Disposition 11

Conclusion

Can dispositions be taught in the end?

In order to answer this question, disposition needs to be clearly defined.

Disposition - a person's inherent quality of mind and character

Using this definition, I don't believe it possible to "teach" dispositions in a classroom. I believed dispositions can be challenged, formed, encouraged and/or discouraged in a classroom.

What would be your recommendation for enhancing the dispositions of teachers?

Discussions, journaling, and honest conversation.

Disposition 10

Resilience

How do we prepare teachers for the stresses related to the teaching profession?

Whenever I have talked with current teachers about what they were most unprepared for, they say something about politics, parents, or administration. At first it really surprised me, but once another couple teachers said something along the same line, I thought about it. In my planned course work, there isn't anything on team work, authority, or parents. As a teacher, your job is people. Forming, relating to, and educating people. We cover the psychology of the developing mind, but not the mentality of a parent who is concerned about their child failing. We are well informed about "special education" students, but not about the pressures put on the curriculum directors of our districts. In order to prepare educators for these things, I suggest a "social skills in the work place" course. It sounds like, "how do you get along with your cubicle neighbor?" but it really would be a lot more than that. Your job is based on your ability to relate to people, so you should understand who they are and their perspective in order to best serve them.

How do we prevent 50% of teachers from changing professions less than three years into their career?

I think that having more social activities for the staff and more collaborative learning experiences (like team teaching or swapping teachers for one hour) would be really helpful. I feel that teaching is a very isolated profession - the lack of connection would lead me to quit. Also, I think teaching the same students for two or more years would be a positive experience for both students and teacher, as they would be more connected and know how to work with each other well. Having mentors might also help. If you are a new teacher at a school or district, having someone who knows your position meet with you regularly (once a week at first, then once a month etc) for the first year or two would be really helpful. It's really tough to start in a new place, and having someone help you get your bearings would be invaluably helpful.

Disposition 9

Humility

When was the last time you were wrong?

Academically, the last time I was wrong was in probably in theory class. It's not surprising that I was wrong in theory, as this is not my best subject. I very much enjoy music theory but most days my brain is just not up to it. I am, true to form, a little slower than others in my class. So, having tried to find the right chord, and being proud of myself for identifying it, I offered up my answer. My professor didn't make an example of me... just kind of hesitated and said, "are you sure about that?", giving me time to reconsider my answer. Outside of the classroom, I'm wrong all the time. I forget things, ask people lots of questions, try to write stuff down so I can remember things, and sometimes just have no clue what I'm doing or talking about. Like most others, I've been trained that wrong is bad, and so I avoid it. I'd like to think that there is a positive place in the classroom for the wrong answers. I'd even prefer if there were no right and wrong and students were encouraged to explore and justify their findings.

How does a teacher strike a balance between confidence and genuine humility?

I think that both of these attributes are admirable and desirable, and that they aren't mutually exclusive. Personally, I struggle with balancing contrasting attributes. I have come to find that there isn't really one way to operate in all situations. Rather, that it is a matter of timing. I feel that especially as an educator, a person should have the ability to temporarily take themselves out of a situation and ask themselves what is needed from them at the moment. That includes how it effects themselves, others, the outcome, and both long and short term effects. It's important to show both confidence and humility in a classroom, and more important to show both the positive AND negative aspects to each trait.

Disposition 8

Collaborativeness

what makes for a highly effective team or group?

In my experience, groups operate best when people are genuinely excited about and care about what they're doing. When people care, it's more likely that feet will get stepped on and feelings will get hurt, but if people are willing to work it out, the end product will be better than that produced by a group of people who aren't invested in their work.

I've also found that people need to be willing to work together- not prefer their own work to everyone else's. I feel it's more common for people to do too much of the work rather than people not doing what's expected of them. Everybody needs to have some sort of interest in the work and be willing to work together on the end product.

how is collaboration different than group work or cooperative learning?

The difference I see is that collaboration implies that people are coming from different backgrounds where as group works implies that you all have a lot in common. Cooperative learning also has a completely different goal- learning. Collaboration usually has some sort of material goal - a presentation or product.

Disposition 7

Efficacy

Children cannot be fooled by empty praise and condescending encouragement...ego identity gains real strength only from wholehearted and consistent recognition of real accomplishment, that is, achievement that has meaning in the culture.

-Erik Erikson

Describe a time when you helped someone believe in their ability to succeed at something.

Today, I had a violin lesson with my four year old student. She has been playing the violin for two and a half months or so, and she has made so much progress! Admittedly, the first month or so, I myself was discouraged because I thought we'd be moving at a much faster pace. When I started playing cello and bass in my String Methods course, I felt what it was like to do something completely foreign to me. I didn't understand why someone (young or old) wouldn't be able to put their first finger down in the right spot on the fingerboard and move the bow at the correct speed. I really didn't understand that that wasn't a fair expectation. I began to think about how much her four year old brain was processing, and how much of that was new for her. I was overwhelmed with excitement and pride.

When I understood what she was going through, I began to give her more genuine praise. I, of course, always told her she was doing a good job, even if I could not recognize the tune she was playing. Yes, she was doing a good job, but I wouldn't have been able to tell you why. Understanding what's difficult and what is happening for the person you're instructing almost forces you to be somewhat emotionally invested.

Well, today, she was having trouble standing without wiggling around, and couldn't play more than two notes in a row without putting her instrument down because she was tired. When she needed to take a break, I would tell her all the things she was doing well, and then give her one thing to think about for when we played next. It seems like common sense, but knowing that how hard she was working helped me to tell her how happy I was with her progress. She could tell the difference between my praise in recent weeks (more genuine) and earlier in the semester (less genuine) and my genuine praise effected her focus, which effected her progress.

Random Disposition

Education and Health

In my French 201 class this week, we talked about the education system in France. It was really interesting in that there is no option of homeschooling or alternative education (only one private Roman Catholic option, no charter schools or ALCs). They have their system regulated to the extent that each child learns everything within the same year, no matter the location or school. Each child in the third grade learns to play the recorder, all sixth graders learn about the French Revolution through a certain text book, etc. All education is free, the government can sue parents for not sending students to school, BUT there are no school athletics, clubs, or ensembles. It is 8 am to 5 pm academics 5.5 days a week (half day Friday and school on Saturday).

I was really surprised at the lack of extra curriculars. I tried to imagine going to such a school, and saw it lacking school spirit and sort of a sense of community. Our instructor said that the high school and college suicide rates are much higher in France. When asked why, she explained that with fewer outlets available, people end up isolated and unsuccessful more easily. If you're in a school that specializes in math, and you don't do math well, odds are that you're not going to do well academically, socially, or mentally.

This leads me to wonder, What is a school's role in general well being of students? Luther College not only offers, but requires, Personal Fitness and Wellness, which I've heard from many students to be a joke of a course. When I took it, I saw good intentions, but not so excellent execution of those intentions (but that's beside the point).

A school's role is to educate, but how does one define "educate". As a hopeful future educator, I've found my definition of education to be the development of a person. For me, that includes physical, emotional, social, and cognitive. Through these facets, I believe education can help to form a fully functioning, thoughtful, intentional person.

Disposition 6

Inventiveness

To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk - Thomas Edison

How do we encourage, teach and reward creativity and imagination in our schools?

We encourage creativity firstly by giving students opportunities to exercise and use it. If we use worksheets or other structured assignments all the time, students won't have to make their own choices or decisions. I think there are many activities that could be used to teach creativity. Personally, I would start with listening to and being aware of the body. Bringing students to a field or forest and asking them to go where they want. Give them time to get lost and have a sound that they have to find at the end of the time. Through this experience students would independently seek something, a rare occurrence in a classroom. Encouraging creativity and imagination is as simple as speaking and connecting with people. Asking them how they feel, what they want to continue learning, what makes them excited, what direction they are taking projects, etc. Each person has many capabilities, we just have to give students opportunities to exercise them.

How important is creativity as a skill for the 21st Century?

Unless we want the world to stay the way it is forever, people need to come up with ideas. Even if things stay the same, our living conditions and lives would change in a negative way. Solutions and new ideas require creativity and passion. Yes, answers can be found when people don't have a burning passion for finding them. However, I believe that the best answers are found when people have a connection or passion for what they're doing. They would be more likely to go one step further or look for one more option when they already have something satisfactory.

As a future music educator, I am aware that other countries in the world do better in the areas of reading, science, and math. As a nation, we certainly need to do well in those areas, but instead of seeing those topics as the main commodity in the world, we need to step up our education in the arts. With creativity and basic skill, you can do anything. With a higher training and level of skill in a concrete area, you can do those few things very well. In order for our children to be successful, they need to be creative and skilled. The rest will follow.

Disposition 5

On Monday, October 5th, three sections of Educational Psychology combined to complete a role playing activity. We were asked to respond to these questions for this week's blog, instead of completing a typical dispositional blog.

1) Is this method of role playing a legitimate way to learn what are some
of the important issues related to student learning and accountability?

I believe that role playing is a very legitimate and effective classroom method. I'm very interested in emotions and intentions and I found this activity very helpful in understanding other perspectives, points and persons. If the assignment had been given in simply an essay format, I would have had a lot less invested in this. When I was given this assignment, I knew that I would be held accountable by my peers and that I would be holding my peers accountable. Something public like this can be really high pressure but it can really help a lot of students come out of their shell or expend some energy in a classroom in a constructive way.

2) What would have been the advantages/disadvantages of using a more
direct/lecture approach related to teaching and learning and school
improvement efforts?

I don't really see any advantages to a lecture format in this situation. If your goal was to analyze it with numbers or just to have a bland, factual understanding, then a lecture would definately be effective and probably less work for the instructor.

3) What is your reaction to the common belief that before students are
asked to engage in complex learning tasks they need to have a solid grasp
of basic skills (i.e. they need to have a careful look at the information
about No Child Left Behind legislation)?

I think that people should have an understanding about what they are talking about. If you're talking and you don't know what you're talking about in this situation, you should be opening your mouth to ask questions. Learning is the pimary priority, and you simply cannot do that by speaking about things you don't know about.

4) How important is some level of emotional engagement in the learning
process?

In my opinion, it depends on what topic you're learning about. For science or math, I think learning how to relate it to your everyday life or current events would help me to remember and understand the topic. In social studies or other similar subjects, I find it very effective to have emotional investment in the topic, even if it is chosen for me or forced upon me.

5) Do we tend to pay closer attention and to listen to higher achieving
students, their parents, and to other influential people in the community
before others?

It has been my experience that the higher achieving students have more involved parents. Typically the lower achieving students aren't listened to because they have fewer opinions or their opinions are "less informed". I believe that people generally know themsleves and what is best for them. You cannot make a person care or force them to express their opinions.

Disposition 4

Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire. -W.B Yeats

Can you think of a time when you became more interested in a subject because of a teacher's enthusiasm?

As a high school sophomore, I was a member of my high school's chamber choir. Our director, Michael Shafer, changed my life forever. None of us knew much about him, and he was a really explosive, polar person. At first I was not a fan of him, I even thought he effected our choir negatively. Come time for our winter concert, our choir had never sounded better. Through all of my reactions to him, I failed to see the effects he was having on our sound. We grew together vocally and through our many conversations and experiences with our director.

We all changed together. Once we (including the director) knew that everyone way in it for the music, we were free to pursue it wholeheartedly. We connected not only with each other, but with our audiences. I naturally rose to leadership roles, and through them I got to know my director much more. We regularly spoke about his goals for us, issues within the group, musical selections, and other choral matters. I understood so well what he put into our choir, and wanted to do the same. We continually challenged each other and have become very good friends. I chose Luther College simply because I CRAVED choral excellence. I came here as a hopeful vocal education major and now have added on instrumental. This instructor has made an ever lasting impression on who I am and will be, simply because he shared his passion with me.

Disposition 3

Authenticity:

What we're all striving for is authenticity, a spirit-to-spirit connection.

-Oprah Winfrey

I would like to thing that my limits in expressing myself authentically lie in the extremities. That I would always be my truest self unless it was a very unsafe circumstance or if it would benefit someone and I decided it would be worth it. I feel that in order to communicate effectively, I must be honest with myself and my students. However, I also assume that there will be times and places in my teaching career in which it will be a good choice to be more reserved and less involved.

If you are a person who wants to be in a classroom and has the skills to be there as an educator, the only other necessary skill you require is the ability to be yourself. I have had incredibly inspiring instructors who moved and changed me in ways I never anticipated simply because they shared themselves and their passions with me.

I once thought that in order to be an effective instructor that you had to have a classroom personality or persona that was separate from your normal life self. I brought this up to my mom, an elementary music educator, and she said, "You know, I don't think that I have a "classroom personality" and I don't think ANY of my colleagues do. I don't know how I would survive, not being myself all day". In order for me to enjoy what I am doing, I need to be myself and be present. If I don't enjoy my experience, I can't expect my students to enjoy it or get anything out of it.

Disposition 2

Compassion:

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. - The Dalai Lama

I struggled a lot during my freshman year with many aspects of campus life. I had two professors reach out to me both in subtle and major ways. Each week I would go to my lesson (I'm not telling you which lesson!) and my professor would ask me how I was doing. It may seem like a simple, common thing that everyone says, and it is. Every single day, I ask at least 15 people, "How are you" and they ask me the same. Whoever it is, we both usually say, "Good!". With this professor, I knew that he or she genuinely wanted to know how my life was going and how I was adjusting. We eventually got to talking for up to 20 minutes of my hour long lesson about things that were bothering me, weather it was my room mate, anything regarding my instrument, inter departmental drama, or how there was nothing for vegetarians to eat on campus. Having an adult care that much about me right from the beginning has helped me to develop as an artist. In a lesson setting, I now feel incredibly free to express myself verbally AND through my instrument. These skills and feelings have even extended to my other instrument and helped me to be more confident and comfortable in all places on campus.

For January Term 2009, I took a Theatre/Dance course taught by Jane Hawley. The course was titled stubborn light and through that class and with her guidance, I learned so much about the human spirit and myself. I began to connect with more people on a deeper level because of her presence and influence in my life. In this course we did movement exercises, prepared meals together, read excerpts, held discussions, and learned about living life as your own person. In opening up during her course, we became very familiar with one another. I've continued to ask her guidance and shared with her all kinds of things I worry and think about.

These two professor's care for me (compassion for their student) has helped me to become more comfortable with myself and to live and build a life that I want to live.

Disposition 1

How do you define respect?

The treatment of others that is based in the understanding that each person is a whole person with their own thoughts, emotions, background, etc that result in their actions.

How does it look in the classroom?

It appears in kind interaction. There are no quick, reactive responses to statements. Students and teachers are responsible for paying attention to their initial reactions in order to learn about themselves. My kind of respect requires calmness and common compassion for each person, and is seen in student-teacher relations as two equals with open minds coming together to learn and grow, not as one talking down to the other.

What is the impact of respect or lack of respect in classrooms?

When there is a lack of respect, feelings are hurt and students do not feel free to create and share openly, limiting their growth. When there is respect in a classroom, each person feels as though they are unique and valued, inspiring them to achieve their own best; to pursue their own interests while supporting others in their endeavors. Respect comes from love, which creates communities (not without issues, of course.)

How is respect best established in a classroom environment?

Each person learns best in a different way. To get the point across to everyone, base rules need to be established, with discussion. The students need to identify what is hurtful to them. When they come up with the rules they are imagining situations and putting themselves in others positions, and they'll be more likely to follow. Some students may require time to think to themselves. They need to understand why the rules are there, beyond "to keep a good classroom".

-Emmalee Johnson