Monday, August 29, 2016
September 5...Charting a Course
In light of our first day of class, the readings (particularly Noddings and Barrow), and your own work, please write about what you'd like to get out of the class class and any specific ideas about readings, assignments, activities, etc. that you might have. Keep in mind my skillset...
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Given that bringing about policy change at the state or federal level is a daunting and unlikely task for most of us, I'm curious about specific actions we (educators, those in academia, local administrators) might take/model in order to make changes on a local level.
ReplyDeleteFor example, what can I do and share with my colleagues to make my classroom, my school, my division more just and democratic?
This year, I'm initiating a restorative practices PLC (professional learning community) in the middle school where I teach. It's something I care about as a teacher so instead of just complaining about how things are, I'm trying to effect change from within the system.
In science ed, we push for inquiry-based, student centered activities that manage to engage students and get them asking questions. When done well, this method can cover the required standards without focusing on the state tests. Individual teachers may not be able to change state or federal policy about standards and tests, but they can teach in a way that honors the child more than the standards.
I wonder what this might look like in other areas of education.
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ReplyDeleteFor me, I'd like to explore in this class how my particular field, online learning/technology in education fits into various educational philosophies. As I brought up in class, much technology is focused on integrating the latest fad into a curriculum rather than stepping back to ask the question of what is best for the student. I think Barrow brought up many interesting points regarding how we tend to "pigeon-hole" a philosophy of education, and I feel as if my area of research is treated much the same. I'm looking to go beyond the more technical aspects of virtual education and get to the core of how should we view this type of learning from a philosophical point of view and how this view can improve the student experience online.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I feel as if there are a lot of areas of education that are not as "traditional" and these areas struggle to fit into the paradigm of educational philosophy. How do we deal with them? What role do alternative learning experiences play in education and how do they work within existing educational philosophies?
On a personal note, regarding the reading, I was a little surprised as to how dismissive Barrow was regarding the incorporation of Eastern philosophies into educational thought. He seemed to lump them into a set of religious beliefs, which while they can be, are not considered religious beliefs but rather their own schools of thought. I took an entire philosophy course on Eastern belief in undergrad and that was Day One of our course, that Buddhism, Daoism, etc. are NOTreligions, but instead are a philosophy, just as Naturalism or Marxism are.
Hey, it’s Laurie.
ReplyDeleteI think what I would like to get out of this class is a bit more confidence in my convictions. Thus far in the program, the classes have forced me to question some basic assumptions I didn’t even know I had and have helped me put some words around things I noticed but didn’t notice – or maybe tried not to notice – while I was teaching. Noddings mentioned a couple of the assumptions as ongoing questions, so maybe there isn’t a definitive right answer. Some philosophical grounding for my opinions might give me the confidence to follow Counts’ exhortation to get off the fence and do something, instead of fretting about whether it's okay to impose my opinions on someone else’s children.
I am interested in philosophy as a means to an end, in how philosophy might provide understandings or language useful in improving practice in education. I guess I agree with Robin Barrow that it might be better to “eschew an emphasis on either history of philosophy or particular individuals, and to focus on examining educational concepts, programmes, policies, and practices themselves, with a view to aiming at some clear concepts and coherent arguments.”
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I am excited about the readings/authors listed on the syllabus. Nel Noddings’ ideas on care are of particular interest; I’d like to read her last chapter of Philosophy of Education for her take on philosophy of education from a feminist perspective. I also have an interest in the idea of embodiment as it comes up in feminist and critical race theories.
Participatory action research as a means for empowering students and teachers is a focus of mine. I am currently working to form a cross-district PLC of ESOL teachers this year, and would be interested in the philosophy supporting practitioner-directed professional growth and research (Freire? Dewey?). Another current project incorporates mindfulness techniques into ESOL instruction for low-literacy students who have experienced trauma, and I am interested in the Eastern philosophical traditions underpinning the current trend in mindfulness interventions.
~ Carolyn
In thinking about what I want to get out of this course and where I am in my studies, I come back to Barrow’s suggestion to “be more or less willing and able to try for, and more or less successful in aiming at and achieving, a clearer, better explicated and defended understanding of educational priorities, even in the face of our unavoidable perspectives” (p.34). Basically, I understand him to be saying that taking-up an “ism” severely limits what we do as researchers. We always have a perspective; we always begin from some standpoint. I am trying to heed Barrow’s advice and not get stuck on doing things a certain way because I am working within an “ism.” On the other hand, I can’t go forward without a plan of action. My goal for this class, then, is to gain insights via the study of philosophies of education into how I can investigate my research questions within a conceptual framework—my plan—that helps me see things I would not otherwise see so I can answer questions I could not otherwise answer. I want to work on my conceptual framework but remain open to how that will be accomplished.
ReplyDeleteKim: I sometimes forget to see the forest through the trees when I study philosophy and theory, so I think it would help me to have something in our class assignments or activities that helped me put the different theories and philosophies we will be learning about into their proper context. Knowing which ones are largely dismissed today versus which ones are still popular in modern education policy/ theory, what was happening in education when the major theory was formed, how the theorists life influence their thinking, etc. I really appreciated the Barrow reading for this reason. I feel it helped orient me to many of the major schools of thought. Another interest I developed through our readings is in the philosophy of feminist theory within the context of education. I would like to read some of the chapters mentioned about that. Lastly, I would love to have an assignment or activity that helps me gain some concrete experience in translating philosophy into action.
ReplyDeleteIt's Jodi...I continue to be interested in care theory and critical theory. I like Noddings and her ideas. As for philosophy, I find myself wondering if I need to subscribe to a certain philosophy as much as I need to subscribe to a certain theory. If so, how do they go hand-in-hand? And...can I waiver on a philosophy depending on the subject within education that I am writing about at the time? How does this fit into my conceptual framework and where should I actually be in the process at this point? From the Bailey article, I found the quote, "Every educational philosopher ideally needs to focus on key educational concepts, with as little prior commitment to any particular school of thought as possible." and interesting idea to chew on.
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ReplyDeleteI look forward to taking a closer look at the foundational philosophies of education as a means to deepen my understanding of the context of our current school system. To that end, I am also interested in exploring how our national ideology effects the interpretation and implementation of educational models. As someone who is more accustomed to reading classical philosophy, I am most enthusiastic about the sections that pertain to critical theory and the reclaiming of public education.
ReplyDeleteOne overarching question that arose when reading about the perspectives of philosophers such as Rousseau and Dewey pertained to the transferability of such practices in the real world setting. For this reason, I am particularly attracted to the Ayers, Nolan, and Hytten articles as well as the potential for community engagement.
Jorli-
ReplyDeleteOn page 28 Barrow has the statement that “there is no simple one-to-one correspondence between a person’s philosophical commitments and his or her everyday beliefs and actions,” I really struggle with this idea because I feel how you see the world and make decisions affects the -ism or isms you adopt. So the idea that you can adopt an -ism and then that -ism does not affect your practical day to day life is difficult for me to come to terms with.
For me, studying disembodied -isms has been difficult, because I have a hard time tying the theory on paper to how the world around me is affected. I would like to explore more in depth the various -isms and how they look when applied to practice.
Like Donna, I would also like to explore the use of educational history to affect policy. Part of the reason for study history is to avoid the same mistakes again. While in educational history I am sure there are many mistakes, there also seems to be a cyclical nature to the “theories or practice of the day.” However these theories or practices fade out and another one takes their place. Studying educational history should enable you to learn from these past “theories or practices of the day,” and create almost an after action report, which allows the field to identify what worked well, what did not, and what improvements could be made.
Anna here: I would love to develop a deeper understanding about how philosophical views about children's roles in society and the changing ideas about the purpose or value of education influence or contribute to current educational politics and practice in the United States. For example, Noddings describes questions regarding curriculum and teaching style which appear to be related to how learners/teachers are viewed through the eyes of the different philosophers, time periods and societies discussed. Noddings suggests that although it does appear that our society recognizes the importance of educating children, fundamental questions regarding how children might be educated and what role they might play in the process is still in hot debate. I would like to participate in discussions about this and other questions regarding children’s roles in and participation in the educational process.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of what I would like to get out of this class, I would like to have opportunities to practice philosophical analysis in order to structure my current thoughts and beliefs. As I read about the various theories and –isms, I could not subscribe wholly to just one. Both Noddings’ and Barrow’s readings were helpful, as it became clear that philosophers may agree with an element of a colleague’s work, but completely disagree with another aspect within the same work. Knowing that such an approach is not only acceptable, but also common, was a relief to read.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Susan in that Barrow’s statement that “to consider an educational problem through the prism of an ism is to severely limit your options” (p.34) is spot on. Unfortunately, education in today’s society is not cut and dry enough for one ism to get the job done. The multi-dimensionality of the learning environment and political scene requires education to be viewed through the lens of several -isms.
For my research interests, I think it would be helpful to read more about epistemology, social and political philosophy, and philosophy of the mind. I liked Noddings’ encouragement to focus on “how perennial questions change according to the context in which they are asked, how old questions die away leaving similar questions as their legacies, and how new questions are generated by the answers to old ones” (p.6). This was actually helpful guidance for this week’s readings.
Lastly, I am with Donia in that I would like to gain insight into how educators can impact change within our schools, districts, and profession. From my activist stance, I would love this. I want to stay active in the educational politics realm and discussing constructive activism in small groups or blog discussions would be helpful.
~Brionna
Virginia here:
ReplyDeleteIn my master's program I didn't spend much time studying teaching philosophies, nor in my daily teaching did I ever consider which theory might better help me in the classroom the next day. I'd like to take this class as an opportunity to diver deeper into those ideas and gain a better understanding to how these theories have shaped the American education system and how we as educators can use them to shape/change education positively in the future. I appreciated the Noddings article for giving descriptions of the major philosophers and providing a good introduction to their work and ideas. At the beginning of the article there is a line that sums up what I think the goal should be for our class. On page four it says, "...thoughtful people continue to examine the old responses, to generate new ones induced by changing conditions, and to reflect on current responses in the interest of making education as good as it can be."
Michael Schad:
ReplyDeleteSo, I think I spoke a little bit about my philosophy in the other blog post, but I realize I need to make another blog post and talk about Nodding’s and Barrow’s work. So here it is:
To be honest, I didn’t think we would be talking about Plato and Aristotle, but if you are going to start from anywhere it obviously should be them. I think for Plato and Aristotle, America’s system of education, as it stands now, would seem insane to them. The idea that everyone should have a free and “equal” education, the free part I think they could have gotten behind, but the equal would be a slippery definition. In a way, I kind of agree with Plato and Aristotle’s stratified, class based system of education, but it would leave so few at the top to pursue true “enlightenment”. What about the carpenter? Can he not be enlightened? It is encouraging to see both these thinkers were contemplating how best to improve their communities. I mean they were both from the upper echelon of their world’s; yet, they were concerned with others, or at least establishing a system for the betterment of all in their communities.
The first time, in high school, when I read Plato’s Republic, I was thoroughly confused. But, by the time I was in college and read it again and again, I got most of it. You know this thing called knowledge is important to humans because it seems as though we are always debating what is the most important thing to know and teach. But, knowledge stands astride with truth, two legs stretching over the chasm of chaos. If we cannot agree what is true, then how can we proceed to gain knowledge. If nothing is real, then is everything a lie? At some point there must be an agreement and engagement. The agreement begins with saying this is truth, and the engagement extends truth to actual knowledge.
One of the points in the Barrow article that touched me was the point, which was succinctly supported, of separation between the “ism”, the school of thought, and the person. Barrow convinces me of the importance of looking at each individual philosopher in order to understand their specific way of thinking, instead of attaching a larger ethos, which they might not be associated with to their name. A great example of this came in the example of Plato’s Theory of Thought being attached to the way in which he specifically thought about education versus just saying Plato is steeped in idealism. It is important to differentiate an ism from a philosopher.
Kiara Lee:
ReplyDeletePage 12 of the Counts piece reads "An education that does not strive to promote the fullest and most thorough understanding of the world is not worthy of the name." Sure, this applies to classrooms and educational programs, but I'm also thinking about this meta-cognitively and with self-reflection. As an educator, its important to be well-rounded in all facets of education; this includes philosophy. I've had little exposure to philosophy of ed, and I wouldn't be practicing what I preach (and what Counts preaches) if I didn't try to absorb as much from this class as possible, especially since philosophy of ed is somewhat foreign to me.
Thinking about my critical lens, it will be interesting for me to explore my research interests in the context of traditional philosophers, as many (but certainly not all) of their worldviews seem very functionalist (especially Plato). Although thinking about things like colorism in education, parental incarceration and the criminalization of black girls in schooling with such a functional lens will be daunting, I feel like it would be extremely beneficial. As we talk about in 703, being a steward of education requires familiarity with all kinds of viewpoints.
I would like to expand my knowledge on which philsophers’ ideas are still present in today’s classroom. Reading Noddings piece made me think about how Maria Montessori used Rousseau’s ideas and how Dewey’s ideas on motivation leads to hands-on activities and manipulatives. It would also be interesting to investigate countries in which these ideas are still strong vs. the US which seems to be on a constant pendulum of ideas on how teaching should look.
ReplyDeleteI guess since I am very connected with the K-6 classroom I will constantly be thinking about how what we discuss in class relates to the modern classroom with all the diversity, testing, stakeholders, etc… Teachers have to deal with more issues than those in Dewey’s day, thinking about what we read in relation to today’s classroom would be valuable to me. Heather
This is Melissa. My goal is to understand how education is increasingly seen as a commodity rather than a public good and a human right. As for the classical philosophers, I have an interest in Socrates’ perception of what it means to be just. I want to discuss the impact Plato’s functionalist model has had on our education system and analyze Aristotle’s view of morality without reasoning, and how it developed from practices with communities and those demands. Lastly, I am curious to read Herbart’s ideas about apperceptive mass and the conscious memory of students that come from indigent communities and how these concepts connect to self-determination and adaptiveness.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to schools of thought, I am interested in Dewey and his approach to providing language instruction if he dispelled Herbart’s stages of instruction or objectives. I want to read about the schools of thought that impacted bilingualism and multilingualism in the US before the 20th century. I also find pragmatism, relativism, and subjectivism to be lenses that are relevant to serving the needs of the underrepresented and marginalized. They appear to be more useful, inclusive, and humane. However, I see the value in learning about all of them and how they can help us understand the current problems with our education system.