Many thanks to our presenters today -- another round of excellent papers. First we heard about the various ideas around "rewards and punishments" and Kohlberg's levels, in contrast to intrinsic motivations for good behaviour. Second we looked at Montaigne, the ethics of standardized testing and the role of dialogue in education. Third, we examined the boundaries for student-teacher relationships and Aristotle's Golden Mean. Next, we learned about assessment, the fairness of teaching to the test and what to do about cheating. Then we looked at how the educational goal of critical thinking may be at odds with Divine Command Theory and the role of faith in learing. Lastly, we discussed the moral issue of allowing sex education of children to be optional for some families.
As I mentioned in class, some SFU Educ Master's students are doing research on online learning. If you would like to give an hour of your time to this study, please contact Farshid Marbouti at
fmarbout@sfu.ca
Just a friendly reminder: your blogs are due next week, July 22. Please send them to me via e-mail in one Microsoft Word document. The three lesson plans will be due the next week, July 29.
Enjoy the beautiful weather!
Teacher-student relationship
ReplyDeleteI will commend on the teacher-student relationship because it is an important component of education. It is a multidimensional relationship which helps teacher to bridge to all of his students with their divers learning styles and needs and get their trust in order to feel safe and accordingly they can communicate their conflicts and problems and also freely express their ideas. I believe that in this healthy classroom and school environment based on healthy relationship, there is an enhancement of asking questions skills. This skill is very important for students through many stages of their life in their personal, professional, and social levels. As a teacher is essential to have flexibility and open-minded to judge his students existence in the school and why they are there and how much they need him. Just let us take how long the students stay at the school in their long life learning journey and from that we find out how much the relationship between teacher and his students is essential and can be good outcomes effects in their life forever or a bad impact. The teacher-student relationship must be on friendship frame work for the benefits of both learner and educators. The school education requires that mutual interactions between students and teachers in which they exchanged many activities in their school life and it has to help student's mental, academicals, social, and physical development. The teacher-student relationship is important for the process of education in which the students gain their knowledge, experience, and ethics of exchange ideas in a friendship understanding but not in social relationship frame. There is a big difference in social and educational relationships. This issue is very important to be clarified and understood by teachers, students, administration, and parents. Therefore, from the teacher's side the teacher-student relationship is controlled by teacher ethics and professionalism based on students diversity and social parameters. The student's side is to their requirements of education in which the right teacher-student relationship can link teaching to learning as educational activities and when one of them is missing it means that no education is processed. Therefore, teacher-student relationship involves interaction between both for the purpose of teaching and learning and the relationship should stick to the goal of education and considers the share of each other (teacher and student) experience to achieve development. In this case the healthy teacher-student relationship is going to be an educational force and resource for the goodness of learners. So both teacher and students have to comply with certain ethical principles, certain degree of ethical responsibility with acceptable level of moral rights. Other than that teacher-student relationship would be questionable and might guide to troubles.
July 16, 2010
I would like to speak about the validity of standardized testing after the presentation that compared it to the value of dialogue proposed by Montaigne. It is true that the value of dialogue and conversation is not given enough merit in schools today. Its true that standardized testing seems to be a way of streamlining learners on their financial status and willingness to conform to the values of the administration. The ability of the students to take in a lot of information and then give it out again is being tested. As said during the presentation "the stomach has not done its job if intellectual food is taken in and spewed back out in the same form." The way the SAT is configured it does not allow for the individual aspects of rationalization and free flowing thought. Montaignes ideas of conversation allow for the individualized expression of rational thoughts. I think this is good idea however how as teachers are we to assess this? There are many reasons to doubt standardized testing, but I think there are a few valid reasons for their use. They are a challenge and a focus for students at the same level to gear their studying to. Once they have taken the test they engage in dialogue on what parts where difficult and which parts they enjoyed. I think that standardized testing is like a right of passage that our parents went through and so should we. If the material covered by the test is general and geared towards University entrance then students will feel a sense of equality that everyone who goes to that school has to pass the same test. In the school I work in I know the feelings of teachers toward the Foundation Skills Assessment (math assessment) is to dread it. At the moment I see some validity to standardized tests. I think Montaignes dialogue is also good however I do not know the way that we would test it.
ReplyDeleteI found the presentation on assessment quite thought provoking. Specifically, I enjoyed the discussion question posed to the class that asked whether or not getting a zero when caught cheating is a fair assessment. In terms of accurately reflecting what the student knows (or doesn’t know), the zero is probably not a true portrayal or assessment of their understanding. Perhaps the question that ought to be asked is: is getting a zero for cheating ethically appropriate? In my mind it is appropriate. Especially in university when marks count for a great deal, and where some classes are even marked on the curve. I also think giving a zero to elementary students would generally be a good idea, as it would illustrate to them the severity of the situation and help them to understand that cheating is not tolerated. I would make sure that they still had an opportunity to boost their grades in other ways (other assignments in the term, maybe some ‘extra’ work that related to cheating that they could get some credit for) so that their entire term wouldn’t be ruined, yet they would face stiff enough consequences to appreciate what they had done. In my view there are two distinct issues here, assessment and cheating. Sometimes the lines between the two are blurred when the punishment for cheating is a mark that relates to assessment. While this zero doesn’t properly assess their knowledge, it is an ethically appropriate action to take as it not only protects the integrity of the marking process for the rest of the students, but it will hopefully help the child to realize that cheating is a bad idea.
ReplyDeleteFor more views about cheating, have a look at: http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2010/7/12/when-did-cheating-become-an-epidemic I'm using these four opinions in another class to get students to think about ethics and their position on cheating. One of the authors is Alfie Kohn, a well-known education writer.
ReplyDeleteIf evidence were put forward to prove that God does not exist, would you still believe? It’s very interesting to me how often non-believers portray persons of faith as naïve, less intelligent, and somewhat deficient in their capacity for logical reasoning or critical thought. To loosely quote the presentation on Divine Command Theory, “A simple man accepts things at face value whereas a cleaver man requires proof”. I would argue that faith requires an imbalance of proof. Faith requires trust without proof; this is the nature of faith. Faith is the Hope that balances our Fears.
ReplyDeleteKant believed that faith could co-exist with reason. According to Kant it is not irrational to believe in God. I’m not talking about a religion that provide followers with a rigid system of rewards and punishments in order to facilitate compliance, but rather a system of thought that helps to guide the moral behavior of followers, while maintaining individual autonomy.
Non-believers frequently demand proof that God exists, but can scientific proof on this level ever be absolute? The Newtonian-Cartesian world view gave way to Quantum Physics, which will eventually surrender to some new paradigm. We have been convinced of ‘absolutes’ at many different times in human history (the world is flat, the sun revolves around the earth), but then the paradigm eventually shifts and we open to new ‘absolutes’ that contradict our previously held beliefs.
Hi Sean,
ReplyDeleteJust thought I should mention, for copyright reasons, what you quoted loosely in your first paragraph (“A simple man accepts things at face value whereas a cleaver man requires proof”) isn't actually from me: it's from the _New English Bible_, Proverbs 14:15, quoted from the August edition of _Awake!_.
-Allie
Those were some zingers of presentations this week. I'd like to comment on a few things. First, I stated a couple of things about math and the SAT and I would like to clarify what I said. The math SAT I wrote was in the early 1980s, so it's entirely possible that its fairness has changed. Secondly, by fairness I mean that it is fair as a math test. The SATs I wrote included all types and levels of difficulty in math. If a person did poorly on it, then I would conclude that either the student’s understanding of math was deficient or that their math education was deficient. Therefore, IF the goal of a university is to require students to have a strong understanding of math, then the SAT, as I knew it, was fair. The question of ethics with the math portion of the SAT points to its reason d’être.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is that the UK had SAT testing for several years. The SAT was ultimately removed because they recognized that schools were using up to 1 month of time in order to specifically prepare for the test. For me, this is the primary reason why a test such as the SAT is unethical. I stand by the idea that standardized tests, when constructed and used appropriately, can be ethical.
The idea that a student can be removed from a class is extremely unethical in my mind. Denying a student access to knowledge is borderline abuse. This actually ties in nicely with the presentation that dealt with punishments. The overlying theme in both cases is power. By installing fear and ignorance, the people responsible gain or hold power. Countries, cultures and communities have been controlled by this process for centuries.
Sean, Philosophers of Science, and perhaps the scientific community in general, do not believe in absolutism of science. In fact, the leading literature on the nature of science recognizes the exact process that you describe, where new paradigms and fringe ideas assimilate into or replace existing scientific theories. I’m not sure if you have read much on the nature of science, but you nailed it pretty good (as far as I understand it). I think a lot of people go through school and life missing that key understanding, and I’m glad you brought it up. It is important to recognize that scientists do not hold a requirement for absolutism.
Despite all of the paper presentations being interesting and engaging one stood out as most succinct. Greg’s paper described a type of education I firmly believe in. instead of a transmission style curriculum he suggested a curriculum where it’s a two way process more of an exchange or curriculum as transaction. This philosophy of curriculum is associated with progressive and education and John Dewey. All individuals involved can be both experts and novices depending on the subject. I was fascinated to learn of Montaigne’s philosophy of education and would appreciate some book titles that you would suggest.
ReplyDeleteFantastic presentations again this week! Thank you for exploring such relevant and interesting issues that we face in classrooms today.
ReplyDeleteAssessment is such a huge topic and one that has interested and tormented me throughout PDP. The idea of trying to assess what a student is capable of seems impossible at times and it is so easy to get an incomplete picture. I am reminded of a student I taught in 405: a chronic non-participator and one who rarely completed work, I was determined to get through to him. Working with his IEP helped me to understand his strengths as well as the areas he struggled with and this guided my ideas of how to assess his understanding and capability. I discovered that due to a written output problem, he was largely unable to express his ideas in writing, resulting in a poor quality of work and what appeared to be a lack of understanding. During an art unit, I made a point of talking with him about the class-created art during our gallery experience and was surprised at the depth of his responses to the abstract artwork up on our classroom walls. I decided that rather than having him complete the assignment, a short opinion paper on whether abstract art is Art, we could simply sit down for 15 minutes after class and discuss his ideas. This turned into a discussion that allowed me to see that he understood a great deal and had some interesting thoughts on the subject. He ended up with one of the top marks for his response and I sincerely hope that this simple adaptation allowed him to feel success that was so lacking in his educational experience.
In terms of testing, this student helped me to understand that we don’t all perform in the same way and that in some cases (many cases?) a test is not the nest way of assessing whether a student has met the prescribed learning outcomes. Had I given this student a test, or had him write the same response as the rest of the class, he would have likely received a mark that clearly does not reflect his understanding and progression in the PLOs. We, as educators, need to be very aware of who we are teaching and that a test might actually be a very narrow way of assessing learning. By creating multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways, we will better understand where individual students are at in their learning as well as where they need to head thus helping us to better serve the students, and really, they are what it’s all about.
~b
I think that all of the topics this week were again great.
ReplyDeleteThis is such an interesting way to include many different topics into the class. There is no way that Susan could incorporate all of these topics into a class in a normal lecture situation. I think that it is great.
I know that when we got to my presentation people were pretty close to shutting down, but I wonder if anyone had any thoughts that they didn't share. I guess it was because I was "preaching to the choir" since I was speaking to teachers however I was assuming that this topic would garner more discussion than it did.
I was interested in all of the discussions; however, the one that struck me the most was the idea about rewards and punishments. I feel like there is no way that we can get away from that either with our classes or our children. In life, when you do something good or well you will get rewarded in some way. If you study hard you will be rewarded with a good grade, if you don't get into trouble you will be allowed more freedoms, etc. I think that you will always want that reward or "gold star" telling you that you did well. I feel like most people do not have that intrinsic motivation to do the right thing.
I also want to comment on the idea of standardized tests. I think that it is a very different situation in which we live from that of the United States with the SAT's. This has been accentuated by the fact that the government has made the Grade 12 provincials optional. Although I never wrote the SAT's, I can tell you that writing 6 provincial exams in Grade 12 was stressful enough. As a student, I recognized the fact that there were times in some courses where I needed more help, but unfortunately the teachers needed to "move on". I can remember my Geography 12 teacher telling us that if we got sick, or were planning a vacation, and missed a week or so of school we would probably be too behind to catch up. She knew in September exactly where we would be in March because we "had" to be there. Is this really the best way to educate our youth or does this go back to indoctrination as we discussed in the first day of classes?
Meghann, I get exactly what you're saying. I thought people might get a little more worked up by my paper; I mean, I hoped they would. That's the point of philosophy, for me. I love philosophy classes because people's opinions come out and, through discussion, you can refine your own opinions and thoughts on certain matters. So anyway, I'd like to comment on your presentation because after kind of rushing through the end of my presentation, I suspected you may have felt a bit rushed, too.
ReplyDeleteDoug said, "Denying a child knowledge is borderline abuse." This is a strong statement, and I think I agree. I say "I think" because I still trying to come up with some counter-examples. One of them so far is the idea of readiness. We all seemed to think it a bit odd that a 7 year old would be taught about masturbation, and I think the prevailing attitude is that these children are not yet ready to know about these kinds of things. So, perhaps those 4 sets of guardians merely believe their child is not ready to experience Sexual Education. However, in a circumstance where everyone else that age seems to be ready to learn about, say, birth control and much evidence suggest people that age are already sexually active, then I think denying knowledge IS quite serious. Ultimately what we're getting at is censorship; I think some censorship is necessary, and Planning 10 definitely plays with those boundaries.
One essential thing about dealing with these blurry areas of censorship is that the teachers are ready and comfortable to tackle these subjects in their classrooms. This is why I see that teacher training in this area could definitely be beneficial. Perhaps this would help the class to be taken a little more seriously and not just be considered an almost non-essential class to be taught in some moldy portable by beginning teachers. Furthermore, I think "sensitivity training" would be beneficial to all teachers: my fear for classes of any kind is that teachers may think slapping up a "That's so gay is not okay" poster is really dealing with the issue at hand; perhaps if teachers were encouraged to understand the _underlying_ issues, all classrooms would be more inclusive to all students.
Anyway, those were just some of the thoughts I had during Meghann's presentation. I agree it would have been interesting to discuss the issues a little more, but at least we have the blog to expand on our ideas:)
See you Thursday,
Allie
PS. Did you like teaching Planning 10? One of my friends had it during her practicum and absolutely loved it! She said it was her favourite class to teach and would love for it to be part of her full-time teaching load.
Allie,
ReplyDeleteI loved it! It was my favourite course as well! I was the first teacher to ever request it the next year at my school, but sadly it was decided that I should teach in my subject area (french) next year because it is harder for them to find French teachers than people able to teach Planning.
The presentations were fascinating. Thank you.
ReplyDelete1.)I thought Meghan's blog comment about standardized testing was interesting and insightful. Thank you for pointing out the similarity between British Columbia’s "previous" system of mandatory standardized Provincial Exams and the SAT. I should have concentrated more on this point.
2.) I thought Doug's remarks about mathematics were also useful. However, I would argue that any nationalized standardized testing (be it in Canada. the UK, or the USA) is almost always bound to be unethical. In my view, privatization, corporatization (including P3s), and digitalization are some of the reasons are why nationalized standardized tests are likely to be unethical. Since only time, money and expertise could produce something like an ethical standardized test, I very much doubt a standardized test could be designed in our present political climate (especially a test that ethically tests skills that are even more difficult than language and mathematics to test in a standardized fashion). Susan’s comments about Howard Gardner have importance in this regard.
3,) Although I think I have an inkling of Piaget's stages of development, the notion of differentiated learning, and the important role of parents and/or guardians in the British Columbia’s K-12 system, I agree with Doug that denying important information to young people about their health borders on abuse.
If we think about it rationally, teaching students about birth control and other sexually "uncomfortable topic" (at any age) is hardly radical compared to the rest of the curriculum we teach. Discussion of birth control and the use of condoms are factual discussions. These topics may be difficult to talk about. Nevertheless, these matters involve facts. Accurate and progressive sexual education is the right of all B.C. students at all ages.
4.) On a slightly different note: I have been thinking about Susan's advice about watching films for their ethical content. I have been borrowing some excellent films from the Media Centre at the W.A.C. Bennett Library at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby. I have watched the director's cut of Ridley Scott’s BLADE RUNNER (which raises ethical concerns about identity and technology) and David Heeley’s CASABLANCA(which articulates important issues about individual choice and nationalism). Both films have wonderful musical scores.
4.) Regarding Lorn's question about Montaigne titles. As such, longer and shorter selections of Montaigne's essays are available. Penguin publishes a serviceable (but limited) selection of the essays (for CDN $19.99). Montaigne’s complete essays are also published by Penguin, edited with an introduction by M.A. Screech. There is also a collection of Montaigne’s essays published by Alfred A. Knopf's "Everyman's Library”.
In addition to a general objection to the gender specific title of the Knopf imprint, I prefer the Screech translation to the Frame translation. That said, the Knopf edition does contain Montaigne's "Travel Journal" and a selection of his letters.
I really enjoyed the presentation regarding rewards and punishments. As a parent of a young child I am daily having to respond to the behaviour of my child in a positive and constructive manner. Do I ignore, punish or reward a behaviour? Does my response exacerbate or extinguish a negative behaviour? What is my child trying to communicate through his behaviour, and does his intent change the way I respond to that behaviour? When I think of punishment, it makes me think of a harsh corporal response to an action. But punishment should be administered in a manner that teaches a child; does not break their spirit and offers them alternative (positive) ways to behave in the future. Thus I think natural learning (or natural consequences) as the presenter suggested is the best method of responding to a negative behaviour. Every action has a consequence, and this fact does not change throughout our lifetime. The other question regarding: “Am I motivated to act because of a reward or out of fear of being punished?” I believe that I generally am motivated primarily because of a reward rather than fear of punishment. Perhaps the reward is recognition; feeling included and valued. Although an occasional tangible reward would not be unwelcome!
ReplyDeleteIn thinking about the ethics of assessment in education, I think that the evaluating and grading of student performance is a process that can cause anxiety to all involved. Students wonder if they did well enough and if their efforts will bring them the grade they feel they deserve. Parents worry that their children need good grades to succeed in life and hope their children receive the marks they need. Lastly teachers worry about how their grades and comments will impact the student, and whether they have been fair to all in the class. With objective evaluation through tests and assignments, it seems that there are few ethical dilemmas. I feel issues arise in the subjective evaluation such as class participation and initiative. Does the student show initiative through coming to class regularly and on time, answering questions, participating in class discussions, and asking for assistance or clarification? Are they unmotivated students who are frequently absent or late, a disruption in class, reluctant to participate in discussions or answer questions? Does the student take opportunities offered for extra help, or do they choose not to? It seems our own values and biases in these areas could cause us difficulties as educators. Is it ethical for a teacher to rate an unmotivated student a higher mark due to knowledge that that student’s behaviour is due to a disrupted home life? Does a teacher act ethically when she reflects her disappointment with a lower grade when a struggling student does not take advantage of the extra tutorial sessions she specially arranges and takes time out of her busy schedule to provide for him? I question if it is ethical to allow a course to have the majority of the final grade be based on test results when not every student is able to comfortably perform to their potential under pressure due to test anxiety. It seems that the whole purpose to the current grading and evaluating system is to measure a student against the norm, and offer them feedback on their progress. Grades determine whether a student is ready to advance from one level to the next, but assigning a mere letter grade and small comment does not always reflect the true potential each student has.
ReplyDeleteCaroline wrote:
ReplyDeleteI would like to comment on Brittany’s blog about assessment. I don’t know what grade level she was involved in during her 405 teaching practicum, but I do think it is probably much easier for a teacher to offer the variety of activities that are needed to address different learning styles, and to use a variety of different assessment tools. It still requires much work but at least in elementary schools you usually have the one class. Over the ten months you learn how your students themselves learn, and how they can best present their knowledge.
In North Vancouver, we had a five-year period where teachers could take sessions at a Summer Institute with a renowned educator – Barrie Bennett. One of his books, Beyond Monet, draws together many tactics and strategies for allowing students to think about, process in co-operation with others and present work creatively. His work is listed under the umbrella term Instructional Intelligence. He also has a book on classroom management and is one of the authors in a new book (2009) called On Excellence in Teachin’ which has many highly respected contributors. One of the chapters is on differentiating instruction for diverse groups of learners. I would highly recommend teachers taking a course in Instructional Intelligence.
I know that my teaching has evolved over the years as I have taken courses on Instructional Intelligence as well as others on differentiated learning.
The following website gives you a brief outline of some of the chapters in Beyond Monet.
http://www.beyondmonet.ca/
Given that provincial exams, other than English 12, were recently made optional, I think that the issue of assessment is constantly debated in our education system. I have never been a fan of tests, especially when they count for a big part of the overall grade. I do not think that a big part of a student’s grade, which is supposed to account for at least a few months, should be based on one day; a student may not be feeling well or may be experiencing a personal crisis. Many teachers have told me that some students, who do not do any work throughout the semester, study the day before and get an A on the test whereas other students who always get good marks on their assignments and put in a tremendous amount of effort throughout the entire semester do poorly on the test (this leads into a separate discussion regarding if effort should be assessed and if so, then how should it be measured?). The student who did not do anything throughout the semester and just studied the day before showed that they were able to memorize well rather than actually understand the material. Students may do poorly on tests for several reasons. Students may have test anxiety; students may not be able to finish the test in the given amount of time; or students may not have skills in test taking. Students may not have the skills needed to write a test because they were not taught how to write a test. Throughout my education, I do not remember being taught how to take a test. I think that test taking should be taught like any other material. How can students do well on tests, if they have not been taught how to take tests?
ReplyDeleteWhen deciding how much the test should be worth, the teacher should consider the type of test that they are giving. Many tests only have multiple choice questions, which I do not think test one’s knowledge at all. First of all, students are not able to justify their answer and illustrate why they picked the answer that they did. Second, a lot of times, questions may have more than one right answer and at the top of the test the following phrase will appear: “circle the best answer.” The teacher and student may have different opinions regarding what the “best” answer is. Moreover, some questions are worded in a difficult way: these questions use words such as “not,” or “except.” These questions do not assess what a student knows. I think that assignments are able to evaluate students way better than tests. However, I think that students should be given many assignments so that they can have many opportunities to learn and show what they have learned.
I missed this class. I heard that I missed a lot of really interesting presentation too. (Note to self: I must remember to make sure the milk is not sour before I drink it so I won’t miss class the next day). I was told one of the topics covered was religion so I wrote my blog on religion in schools focusing on an article I read about how some schools want to introduce intelligent design into the science curriculum.
ReplyDeleteI can understand why teaching intelligent design would be of interest to many people. I personally do not want religion to get a foot hold in the public education system as they tend to run things over. It would also alienate many students depending on what beliefs you discuss. I personally know of one person who is convinced the moon was made from a drop of blood. I do not believe I should have to say that in my science class with a straight face. We have been to the moon we know differently. That said I would also not want to disregard my students beliefs, I myself have specific ideas on how the world was formed. They do not conform to any organized religion and I would never see them as scientific. I am surprised that members of organized religion would want their ideas taught in a science class after many of them had persecuted science for so long. I would view this as a desperate attempt to solve a problem (such as the continuous decrease in the number of young people joining organized religion being faced by many churches) not an honest sense that their ideas are scientific.
Perhaps my opinion is influenced by people who I know who consider biology (because of evolution) to be the science of Satan. I would not turn a blind eye to the determination that may linger behind these seemingly harmless advances. The author stresses not calling it scientific theory if it is introduced but then people will not likely remember that the teacher said that, but they will remember they learned it in science class.
Rewards and Punishments
ReplyDeleteAccording to our text, “the rewards and punishments that a society metes out also shape our perception of right and wrong” (p 21).
When I was little, I used to make-believe I was a teacher. I think my stuffed animals were my students. For me, the most exciting part of this make-believe experience was using my stamps and stickers to “mark” the schoolwork.
Fast forward twenty-some years…I was starting my teaching career in a Kindergarten classroom and I STILL loved giving out stamps and stickers. To this day, I have systems of rewards and consequences for students. I try to use this system to “shape perception of right and wrong”.
For example, when a student returned five dollars that he found in the schoolyard, I called him to the front at an assembly and gave him a lapel pin that read “I am a Star” (our school motto was “Reach for the Stars”). This public act of praise was reinforcing for him and resulted in a deluge of “found money” being turned in to the office. On the flip side, when a student was writing on the walls in the change room, his consequence (which we brainstormed together) was to help wash down walls of the change room and apologize to the custodian.
Looking at my system of rewards and consequences from an ethical perspective, perhaps I would take a different approach. For example, if I understand Kohlberg’s theory correctly, children in Stage One are more focused on trying to avoid punishment and it is not until Stage Three that children are seeking approval from others. If I was to follow his theory and I wanted the quickest route to compliance, I would throw out the motivators and focus solely on punishments with very young children. I would wait to give praise and motivators until the children reached Stage Three. Or is this a situation of “what came first”? Do students start out in the stage of avoiding punishment and then move towards looking for approval because they enter school and learn that there is approval to be had?
Student Teacher Relationships
ReplyDeleteI agree with the suggestion that the relationship between a student and teacher is not a friendship due to the power dynamics and authoritative role of the adult. One thing that we were taught when I was in my teacher education program is that teachers are considered to be acting “in loco parentis” or “in the place of a parent”. This means that teachers are expected to act like a reasonable parent and have similar responsibilities in regards to the school children in their care. To me, this suggests that the relationship between a student and teacher is more like parent and child than friends.
Thinking about the power role that teacher’s play in students’ lives also reminded me of two different situations I faced with Kindergarten students.
In the first situation, the child was a recent immigrant to Canada and his religious beliefs meant that he would not participate in Halloween festivities occurring at our school. At the time, I was not aware of his beliefs and his parents never raised concerns to me. In my classroom, I had several Halloween decorations. This child looked like an angel, but was always pushing, poking, and pestering the other students. One day, we were alone in the classroom because he had been sent back from P.E. due to his behaviour. As he was sitting there he suddenly asked me if I celebrated Halloween. I asked him why he was asking. He told me that his parents said it was the “Devil’s Day”. I replied that I only celebrated giving kids candy and putting up silly decorations, not the “Devil’s Day” part. This seemed to satisfy him, but it made me really conscious of the role we play in our students’ lives. I imagine it was very confusing for him to try to understand how his mom and dad would put him in the care of someone who appeared to be celebrating the “Devil’s Day”.
In the second, the child had been coming to me every day to tell me that her mom was getting married. My standard response was “that’s nice”. After the third time, I realized that this student was trying to tell me something and I thought I knew was it was, so I asked, “Who is she marrying?” The child responded “Christine”. I replied, “That’s nice. What are you going to wear?” She never mentioned the wedding again, leading me to believe that I had correctly guessed that she wanted to see what my response would be to her mom being in a same-sex relationship.
Reflecting on these interactions made me think of the passage in our text that states, “if the values taught in school are in agreement with the values in the child’s home, they serve to reinforce one another. If they are in conflict, they may open a child’s eyes to another way of thinking and behaving, but will likely have less effect in the long run unless the child is already questioning her home values” (p 19). In both of these situations, the students were trying to figure out where I stood in relation to their family values.
Assessment
ReplyDeleteRecently, the trend in assessment has been to look at assessment of, as, and for learning. Assessment of learning is the final test (summative assessment). Assessment as learning would be self or peer assessment. Assessment for learning is assessment that shows students and teachers where the gaps are with an example being a pre-test (formative assessment). One controversy that has arisen in the world of formative and summative assessment is whether or not you count the formative assessment in the final mark.
On one side, you have people who believe that the formative assessments should count in the final mark. Some of these people believe that you should include all of the marks because it separates the naturally strong academic students from the weaker academic students. Others believe you should include all of the marks because you cannot base everything on one test.
On the other side, you have people who believe that all of the formative assessments were learning in progress and if the student gets the concept by the end, their final mark should not reflect these practice activities. (I think Socrates would fall into this group because he always starts out with the concept that we know nothing and question everything until we gain understanding.)
I can understand the reasoning behind only counting the final assessment if the final assessment results are higher than the formative assessment results. After all, we should be measuring whether or not the student ultimately understands the topic (and not measuring if they understood the topic before we actually began to teach it). Alternately, I can also understand the protestations that it should not all come down to one test (like the SAT or Provincial Exams). What’s your take?
This class is the first I have been involved in that has used a blog. I just want to thank everyone for making it such an interesting, dynamic and safe experience. I have found that on-line dialogues often become a site for venting and aggressively asserting one’s viewpoints. I have found this a wonderful way to enhance my learning through reading your opinions and insights, and sharing my own. Our stimulating in-class and on-line dialogue has greatly enhanced the depth of my understanding of ethics in education. Thanks Susan for your enthusiasm and skill conveying the subject matter, it has been a great class. I wish everyone happy traveling in your educational journey, I hope our paths will cross again!
ReplyDeleteI was very inspired by the discussions that we have had last night. I felt especially interested in the notion of “competition “ as a bad thing and in relation to punishments and rewards. I have been looking at the role of competition in school as part of my paper. Not only in a student vs. student way but in an individual and community manner. This also can be used to look at issues surrounding assesment and standardized testiong. With the recent cuts to schools and the belief that he government is attempting to undermine public education I felt that many of the questions of performance and ability can be looked at. Questions of achievement as well as performance lend themselves to larger questions in regards to expectations and outcome goals. Myself I feel that children don’t respect things that they don’t work for. I feel that we have made so much effort to find fair play and recognize effort over achievement that we have made children apathetic and disinterested.
ReplyDeleteI look at sports day as an example and the fact that we no longer recognize winning and losing, everyone’s a winner. Sub sequentially no one cares. We touched on this in class, when you have the coach always telling everyone how great they are doing the kids no longer listen. It I guess echoes my own belief that children are not some precious little snowflakes that need to be hidden from the realities of the world, I think they need to hear the truth starting from their own parents and teachers, this helps them develop a sense of self worth and achievement and be able to cope with failure. As a parent there has never been anything tougher than watching my children suffer with failure but I know it is good for them, from striking out at baseball to losing a match in jujitsu. The lessons they learn from failure is so valuable. Professionally I feel we are constantly protecting kids from the pains of failure and I am not supportive of it. We spoke in class about the apathetic nature of First Nations students in high school but I have witnessed many students who know that they can do nothing and still pass. Or not come to practice knowing we don’t cut kids from sports teams. So when asked about punishments and rewards I feel I believe in them for they are the standard tenants of our social contract, the very binary language of social relations that we all need to adhere to. The question is how it is balanced and how as teachers we can constructively create an environment that helps children develop values that will serve them to find a place in our society.
Anyway thanks everyone for everything, this has been a great class.
The first presentation on rewards and punishment in schooling and society intrigued me. I decided to look further into other philosophers who too grappled with this dilemma: can we live without these two entities, what are they really, and must we include them in our personal and public education of our children? Blaise Pascal offers his ideas on rewards and punishments from the standpoint of religious belief. He argues that belief requires rationality, and therefore, human beings can choose whether to believe in one thing or the other – whether to believe in a God or whether to dismiss His existence. For Pascal, human belief in a God is rooted in self-interest – because if God exists, and if we believe in him, we ensure that various benefits and rewards can be administered to us, and it is thus rational for us to believe in Him and his powers of distribution. In this sense, for Pascal, the motivation to act good is inextricably linked to the expectation of being rewarded. On the other hand, he states, if we do not believe in God we do not have to worry about reward or punishment, or, being good or bad, because we gain little or nothing. I find Pascal’s ideas interesting: if we apply them to schooling, we can see that if children believe that their parents or teachers have the authority to deliver punishments or rewards, then they will act well; if they do not believe in our power to deliver punishment and reward, they will act according to their own whim and could potentially rebel against these authority figures. Rewards and punishments cannot exist independently of the relationship between an authority figure and his or her subject(s). I would agree with what’s been said in class about toddlers: that we just might have to teach them the moral values of good and bad – by example and careful praise – through the system of rewards and punishment, given that they would be at Kohlberg’s lowest moral developmental stage at this point in time. I don’t think we could be motivated, extrinsically or intrinsically, to do certain things without expecting a personal reward for it, even if that reward comes from ourselves. However, the emphasis of competition in performance at school and in the workplace is something that society has taken to the extreme, and it is at this level that I’m uncomfortable with rewards and punishments; an ideal society for me would be one that steps off the competitive path and focuses more upon the relationships-based, creative path, so we might require a reform of this values system as we have it today.
ReplyDeleteSource for Blaise Pascal: www.philosophyofreligion.info/theistic-proofs/pascals-wager/
This takes my thoughts to the second presentation on standardized tests and the trend in North American educational institutions to be obsessed with students’ outcomes. Standardized and some other types of testing can never measure a student at their best: even as a university student myself, I have found that the majority of the midterms and final exams that I wrote were more focused on testing how fast rather than how well I could write these tests, which often included my frustration at the process and the enforcing system in place. In time, we learn to navigate the system and work with it – but is it really to our benefit, and can tests be free of their designers’ bias? Like Greg said, standardized tests limit not only students but also teachers in what they can teach and the learning process does not take into account the whole student: that is, student interests, creativity, experiential learning, collaborative learning, and so forth. Outcome- and performance-based education is the very opposite of constructivist approaches to education (hands-on, student-focused schooling), the latter of which I side with. Anything that zooms in on outcomes and performance, I automatically think, is also driven by financial profit or other gains. In my first year at university, the psychology exams we wrote were not only testing how quickly we can complete them but were designed to measure our own psychology! While I see tests as a valuable form of summative assessment to an extent, I do not believe in solely basing our classes around the outcomes of those tests. Human beings are such multifaceted individuals that, as educators, we need to attend to all forms of learning in the classroom: learning that engages all students, speaks to them, applies content to real life and the world, involves them in the pursuit of knowledge and understanding, and presents a holistic form of education – because, ultimately, tests are far from being the only measure of a student’s growth and success.
ReplyDeleteTeacher and Student Relationship:
ReplyDeleteIt couldn't be harder for me to build up a friendship with my teacher aged 35 above when I was in my primary and secondary schools. Not only that we are two different generations coming from different social backgrounds, the boundary is that we do have significant moral standards due to the social evolvement and we were influenced by the cultures which had been diversified as result of economic transformation. The ground rule was pretty simple: what you did wrong would be known by everyone in the class or even in the school and you would be disciplined through severe verbal warning. Then your classmates would make tease you or even get away from you. Be aware of the consequence like that, we have to be good all the time. Those teachers are authorities rather than role models who inspiring you to learn.
In contrast, we also couldn't make friends with teacher who were between 25-30 ( I was at my 10-15). The reason is that these teachers are new to their position without certain experience and they would try to please their students and build trust between each other. This sound rational and reasonable, but we didn't do correspondingly as students. We usually violate the rules at school such as chatting in the class or sleeping as we known that these youthful teachers would always forgive us: they do need to build up a satisfying reputation in the class.
In Chinese education, "Talented students are trained by strict teacher" is the best phrase to describe the teacher-student relationship as we do lean on the consequentialism: your academic performance means everything.
Parent and student regarding to education:
To put me as an example, my mom beat me if didn't get a full mark (or sometimes some verbal abuse) on my exams when I was at grade 1. I then study extremely hard to get my full mark because of the physical and mental torture that I may suffer. In contract, she would buy me whatever I want to buy (toys, video games) if I could get 100% on my exams. I then realized that the difference between a full mark and a 99% is so huge that I have to work hard to avoid the 99%. This is a common scenario took place not only at me, but many of my fellow students in China. (The situation should be much better now). The reward-punishment system plays such a significant role in our society. To be (work hard, pass the national examinations once a year when you finish grade 12, acclaimed universities and good life), or not to be (lame academic performance, misbehavior, attending technical schools, a pessimistic future).
The idea of Contractarianism is too ideal and or even Utopian for our education system. Your succeed as be a result of a good student with good academic performance is more about fame, honor and a indicator of a bright future. The limitations of the theory is pretty obvious: even we agree that we learn to study or study to learn, but we always learn to be famed, be honored. A teacher is more like a mean and teaching is not an end.
Here is a link regarding the a well-known Chinese entrepreneur who was paid more than 100 million for his job transition last year and he was just found that his academic certification is fake:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_Jun
To sum up, an education system could never be functioning well if people in that society are overacting towards rewards but not virtues overall.
Teacher and Student Relationship:
ReplyDeleteIt couldn't be harder for me to build up a friendship with my teacher aged 35 above when I was in my primary and secondary schools. Not only that we are two different generations coming from different social backgrounds, the boundary is that we do have significant moral standards due to the social evolvement and we were influenced by the cultures which had been diversified as result of economic transformation. The ground rule was pretty simple: what you did wrong would be known by everyone in the class or even in the school and you would be disciplined through severe verbal warning. Then your classmates would make tease you or even get away from you. Be aware of the consequence like that, we have to be good all the time. Those teachers are authorities rather than role models who inspiring you to learn.
In contrast, we also couldn't make friends with teacher who were between 25-30 ( I was at my 10-15). The reason is that these teachers are new to their position without certain experience and they would try to please their students and build trust between each other. This sound rational and reasonable, but we didn't do correspondingly as students. We usually violate the rules at school such as chatting in the class or sleeping as we known that these youthful teachers would always forgive us: they do need to build up a satisfying reputation in the class.
In Chinese education, "Talented students are trained by strict teacher" is the best phrase to describe the teacher-student relationship as we do lean on the consequentialism: your academic performance means everything.
Parent and student regarding to education:
ReplyDeleteTo put me as an example, my mom beat me if didn't get a full mark (or sometimes some verbal abuse) on my exams when I was at grade 1. I then study extremely hard to get my full mark because of the physical and mental torture that I may suffer. In contract, she would buy me whatever I want to buy (toys, video games) if I could get 100% on my exams. I then realized that the difference between a full mark and a 99% is so huge that I have to work hard to avoid the 99%. This is a common scenario took place not only at me, but many of my fellow students in China. (The situation should be much better now). The reward-punishment system plays such a significant role in our society. To be (work hard, pass the national examinations once a year when you finish grade 12, acclaimed universities and good life), or not to be (lame academic performance, misbehavior, attending technical schools, a pessimistic future).
The idea of Contractarianism is too ideal and or even Utopian for our education system. Your succeed as be a result of a good student with good academic performance is more about fame, honor and a indicator of a bright future. The limitations of the theory is pretty obvious: even we agree that we learn to study or study to learn, but we always learn to be famed, be honored. A teacher is more like a mean and teaching is not an end.
Here is a link regarding the a well-known Chinese entrepreneur who was paid more than 100 million for his job transition last year and he was just found that his academic certification is fake:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_Jun
To sum up, an education system could never be functioning well if people in that society are overacting towards rewards but not virtues overall.
I thought the presentations were wonderful. The first one about rewards and punishment was particularly interesting.
ReplyDeleteI work with children with autism. Many of my kids are around 6 years of age and nonverbal. We rely on a system that is based on behaviorism. One of the underlying principals of behaviorism is we are only concerned about behavior and not the internal working of the child. Behavior is shaped through modeling and positive reinforcement. There is never any punishment. This Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA)system is based on research showing the best results are through rewarding good or desirable/appropriate behavior and ignoring bad or undesirable/inappropriate behavior. ABA has given great result for my nonverbal preschoolers. At that stage of development the concepts of intrinsic motivation is beyond their grasp. I believe a reward system (such as a token economy) definitely has it's place in schools. They are training wheels that serve a purpose and should to be removed when the time is appropriate. I have seen first hand how and abuse of rewards can actually be counter productive. Prizes need to get bigger and bigger and enough is always one more than what you currently have.
As mentioned in class, an alternative to rewards/punishment is natural consequences. I think experience can be a powerful teacher however it’s application is limited because but I think natural consequences are too self centered. Some morally questionable deeds may not have immediate or obvious consequences and some may only be realized if you get caught. For example, cheating on a test. If you get away with it, the lesson learned is cheating is fine as long as you don't get caught.
I think one of the problems many of us assume we can divide our life into partitions and different rules apply. There is a popular saying, "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." The idea is somehow being in Vegas gives us a free pass, that the consequence are contained and do not affect or validity outside that time and space. I think if the saying was more truthful it would read, "What happens in Vegas stays in you."
Rewards and punishment do not accurately reflect real life. Some great acts are done without reward and some deplorable things are done without punishment. I do think it has a time and place and can be a stepping stone to building a solid moral foundation. If I had it my way, the world would be fair, justice will prevail and luck is tipped slightly in my favor.
I want to weigh in on Doug's statement in class about denying knowledge is borderline abuse. Very strong and provocative statement. As Allie said, I think readiness is a big part of it. I think coupled with knowledge is the responsibility to know what to do with that knowledge.
ReplyDeleteExample 1:
Teaching a 16 year old how to drive. There is a spectrum of maturity in 16 year olds and that maturity reflects on how well the handle responsibility. Looking back on it now, I would not have trusted my 16 year old self to the family car, but my parents decided that was a good idea. It would have been bad parenting to teach me how to drive at 8 knowing I wasn't ready.
Example 2:
We can view the whole world as going through a technological adolescences. Everything is new and exciting and we are not sure how things fit together in the grand scheme of things. Cloning, genetic engineering, stem cell research and such. We have purposely denied ourselves (though this is not always a unilateral decision) of some knowledge by putting the brakes on certain technological advancements for the public's sake of being ready.