CSUN: COLLEGE OF
EDUCATION: ELPS 303
CSUN: COLLEGE OF
EDUCATION: ELPS 303
DR. ROSALIND LATINER RABY © 2002
WHY AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Education creates citizens who act as responsible, intelligent and productive members of a community. As our world becomes increasingly interdependent, this ideal citizen must also possess high levels of international competency.
International competency - is not any one view of the world, but the capacity to view, analyze and understand the world from a variety of perspectives.
There are many different cultures, sub-cultures etc. each of which have their own ways in which to teach and to learn.
CULTURE: Goodenough defines: "Culture consists of standards for deciding what is, standards for deciding what can be, standards for deciding how one feels about it, standards for deciding what to do about it and standards for deciding how to go about doing it."
Our world is comprised of many different cultures. Each of them being unique in the values they hold, the behavior they exhibit and the belief system which sustains them.
RECOGNIZE A DIFFERENT SCALE OF VALUES
(1) Differences are not barriers (2) Differences cause difficulty in communicating
1) no two things are identical
2) no one thing stays the same: time and space
3) It is not possible to tell all about anything: all descriptions are open-ended
4) beware of stereotyping, ethnocentrism and biases
5) seek our commonalities among cultural diversities
6) recognize a different scale of values
7) Same word may be used to represent different "realities" while similar events or experiences are sometimes called by different names
8) statement of opinions are often confused with statements of facts
9) Use descriptive terms rather than ones which express approval or disapproval. Avoid "either/or" evaluations
10) Use phrases that indicate uniqueness of culture, i.e. from our point of view, in our culture
11) Become more alert to ways in which cultural conditioning shape our value judgments.
12) UNDERSTAND THAT THE COMPLEXITIES OF CULTURE REQUIRE EXPERIENCE AND TIME
How we classify indicates how we relate to one another on different levels. This can be a form of communication, both positive and negative. Much of cross-cultural learning is based on assumptions of how we understand ourselves in relationships to others.
National Character Studies: identifiable traits for all people in a geographic region. Generalizes too much; does not account for culture/social change; does not account for time/space differentiation; does not account for group and sub-group differences.
3 THEORIES
1) DEFICIT - Wring assumption about genetic/culltural inferiority
2) SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY - Low Teacher Expectations
3) DISCONTINUITY - Disjunction between "home" and "school" and "peer" cultures
SOCIAL CHANGE - RECOGNIZING CHANGE IN CONSTANCY AND CONSTANCY IN CHANGE
ROLE OF SOCIALIZATION IN EDUCATIONAL PROCESS
Through the process of socialization, children learn the cultural knowledge they need in order to be effective in their physical, social and economic environment
WHERE
WHO
HOW AND WHAT
THE ROLE SCHOOLS PLAY IN SOCIAL REPRODUCTION
SCHOOL TEXTS ARE IMPORTANT SOCIALIZING AGENTS
STATE AND FEDERAL POLICY AS SOCIALIZING AGENTS
Formal - Non Formal - InFormal
F graded, hierarchy schools extra curricular peer group
NF certificates Systematic out-of-school participation
IN bush schools Parent instruction daily experience
Culture conflict exist when change is imposed upon a cultural minority. Oftentimes cultural minorities living in impoverished conditions develop adaptive socialization rules to insure their survival
Discontinuities and conflicts exist when expectations and values imparted by the family differ from those of the school
When children enter school, they must act according to norms which contradict a great deal of what they have learned before, master a body of knowledge completely foreign to them, and communicate in an incomprehensible language in a strange environment
CHECK LIST FOR CROSS CULTURAL SENSITIVITY
1) Are you familiar with the country's basic culture and history? Students family structure?
2) Are you aware of U.S. non-verbal forms of communication?
3) Are there non-verbal behavior patterns you use which may be interpreted as "offensive"
4) Can you anticipate some possible miscommunication problems
5) Are you aware of your others non-verbal behavior or communication pattern?
6) Do you know that others culture dictates as being appropriate in a social context? In a work context? In the family context?
7) Visit the community; Familiarize self with literature written by culturally diverse authors
8) Subscribe to ethnically diverse publications; Enroll in race awareness or cross-cultural workshops; Form professional relations with culturally diverse colleagues
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION: Individual patterns of behavior are based on individual perceptions of the external world, which are largely learned.
The higher the degree of similarity of perception
a) the easier communication among them is likely to be;
b) the more communication will occur;
c) the more likely it is that this similarity will be recognized: identify groups will form.
However, even when people speak the same language, cultural differences can alter communication symbols and meanings:
1) Proximity/Space
2) Time and Time consciousness/sense
3) Dress and Appearance:
4) Food and Feeding Habits:
5) Roles and relationships:
6) Work habits and practices
7) Gestures, Grimaces, Signs
8) Others: shapes, colors, sounds, smells, art forms, body language
Cultural learning is not designed to make all people in the world alike, nor is it intended to teach that one set of values is better than another.
Through understanding from the point of view of another culture, you can make your own judgement about that culture with as little cultural preconception as possible.
Beliefs are culturally determined. They act as prisms - distort reality to view their way as "good" and other ways as "evil"
REALITY IS DISTORTED BY CULTURE
Universal Morality - Do the Ends Justify the Means? Where do you draw the line?
Is it that different cultures act differently - or is there a minimum standard by which to judge human-rights vs. national security rights?
Moral education can have religious or secular overtones and exists in all societies, without the concept of what is moral varies cross-culturally
CHARACTER EDUCATION - teaching of socially approved values regarding personal characteristics, attitudes and social relationships
CIVICS TRAINING - creating the citizen in both political and social terms
IDEOLOGICAL TRAINING - instilling the socially approved ideology to the members of that culture
POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION - disseminating accepted political norms and beliefs
KEY FIGURES IN WESTERN EUROPEAN HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF MORAL EDUCATION PHILOSOPHY
PLATO; ARISTOTLE ; JOHANN HEINRICH PESTALOZZI ; IMMANUEL KANT ; HERBERT SPENCER ; JOHN DEWEY ;
EMILE DURKHEIM; JEAN PIAGET - MORAL GROWTH THEORY; LAWRENCE KHOLHBERG
CONFLICT / RESOLUTION
Negotiate; Litigate (sue); Pressure (boycott; protest; strike; threat); Election; Compete; Force; Withdraw; Compromise
SOCIAL CARTOGRAPHY: PARADIGM : CANON - Philosophical world views
T. S. Kuhn: defines paradigms "way a scientific /professional community views a field of study; identifies appropriate problems for study; specifies legitimate concept s and methods. How to interpret and apply data.
EDUCATIONAL QUESTIONS
1) What is education concerned with?
2) What values (positive and negative) are expressed?
3) Whose education? Who benefits?
4) What is being taught or not taught? To Whom? Age? Sex? Level?
5) What limits are found - diversity? Time? Equipment?
6) Positive or negative reinforcement? How many years?
KEY CONCEPTS
CLASSICAL HUMANISM Shared intellectual heritage not cultural differences. Emphasize intellect; Liberal Education . Paideai Proposal. Broudy; Hutchins; Adler; Dewey (to some extent)
STRUCTURAL/ FUNCTIONALISM Schools created by society to serve aims established by society. homeostatic, balance, evolutionary, harmony, democratic, equal, meritocratic. ed offers opportunities for mobility. Human Capital Theory. Psychological Reductionism. Modernization: micro developed/ underdeveloped. (Spencer; Durkheim; Tonnies; Parsons; Malinowski, Radcliff-Brown, Esinstadt, Kanel; Schultz, Denison, Eisenstadt)
Modernization Educators: Weber; McClellen/Rogers; Inkeles; Frerie; Coleman
CONFLICT/ CRITICAL Conflict inherent in society; is necessary for change. Education causes Stratification. evolutionary, scarce resources, inequality stratification, ed maintains a system of structures social inequality. Hidden Curriculum. Critical Pedagogy . Legitimation Theory . Liberation/Dependency. Modernization: macro(Bolino; Marx; Schermerhorn; Happle; Karabel/Halsey; Spring; Dahrendorf; Weber; Collins; Apple; LaBelle/White; Farrell; Giroux; Bowles/Gintis)Dependency/Liberation - (Carnoy; Dore; Case-Dunn; Rubinson; Bock; Friere; Altbach; Arnove)
PHENOMENOLOGY Reflective Assessment empowers. Incorporate more than one perspective. Holistic perspectives
FEMINIST Ed based on international capital and patriarchal control. Knowledge is valid when it comes from knower's specific position;evidence of gender inequality . Positionality
POSTMODERN MODERNIST
Rejects Modernism Rationality and Science
Knowledge viewed as positivist data but System for classifying societal data; also as integrated forms of culture
subject to validation not verification structuring of knowledge
Mini (small) narratives Meta narratives
Breakdown universal images Create universal images
Liberating influences transcend not only Obsessed and confined by time and history
combined time and history but T/H - parallel, if not the same entity
combined space and geography
Space is more important than time Time is more important than space
differentiation of space/time allows merging space/time distorts analysis
for deconstruction of society Of society
Deplore "must" imperative Highlight the "must" imperative
Emphasize multiple rather than majority rule Emphasize majority rule
NEW PARADIGMS: Response to problems with Structural/Functionalism and the Conflict Theories
Many have in time become known as neo-Structural/Functionalism or neo-Conflict
CULTURAL REVIVAL THEORIES: Consensus among deliberate organized conscious effort to construct a different culture (not
whole system). This occurs during ethnic revival, or counter-culture movements
UTOPIAN THEORIES: Anarchistic: radical social transformations. Process of liberation away from manipulation must come by replacing modern schools with "new formal educational institutions " which are convivial in nature
PHENOMENOLOGICAL (INTERPRETIVE) : Multiplie interpretations - Holistic persepctives
Educators: C. Delgado-Gaitan; G. Lopez; S. Velasco; Touraine; Paulston
FEMINIST : Knowledge is valid when it comes from an acknowledgment of the knower's specific position in any context, one always defined by gender, race, class, etc.
Teachers must play a socially transformative role in their classroom by helping students to "deconstruct" the dominant group's vision of social reality and justice and to replace dominant conceptions of knowledge with visions of social reality based on their own experience of it.
(Tetreault, 1993; Farganis; 1986; Code, 1991; S. Harding, 1991; Peggy Antrobus, Dale Spender and Birgit Brock-Utne; Nelly Stromquist "Romancing the State: Gender and Power in Education (1995)
POSTMODERNISM
European Voices: Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault; Pierre Bourdieu; Richard Rorty; Jean-Francois Pyotard; Gramsci; Nicholson; Coude, 1991; Habermas, 1971; Foucault, 1972; S. Harding, 1991; Rorty, 1989; Vygotsky
North American Voices: Dewey; Giroux, 1983; McClaren; Mem Fox; James Cummins; Stephen Krashen; Tove Skutnabb-Kangas; Rust
Latin Voices: Paulo Freire
Ours is a world, no longer of reality, but of simulation, where it is no longer possible to separate the real from the image. Postmodernism, helps understand these expanding conceptual presentations and interpretations.
OPPOSITION TO POST-MODERNISM
Opposition: L. Beyer and D. Liston "Discourse or Moral Action? A Critique of Postmodernism" Educational Theory 42, no. 4 (1992) and Bengamin Barber
Paulston is cautious! "how do practices we invent to discover our truth impact our lives? similarly expressed by
MULTICULTURAL AND BILINGUAL EDUCATION
America has tradition of bilingual and non-English language education - but it always operated in shadows of English-language domination.
As immigration increased - so did xenophobia. Tolerance for dual-language programs diminished. Issue did not revolve around efficacy of these language programs but rather what it meant to be a good American. Result was demands for cultural conformity extended to demands for exclusive use of English in both public arena and public schools.
1880 - most public schools adopted submersion models of language acquisition.
1890 - several states including New York and Massachusetts passed laws making English mandatory school language. 39 states passed similar legislation. By end of WWI, bilingual education ceased to exist.
Pre-1950 - education for different racial and cultural groups was separate and unequal.
1954: Brown vs. Board of Education: U.S. Supreme Court ruled that separate educational facilities were inherently unequal and unconstitutional
1970s: Demands to eliminate ethnocentric curriculum; develop "ethnic study courses"
1974 - U.S. Supreme Court decision (Lau vs. Nichols) established constitutional precedent for bilingual education
Title VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act ensured supplementary services for all non-English speaking newcomers to America.
1997 - Goals and expectations for bilingual education (as seen by specialists and minority) correspond to shifting paradigms
Issue may no longer be one of bilingual education, but ideology of political forces outside the classroom
MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION
How is education part of social reform or social maintenance?
It is not unusual that most social and cultural revolutions begin within the educational setting and oftentimes involved changing of educational practices
How to "educate" migrants, immigrants and refugees
No nation is without ethnic differences
Many of these differences generate social conflict
1990s - Hip-Hop Generation - the Post-Multicultural - EMPHASIZE CONNECTIONS
The Ethnic Quilt Paradigm (James Allen & Eugene Turner)
In L.A. due to continued high immigration - networking has become as important as educational attainment in landing jobs.
Can the best affirmative action program make a dent in job-finding patterns?
What is the difference between discrimination and ethnic affiliation patterns?
With a different radio station for every taste and group - does anyone have to listen to anyone else' music?
TYPOLOGIES OF MULTICULTURALIZATION
PRENTICE BAPTISTE
LEVEL I: PRODUCT
LEVEL II: PROCESS/PRODUCT: PROBLEM TO BE DEALT WITH
LEVEL III: PHILOSOPHICAL ORIENTATION/PROCESS
JAMES BANKS:
1) Add-on
2) Ethnic Studies for Ethnic Minority Groups
3) Ethnic Problems
4) Cultures
WURZEL MULTICULTURAL PROCESS
monoculturalism * cross-cultural contact * cultural conflict * educational interventions * disequilibrium * awareness * multiculturalism
Elizabeth Swing
Separatism
Segmented Pluralism
Cultural Pluralism
Ambiguous Assimilation
Robert Kohl
Cultural Iceberg
Ethno-math
Ethnic Quilt (Segregation for Choice) vs. Hip Hop Generation (Ethnic Mixtures)
What is Race?
THIRD CULTURE KIDS (TCK)
Foreigner: Look Different / Think Different
Adopted: Look Different / Think Alike
Hidden Immigrant: Look Alike / THink Different
Mirror: Look Alike/ Think Alike
CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PEDAGOGY (METHOD) (A. M. Villegas:)
1) teachers should know about and respect their students cultures
2) teachers must believe their students are capable of learning academically changeling material
3) teachers should view themselves as capable of making a difference in the lives of their students
4) effect teachers plan, implement and adapt enriched curriculum that links students' cultural experiences with instruction
5) teachers must manage their classrooms and value students in culturally sensitive ways
INEQUALITY AND EDUCATIONAL ACCESS
PERSISTENT INEQUALITY: Condition that has been traditionally accepted or even justified.
Way of keeping a group in an underclass while not necessarily victimizing them. "Justifications" include racism, religious bigotry, feuds and conquests of long ago
EDUCATION PERPETUATES OR ELIMINATES INEQUALITY
Education as an entity itself is in unequal distribution throughout the world
EDUCATION AS A TOOL USED TO DENY EDUCATION
Educators who write about inequality:
August Hollingshead - Elmtown's Youth
Lynds' Middletown: A Study in American Culture
Robert Havighurst - Growing Up in River City
Ray Rist: Student Social Class and Teacher Expectations (1970)
Willard WALLER - The Sociology of Teaching (1967)
JENKS - Inequality (1972)
ILLICH (1970)
Paulo FREIRE - The Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1973)
BOWLES & GINTINS - Schooling in Capitalist America (1977)
WALZER (1983)
CARNOY -
CARNOY & SAMOFF (1990) Education and Social Transition in the Third World
JONATHAN KOZOL
Myra & David Sadker: Failing at Fairness: How American Schools Cheat Girls
Barrie Thorne "Gender Play: Girls and Boys in School" extent to which gender segregation is controlled by children themselves
TECHNOLOGY - THE NEW FRONTIER FOR INEQUALITY
Technology has transformed education from the Art of Teaching to Art of Learning
What to Learn - Where to Learn - How Quickly to Learn
Those with the resources to learn -
Computers, satellites, INTERNET, will have considerable advantage over those who don't have resources
Question of access has never been so important
TRACKING: Practice of placing students in "ability groups"
GEORGE SPINDLER - Schools maintain and regulate social status through tracking
MEYER WEINBERG 1977 report: Minority Students A Research Appraisal gives a historical account of differential education stemming from racial and ethnic prejudice. Showed how minority groups were purposely "tracked" into lower groups because of their race/ethnicity.
Public Education has always been under attack. Critics were forever complaining how students have a lack of knowledge.
1943 The New York Times - Allan Nevins "a large majority of (college) students who'd that they had virtually no knowledge of elementary aspects of American history (and) c could not identify such names as Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson or Theodore Roosevelt...Some students believed that George Washington was president during the war of 1812... St. Louis was placed on the Pacific Ocean,
1950 - Arthur Bestor "Educational Wastelands: Retreat from Learning in Our Public Schools"
1963 - Richover "American Education - a National Failure"
1965 - Congress passed Elementary and Secondary Education Act (Title 1). Federal money to fund local schools.
1966 - big government study showed achievement is not closely related to increased spending. As a result Title I funds decreased substantially
REFORM IN THE 1980s
Single-focus, one-dimensional approach; quick fixes - choice, charter schools, etc.
Pedagogy of Poverty/Self-fulfilling prophecy to explain failures
Early 1980s - "Nation at Risk"
Is this an accurate portrayal or perpetuation of the Myth: Once a golden age of Education.
NATIONAL CURRICULA, STANDARDS AND EXAMS
To what extent should a local school's culture be consciously shaped by political , economic and ideological interests of the national government
STANDARDS
There is great similarities in standards between states. This could by default produce national standards by default! National policy, social and political forces, determines that which is considered to be an acceptable success rate in each country.
STANDARDS - official, written guidelines that define what a state expects public students to know and be able to do. Designs expectations and helps assess if they were met.
Teaching is the only professional occupation that has not been able to accumulate the documented knowledge required to perform the job at the expected standard. No data bank of best sets of instructions for students to master a learning task. Lack of written scripts, lack of time for individual instruction, lack of time for evaluation etc.
NATIONAL EXAMINATIONS
Using national examinations to evaluate success of teachers and schools as well as to dictate curriculum is more recent phenomenon dating back only 100-150 years.
Consequences of performance on national exams vary significantly from country to country.
Most exams have pen/paper formats wherein students respond to questions with calculations, short answers or appropriate choices. Some countries include oral responses. Most include math and national language/literature sections.
SCHOOL CHOICE: VOUCHER PROGRAMS
Christopher Jenks 1971 - educational voucher agencies. Parents present card to schools which given them certain amount of training annually
Schools reimburse with public funds according to the number of vouchers it collects. Schools are admitted into this system by agreeing to minimal standards
The U.S. Supreme Court has protected the rights of private and religious schools to exist. U. S. Constitution DOES NOT give parents a right to direct the education of their children
In some instances demands for choice stem from conservative groups opposing the curriculum and teaching methods used by public schools
While in the past opposition was on individual books, now opposition is on entire textbook series and school programs
HOME SCHOOLING
Response to public school lack of rigor, number of maladjusted graduates and anti-religious atmosphere of public schools. Many are not attacking pubic schools, but just want to be left alone. Balance of power between parents' interests and society's. Linked with choice controversy
SOCIAL CHANGE: INSTITUTIONAL MODELS
UNLIMITED CHOICE - voucher system that allows parents and students to select any school, public or private. Vouchers apply towards fulfillment of tuition requirements.
CONTROLLED CHOICE - choice within the public school system - magnet; charter etc.
ANTI-CHOICE - are there enough "good" schools to go around, best are in rich areas and cannot be afforded - even with vouchers; choice reduces teacher-empowerment
MAGNET SCHOOLS: Grew out of desegregation policies (1970s) with overall goal of improving educational quality
Schools that are built around common theme or method of instruction, where some students voluntarily attend and where they is some sort of racial/ethnic enrollment goal
OUTCOME BASED EDUCATION
Teaching approach that will induce major changes. Approach leads students through "traditional, transitional and transformational" ones of performance
Goal is to make public school instruction more precise and its results more demonstrable
Students needs accommodated through multiple instructional strategies and assessment tools
PRIVATIZATION PROPOSALS
Frustration of slow place of public ed reform, privatization as a way to bring efficiency of the marketplace to education
It also considered a positive alternative to providing children with private school vouchers
EAI: EDUCATIONAL ALTERNATIVES INC.: private firm that manages public schools. Claims to provide more teaching materials, improved plan maintenance, teacher training in new techniques. Developed own curriculum
EDISON PROJECT: Plan by Chris Whittle for a nation-wide network of private, for-profit secondary schools with government tuition vouchers, longer school days and extended school years
CHANNEL ONE - Incorporate technology via Channel One (educational TV)
CHARTER: Public school K-12, organized by a group of teachers, community members, parents or others that are sponsored by an existing local public school board or a county board of education. The specific goals and operating procedures for the charter school are described in the agreement between the board and the organizers, however, the school is freed from most state statues and regulations.
1991 - Began in Minnesota with 11 other states following
100 charter schools in California
PROMOTING SOCIAL CHANGE: TEACHER'S ROLES
EFFECTIVE TEACHING IS STILL PRIMARY ISSUE
Modern physical plant does not insure success in learning
Being in school is not the same as being educated
It is teachers and parents, not equipment that count for success
Quality teaching goes unrewarded while incompetent teachers remain employed
John Goodlad's study (1983) found that teachers used a limited repertoire of pedagogical approaches. Strategies consisted mostly of their own talk and monitoring seatwork. Howard Gardner's study (1991) found similar conclusions
EFFECTIVE TEACHING STRATEGIES
(A) PROCESS-PRODUCT RESEARCH: Research on the visible and audible behavior of teachers and students - the process and the objectively measured outcomes of teaching - the product. Began in the 1950s. Stress teacher self-development; empirical research; listening to what children have to say
(B) TEACHER THINKING RESEARCH: 1974 approach on teaching replaced process-product approach - teacher thinking. Cultivation of self-esteem in young people makes a good teacher
(C) PROJECT METHOD (William Kilpatrick): Progressive Philosophy. Teachers actively help students to develop active purposes in the pursuit of learning; integrated lessons in a defined project. School learning centers on student-developed "projects" that focus students' attention on purposeful, guided inquiry that directly relates learning to social life as well as to intellectual development
(D) PERSONAL VISION-BUILDING: Process of examining and reexamining why one becomes a teacher (self-inquiry). Life-long learning for teachers. Initial teacher preparation must be linked with continuous learning (mastery). Teachers must learn to combine a moral sense of purpose and skills in human relations to make a difference in schools (morality)
(E) REFLECTIVE TEACHING (Raines/Shadow) (post-modern interpretation). Reflection with no experience is sterile. Experience without reflection is shallow. Dewey would support - emphasis on reflection, teaching and action. Reflection is not a point of view (anti-theory) but rather a process of deliberativeexamination of the interrelationship of ends, means and contexts. Develops capacity for self-directed learning and through that reflection questions/tasks
CURRICULUM REVISION : 5 phases of curricular transformation
1) Absence of diversity is not viewed in terms of exclusion of others, but rather from standpoint that the prevailing perspectives represent an objective approach (i.e. Eurocentric is fact)
2) Focus on those who might reasonably be added (notable exceptions). The approach to the subject has not fundamentally changed
3) Ask why the absent groups have been absent - lack of success of these groups, Deficit approach than blamed the victim. The approach to the subject has not fundamentally changed
4) Ask questions from other perspectives. Study particular groups in their own right.. This creates new knowledge, which critically informs traditional views. Sometimes referred to as decentering the curriculum to create multiple perspectives in the creation of knowledge
5) Transformation of education, reflect rethinking of disciplines, methodologies, pedagogies .Curriculum change is not only what we teach, but how we teach and what we emphasize
REFORM VIEWS (John Holt, Paul Goodman, Ivan Illich, Charles Silberman, Egar Friedenberg; Theodore Sizer)
Portrays typical traditional school as mindless, indifferent dedicated to producing fear, docility and conformity that reflects a factory model of production and are foundations for behavioral approach to learning that dominated for past 50 years
Learners become alienated from established curriculum or learn to play the school "game" and thus achieve a hollow success. Attacks lectures, drills and tests.
Reform education stresses thinking skills; independent and creative thinking; curiosity driven curriculum. Interdisciplinary study not single-subject teaching to learn about real world
HOW students learn is the key. Emphasis on in-depth projects and exhibitions, not standardized testing
TEACHER AND TEACHER-TRAINING INSTITUTES ACCOUNTABILITY
1986 - Holmes Group report Tomorrow's Teachers - advocates stronger liberal arts and academic major preparation and the moving of education course form undergraduate to graduate level.
1987 - National Board of Professional Standards was established offering prospect of a higher level of certification and status enhancement for the profession
Report - Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (1990) by National Council of Teachers of Mathematics calls for standards and evaluating quality of both student achievement and curriculum.
1990 - John Goodlad in Teachers for Our National's Schools - recommended autonomous "center of pedagogy" for teacher preparation, formation of school/university partnerships and collaborative establishment of professional development schools.
1995 - based on Goodland Holmes Group Tomorrow's's School of Education" has central message: "reform - or get out of the business". They wasn't greater accountability, higher standards, development of a substantial base of professional knowledge and more effective utilization of research to improve teacher performance.
Guidelines established by National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) are prompting numerous changes in exiting programs
REFLECTIVE TEACHING: Reflection - think about own perspectives
Do we teach reality as is or as was envisioned
Reductionist - this is basic reality - beyond all
Postmodern - language socially constructed - need more voices
Hermeneuticia - put representor into representation
Texts are metaphors for social life - meaning varies to interpretation
Do we bring the world into our students or impose our world on them?
QUESTIONS TO ASK SELF AS A TEACHER
1)How does my representation of teaching as a practice, my work, differ?
2)Am I assuming - taken for-granted positions in my teaching?
3)Do I privilege my own perspective over others?
4)Am I aware of the discourses that govern my teaching world?
5)Am I aware hat there is a view just outside my frame of vision, seeking to control what I represent? - there are several viewers - male, white, female, able, Anglo-American, heterosexual, over-educated . . .
The best I can aim for is to acknowledge them as I produce my own vision of my world - to see them from the corner of my eye as I bring to consciousness my world views, acknowledging the presence of others - different, but not others. Acknowledge the political awareness of my own journey (Chapman)
There are no ideal situations, just awareness.
JOINFOSTERING - Christain Faltis, 1997. Based on Vygotsky's theory of learning - emphasis on input in language acquisition.. It extends beyond the classroom to encourage interactions to increase interactions which draw parents into the school setting.
1) Learn about parent's daily experiences.
2) Social integration and interaction of students. Ensure 2-way communication between teacher and student and among students regardless of multicultural diversity
3) Invite parents to participate - in their own language. Thoughtful integration of second-language acquisition and the content of instruction and lessons planned to foster new subject-matter knowledge
4) Enable parents to make decisions. Active participation of learners community
5) Empower students to promote awareness, critical consciousness. Oppose social stratification and actively promote equality - emancipator knowledge, the self-reflection that reveals self-knowledge or emancipation which comes through critical consciousness as defined by freire. Example; let parents get TA positions - change career ladder.
EXAMPLES OF REFORM PROGRAMS
ACCELERATED SCHOOLS MOVEMENT (LEVIN, 1995)
COOPERATIVE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (STEVENS & SLAVIN 1995)
ESCUELA NUEVA: FROM TEACHING TO LEARNING (SCHIEFELBEIN, 1992)
THE IMPACT (PHILLIPPINES) AND PAMONG (INDONESIA) PROJECTS (SANGER, 1979).
THESE FOUR CASES show that teaching time is mainly allocated to facilitate the students learning process rather than to broadcast facts, concepts or instruction. Routine information is presented in self-learning modules, teacher can handle several groups of students at the same time. Self-instructional texts have supplementary materials and free choice activities as well. Common facilities and strategies further educational group - activity centers, classroom library, group work, child to child tutoring etc.
These processes introduce children to civic and democratic life by electing and participating in student groups and children also learn to act with authority and responsibility in the process.
Who has access?
What range of quality?
Who has knowledge to utilize technology and make technology work for you?
Art of Teaching to Art of Learning
Cultural, EThnic, Racial and Gender Inequities:
Differential Access; Differential Use; Differential Perceptions; Differential Outcomes
Future Concerns:
Is technology an effective catalyst for educational reform?Are computers use synonymous with good teaching?
do computers promote critical thinking?
how much information can we tolerate?
the best technology cannot make an irrelevant cirriculum successful
I pledge allegiance, to the beauty of the earth
and for the universe to which it belongs
many races, many places, illuminated by the sun
with adequate food & shelter for all
