It's the first day of school and an excited, albeit slightly nervous teacher is attempting to prepare students for an icebreaker. This is it! Her students will learn how to make predictions, expand their knowledge, and organize their thoughts by implementing her instruction on how to ask good questions. cautiously, she hangs a chart on the wall. Down the first column she writes, "Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?"
Reflection
Beginnings are important in education, whether a teacher is receiving students on the first day of school or a community is welcoming an educator. So what does it really mean to foster "habits of thought that go beyond thinking about why and thinking what if" (Morgan, Norah and Juliana Saxton "Introduction: Questioning as a Democratic Tool" in Asking Better Questions 2nd. Ed., 2006)? What are the implications of encouraging our students or communities of inquiry to take risks? (To echo what was presented in class today,) how are we going to define participation in our classrooms, workplaces, and homes without quelling imagination?
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I wanted to discuss some of Morgan and Saxton's writings because I think that they bring up some very controversial topics which are relevant to educators in their multi-disciplinary practices. The two well-known slogans of Delphi, "Know Thyself" and "Nothing to Excess" nutshell the foundation of the authors' philosophical approach to education. The authors compell their readers to develop a strong personal narrative, complete with a matured empathetic organ, and to become more comfortable with the offspring of democratic compromise: Doubt, Fear, and Tension.
Drawing out Major Concepts
Doubt Words, like sunscreen, need to be used often and applied evenly at all times. Unfortunately, the word "doubt" often carries negative connotations due to its association with apathy, pessimism, and paranoia. Doubt differs from skepticism in that it is not satisfied with itself. While skepticism, doubt demands only more rigour, depth, creativity, and logical consistency.
Fear Like doubt, fear is often misunderstood. While doubt and fear are believed to result from a lack of faith, the etymology of fear teaches us that fear is a real phenomena, not merely an emotion or response. While doubt urges us to draw a breath and to probe a little more, fear preserves us. We experience fear when we are confronted by our inability to demonstrate compassion, when we experience hatred, or when we realize that we are in need of forgiveness.
Tension Doubt pulls from one direction and fear from another. Tension can be measured when a substance is still or when it is in action. To measure the tension of a substance is to measure strength. According to Morgan and Saxton, the strength of the ideal teacher-learner is to forgive. Much forgiveness is needed when constructing a personal narrative and moving forward to demonstrate empathy. Through the inclusion of various quotes throughout the introduction, Morgan and Saxton suggest that a person makes it easier for his or herself to be forgiving when he or she maintains a long term vision of the goals of education. Forgiveness is not passive or complacent. It demands stamina.
Implications (Re-Reflection)
Modern dance transformed our conception of ballet by freeing the dancer to focus on the expressivity of moving dance, rather than one the rigidity of still motions and positions. Similarly, Morgan and Saxton elaborate on a revolutionary concept of "reflection in action for educators". If reflection occurs iin medias resi, then past decisions and their present consequences are relevant to, but not controlling of current decision making. Likewise, implications of our present decisions must be considered, but do the implementation of change need not be delayed. A teacher can modify a lesson to suit student needs while he or she is teaching. This adds an element of stress to the lesson but the potential for student development improves greatly. A student can make changes to an art-project need not wait until a design block to make structural changes to a work, he or she can apply new depths of knowledge to the materials, even if it means breaking a piece of clay off or ripping some of the woven strands out.
Questions to Ponder
- Do you agree that doubt, fear, and tension have a place in schools and other places of learning?
- Can you think of a time when you experienced one of them in a learning situation?
- Do you remember that situation more or less clearly than others?
- Do you think that the creation of memories constitutes real learning?
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