Can dispositions be taught?

In reality, I do not know. I have not studied enough formal psychology and sociology to really know or provide an educated opinion that will answer this question. However, I can quote one of my biggest role models who tells me all the time the following, "I can teach any man to fix a machine, what I can't teach him is personality." I agree, one cannot teach personality. People have an innate personality. Now, I do believe, as my role model does, that personality is not solely innate, but can be and is affected by the environment. This lends itself to the nature vs. nurture idea. Moreover, dispositions are more like attitudes and one could easily argue that opinions and attitudes can be affected and changed. Therefore, based on this brief analysis drawn from both opinion, experience, and research I would to offer the following conclusion: when it comes to theories and philosophies concerning dispositions, attitudes, values, morals, and beliefs, I believe someone can teach TO anything, but one cannot FORCE anyone to believe or accept the teachings. That acceptance and belief is up to the learner. This assessment is neither bad or good, it is neither for better or for worse, it is a reality.

Resilience

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

My true answer to this question is, "I do not know." I have some ideas though. I think honesty is a good technique. As a current student of an education program, very few times has a professor told me or a class in general that education is a hard and stressful profession. I am only aware of this reality by talking with current teachers, both new and old to the profession. Perhaps some stress management techniques could be put to good use, or possibly, more emphasis on classroom management could help. Advice as well as techniques and best practices concerning interactions with administrators and parents, I think would be most beneficial. On a different note, I think we as a society expect the world of teachers but do not always offer them any of the benefits in return. Doctors have high stress jobs and work long hours, but are compensated both monetarily and with job prestige. I feel that both aspects are lacking in the world of education. I think teachers need to be offered high, competitive salaries along with great benefits and I think a little more appreciation for their work and the amount of work a good teacher puts in is necessary. I found with my studies that if one wants to be a great teacher and an effective teacher, one must work very hard. Yes, there is the aspect of teaching that the reward is watching students learn and grow and take pride and care in their work and learning. Though this aspect may be enough inspiration to draw some people into the profession of teaching, it may not be enough to compensate these same teachers for their high stress positions and not always ideal working conditions.

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

Give them more money...well, money is not everything, but it might be what is missing from teachers' salaries, from school programs, both core and extracurricular, and what, actually, might be missing from education in general. Unfortunately, or fortunately for some, we live in a society that is run by money. Two of the greatest high school teachers I had both left the profession because they could make a lot more money doing something else. Though they both seemed to love teaching and did a fantastic job, their paycheck just wasn't cutting it, so they left the profession. From a different standpoint concerning money, a district may have a fantastic science teacher, but if this science teacher's program has no money for expansion or enough to stay on top of the latest technology, etc., the district may find themselves out of a great teacher who may have left to go to a place where their program or skills will be appreciated and well funded. This is sort of playing the "what if" game, but I believe that teacher retention would be at a much higher rate if the job became a competitive one where the benefits were well worth the effort. Otherwise, in defense of these teachers who change careers, it could very well be because the person found out that teaching just was not for them, and they were responsible enough to make the decision to leave the profession, hopefully to go work a job they can truly enjoy. It does both a school district and its students no good if they have a teacher that hates their job. A reason this scenario may occur, is because I am not convinced that pre-service teachers are always given enough opportunities, early enough in their course of study to really educate them about what the career of a teacher is really like. I feel that every course of study including both education and all fields outside of education should provide students with as many practical experiences as possible, so that students are well aware of the demands and the benefits of their prospective professions.

Collaborative-ness

What makes for a highly effective team or group?

As my father always says, “Communication is the Key!” A highly effective team or group practices effective communication. Each member of the group is just as much of a listener as they are a contributor. Work done by each group member is transparent, and each member of the group does his or her fair share of the work. Remember the old clique, “There is no I in team.”

How is collaboration different than group work or cooperative learning?

Collaboration is different than group work or cooperative learning. I do not know if that statement is particularly true. However, this is my understanding of the differences in a school setting. Collaboration is what the teachers do. They combine expertise in order to form not only a more extensive and well-rounded curriculum, but to expand the amount of subject matter that each teacher is an expert of. In a group work or cooperative learning scenario, each group member is typically a student and is not characteristically an expert in anyone subject area of knowledge. Often students at different ability levels are grouped together. The work of the group is typically to expand comprehensible knowledge one subject area. This is opposed to teacher collaboration where each group member has at least a different area of emphasis in their expertise or even a whole new subject area all together. Despite all this, in the real world, I think collaboration and group work/cooperative learning are closely related in the sense that they compose of a group of individuals that want to (or at least should want to) develop a better understanding of something or to make something better.

I will take a quick opportunity to say that I feel teacher collaboration is a must, at least within departments. However, it should be noted that interdepartmental collaboration also carries benefits to student learning. Either way, collaboration is a necessary factor in providing students with a stronger, better-rounded education. To use another trite and overused expression in the same blog: when it comes to collaboration, “two heads are better than one.”

Humility

When was the last time you were wrong?

As with every human being, I too am human. One of the characteristics of being a human is that we all make mistakes from time to time. More importantly, however, is that fact that mistakes are not necessarily bad, as they can be sources of great learning. Scientists discover new things (i.e. learn) all the time through trial and error or, basically, making mistakes until something works. Regardless, I think the important question to be addressed for this blog is “How does a teacher strike the balance between confidence and genuine humility?”

The answer to this question is actually quite simple. First, a teacher should be confident in everything they present. This is the simple part. The hard part is admitting mistakes or admitting that one may not know the answer to a question posed by a student. In the first case, if a teacher is corrected by a student and the teacher realizes s/he made a mistake, s/he should just say something to the effect of, “You’re right, my mistake,” and move on. If a teacher is not sure the student’s correction is actually correct, but is now not sure that the answer that they originally provided is correct, they can do one of two things. First, a teacher can say, “Alright then, I’m not sure that’s correct, but let’s move on, and I will look up the answer and get back to you tomorrow.” If a teacher wants a more confident approach they can handle the situation with dialogue like, “I don’t think that’s correct, let’s use the answer I provided for now and I will research the authenticity of my answer.” In either circumstance, the important part is that the teacher researches the correct answer and yet, maintains control of the situation. Moving on to the last example, if a student asks a question that the teacher does not know the answer to, the teacher should either say, “I don’t know, but I will look it up and get back to you,” or empower the student to look up the answer him or herself and provide it for the entire class. Once again, the important point is that a teacher accepts that they do not know everything, but that they know how to find the correct answer, maintaining their expertise in their field.

Efficacy: The "can-do" attitude!

Being self-aware, possessing confidence and persistence, having a strong work ethic, and believing in one’s own abilities are essential traits of the effective teacher.

Teachers need to be aware of who they are as a person. They need to be in tune with themselves physically, mentally, and emotionally and accept and be confident about who they are. Besides being confident about themselves, teacher need to be confident in their abilities and about their knowledge of their subject matter. Yes, no one person knows or can do everything, but teachers need to present themselves as humble experts of their field. Experts in the sense that they teach and answer questions with confidence and humble in the sense that if they do not know an answer or how to do something, they admit it and either tell the students they will find the answer or provide the students with the resources to discover the answer on their own.

Persistence is important too. Teachers cannot give up on their classes or on individual students. Not every student or class will progress at the same rate as the others. Teachers need to be persistent in finding new teaching techniques that best reach all of their students and classes.

In addition to this already long list of excellent qualifications of effective teachers, it is extremely important to have a strong work ethic. In life, talent alone will only get a person so far, but combine talent with hard work and motivation and there is no telling what a person can accomplish. A mentor of mine always told me, “If you want to be good at something, work hard at it; if you want to be great at something, work hard at it and like it.” So to this list of effective teacher credentials I would like to add enthusiasm. I think it is so important to be excited about what one is teaching. Enthusiasm is truly contagious. If the teacher is truly excited about something, it will be very hard for students not to be. The opposite is also very true. If a teacher is not excited about something, why should the students be? This alone justifies the need for teachers to be enthusiastic and have a desire to continue to learn and grow.

How are these attributes best developed. In all humility, I do not know. I think some are innate qualities, I think some can be learned, but I believe all of them can be developed through experience and practice, regardless of whether they are innate or learned. Teachers need to practice all these attributes. Teachers must work towards being self-aware, confident, persistent, developing a strong work ethic, and believing on one’s own abilities. It will not necessarily be easy but that is where persistence and having a great work ethic come into play.

Inventiveness

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

I would like to preface my answer to this question with the statement that I believe schools do not universally encourage, teach and reward creativity, however such activities do exist. As far as encouraging creativity is concerned, I think this is quite prevalent in schools. I can remember so many instances with teachers of math, social studies, English, and science after presenting directions for an assignment, project, or paper say, "and be creative" or "make it look nice," "use your imagination" or even "make it interesting." These are all examples of a teacher asking for/encouraging creativity. This is not to say that all teachers do this. There are teachers that have strict guidelines and expectations that did not include room for creativity.

The above point lends itself well to being related to schools rewarding creativity. Rewarding creativity is just as consistent in schools if not more so than encouraging it. Many different rubrics for projects, papers, contests, speeches, and assignments have a category for presentation, creativity, interpretation, etc. All of the noted categories require creative energy in order to be successful or to receive high marks. Furthermore, I both feel and have found that teachers seem to reward creativity, even when the content is not perfect.

What schools lack the most is instruction in the art of creativity. Since creativity manifests in so many different ways, it is hard to teach a particular school of thought about what it means and how to be creative. Despite this, music, art, drama, and creative writing classes can be places where students are given techniques and strategies for fostering their creativity. Still, some fine art and creative writing courses require a large amount of copying a technique given by an instructor. Though this could be easily argued as a way of harnessing creative energy or channelling a student's creativity, however, I, personally, feel that in order for a project to be truly creative, a student must work to develop their own creative techniques to be implemented into the project. Instructors in such circumstances should identify more with the role of guide then of director.



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

Creativity is so important in the 21st Century. Employers are always looking for someone that stands out from the crowd. As my father always tells me, "You know, presentation and first impressions aren't everything, but they sure do count for a lot." Both giving a good presentation and making a good first impression take creative energy, and a little professionalism, but even that has its creative side. Moreover, being creative, indicates innovation, which tends to do two important things. One, it keeps things interesting and two, it assists in problem solving. This is no secret, good problem solving skills are sought after by employers. These points just skim the surface of why creativity and innovation are essential skills of the 21st Century.

Some Other Useful Educational Blogs

The Best Tell-It-Like-It-Is Blog:
http://itsnotallflowersandsausages.blogspot.com/

The Best Superintendent Straight Talk:
http://www.principalspage.com/theblog/

The Best Student Teacher Blog:
http://docereestdiscere.wordpress.com/

Role-Playing

* 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 feel that role-playing is an excellent teaching strategy. The only issue is that before the role-playing takes place, the students participating must have, at least, a foundational background of information pertaining to the subject that is being role-played.

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

In this situation, I do not believe a direct lecture would have been much more effective. However, one advantage that is present in a direct lecture format is the guarantee that a lecturer can present all the details they feel need to be presented. All these "necessary" details are not guaranteed to come up in a role playing scenario.

* 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 believe this is completely true. Understanding the topic being role-played is essential and this knowledge enhances learning exponentially. Students are applying what they have learned, and are building from a foundation, not learning as they go.

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

I believe that a level of emotional engagement is a must. It can be as simple as being "interested" in the topic at hand or as complicated as feeling "frustration".

* 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?

Absolutely, excuse the clique but, "Money Talks!" Yes, this is the whole idea of lobbyists, interest groups, and PAC's. Our society tends to favor the "successful", "powerful", and "influential" long before it considers others, often times even the "intelligent".

As a side note, I thought the role-playing activity was quite interesting. It was fascinating to see how fast emotions raised in just a role-playing scenario when one group was passed over because of who they represented withing a community. It was fun to both watch the events as well as participate.

Passion

This one is easy!

I will never forget my high school biology teacher and her passion and drive for her subject.

I will admit that at the beginning of the year I was not at all looking forward to taking a biology class. In fact, I was dreading it as something that would be terribly boring and dull and have ridiculous assignments. I had picked up this bias from middle school where I had a terrible teacher for "Life Sciences" (i.e. Biology).

Well the school year began as any other did, with the first day of biology spent going over the rules and expectations, and let me tell you this lady was strict and demanding. I began to fear the worst. Fortunately, during the following weeks I noticed two things: 1. My biology teacher was as strict and as demanding as I had feared, and 2. She so passionate and excited about biology (especially in her lecturing) that I began getting excited about biology too. In fact, I began to look forward to the class.

Anyway, over the course of the year, I had a fantastic experience in Biology, I was actually interested in the labs and the research projects, and I consistently participated in lectures and review games. Needless to say, I have to accredit my own excitement and learning in high school biology to my teacher. Had she been a boring lecturer and taken little care in trying to make the class interesting, I imagine that I would have been very turned off by the course and probably would not have learned, or at least retained, much biological information. Instead the opposite occurred, and I felt I learned not only about biology, but I learned to appreciate the science itself. To this, I, once again, have one very strict, demanding, and passionate high school biology teacher to thank.

Authenticity

Fortunately or unfortunately, students are quick to perceive their instructors true feelings and opinions on a subject or in a situation. This makes the genuineness of one's authenticity quintessential in an educational setting.

“How do you know where your limits are for expressing authenticity?”

The answer requires honesty with oneself. People have to do a self-evaluation and ask the question: "How do I react when someone says something I do not agree with?” Some people may frown, give a sarcastic or facetious remark, ignore the comment entirely, or even change the subject. Regardless of the self-evaluated reaction, teachers have to actually do something with this new information. Teachers then need to become aware of how often they make this reaction. If they only make the reaction when students say or do something that requires a teacher’s attention and possible reprimand, then I would say you have a good balance. However, if a teacher has no patience and provides a negative reaction for everything students say, do, or ask, then that teacher needs to re-evaluate the limits of their authenticity.

“How do students tell if a teacher is not authentic?”

Students are quite aware of their teachers’ actions and reactions. Sarcasm, excessive praise, inconsideration towards learning, ignoring certain types of questions or remarks, complete lack of enthusiasm, no care for standards, and body language (i.e. glares, stares, facial expressions, crossed arms, hands on hips, sighs etc) are all among the countless other little tics that easily give away whether a teacher is being authentic or not. Putting up a façade is not a good way to hide one being inauthentic. I have found that many students know when their teacher is being fake.

If a teacher is seen as being fake or inauthentic, I strongly believe that learning slows or even shuts down. One of the biggest factors of this has to do with the lack of enthusiasm the teacher is showing. This causes a lack of motivation among students. Only a few students will truly be enthusiastic about something that their teacher shows absolutely no enthusiasm for at all.

Despite all this, I think it is important to remember that the idea of educators becoming masters of putting up facades is not a good technique for showing authenticity. Instead, I would argue that instructors have to be honest with their opinions but remember to always be professional and politically correct. Sometimes the best reaction is no reaction at all.

The Compassion of a Teacher

It was funny when I read the question: "When did the compassion of a teacher make a difference in your life or in the life of your classmate?", because I have an experience that covers both.

When I was in high school, a new kid moved to town about mid-year and joined the high school band, where he played trombone. I paid little attention to the new kid as I had been in the high school band for several years and already had an established friend group.

Band class continued as it always did and nothing seem out of the ordinary, until one day when my band director ask several of my friends, including myself, to talk with him in his office. Now, I had never considered my band director to be a person that had any compassion towards any of his students, but I was quickly corrected. As soon as my friends and I were in his office and the door was closed, my band director began to explain how the new trombone player did not have any friends and would eat his lunch alone in the band room. He did not ask us to become friends with the new kid, but did ask us to leave his office as if everything was normal, get our lunches, decide for a change of pace that we would eat in the band room, and include the lone trombone player in our conversations.

The covert plan proved successful. Though we did not ever become good friends with the lone trombone player, we did bring him out of his shell, convince him that he should come eat with us in the lounge (with everyone else), and introduced him to several of his, now, good friends. Though my band director's compassion did not directly affect me, it certainly did the lone trombone player, and I learned that showing a little concern for a student's well-being can have a large impact on their lives.

Respect

Respect:

Webster's dictionary defines respect with the words--honor, esteem, consideration, and regard; and I would have to agree that the above words do help define respect. I would go a step further and continue to define respect as a privilege, something that is earned, something that takes hard work and effort to build and can be, unfortunately, easily destroyed. Needless to say, I do believe lost respect can be regained. Respect is very complex. One can respect someone or something completely or just respect parts of someone or something, for various reasons. Though is is not a good answer to the question--"What is respect?" I think that it is part of the beauty of respect, as it is a concept that means something a little different to everyone.

As for respect in the classroom, I think it looks a little something like this. The room is controlled. When students work, they work quietly. When the teacher talks, students are engaged and participate when necessary. There is an understanding between the students and the teacher. The teacher is in charge of the classroom and the students in the classroom are here to learn. This is not to say there is no room for fun in the classroom. The teacher should have a decent rapport with their students. This is to say that when something funny happens, for example, whether by accident or on purpose, the laughter and humor is shared by both the teacher and the students. However, with respect, the focus of the class is not lost in such an event, and the lesson can resume in a timely manner. Besides classroom control, I feel respect runs much deeper. Respect must be somehow establish. This is not an easy task, and probably is achieved in more ways then I can think of. However, students have to be empowered by their teacher to take pride in their work. How does a teacher do this? A teacher must be knowledgeable in their area of expertise, they have to be passionate about their subject, they have to be inspiring, they should make their classes interesting and worthwhile, and the teacher needs to be demanding. If a teacher sets high standards, they need to empower and help their students reach those standards. This will help students take pride in their work. Teachers must also be strict. They cannot tolerate unruly behavior. This is not to say that teachers should be authoritarian, just that they should expect that their students will respect both them and each other. On the other hand, teachers must give respect to students who deserve it.

In the end, respect is a necessity in the classroom. With it, learning can be accomplished more efficiently and both students and teachers alike will benefit from the respect and learn more then just about the subject being taught. In a classroom without respect, however, students will not learn the life lessons that can be gleaned from a classroom or the academic lessons being taught. It is as simple as that, students and teachers need to be respected, and the teaching learning process will be that much more successful.