Thursday, November 4, 2010
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
Teaching
The two things I love best about teaching are the opportunity to get students interested in learning, and the opportunity to continue learning myself.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Goals
My goals as a teacher:
1. Help students to think well--clearly and deeply. To be able to test whether or not what someone says is true. To be able to read a difficult passage for meaning.
2. Help students get interested in thinking, pursuing wisdom.
3. Help students to understand the American system of government and appreciate it; to understand and value liberty.
4. To encourage students to participate politically in an intelligent and responsible way, preferably in a way that promotes liberty.
5. To help students pass or excel in the class.
6. To continue my own learning.
1. Help students to think well--clearly and deeply. To be able to test whether or not what someone says is true. To be able to read a difficult passage for meaning.
2. Help students get interested in thinking, pursuing wisdom.
3. Help students to understand the American system of government and appreciate it; to understand and value liberty.
4. To encourage students to participate politically in an intelligent and responsible way, preferably in a way that promotes liberty.
5. To help students pass or excel in the class.
6. To continue my own learning.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
What is my goal as a teacher?
The idea recently came to mind that I am not clear on what I am trying to achieve in class. I said to my wife, "Maybe what I am trying to do is so subversive that I am not even willing to admit it to myself." This morning, I reflected with sadness on the many times that I have been unkind to my students. Perhaps there is a connection between the two things, not being clear on my objectives and being unkind. When I am unkind to a student, it is typically because I see the student as working against what I am trying to achieve. But what if the student's behavior is working againt one of my objectives, but is opening up the possibility to achieve another one of my objectives?
Consider two of my objectives, which are at least somewhat in tension with one another:
1. Helping students to understand and value liberty and the American system of government. 2. Helping students to think deeply and critically.
Now if a student challenges something I say in a disagreeable way, then I typically get annoyed, because I perceive the student as hindering my efforts to help students understand and value liberty. But the student is actually doing something positive by challenging what I am saying, by creating the possibility to think more deeply about the subject. The fact that the student is being disagreeable is actually a secondary matter in regard to achieving the second objective.
If I could get clearer on my objectives--all of them--then I think it would help me to act more kindly in the classroom. So long as a student behavior can help us to achieve any of the objectives of the class, I would be able to welcome it.
Consider two of my objectives, which are at least somewhat in tension with one another:
1. Helping students to understand and value liberty and the American system of government. 2. Helping students to think deeply and critically.
Now if a student challenges something I say in a disagreeable way, then I typically get annoyed, because I perceive the student as hindering my efforts to help students understand and value liberty. But the student is actually doing something positive by challenging what I am saying, by creating the possibility to think more deeply about the subject. The fact that the student is being disagreeable is actually a secondary matter in regard to achieving the second objective.
If I could get clearer on my objectives--all of them--then I think it would help me to act more kindly in the classroom. So long as a student behavior can help us to achieve any of the objectives of the class, I would be able to welcome it.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Explaining the Method
What's the best way to respond when someone says something with which we disagree? In my experience, probably the least productive thing we can do is to state our own opinion. This is especially the case when we state our own opinion in a way that puts the other person down. If we do this as a teacher, then we will probably make an enemy and lose the future input of our student.
But in any case, by doing this we create a situation that has very little future. We simply butt heads and it is not likely that one person will give in to the other, no matter how many facts or reasons either brings forward. And someone is likely to get hurt.
Is there a better way, a way that is more likely to lead somewhere? I think there is and it has to do with the way we respond when there is disagreement. The best way to respond is to ask questions of the person who expresses the opinion. I call this technique "the divine judo" because it does not oppose force with force, but enables the force of the opponent (if that's the right word) to expend itself. For one thing, if you ask enough questions, it may soon become apparent that the person has no idea what he or she is talking about. Or it might happen that a misunderstanding will be cleared up. Perhaps there was only the appearance of a disagreement when there was none. Or maybe we might learn something new by our questioning and actually change our own opinion. In any case, the person we question may well feel valued by our interest in his or her opinion and probably some good will come of it. But it takes discipline on our part, especially the discipline of not getting annoyed at the person with whom we disagree.
A note on the photograph in the header: it is from Kurosawa's Yojimbo. I know that the lead character is a samurai warrior and not a judo expert, but I liked the picture because I think there is something heroic about a teacher who practices this method. Also, in the movie, the warrior fights for both sides and that probably ends up being true in the classroom as well. The students with whom we agree and the students with whom we disagree all need to be defeated in a sense. That is, they all need to learn how to think. And thinking usually does not begin until we realize that we don't have the answer or cannot defend what we think to be true.
But in any case, by doing this we create a situation that has very little future. We simply butt heads and it is not likely that one person will give in to the other, no matter how many facts or reasons either brings forward. And someone is likely to get hurt.
Is there a better way, a way that is more likely to lead somewhere? I think there is and it has to do with the way we respond when there is disagreement. The best way to respond is to ask questions of the person who expresses the opinion. I call this technique "the divine judo" because it does not oppose force with force, but enables the force of the opponent (if that's the right word) to expend itself. For one thing, if you ask enough questions, it may soon become apparent that the person has no idea what he or she is talking about. Or it might happen that a misunderstanding will be cleared up. Perhaps there was only the appearance of a disagreement when there was none. Or maybe we might learn something new by our questioning and actually change our own opinion. In any case, the person we question may well feel valued by our interest in his or her opinion and probably some good will come of it. But it takes discipline on our part, especially the discipline of not getting annoyed at the person with whom we disagree.
A note on the photograph in the header: it is from Kurosawa's Yojimbo. I know that the lead character is a samurai warrior and not a judo expert, but I liked the picture because I think there is something heroic about a teacher who practices this method. Also, in the movie, the warrior fights for both sides and that probably ends up being true in the classroom as well. The students with whom we agree and the students with whom we disagree all need to be defeated in a sense. That is, they all need to learn how to think. And thinking usually does not begin until we realize that we don't have the answer or cannot defend what we think to be true.
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