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