Reading Evidence for September 10th, 2009

Reading Evidence for September 10th, 2009

Noddings – Philosophy of Education

Chapter 2 – The Philosophical and Educational Thought of John Dewey

Wow. That is some tough reading. John Dewey’s thoughts were very hard for me to follow, I wondered several times through that chapter if I am simple-minded or if I am just not cutout to be a philosopher. I tried my best to understand what the author was describing and found myself googling several words just to have a fighting chance, here’s what I got out if it:
Dewey believed in the method of science and saw that it could be used in every realm of life. He practiced the dialectical method (which I had to google) - Planning and forecasting method in which two or more groups discuss the issues (first separately and then together) to analyze and synthesize various viewpoints into a comprehensive and coherent framework. He often used this approach to look at ideas and arrive at a new idea – not a conclusion, like something can be final, but a current way of thinking about something. He believed that education is the most important branch of philosophy because all other philosophies depend on education. He said education was synonymous with growth, and that the purpose of education is continual growth, infinitely – the final purpose or aim of education is more education. Confusing? He insisted that teachers have aims for their chosen activities, but that students are involved in setting the objectives for their own learning. He regularly observed children and concluded that children mimic because they want to accomplish something, they do not imitate without purpose, but the imitate to obtain a desirable effect. He said there is a fourfold interest for children – making things (construction), finding out (inquiry), expressing themselves artistically, and communicating. He developed a model of thinking that is explained like this: Thinking begins with a nagging sense that something just is not right, hypothesis of what could be wrong is explored, a plan is devised, the hypothesis is tested, the plan is put into motion, you see the results and apply what you learned to new situations and make an attempt at generalizations. He believed that experience has to built on or connected to prior experience. Student’s subject matter has to be prepared in light of their previous experience and what you want them to learn in the future. There must be engagement – the student has got to interact with the subject – if there is not, the students will settle for giving answers and getting approval from the teacher rather than learning for the construction of personal meaning. Education is the construction of personal meaning. Ideas central to Dewey’s theory of knowledge: 1). Humans at every stage of maturity use material from prior experience to guide present inquiry. 2). Genuine problem solving involves undergoing the consequences of one’s hypothesis making and testing. If a teacher disrupts the process you rob the student of learning. Another of his central ideas had to do with true democracy. We don’t begin with common values, we construct them. We give our children experiences that help translate our values to them in way that make them significant to their own lives. He said democracy is a process and its rules must be under continual scrutiny, revision, and creation or it will fail to continue to be truly democratic. He said it works kind of like a gang - whenever groups withdraw from connection, isolate themselves, and become exclusive, democracy is endangered. You become wary and distrustful of others. Schools are minisocieties in which children learn through practice how to promote their own growth, that of others, and that of the whole society. He saw curriculum as something that is not compartmentalized or unconnected but more as something that is all interrelated and connected to everything else – all working together as a huge body of knowledge. I am sure I missed several items, but this is what my mind deemed important as I read through the information.


Hansen, David – Ethical visions of education: Philosophies in practice.

Chapter 1 – John Dewey
This chapter is a “focus on his (Dewey’s) convictions about what it means to lead a meaningful life.” He did not tell people that what they were doing in schools was failing, he told them to begin to move from what they were doing into something new. An education is something impossible to “give” or “get.” A person could receive a high school or college degree and still not have an education. He stressed the physical setting and the arrangement of the classroom, everything had to be very deliberate. The mind and the body move about in the environment and are influenced by it, even if they do not know it. The educator must have a command of the subject matter, become a permanent student of students – be attuned. He did not believe that education should serve anything or anybody. Education is definitely not something meant to serve the state. The educational process he touted included the spiral of growth, whose end is never terminal or fixed, but always continuous in transformation. He thought that too often social circumstances smothered the prospects for human growth and forced people into routines, and ruts with lowered the expectations of a meaningful life. He defended a true democratic society (which he did not think existed) and characterized it by a constant, open-ended, and unconstrained expansion of communication. He did not see value in education that just brings the young up to speed with convention and custom, only to perpetuate the cycle of non-growth. He believed in shaping the experiences of the young so that instead of reproducing current habits, forming better habits, and thus the future adult society be an improvement on their own. He was very well travelled within the US speaking and writing prolifically. He started the Laboratory School in Chicago and tested his educational philosophy in this school.


Hargreaves & Fink – Sustainable Leadership

Chapter 1 – Depth

A strong and shared sense of purpose holds us together and allows us to advance or persist in tough situations. Product integrity is the core of sustainability. Learning is at the center of everything that educational leaders do. They persistently and publically focus their own attention on learning and teaching. The approach of standards-based strategy is to focus on testing and hope that it leads to learning. It is sustainable to focus on learning first, then achievement, then testing, so we never lose sight of the learning that truly matters. Sometimes teachers are so excited about their teaching that they don’t pay attention to the student’s learning of that they are teaching them. Dewey – grasp the meaning of a thing or situation…in its relationship to other things; to note how it operates and functions, what consequences follow from it; what causes it, what uses it can be put to. Learning extends beyond the coverage of content, the basics, and the desire to make money. When someone else sets targets for you it communicates a lack of trust that you are going to do it yourself. The “slow school” is one which attends to philosophy, to tradition, to community, and to moral choices – you have time not to just memorize, but to understand. Deep often means slow. “Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly.” Mae West. Short term targets, and ayp – not just nonsense, but nonsense on stilts.