Behaviourism

I can certainly understand why the behaviourist approach causes so much concern for people.  They do not want to be reduced to a sum of their behaviours.  However the fact remains that as a people we communicate in behaviours.  We flirt, fight, cower, hide, push, pull, cry, yell, whisper, gyrate, grimace and smile all with our bodies.  These are our behaviours. There are recent shows like The Mentalist and Lie to Me that all examine the minutiae of our every move to reveal our hidden desires or lies (apparently our body can’t lie and there is a great podcast on this subject athttp://health.howstuffworks.com/lying2.htm). We are certainly known by our actions.

If behaviour is the interface by which humans communicate, be it through writing, gestural or verbal then all of these are simply expressions of the thoughts inside.  Kids smear poo on school walls,  kids graffiti the toilets, kids destroy locker room, kids bully, kids don’t eat, kids cut themselves, kids litter.  Kids are capable of an incredible range of behaviours but the motivation behind them is often opaque and unable to be verbalised.  More often than not when asking a student why they behaved in a certain way they can’t express it.  But is changing this behaviour a simple act of enforcing a negative consequence for something antisocial and rewarding socially positive behaviour?  I am not sure. The behaviours that kids display come from a very complex thought paradigm in which decisions and actions are implemented.  Where Skinner is only interested in measuring the behaviour I think students should be encouraged to explore their own thinking paradigm. They should be pushed to reflect on actions and consequences and thus by doing so change the parameters of their thinking paradigm.  I think that Skinner assumes that we are given a set “program” (kind of like a computer) and that this program is how we interpret the world and interact with it.  This program is what I mean when I say “a thinking paradigm”. However I think that we are much more complex than that and that our thinking paradigm is constantly shifting according to our interaction with the world.  I don’t think it is a simple matter of this stimulus will elicit this response (although advertising execs may prove otherwise) but rather a complex interplay between social, cultural, economic, religious and genetic factors that push and pull the way we think, learn and ergo the way we behave.

More Assimilation

Assimilation and the Nation

Our society is based on a process of assimilation.  There are social norms that people need to abide and there are boxes that people need to fit into in order for society to work.

To some degree we need elements of assimilation in order for our society to work. There are rules that need to be followed because things don’t work when they are not followed.  I think that there needs to be some conventions that we abide or the society we wish to celebrate will not be worth celebrating.  Or is it that these conventions reflect the norms of the society we live in and that the paradigm that I am thinking in is limited to only my experiences and understanding.  Perhaps if I was writing this 40 years ago I would be bemoaning the fact that we have “coloureds” in our schools and that “communists” were everywhere.  But the question is I find difficult is that at some point we all need to assimilate a little.  Everything is meeting point of understanding.   Can we have arranged polygamous marriages?  Should doctors condone female circumcision, knowing that if they refuse the family will go somewhere else?  Tribal courts, spitting in the streets, smoking in shopping centres, driving on the other side of the road, mayonnaise on chips, things are different and where is the line that one thing is someone’s cultural heritage and another thing is just unacceptable.

It seems as though the more one part of society says something is wrong the tighter the other party holds onto that idea as a core value or idea that is central to their beliefs.   I understand why assimilation is such an attractive idea.  Everyone the same has a simple ring to it that reduces everyone to the same playing field.  However, if every bird in the forest were to sing the same song what a bland song that would be.

Assimilation and Exclusion

I just had an excellent weekend of fishing.

I went with my father-in-law and his best mate who is a lecturer in Aboriginal Education.  He is white in case you were wondering.

He told me a story about how before white settlement (such a nice term) that neighbouring aboriginal tribes had an incredibly complex system of marriage that was designed to inbreeding and create alliances (similar to European Royalty minus the inbreeding).  However with European intervention and assimilation this system was destroyed and in its wake generations of indigenous have been hamstrung. 

This is not new as there are countless civilizations, societies and cultures that have been absorbed by others.  But is it a case of survival of the fittest?  Does the strongest culture win?  I don’t think so… only because when something is forced something is compacted, when something is pulled something is held tight.  Assimilation doesn’t make a country or a classroom strong it makes all the flowers in the flower bed the same.  What makes us stronger is the variety of the world we live in.  Otherwise we are all in danger of in-breeding.

 

CG Learner

CG Learner

I liked it.

I liked it a lot.

The interface was so much more convenient and user friendly.  I have worked with nearly every phase of the learning element construction.  From the intial word document to the CG online learner and this edition is by far the biggest leap in terms of usability, availability and construction.

A feature that I really liked about the program was the ability to click and drag tables into the document.  This had its own bug though as the program tended to freeze or design inappropriate sized cells in the table.  Another feature that I loved was the ability to create a linear placemat which was awesome for scope and sequence.  As Glenn and Ben and I sat down to work we were able to easily map out where we wanted to go with broad-brush strokes in terms of titles of each learning component.  This meant that we could plan and then write a more detailed account of each learning event.  We also liked the idea of being able to manipulate when each learning event would occur in the learning sequence.  However this highlighted the biggest glitch in the program as most times we tried to do this the program would freeze and we would have to restart.

The ability to paste from other websites and information sources was great as it meant that what previously had to be housed in another folder could be embedded into the learning document.  This wasn’t as easy as it seemed but with practice I think it will be a very useful and important tool as it means that multimedia tools such as music and websites and interactive programs can be a part of the document and the teacher can see how it fits into the learning more easily.

The other great capability that was difficult previously is collaborating with other teachers.  This online version means that there is only one document that is being edited.  I know that this sound simple but in the past we have ended up with three or four documents that each person has edited or changed and there is no consistency or uniformity.  This is great in terms of an online collaboration tool as teachers who are not necessarily in the same school can talk and plan together.  It takes transparency of the classroom to the world and means the sharing of pedagogical strategies are more easily dispersed.

Overall an impressive start to the online version of what used to be a difficult program to use.  It promotes collaboration, multimedia, inclusivity and transparency.  What more could you ask for?

The INclusive School

The Inclusive School

“The process by which all those who provide education – whether in schools, early years or lifelong learning settings – develop their cultures, policies and practices so as to include all learners. It is a crucial part of strategic planning for improvement. Educationally inclusive institutions are ones in which the learning, achievements, attitudes and well-being of all learners matter. They are able to engender a sense of community and belonging, and also offer new opportunities to learners who may have experienced previous difficulties. This does not mean that they treat all learners the same way. Rather, it involves taking account of learners’ varied life experiences and needs.

Educational inclusion is about equal opportunities for all learners, whatever their age, gender, ethnic origin, religious belief, care status, impairment, sexuality, attainment or social or economic background. It pays particular attention to the provision made for, and the achievement of, different groups of learners.”

“Effective schools are educationally inclusive schools. This shows, not only in their performance, but also in their ethos and their willingness to offer new opportunities to pupils who may have experienced previous difficulties.

An educationally inclusive school is one in which the teaching and learning, achievements, attitudes and well-being of every young person matter.

The most effective schools do not take educational inclusion for granted. They constantly monitor and evaluate the progress all pupils make.” (Ofsted 2001)

Upon reading this week’s entries I have come to the conclusion that I am not that inclusive.  I struggle when people don’t think like me.  I struggle when kids don’t understand.  If a student doesn’t get it or doesn’t fit in I struggle.   And the sad thing is that I am the adult in this situation.  I used to think that I was open and understanding but I’m not, maybe it is just that I am not inclusive when it comes to all my students. 

The quotes above ring true and under achievement in certain groups will continue unless they are addressed.  Unless people like me take the time to understand how these groups of students can belong and participate.  Inclusion isn’t easy because of the myriad of reasons as to why some kids underperform, yet at the end school needs to go much further because school is about tackling the underachievement and exclusion of groups who have been marginalized or disadvantaged in the past, through taking positive action and through the targeting of resources to ensure that they have their rights upheld.

Education and Citizenship

I get lost in school about the things that are important.

All of the twee things that you read on coffee cups and Christmas cards about teachers are true; Teachers make the world better, Our biggest investment is our kids, Children are the future. Yet it doesn’t feel like that when you are up at night marking a Pythagoras test or when you are dealing with a piece of pig’s brain that has been put into a student’s pencil case. Teachers get lost in the doing of school because it is easy to do. It is easy to do because it is right in front of you and demands your attention. The day to day running of the school happens before everything else.

After this week’s readings on Nationalism, Neo-libralism and Civic Pluralism I wonder what our school would look like if every decision we made was through a lens of citizenship. What would our school be like if we made all of the decisions about curriculum, pedagogy, timetables and assessment with a view to empowering student citizenship? What would a community look like that had a school with this focus. What would the parent body look like? What would the world look like? But how is this taught? When you look at the riots that occurred in places like Macquarie Fields (http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2005/s1312287.htm) or Palm Island (http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2004/s1253921.htm) it becomes obvious that the greater the gap between the state and the people the more violent and ostracised they become. The police become enforcers and society becomes something that you reject rather than participate in. As a microcosm of the community it is a part of, schools are similar. Those students who do not fit, feel like they don’t count or are powerless and choose to behave in ways that are not in the interests of the community they are in but don’t belong too. Teachers blame students or parents, Parents blame school and everyone blames the government. But with this blame comes no change. If as a community we think more about the role of active citizenship and empower our youth to own and invest in their own communities in all of their actions we will foster a sense of civic pluralism where citizens are not faceless consumers but active agents. If teachers think more about how citizenship happens in the classroom then perhaps it will echo through the community. If teachers model the change they want to see in the world, then perhaps we may not get bogged down in running a school but changing a community.

Work and Education

Week 1 2009 Blog Entry

Work is education.

Too often students complain that they should be paid to come to school.
“You get paid to be here. . . so should we.”   Their time is valuable to them and they should be compensated for the wasting of it.  Teachers punch in at 9 and punch out at 5 and get the fat pay cheque at the end of the week.  Where are the kids in all of this? Surely they have a right to some coin for their time.

Teachers often answer that students will need to know this if they are to get a job when they leave school. 

“No one will employ you if you get an F in Math.” “You won’t keep a job if talk like this to your boss”  So in effect it becomes no work here, no work out there.  Learn to fit in here so that you can fit in out there.  Which is why schools are such interesting beasts because if we are trying to prepare students for the big bad world, then why is all of their work graded and ranked and compared?  Strange that work is the carrot and work is the stick.

It comes as a shock to me that the majority of students see learning and education as a yoke to bear.  Furthermore some teachers find it a yoke to deliver.  Surely this Chinese Fingertrap of “you’re here, I’m here, let’s just get along for the next hour” is too much to ask of anyone.  I can say that there is no place worse to be in the world that a classroom you don’t want to be in.  That includes kids and teachers. 

Work is not getting paid for your time.  It is about doing something that matters to you.  It is about getting rewarded for investing your human capital.

We should be preparing kids to challenge themselves and to invest in themselves.  To see education as the beginning of a life journey, where they will apply skills, knowledge and understanding to all aspects of their universe.  From working with their families, completing DIY projects around the houses, buying a house, making a best man speech.  Each requires work and the application of their learning and each experience adds another yard of yarn to their rope.

Work is about doing things that matter to the person who is doing them and education is the same.

Reflections On Practice Through New Learning Lens

It is difficult.

Very difficult not to get down on yourself when you reflect on the way that you teach.  It is difficult because when your tired, under pressure or caught up in another school “mess”, your planning suffers which in turn leads to poor practice (more often than not a didactic approach of do this now! Why haven’t you done it yet?  That’s it! I’m sick of this. I’m calling your mother.) which in turn leads to poor learning outcomes for kids.

I look around the room I share with another teacher and realise that at the start of every lesson I have to move the class around to enable groups, but the room is long and thin and designed for rows.  There is even a door at the side like a stage door so I can have a different entrance and get access to the front of the class where I can deliver the lesson from behind my work bench.  It is “traditional” set up and our school is only 12 years old.

Another reflection that I have had is that school sometimes gets in the way of learning.  There are so many conflicting wants and needs flying around such a dynamic environment that “learning” sometimes fades into the background and “doing” takes it place.  The last week has involved our school performance and the upcoming weeks with have graduation, presentation and formal, not to mention reports.  These are all important events but the fact is because they have a deadline they take priority and learning doesn’t.  These events have put massive pressure on my teaching and my students learning.  The otherness of school takes priority and the learning suffers.  I used to think that this was just the way schools work, but it doesn’t have to be that way.  If every decision in the school was made with the focus on learning, then I think that learning would happen.  

The course has given me some head space to think about this.  The fact that we are at the coal face means that these words have some meaning.  I have been given a language to think about my teaching and my students learning and more importantly a framework to critically reflect and continue improving.

This Blog Goes to Eleven

Are blogs the democratization of information/opinion, where everyone has the opportunity to say what they think and feel? Or is it the end of civilization as we know it? 

My issue is that when everyone has a voice, the noise can be deafening and more often than not it is the most coarse, most basic, most fundamental, most eye catching that is heard.  If everyone turns their opinion up to eleven, we all go deaf.  In an era of reality tv, it is the shocks, the hits, the fights, the gossip, the breakdowns, the divorces and the sex that get the hits and the cycle continues. Paris Hilton is famous for being famous. Britney is famous for being crazy. There are reality tv schools that teach people to be more like themselves. There is fame as the end game without the idea of doing something well or new to earn it.

With this in mind are blogs really about the conversation or are we about talking and being heard. Conversations require listening, thinking and replying. 

Do blogs do this? Do we let kids use a blog or do we teach them how to filter good from bad, and if so who made us the moral guards.

It is interesting that kids will whip a mobile phone out the second action looks like it is going to happen on the play ground and up load it to web, yet would never think of recording an explanation of coordinate geometry and putting that on YOUTUBE.

This also raises the issue of authenticity and how we use blogs. Do we use it in the same way that some teachers use playground lingo to “relate” to kids (fosnizzle, my whizzle) and by doing so negate the power of those words. I think that technology for technology’s sake is as effective as giving a laptop to every student. Useless unless the end purpose is focused on the learning.

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