitively guide the student through reason/information-based decision making that will ultimately lead to better fufilling his/her primary goals/motives (love, friendship, etc..)? |
| MD: I like cognitively guide much more than convince. We are simply giving them the information we think is important for them to make the right choices. We aren't giving them random information. So, we are guiding them. |
| MD: Most students in school resist, actively or passively, working to their highest potential. How many of your students are truly working to the highest of their potential? I'd like to elaborate on this idea of effective teachers working with students to do quality work, so that when the student is an adult he or she will have the life that comes when one works to their highest capability. I'd like to use a student as an example, and since this page is public, I'll use initials and then some clues. The student I am thinking of has the initials M.S. She is in JN's and my LA and Lit. classes, and I think MN has her for math. She is Muslim, thin, has long dark hair, and can be hyper and silly sometimes. She loves cats and rappers, and giggles a lot. Do you know who I mean? Okay, take M.S. What might her life look like after high school? Let's say she doesn't go onto college because her grades in high school were Cs at best, and her family may not be able to afford it. Say M.S. gets a job in retail. She might hold onto it for awhile, and then be let go because she called in sick too many times and messed up on some things that she wasn't paying attention to. So, she gets a few more retail jobs over the years, and finally gets her work ethic into check, and holds down a job at a high end department store in the make-up dept. Is that life meaningful and satisfying? One could answer yes or no. Let's go somewhere else now. Say M.S. somehow learns from her teachers that working to her highest capability results in quality work. Quality work results in good grades. Good grades open doors to college and financial aid. So, M.S. (who now works to her highest capability in all areas of her life because she has seen the benefit and the doors it can open for her future) gets a scholarship to a university in southern California. She studies nutrition and fitness. She gets an intership after college to work as a nutritionist at a hospital. She continues to work to her highest capability and produce quality work. After a few years, she becomes a private consultant in the field of nutrition. She uses her people skills (she's a natural people person), her knowledge of nutrition, and her work ethic to build a portfolio of high end clients. Is that a meaningful life? I think so. Is that life better than the other retail one? Maybe, because she has much more freedom and power over her own life. Do I believe that M.S. could live the nutrition life? Absolutely. Is she currently a dingbat? Absolutely. Is she smart enough to have the nutrition life if she worked to her highest potential? Absolutely. I think M.S. could have been the highest ranked 8th grader at our school, had she worked to her highest capability since day one of this school year. Yes, she probably would have had to work much harder than other students, and still she could have done it. What does that mean for us teachers? What do we do? Is it on us to give M.S. the information about the retail path and the nutrition path? Is that crazy?..)? |
| I think what you are saying... correct me if Im wrong... is what exactly are our very long term goals for our students? What would the "good" life entail for them? I think this might be a very important topic to think about... I think about it for my kids a lot and you both probably do to... here is my first stab: 1). They are happy (on many levels) 2). They are thoughtful and reflective 3). They have meaningful relationships with family and friends 4). They are productive members of their society. 5). They have beliefs about how to do good for others and act on these beliefs. 6). They have the freedom, skills, knowledge, and opportunity to reach each of these. |
| MD: I hadn't thought of it in terms of long-term goal, and yes, that's it. I think about my long-term goals for my students all the time. I guess what I don't do often enough (and will think more about) is talking with them about their long-term future. Last year I began sharing the following choice theory adage with my students: Quality work leads to better grades, which lead to more choices after high school, which lead to better economic opportunity, which ultimately puts you more in control of your life. I really spell it out for them and take it forwards and backwards. I stop at each one and say, "What is quality work? Why are grades important in the long run? When you graduate high school, do you want to have three doors with which to walk through, or thirty? Why is economic security important? How does that give you more control over your life? |
| So would the concern with the student mentioned above be from our perspective, is that they don't value 2).,... so re currently missing out on a lot of what they need for 6).. which will eventually lead them to a low score on 4).... which might also bring down her score on 1)? Maybe this type of thinking belongs in its own section? Goals for our students? Some of this might be hinted at in the Focusing Instruction on Learning Goals section, but that section might be too narrow right now |
Lead-teachers try to get the students to understand that although they are in charge of the classroom as a whole, their job is not so much to boss as it is to help the students overcome any obstacles that may stand in the way of doing quality work.
4) I commit to making goals for myself and helping my students set goals for learning. All good performance starts with goals. If students don't know what they are being asked to do, what you do as a teacher doesn't matter. Activity without an objective is just activity. Students put in a lot of effort when they not only use what they learn, but can improve on it. The real excitement attached to learning anything is improving it.
| Do/should you/I/us start to also think about the other possible criteria for a good life as well? (1-6) I admit I usually don't, but I am starting to think that I should. My thinking is shifting more and more this way... I know that for my own children, I worry about these other areas as well. Do we want to think/strategize about how to also help our students reach possible futures that include highly-valued spouses or children? or that they are highly engaged in public debate over political issues? or that they are highly reflective on their own spiritual journey? ...etc...? If we do, I think it has profound implications for how we interact with children, what we do for them, and how/what we teach. Couldn't one argue that of the high end goals of the lunch program might be to impact the interpesonal relationships of our students, years down the road? |
| MN: Or, another possiblilty is that they are carrying lots of baggage from other situations outside of school, where they are "failing" - friends, family, self, etc... If those areas of their life are adding the baggage, .. At the very least we can offer them an alternative venue to (re)learn/redefine some aspects of themself and their relationship with others and the world... but how do we do that? |
Unsorted Bearings
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Comments (1)
Jen said
at 10:07 pm on Feb 27, 2006
I definitely think that some of this needs its own bearing page, especially the goals we have for our students. The learning goals are pretty specific (I think) to subject areas, but I like the idea of having a separate bearing for the "big picture" goals we have for all humans...ourselves included, and I think Michael hit them on the head. What would that bearing be called? I think it's a VERY important one, since it's really what it's all about...Michael, I think this idea parallels what you say about how quality curriculum is designed...can you refresh my memory on that? I understood it clearly when you presented it to me, but I can't spit it back right now. When I hear it again, I'll explain how I think it's related to our designs here...
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