© E. Kowch 2002 ProSe m 1 Professional Seminar October 1st, 2002 New Roads Taken… Critical Observation and Introspection As seen through Education Sociology Lenses

© E. Kowch 2002 ProSe m 2 Class Plan for October 1, 2002 (this is called an advance organizer - it lets learners know what to expect in today’s class) 1.Housekeeping: Independent Learning Inquiry Proposal 2.The Lecture: Topica and Critica … 3.Comments: Bio of Learning 4.This week’s Critical Question : Group Task 5.Group Dialog: Aristotle in Your Classroom 6.Focused Task: Where do you stand? 7.Creative Writing about Fear

© E. Kowch 2002 ProSe m 3 Housekeeping: Questions about the Independent Learning Inquiry Proposal? A discussion and example of Inquiry as a Teaching and Learning Method (role play) Class example (Johnny The Quiet One :-) Assignments handed back… and thoughts …

© E. Kowch 2002 ProSe m 4 Individual School Profile Presentations

© E. Kowch 2002 ProSe m 5 This Week’s Critical Questions 1.What is a critical observer? 2.What does it mean to see ourselves seeing?

© E. Kowch 2002 ProSe m 6 Group Task 15 minutes Discuss individual responses to one of the essential questions (3 groups of 3 do (1), 3 groups of 3 do (2). Discuss commonalities and differences, questions that either chapter raised, main issues, important parts of each chapter/author Prepare a group response to share with the class (5 minutes each ) Group Presentations (5x 6 =30 minutes) Three groups - What is a critical observer? Three groups - What does it mean to see ourselves seeing? Whole Group Discussion 15 minutes Main Issues Observation versus Interpretation Categories, labels, conditions, Personal values, history, beliefs 1.What is a critical observer? 2.What does it mean to see ourselves seeing?

© E. Kowch 2002 ProSe m 7 “I stand where I stand” (Aristotle). Let’s explore some lenses for “being” critical and for understanding education How do you “see” where you “stand” on the issues of education? Let’s explore… So where might you stand, just now, on the education idea? (take home assignment) We will map this journey together.

© E. Kowch 2002 ProSe m 8 Summary: A Sociological (lens) Analysis of Education The analysis of educational structures, practices and outcomes can help us to understand –What types of values we have –What types of beliefs we have –What types of ideologies we have

© E. Kowch 2002 ProSe m 9 Sociology: Inter-related Fields Economics Political Science Psychology Anthropology Native Studies Women's Studies Environmental Studies Can you think of other Fields of study impacting Education theory and practice?

© E. Kowch 2002 ProSe m 10 Schema: the “problem” of the “one” and the “many ”

© E. Kowch 2002 ProSe m 11 Central (Sociological) Questions (after Wotherspoon, 2001). 1.At which level should I “see”? 2.To what extent are individuals the products or producers of social structures? 3.Is social life characterized more by social stability and consensus, or by social conflict? 4.Should the study of society be concerned with the search for observable facts and laws or by a human interpretation of the world?

© E. Kowch 2002 ProSe m 12 Individual People’s decisions and behaviors are guided by interpretation and meaning (Weber) Society “Features” in society affect individual outcomes - people are “blank slates) (Durkheim) Human Agency People are free to think and make society, to maintain language and culture (Friere) Structural Determinism People are social products. We are products of structures like bureaucracy and hierarchy (Taylor) Stability People seek stability. Consensus and shared values are a normal state. Change threatens society (Compte) Conflict People seek change. Change + tensions = growth and cleansing. Diversity is a preferred situation (Foucault) Positivism The Truth is known, there is one answer. Objective laws govern society Patterns exist that explain cause and effect (Laws can be made). (Locke) Interpretivism All human knowing depends on observation and interpretation of reality. (Husserl) Different Sociological “lenses”… How do you see education? Vs.

© E. Kowch 2002 ProSe m 13 Focused Task: Indivudually Choose one “position” from each “Vs.” proposition offered in the previous table. Then Complete the statement, for each choice (you will have four statements in all). “My preferred view, overall, of education (as seen through my sociology lens) is the ___________ vs. __________ view because __________________________.

© E. Kowch 2002 ProSe m 14 Lenses Viewing Education 1.Group Task In Groups of 3, Discuss your individual statements. Prepare to present: 1.A statement about what your group has discovered about sociological “lenses” 2.A statement about which view is most popular in your group. 2. Individual Task Prepare your individual responses to share with the class – with an education example to prove your point. –Present your individual response or “preferred viewpoint” with a situation in school 3.Whole Group Discussion

© E. Kowch 2002 ProSe m 15 Jigsaw Results

© E. Kowch 2002 ProSe m 16 Review: In your Bio of Learning for this week, please respond to these guiding questions.. 1.What is a critical observer? 2.What does it mean to see ourselves seeing?

© E. Kowch 2002 ProSe m 17 Review: Class Plan for October 1, Housekeeping: Independent Learning Inquiry Proposal 2.Comments: Bio of Learning 3.This week’s Critical Question : Group Task 4.Group Dialog: Aristotle in Your Classroom 5.Focused Task: Where do you stand? 6.Creative Writing about Fear 7.NEXT: Our Fears … and How Learners Learn (Oct 9)

© E. Kowch 2002 ProSe m 18 The Road Not Taken (Robert Frost, 1881) Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that, the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I marked the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.