 |
TEACHING IN MIND |
|
TEACHING IN MIND |
|
FREE
NEWSLETTER GREAT
GIFT--especially for yourself!
Contents TEACHER
THINKING EDUCATION
MYTHS
Note: Printer-friendly versions of documents on this site require Adobe Acrobat Reader. Get it free by clicking the button.
|
by Judith Lloyd Yero Introduction "You
may feel like a voice in the wilderness, but it is your voice In the wealth of rhetoric on school improvement and educational reform, one critical factor is consistently ignored: There is a pervasive lack of attention to teachers in educational planning. Frequently, teachers are perceived as constants, much like the books, desks, and other inanimate objects in the educational environment. More attention is paid to the attractive design and packaging of knowledge than on the one factor that may well be the most influential variable in the educational equation—the teacher! Peter Temes, president of the Great Books Foundation, reminds us, "Once the classroom door closes, once the lesson begins, once the student steps toward the teacher asking for help, it is all up to the teacher, not the school. Good schools help; great schools help more; but great teachers are the far more precious commodity." (2) Several recent studies reaffirm that the most important factor that affects student learning is quality teaching. Some theorists have attempted to define and describe the characteristics of "quality teaching," but they have largely focused on observable behaviors. This approach ignores the critical underpinnings of teacher behavior, thereby missing some of the most important features of "quality teaching." Teachers’ personal beliefs and values provide the unconscious foundation for their behavior. Their metaphors shape their practice. The ways in which teachers perceive the world—create their mental models of "reality"—are highly individualistic. Therefore, no two classrooms are, or can be, the same. Teaching in Mind: How Teacher Thinking Shapes Education digs deeply into those individual differences. It probes the realms of subjective experience—the beliefs, values, presuppositions, metaphors, and meanings that shape your personal world. Teaching in Mind is much more than a book for teachers. It is a book about teachers—a book for and about you. In its pages, I hope to:
Many have provided answers to questions teachers have asked since the beginning of organized education. What should we teach? How should we teach? How should we organize knowledge? How should we assess learning? The implication is that, if only teachers would behave in the prescribed manner, the educational process would miraculously improve. Despite this wealth of available answers, why are there still so many problems in education? I suggest one reason is that individual teachers neither understand nor implement the "answers" in the same way. The ways in which those answers "fit" into teachers’ existing realities vary tremendously, resulting in widely differing behaviors. What does it mean to teach, to learn, to understand? Does it mean the same to others? And if not, what are the implications? The time has come to ask new questions. Teaching in Mind begins with questions rather than answers. What can educators gain by focusing on what teachers already do and why they do it rather than on "answers" about how everyone should teach? Why does one teacher wait patiently as students think about a question while another pops in with the answer if one is not quickly forthcoming? Why is one teacher able to maintain discipline with no overt effort while another constantly reprimands students with little lasting effect? What sets Dead Poet’s Society’s John Keating or Jaime Escalante of Stand and Deliver apart from their peers? Examining why teachers make the choices they do offers significant insights into what occurs in classrooms. What can be gained by asking those questions? As you’ll discover, your answers to these questions are the ones that really count. When individual teachers discover the unique ways in which they represent teaching and learning in their own inner reality, they have the opportunity to make reasoned choices. They can accept things as they are or change the only thing that is within people’s power to change—themselves. Organization The first two chapters introduce various aspects of teacher thought and provide examples of how a teacher’s beliefs and values influence that teacher’s perceptions and behaviors. Chapters 3 through 5 explore the metaphors teachers use to describe their work. Why is one teacher’s classroom a "zoo" while another’s is a "beehive"? What does that mean for students? What metaphors do you use and why is that important? Chapters 6 through 9 analyze some common beliefs held by teachers and explain how those beliefs shape decision-making and behavior. These chapters contain many processes to help readers better understand how their beliefs shape their world. In Chapter 9, the reader is encouraged to create a mental image of an ideal teaching environment and compare it with the present. Why are they different? How can teachers inhabit their ideal classroom? Chapters 10 through 12 examine the "conventional wisdom" of education— beliefs about the purposes of education, knowledge, understanding, learning, teaching, curriculum, and standards. Are these beliefs valid? If not, what can be done? Chapter 13 is a call to action—a call for teachers to begin making a difference in the world through choice rather than habit. The Appendix contains a Self-Inventory designed to help teachers explore their own present beliefs, values, and metaphors. When describing individual behaviors, I have alternated gender references. No relationship between gender and behavior is implied nor should be inferred.
Teachers have always had the ability to determine the tone and direction of a school, to create exemplary worlds within the classroom, and to scuttle reform movements that failed to fit their mental models. For too long, those actions have taken place without conscious thought or choice. It’s time for teachers to recognize and accept their responsibility in shaping education, to begin mindfully applying stress where the system is dysfunctional, and to take their rightful place as wise and compassionate experts and decision makers. I invite you to my paradigm playground. Have fun! References 1 Walsch, N. D. in Hartmann, T. (1998) The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight. Northfield, VT: Mythical Books, 296. 2 Temes, P. (2001, April 4). The End of School Reform. Education Week, 36. Note: This page is not provided in a printer-friendly version because it is available in Teaching in Mind: How Teacher Thinking Shapes Education.
|
||
| ©2001-2002 Teacher's Mind Resources |
|||
Convince you that teachers are at the heart of any meaningful change in the way
schools educate our young, and that reform efforts and the application of new
educational theories are doomed to failure if teachers consciously or
unconsciously withhold their participation.