Gathering Speed

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

1. 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?
2. 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
3. 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?
4. Percentage of the day's activities which are not lecture style
   How much of that time revolved around relationship skills?
   How much of that time was devoted to product?
5. 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.

Previous Page Next Page