Reading7-2-1




	ESE502 : The Class : Discipline : Content : Reading7-2-1

Content: Process and Product

Our children are the future. It is that simple and that complex. The education of our youngsters can nurture life-long community building and self development if it is person building and community building. As youngsters work in our schools and then go out to greet the world, it can be with excitement and energy, with a will to continue to grow and a desire to share their idiosyncratic preciousness with the world.

We express recognition of the need to educate and prepare children to take the reins of democracy. We cherish our belief statements that each person deserves an equitable opportunity to have a truly great educational experience. This philosophy stands as a beacon that spans the world. It is the single most vital keystone to maintaining democracy. Do our inner feeling about our students resonate the idea of the great value of education and the pricelessness of our students? Now that we have struck the pose, we must make it so! The promise is indeed great, the current concerns regarding our youth, onerous!

The dual nature of the human journey became defined earlier in this material, the autonomous and heteronomous push and pull, the tandem peddling from self as focus to acceptance of self by others. Recognizing, understanding and addressing what it means to be a human being, and in particular each special and gifted student becomes the foundation of education. And as a dual thrust, we then turn our understanding to the knowledge that each unique and wonderful child's journey is taken in the midst of people. Hopefully it is with companions and in the company of outstanding models, but often life is lived in a mileau of detractors and distractions; the helpless or weak, the courageous loving builder and visionary, the bully, the uncertain, lonely, the ill defined, power hungry, the taker, the sharing giver.

Thus each journey for self fulfillment is taken in concert with humanity, surrounded by and in the midst of others. And, like all successful life travelers, our students must eventually realize that the most profound understanding of self comes through interaction with others. As Plato noted, to be fully human, one must accept the social nature of being.

Year by year we move around the spiral of personal definition, at times more involved in autonomous perspective, self absorbed, demanding, reclaiming the importance of individuality. At other times, we seem propelled by the angst of caring, giving, apparent selflessness, and thus at a more heteronomous stage. Both parts of the journey are vital, and both ways of being need to be valued. Though the autonomous (sometimes selfish and self involved) stages appear more isolated, they too occur in the purview of others and the struggles with self is defined by others' level of tolerance and needs.

As educators become more adept at recognizing the dual nature of the human journey, we can build on the power and strength of that dynamic set of forces. Like a generator, the interplay between organizing selfhood and the building of a personal community are functions of the inherent driving life force.

By understanding and then using the power inherent in these basic drives, these normal functions in each person's development we maximize effective learning. We gain responsiveness and trust from students that enhances involvement in learning. Rather than plodding through the twelve years as so many say they do now, students may be assisted to catapult themselves through learning situations. The educator who is responsive to the internalized drives and inherent pursuits in the development cycle, assists each student to recognize and capitalize on the natural energy of growth. Through effective enhancement of developmental pressures students are assisted in constructive personal and social gains.

A free-flowing, stimulating and friendly classroom is a wonderful by-product of establishing such an educational environment. It naturally occurs when a master teacher matches the nature and development of the students with the content and expectations. It is further enhanced through valuing the individuality of each person and establishing and teaching healthy community and group process. Teachers who have found the match exult in the time spent teaching and express a great sense of fulfillment and pleasure. Students look forward to school and see learning as a normal extension of every life experience. Parents are gratified and delighted. Each parent sees the student as a gifted, challenging, unique treasure. With the school mirroring that vision in the way the parent and community members are treated the parents becomes great advocates!

The new frontier may not be outer space, or sea exploration, but rather evolving, articulating and developing the inner space of human understanding. creating an educational and human systems program that has the capacity to serve as a true personal development and society building system. Our understanding of astronomy and physical science has changed dramatically from the view proposed by Socrates. Much less progress has been made in furthering our understanding of human nature from what he understood and posited of human kind.

We Begin

Resources already exist to make an important paradigm shift in education. With little more than additional training and a change in what we believe students need to know, we could prepare our youth for the future that businesses predict. We could fulfill the visions and hopes of great educational philosophers who foresaw education as the portals of the future. We certainly can intensify the quality of time spent on interactional critical thinking, more clearly develop the student perception that learning is a life long joyous pursuit. We can offer assistance with self control and teach responsibility more fully. We can simultaneously develop human sensitivity to fully authenticate self and share self with society.

This new focus will allow us to keep all of the effective practices we currently use, to sharpen the tools we have already developed and to gain impetus and excitement for the tasks ahead by realizing how much of current best practice is suited to developmental and human needs of individuals and society.

A Change - Introducing the new "R"

It is time to introduce education to the fourth "R" - relationship. The system is already set up for this "R" and in fact, it is currently an underdeveloped part of most learning situations. The current paradigms in psychology and education do not favor the study of relationship, therefore there is little material written about it as a function of education and little research showing its impact in classrooms.

Flanders' (1970) and Galloway's (1970) research are two notable exceptions. They have established the importance of a teacher's quality of interaction skills. We have not written much about educational relationship and process (Bruner, 1962; Maslow, 1971) so we have not hypothesized and extensively researched its importance. We have not rigorously tested for community building in the educational setting nor actively recognized its presence or the magnitude of its impact.

Nevertheless, it is an omnipresent part of each classroom setting. It is important to note that early teachers and philosophers who wrote about education frequently highlighted the social arenas and relationships inherent in education. Cooperative Learning (Slavin, 1991; Johnson & Johnson, 1987), Community of Learners (Brown, 1988) and Megaskills (Rich, 1988) are examples of the resurgence of interest in teaching the substance and skills of human process and substance of relationship.

There is no attribute of the superior man greater than his helping men to practice virtue. -Mencius

It may be an unwritten presumption that people are "born" with a social sense and social settings are an automatic part of the child's growing experiences, hence relationship need not be taught, or it may have been presumed to be unteachable. Certainly in the recent past, social events and opportunities were more present than they appear to be today.

In the past fifty years many factors have decreased the number of natural social interactions present as learning opportunities in a child's day. Some of these factors include smaller families with less physical attachment to extended family, the move away from a small interdependent community into a more insulated city atmosphere, a larger percentage of free time spent watching rather than actively participating or being entertained rather than engaging in entertainment.

Given these facts, and assuming that relationship is a vital part of being human, of being educated, how would this emphasis on relationship and process best be integrated into the existing framework of schools? First, it would be important for educators to recognize just how much of the educational day is spent in interaction and thus to develop a more stereoscopic vision of education, by looking at the teaching day from this and several other perspectives.

Gathering Speed

The following are some discussion topics or mental exercises to highlight the importance of relationship in schools:

Amount of time during the educational day that the teacher is alone Amount of time students are in an individual setting
- by student choice or teacher direction?
- when do the students seem most motivated?
Is excitement about school partially due to interactions? Is some of the motivation coming from the student feeling free? empowered?
Percentage of the day spent on outcome - product
Amount of the day spent on "how-to" and practice of "how-to" - process
Amount spent serving students and meeting needs
Amount spent serving others in the system, i.e. parents and community
What number of lesson objectives cover outcome - product?
How much of written lesson plans cover the steps in teaching, the interactional, the person to person - process
Is it a viable percentage or are we leaving process to chance?
Percentage of the day's activities that are not lecture style How much of that time revolved around relationship skills?
How much of that time was devoted to product?
Which personal school experiences and activities provided lasting expertise?
- How many of the truly important skills did you learn on your own?
- How much was gained from a colleague?
- How much came from college instruction:
  % methods, % lecture, % hands-on, % modeled example, % factual

A mental rehearsal focuses awareness on how much of the educational day is spent in relationship, in the process of working toward product. Indeed, for many, this review of daily educational practice provides insight that process and relationship are more than the background of education and are inherently valued.

Teachers expend energy in preparing, evaluating and recording a linear facsimile of knowledge. Thus it appears that content is the substance of education. In reality, there is a rich educational milieu in place, but very little of the time and energy expended in the educational day is used to measure or report the occurrences. Very little of the process or teaching/learning relationship in education is evaluated or valued or brought to the attention of consumers, and thus it follows that little attention is directed to the quality of those relationships or the training of participants in ways to provide quality educational processes and interactions.

We know a great deal about relationship

If process skills and relationships/interrelationships are a large part of teaching and educating, then it becomes important to assess the depth of current practice and understanding of relationship in current education. The following address some of those concerns.

Does a body of information address relationships and process?

Yes . Educational philosophy, Social systems, humanistic psychology, educational and business leadership, counseling and social psychology provide a wealth of knowledge and research about these areas.
Is the material accessible to educators?
Much of it is written in the language of philosophy, psychology and sociology but some of the information is already utilized in branches of education and some school districts have introduced these materials as electives or adjuncts. Educators who have a liberal education or a business degree are often conversant in various practices, and theories that have become entrenched in current practice.
Could it be learned by or taught to current educators?
It would be relatively simple to present these concepts and practices through in-service workshops, and in fact, most of the material has appeal to teachers and administrators.
How hard would it be to get it in place in today's schools?
Since the material would explicate current practices and provide a sense of joy in the classroom, most educators would be excited about these concepts. It might work to the advantage of the schools to set up a team learning - teaching approach with video instruction to enhance team training. Many models exist for educational training. Any change has a tendency to generate resistance . It will be important to approach educators and parents with as much expertise and concern for their rights and abilities as it will be to ask them to do so with children.
What knowledge base would we have to sacrifice if we include process and relationship in an educational day?
The cognitive knowledge base would remain substantially unchanged. The major areas of change would come in more effectively teaching what is currently valued, recognizing flaws in presentation of developmentally inappropriate tasks, and retooling the processes for presenting vital knowledge and concepts. Frequently suggestions that we address the needs of the child are met with suspicions that building esteem and building knowledge may be antithetical. That has not been true of these initial field studies. Relationship goes hand in hand with responsibility. The student is reassured from the beginning that education will be a challenge and will call forth great effort and dedication. The child is taught responsibility for self and action in the same sentence with personal freedom. Teachers stress to young people that they have a right to be educated, a right to be called upon to push their own limits, and that they have a responsibility to learn above and beyond limits set by educators. Students who are taught in this manner excel; push beyond the boundaries normally expected, rise to the call to give their best.
Would curriculum and instruction change radically?
Current curriculum offerings in many instances could stay much the same. Instruction would change dramatically, although many educators welcome the changes and many of the"cutting edge" best practices are in line with process education.
Could we measure process, relationship?
This is one of the challenges. Literature on the affective domain suggests options as does case study research. This is an exciting opening for future study and development. It is also an area that will take the greatest adjustment. At the present time we tend to mistrust self report and ideogram data. We over-rate tests that are norm-referenced, and hold suspect any measure that has not been validated statistically. Many researchers believe that this protects from a personal bias. Instead, it may be an overgeneralized belief. One cannot help but recall the number of scientists who held that the earth could not be round, who had data to support their contentions, and who were willing to put voices to death who would suggest otherwise. Measuring process may be difficult, especially given the prevailing energy focused on the Gaussian principles, but surely there are bright social scientists and educators who will bridge this chasm.
Could we evaluate and report student abilities in process?
In one sense we always have. It is usually printed on the left hand side of the report card. It has not typically been standardized or defined. It certainly is something we could do as an effective beginning. If we determine that systematic teaching of process and relationship are crucial, tracking student progress and expertise in relationship will be vital. We all know that what we choose to measure and what we report about takes on greater importance to others and to ourselves.

Human Education

There is a miracle in being human. We are a species unique and special beyond reckoning. It is the taking for granted of that miracle that allows some to take a nonchalant approach to the undertaking of education. It is a part of overlooking that perspective of how extraordinary people are that allows us to focus on education as a set of methods, teaching as an argument of art or science, the evaluation of the educational process as a quantification. It is within the essence of the cognitive prowess of children, who have not yet entered school, not received any formalized training, to development and formulate a set of rules for a language and actively speak it - to walk, run, skip, - pose and explore scientific questions, actively solve algebraic concepts (four pieces of candy, two kids, how many do I get?), reach out to form relationships, to care for others, to give solace to any who appear to be in distress.

It is important that we relish the miracle of being human. The future of humanity counts upon that recognition. It is also important to give new credence to the student as learner, as self educator, and as being already in possession of crucial tools for learning which teacher and parents will hone rather than ignore, discount or override. Children possess a fundamental humanity that deserves to be recognized and educated. That manifestation of human nature isnot always addressed in education. As pointed out earlier, it consists of the "process" the relationships, those things that science has not yet learned to measure, and we have thus chosen to ignore.

Unlike many of those creatures in the animal kingdom which we have studied, we choose to feel as others feel, intend to treat others as we wish to be treated, work to mature beyond simple physical development, wish to develop morally, strive for a relationship of peace and joy in the company of others. We are a species with "will" and that sets us apart.

Children as Natural Learners

It is valuable to momentarily revisit a sense of awe in little human things, in whistling a tune, doing somersaults, laughter. There is an extravagance in skipping, in friendship, in 96 Crayon colors, in finger painting and cutting paper dolls. There is a joyous excess in having the time in childhood for playing tag, swinging, writing a poem for the first time. There is magic in standing in the dusk and reciting, "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight." Even the student as disruptive agent and social leader in the classroom is an incredulous notion. Certainly the child as responsible initiator of learning could spark a sense of wonder if we would allow ourselves the time to revisit our own childhood and recall the thrill of discovery, the delight in new understanding.

From this moment of recalling the marvel of human learning, we rekindle a recognition of how important it is to educate rather than train the human being. In recognizing the status of the child comes a desire to dedicate our educational lives beyond "do no harm". It is a request that we reevaluate current practice. Teachers know what kinds of things are exciting for students. We know what activities are so meaningful that our class doesn't know the bell is about to ring, doesn't want to stop the learning of the moment, calls out for repetition of an activity and permission to continue. We know well the frustration and ultimate futility of trying to teach something beyond a student's developmental ability.

We can discover, if unsure, that students have a work ethic, though it may not have the same dimensions as the adult ability to maintain task commitment. We know that youth need a sense of accomplishment, that they revel in a job well done and that they will stick relentlessly to those things that are developmentally appropriate; taking first steps, riding a bicycle, shooting hoops, practicing cheers, pumping iron. These are examples of developmentally appropriate tasks in the physical domain. They are ways students push themselves to the edge of endurance.

We seldom address these particular areas of expertise in the educational system. The physical domain is not often attended to beyond kindergarten or outside of Physical Education, though it is a useful vehicle for learning especially for those with kinesthetic learning styles and psycho-motor intelligence. The important point here is the willingness of youth to push and be pushed when the internal timing and task orientation coincide.

It also presses for recognition of the other domains in the PEPSI model as areas for teaching, perhaps areas that are more valuable for preparing students to be educated than some of the tasks we are currently demanding; tasks that youth love to do, fleeting information that teens acquire, but with no recognition of a measured change in the education of the person.

Click here to see a photo of Picasso's masterpiece, First Steps. Something about this representation distills the notion of child as capable and responsible learner. At the same time the role of the teacher, a nanny in this particular case, is also aptly shown.

The child -

all angles and lines pulling toward the child - egocentric, self focused child
the child, not aware of egocentrism, focused on an unseen outward point
holding on, without thinking about the need for comfort, just expecting it
foot poised, unaware or unconcerned about the floor, the future, the risks
on a path to adulthood, trusting others to protect and guide

The adult -

protective yet open stance, literally "wrapped around" the child
the gaze - intent on the child and the child's task
the hands - present and supportive, yet open to allow progress
the position in the portrayal - ground rather than figure, present, almost like the air, the floor, or the future, structures that the child can takes for granted
the countenance - the emotions are there to see
on a path of nurturing, depending on an internal sense to make good choices

We can embue any stage of education with the same excitement, joy, uncertainty, tenderness as a mother faces those first steps, cherishes those first words. -- protection and exhilaration, --- mother protects, smooths the way, but celebrates each progression -- good mother continues to pave a safe path, to cringe at the bumps and bruises, but to also press for challenges, for getting beyond the hard times. The press or motivation is internalized for the child and the reasonable parent does not interfere. Even when we cheer the baby on, it does not significantly change the child's push.

If a parent tries to stop the child's explorations, it is usually met with renewed efforts to succeed and an unstoppable press forward. If the parent tries to pattern the child's moves, the child resists inherently, through some internalized message, seeming to know the next steps and to work incessantly at the drill and practice of perfecting the moves necessary to move from crawler to toddler, to walker, and then to the joy of mastery of our body as runner.

In the Classroom

So it could be in the classroom. To draw a parallel from this Picasso, the teacher provides the basic needs, envelopes the student, almost unaware, with the safety and structure necessary for purposeful learning. The teacher attends to the path ahead, smoothing it as necessary, warning as needed, yet allows, no, facilitates each step forward. The teacher senses students' abilities, gives a hand where needed, yet the hand is open. The loving, dedicated teacher does not pull back to prevent progress, is not jealous of the student who goes beyond reach, who asks questions beyond the teacher's knowing, does not imprint personal fears or anxieties.

This teaching role calls for a belief in the inherent right to push forward. It also calls forth self discipline to stand by, excitement about new and dangerous challenges, and ultimately asks for the wisdom to trust and believe in each student, in the unlimited potential of each human being.

Some of these perspectives about education are new. The role of filling and shaping a student's mind has always been accorded to educators. Recognition that the mind is already primed, already brimming with notions, concepts, ideas, has been stated as early as Socrates' era, but it has not been appreciated in today's educational perspectives if it has been given credence. In fact there are many cartoons showing the teacher as frustrated and angry because the student focused attention in other places than what the teacher has decided are the matters at hand.

The role of seeing the child as a person in his/her own right and dealing with the child as an empowered personality has frequently been discounted. As uncomfortable as is may be to recognize:

Youngsters do have definite ideas and attitudes, some of which are solely reflections of their own thinking and individual personalities.
Youth have become enfranchised and they know that they have rights -- in fact many need to be taught the responsibilities which go with those rights so they can develop in socially appropriate ways and make choices which will not hamper their entire future.
Ignoring the student or discounting his or her ideas or feelings is unethical.
Empowering the student as learner, teaching the roles, rights and responsibilities of education and the role of an educated person with respect to ideas and feelings is functional, appropriate and necessary.
Each person in the classroom is entitled to learn - and in an unfortunate sense, is a possible threat to the educational environment if the ability to control and manipulate is not focused productively, if control issues and self gratification are allowed to give license. Therefore the learning community setting teaches students a sense of responsibility to self and others to be self disciplined and socially responsible.

So we come full circle to a recognition that this desire to take the best of all possible roles is the right of a dedicated educator and a necessity for education and for society. This brings us to the importance of refocusing on the illustration of the "duck" in education. As we look at the strands that have been presented in this material, the process skills, the reworking of structure, the valuing of the child as inherently impelled to learn, the role of the teacher as multi-faceted, and the value of a process/relationship curriculum they begin to take shape as a strong cord.

This cord is the one that will hold up the weighty obligations involved in preparing the nation's youth to be good citizens, to be educated, to move civilization forward, yet at the same time it is gentle enough to pull out the individual and distinctive best in each youth, to allow each student to take on the role of society and maintain the joyousness of individuality. Thus the students and teacher are enabled to live life intertwining the gift of self and selflessness.

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E-mail J'Anne Ellsworth at Janne.Ellsworth@nau.edu