7301.40 - Reading Evidence for September 3rd

Reading Evidence for September 3rd, 2009
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Noddings – Philosophy of Education

Chapter 1: Philosophy of Education Before the Twentieth Century.
The chapter begins with the question of, “why should we philosophize on education.” Evidence is presented that there is great importance in doing this, in that we gain valuable experience in uncovering what educators and thinkers of the past tried. We get to see what they thought, what worked, what didn’t, as well as what ideas came next. We can see cycles in their approaches and make decisions for ourselves about what we hold to be true. We were shown general philosophies of several educational philosophers from world history. A brief description of which we were introduced to:

Socrates & Plato (469-399 B.C.)- description of the Socratic method – the role of the teacher is to pose a question and have the pupil respond, through guiding of response, and posing further question, leading students to perhaps a different response than they began. It seemed that Socrates did not really care what the response the pupil came up with; he thought there was value in simple examination. He believed it was paramount to “know thyself.” His method did bring self-examination. I did not know how he died, and did a little research in that, pretty interesting. Plato believed that everyone had purpose to serve the state and that education should be designed to guide each person to best serve said state. Plato believed that all children should be given equal opportunities to learn and that through the process, students would be sorted into there appropriate groups to serve the state (known as a functionalist idea). He also said that women basically become sexless and should be given equal access and training, but also held that the male life was superior. The author had a solid statement for looking at philosophies, to paraphrase, we look at these ideas so we will know junk ideas when we see or hear them and can make recommendations on sound ideas.

Aristotle was not after an ideal state, but he did believe that people should be educated for their role in life. I gathered that Aristotle’s idea was to zoom in a little further into the idea of community rather than state. In fact, people who like his ideas are called communitarians, he basically thought the good of the community should override the good of the individual – I thought of JFK and “ask not what your country (or community) can do for you…” He also believed the community should not try to train children in moral issues, he thought that kids are basically good and will respond on their own out of good character. He thought the community should design activities that would lead kids to their own development of good character. His basic ideas led some in recent times to prescribe character education into schools and curriculum. I thought the Character Development League information was neat, and had never heard of it. There was a book:
Aristotle also recognized that we could not rely totally on our morals when circumstances of life affect us.

Rousseau (1712-1778) – known as the philosopher of freedom. Held that man was born free and could continue to exist that way in nature – but having to live with other people corrupts us. Known as “social contract theory” and followers are called contractarians. I see him as kind of a “hippie before his time” he believed in the importance of the individual that was self-reliant, compassionate, did their civic duty, loved nature, and strived to connect with God. Believed children are good and it is the job of the teacher to not spoil that while facilitating growth experiences, interestingly he thought this could happen more easily in a rural setting. The big hang up with this guy is that he basically taught that the role of the female was to make sure that men were happy. In the 1960’s the “open education” movement had undertones of Rousseau’s ideas. Rousseau believed that timing was essential to educating children and that the teacher was to carefully observe them and recognize when to time appropriate opportunities to learn certain things. Many followers expanded on this idea: Piaget, Vygotsky, Montessori. Summary: Kids start out good, if we educate properly (let him guide his own learning, give him the right opportunities to learn for himself, and anticipate his needs) he will grow into an adult that is free, loving, and responsible – that is, the boys.

Important quote from the author. “As philosophers, we are interested in how educators and philosophers justify their ideas, and we are keen to locate flaws in their arguments.”

Pestalozzi – educate children through the senses, example was to bring a table lamp into a class, explore all of the questions of how it works – electricity, light bulbs, wiring, shades, and fabrics. Believed all lessons have a moral point as well as a cognitive one. Also worked a lot with poor children – Einstein began to bloom in a Swiss Pestalozzi-like school

Herbart – “apperceptive mass” - The already existing knowledge base in a similar or related area with which the new perceptual material is articulated. Believed teachers must prepare students for new material by bringing to their attention the material that they already know that is related. Helps students’ sort information in their brains. He suggested a four-step approach to building a lesson that his followers turned into five steps: preparation, presentation, comparison and abstraction, generalization, and application. Here is the modern five-step approach (copied from the internet http://www.sonoma.edu/users/p/pollack/edu437/coursemat.html#5%20step%20sequence)

Five - Step Instructional Sequence

Step 1 -- Anticipatory Set
Focus the learner's attention
Motivate the learner
Relate to previous learning
Establish and explain the purpose and relevance

Step 2 -- Instruction
Present information in simplest and clearest form; explain content and/or processes
Model the process. Try to include several modalities --auditory, visual, kinesthetic, etc.
Check for understanding

Step 3 -- Guided Practice
Allow opportunities for guided practice (practicing with teacher scaffolding)
Teacher monitors students' progress and remediates and adjusts as needed
Check for understanding throughout

Step 4 -- Summary and Assessment
Assess to determine if student performs the learning objective
Check for understanding; ask students to restate directions and procedures.

Step 5 -- Independent Practice
Students apply new knowledge

This approach begs the question from philosophers, “Is everything learned best from direct instruction?” Dewey thought that instruction could not be so straightforward for all students and all subjects.

Froebel – father of kindergarten, kids are like flowers - they unfold and grow. He wanted kids to observe shapes and hold objects (manipulatives) – he applied a bunch of meaning to the shapes for mystical meaning.
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Hansen – Ethical Visions of Education: Philosophies in Practice

Introduction
The author states that the purpose of the book is to, “challenge and encourage all who care about education to cultivate mind and imagination in the world.” The method of delivery for the proposed action is to examine the lives and philosophies of 10 educational thinkers from history. There is an examination in the introduction of the difference of educational institutions that dispense facts and schools that cultivate ideas. Facts are stable, inert, and passive. Ideas are active, transforming, and constantly in motion – once they start to become fact, they die and lose the level of meaning that they had when they were still dynamic ideas. Dewey is one of the philosophers that receive attention in the book. He stresses how burdensome and unfulfilling school becomes when it is dominated by facts and information. Ideas are what give young people fire to continue to learn. These people all had an educational philosophy – here is what one is comprised of:
1. A statement of values – what you esteem
2. A moral compass – guides decision making
3. An abiding engine of ideas – ability to respond intelligently to new situations
There is a brief overview of whom the chapters will cover and who they are written by. There is also a suggestion of how to read through the book and what to do with the information. The author would like the reader to come out with a sense that individuals can make a difference in the course of educational history as each of these figures did. The only way to become educated is by engaging what is new.
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Hargreaves & Fink – Sustainable Leadership

Introduction
Change is easy. Lasting change is not. There is an extreme need for lasting change. There are examples all around us in nature and we should take those queues as an indicator that it is time to change our habits in a lasting way. The same is true in education, we try to change too fast and implement programs overnight and see over time that the change is not sustainable. The book mentions the book Built to Last and points to some indicators that have apparently worked for lasting businesses. Some points made: underlying purpose that stands the tests of time, move slowly, but continue to advance, do not depend on a single leader, bring up leaders from within, and learn from experimentation. The current trend in education of standardization will have long-lasting negative effects. Standardization has brought about the graduations crisis, has destroyed classroom creativity, restricted innovative schools, actually widened the learning gap, has encouraged test score raising strategies, undermined teacher confidence and competence, eroded the professional teaching community, and has accelerated the carousel of leadership. Seeing some movement toward sustainable change outside of the US. Providing general curriculum outlines and giving teachers a great deal of professional discretion. Working harder to attract and retain quality teachers. Putting a premium on leadership in visible ways. The authors definition of sustainable educational leadership:
Sustainable educational leadership and improvement preserves and develops deep learning for all that spreads and lasts, in ways that do no harm to and indeed create positive benefit for others around us, now and in the future.
The book is organized into these “Seven Principles of Sustainablility”
1. Depth – deep and broad learning, as opposed to superficially tested and narrowly defined achievement
2. Length – lasts over time, charismatic leaders die.
3. Breadth – does not depend on one leader, but spreads it out
4. Justice – does not raid the resources of surrounding schools at their expense, does no harm to and tries to find ways to share knowledge with others
5. Diversity – avoid standardization, alignment is an ugly word
6. Resourcefulness – does not drain its leadership, recognizes and rewards its leaders earlier rather than later in their careers
7. Conservation – learns from the best of the past to create an even better future