class 10 teaching in culture C&I 320 Spring 2002

schools should be about educating hearts and minds schooling must fuel the sense of possibility, both in kids and teachers schooling should be about fitting culture to needs of its members and fitting its members and their ways of knowing to the needs of the culture

favorite s

perspective taking

the meaning of anything relative to perspective taken to view it. to understand what something means requires awareness of alternative meanings, whether one agrees with them or not. understanding X one way does not preclude understanding it in other ways.

the rightness of a particular interpretation, while it depends on perspective, also reflects the rules of evidence, consistency, and coherence. An emphasis on the importance of taking different perspectives does not mean that anything goes. an important goal of schooling should be to get at less obvious interpretations

risks inherent to perspective taking offending some interests by examining views outside the canon (individual and cultural) but our society’s canon is multivocal and ambiguous. Failing to take this risk results in stagnation and alienation. A culture’s ability to change (and survive) depends on its flexibility

stuff to think about

individuality and differences

Kids spend a lot of time sharing who they are with other kids. They spend much energy being like each other, talking like each other, dressing like each other, and so on. So why do we as educators spend so much time emphasizing the differences between kids. What would it be like if we spent as much time and energy looking at what kids share, at what they have in common?

The first goal is to see the individual, as unique and rare, but not as someone completed, rather as someone with many and unknowable potentials. The second goal is to see the individual without defining him in terms of his differences from other individuals. To define someone in terms of what she is not limits her.

schools should be about educating hearts and minds schooling must fuel the sense of possibility, both in kids and teachers schooling should be about fitting culture to needs of its members and fitting its members and their ways of knowing to the needs of the culture

structure

the word structure carries much baggage--for some negative, for others positive all classrooms have structure--but what kind, and for what purpose human beings require organization--we are order makers is the structure or organization helping kids move toward possibilities or just containing them (and their possibilities)

when we say certain kids need structure, we are talking about certain kinds of kids and certain kinds of structure –often an excuse related to short-term rather than long term goals and based on adult needs rather than children’s –all people need structure, but the issue is what kind, and for what purpose

a good classroom--one that is good for kids and adults needs –flexible structure--at times highly organized, at other times not (and all points in between) –supportive “scaffolds”--at times complete, at other times little (and all points in between)