What's So Compelling About Education?
Compelling Educational Experiences
One of my first courses in the Master of Arts in Education program through Michigan State University was CEP882, The Nature and Design of Compelling Experiences, which was taught by E. David Wong. This course intrigued me from the very beginning, even before I was officially accepted to the program. It was my one and only elective course, yet it was my first choice of the courses that I could take to fulfill my degree program. I wanted to know how I might make education more compelling for a classroom full of adolescents whose attention is so easily drawn away by anything that isn’t educational.
In this course, we examined several artistic fields, with the intention of determining what it is about them that makes them compelling, both to the artists and to those who enjoy the art. Being a musician myself, and an amateur photographer (aren’t we all?), this concept of peeling away the layers of artistic endeavor had tremendous appeal for me. And so we embarked on a journey. We considered photography, film and television, music, architecture, and fashion. We made videos, we posted blogs, we made comparisons between one thing and another, judging their relative aesthetic appeals. We analyzed musical compositions, we thought about different ways to present curriculum; all in an effort to discover how to move students to see, feel, and respond in new ways.
So what makes an experience compelling? Near the completion of the course I wrote a synthesis post for my blog (click on title above to link to blog) called Compelling Educational Experiences. Reflecting on the nature and design of compelling experiences, I reached this conclusion: “I have come to believe there are three things that make an experience more compelling: emotional impact, personal connection, and self-discovery”. I go on to explain that there must be some kind of emotional response that draws me into the experience. Also, there must be a personal connection, I must relate in some way, it must mean something to me; I must be able to see how the learning has potential value for my life. And finally, my blog entry concludes:
By self-discovery I mean this: the experience enables me to reach down inside myself and discover something I didn't know was there. It may be an emotion that inspires me to greatness, it may be an ability I was not aware I had, it may be a revelation of some hidden potential. Students are compelled when education brings out their best. I'm not talking about filling students up with knowledge or information about academic content. I'm talking about helping them discover who they are. Any experience that gives me a greater understanding of myself is compelling by its very nature because the search for meaning and significance lies at the very heart of all we, the human race, do and are. There is no more compelling experience than that which points the way to my purpose.
Universal Design for Learning
Wouldn’t it be nice, as the saying goes, if one size fit all? Every day, educators face the harsh reality that all children learn differently. They have different learning styles, they have different strengths and weaknesses, they have different interests, they process information differently, and sometimes they even speak different languages! Some are excellent readers, while others struggle, and since much of our educational process is centered on literacy, it is imperative that we, as educators, either change the way we teach or find ways to compensate for the discrepancies in our students’ learning abilities.
Universal Design, as defined by industry, is best described as “the process of embedding choice for all people in the things we design” . The idea behind Universal Design is that by designing something that accommodates people’s needs, everyone benefits. A perfect example is sidewalk ramps. They were intended to provide access to wheelchairs. As a byproduct, they also provide access to baby carriages and bicycles, and make it easier for everyone to transition from the street to the sidewalk. (www.universaldesign.com)
Universal Design for Learning ( www.cast.org/udl/ ) adapts this concept to the educational process. It provides students access to their education on a number of levels. They are provided with multiple means of expression and multiple means of engagement. In other words, the process is embedded with “choice for all people”. Everyone is given the opportunity to approach the curriculum in a way that works for them, and each is permitted to demonstrate their understanding of the material presented in a manner in which they are capable of expressing their understanding. By incorporating these accommodations into the learning environment, not only do we provide greater access to those with learning disabilities, but we are concurrently making it easier for everyone. Additionally, by delivering choices to students about how they may learn and demonstrate their understanding, we are also making the educational process more compelling.
I first learned about UDL in CEP842, Instruction in Inclusive Classrooms, taught by Cynthia Okolo, as well as similar theories, such as differentiated instruction. Differentiated instruction is built on the principle that teachers should adjust and adapt their teaching to meet the individual needs of students, rather than expecting students to alter themselves to fit the curriculum. The purpose of differentiated instruction is to meet each student where they are, thereby maximizing student engagement and subsequent success.
There are three key elements to differentiated instruction: content, process, and products. Content should be based on concepts that are broad-based, on the “Big Ideas”, thus ensuring that all students have access to the core principles of the content being taught. The process should be flexible, with a classroom management style emphasizing organization and instructional delivery strategies. Regarding products, teachers should vary expectations based on ongoing assessments, offering choices and scaffolding according to ability. It is imperative, as with UDL, that students be permitted to express their understanding in different ways.
Critical Perspectives of Children’s and Adolescent Literature
I took two courses taught by Laura Apol, TE848, Children’s Literature in Film, and TE849, Methods and Materials for Teaching Children’s and Adolescent Literature. These courses were indisputably the most challenging courses I took in the MAED program. The workload for these courses was exceptionally demanding and the content surprisingly arduous considering the topic, Children’s Literature.
In TE848, in order to form a basis for thinking about film, we examined film language before embarking on our in depth examinations of a variety of classic children’s literature. Using critical perspectives, sometimes in the form of articles, sometimes in books, as in the case of the Harry Potter phenomenon, we dissected the literature and its possible themes and considered issues surrounding the transformation of literature to film. These included concepts like the history of technology in the making of children’s films, feature length picture books, the importance of fidelity to original when converting book to film both in terms of story line and themes, the politics of re-interpretation, the creation of a “blockbuster”, and teaching as a form of interpretation. The social and political issues often embedded in the literature, and especially in the film versions, are remarkably complex, ranging from perceptions regarding class and gender to child abuse. One disturbing discovery was the propensity toward cultish groups forming around the themes and characters of particular literature (most notably Harry Potter).
In TE849, we first composed a literature autobiography, a history of the reading we have done across our lifetime, thinking about ourselves as readers and how we as readers shape how we evaluate literature, and how we respond to a literary text. We considered what we love about literature and what we value, making a clear distinction between the two. We examined many picture books, asking ourselves what literature can “do” for children beyond curricular goals and standardized tests, how it shapes and molds their minds and hearts, and how it is important for us as educators to sometimes choose literature for no other reason than that it will enrich the lives of our students. We looked closely at how picture books have changed across time. We had many laborious discussions regarding traditional literature and fantasy, contemporary realistic fiction, biography, and historical fiction. At the pinnacle of the course we dove deeply into the issue of truth in historical fiction, particularly as it pertains to multicultural literature. Is it okay for “outsiders” to tell the stories of minority or marginalized people groups? How do we deal with European stereotypes of minorities? How important is accuracy and to what extent do we permit fictional storytelling to dominate over historical fact? As a means of grappling with these and other issues, we read several novels written by and/or about the Abenaki Indians of Northeast United States. These raised difficult questions with no easy answers, oftentimes with no clear answer at all.
The Learning Society
In Steve Weiland’s course, The Concept of a Learning Society, EAD860, we considered the primary domains and activities of the learning society in their historical, social, economic, and cultural contexts, and the experiences and views of individuals living and working in the learning society. This was accomplished by closely examining learning at work, at home, at school, and away from home, as well as strategies for learning in an ever-increasingly wired world.
Learning in the workplace is an important component of the Learning Society and the writings of Atul Gawande strongly attest to this fact. Gawande points out, in The Education of a Knife, how necessary it is for medical practitioners to learn on the job. No amount of formal education can train or prepare the practitioner for many of the complex procedures that must be performed in the field of medicine. Many of these procedures cannot be “practiced” on animals or cadavers; the only way to learn them is by doing them on live human beings. Nor does observing the procedures provide sufficient training; they must be done by the individual in order to be learned by the individual. Gawande testifies to the necessity of ethical concerns in his profession regarding the provision of the best possible care for everyone, but finds it equally necessary to acknowledge that, while “we want perfection without practice” (p. 24), medical practitioners learn by doing; by practicing on their living, breathing patients.
Gawande’s view coincides with recent trends toward recognizing the Learning Society not solely as a function of formal education, but as a convergence of formal and non-formal education that guides an individual through a lifelong education or learning career. An education is acquired by any and all means. In Gawande’s case, as with many medical personnel, learning takes place daily while on the job. For others, learning may take place at home, teaching oneself to play the piano, for instance. Additionally, we learn in our experiences away from home, whether on a stint in a foreign country or on a day trip to a museum in the nearest city.
It is our responsibility, as educators, to teach children how to learn, not to simply fill them with facts and formulas. I do not object to facts and formulas. On the contrary, I believe they form the basis for deeper understanding. What I mean to say is that we must instill in our young people a hunger for knowledge, provide them with the skill set required to problem solve, and model the self-confidence and motivation necessary for lifelong learning. Learning does not end when students walk out of school at the end of the day. Nor does it end when we walk across the stage in a cap and gown. In fact, the best lessons in life are learned outside the classroom.
Creativity ~ Aku Mimpi
In our contemplation of the Learning Society, we also gave considerable attention to the issue of technology, and as suggested by William Powers, in his book Hamlet’s Blackberry: A Practical Philosophy for Building a Good Life in the Digital Age, seven “strategies” for living (and learning) in an ever-increasingly wired world. We mused about the dangers of too many screens, and the isolation that can, ironically, be created by constant connectedness. My conclusions, from my final paper written for the course, were this:
In fact, the striving to be better, that is the real purpose and at the heart of the Learning Society, is all we truly have. If technology can assist us in reaching that objective, it should be most welcome. If it does not, perhaps we should consider abandoning it altogether. The question of whether technology and an ever-increasing connectedness promotes our objective or thwarts it, whether it improves our humanity or diminishes it, is a question we must come to terms with. Ironically, the struggle for a better humanity is most eloquently stated by an android, whose greatest efforts are made toward achieving some degree of the humanness that is beyond him. The character Data, from Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 4, Episode 11: “Data’s Day”), puts it like this: “If being human is not simply a matter of being born flesh and blood; if it is instead a way of thinking, acting, and feeling, then I am hopeful that one day I will discover my own humanity. Until then, I will continue learning, changing, growing, and trying to become more than what I am.”