Is it controversial to focus on individual passions and celebrate diversity in our systems?

I shared a video some time ago and just had a friend share that video with his social network. This prompted me to watch the video again to refresh myself as to why I had shared it originally. This video stirred up some very strong emotions and perspectives in me and I am curious what others think after watching the video a couple of times. 

If you agree, are there actionable steps we can make in our individual systems that might push along a systemic change? 

If you disagree or find fault with the position, could you offer your perspectives and rational? 

Link to the video is here: https://www.facebook.com/leslie.chen.94801/posts/10211454049730487?notif_t=story_reshare&notif_id=1480293032577802

This is a video hosted on Facebook, so if you can not view the link, please let me know and I will try to find the video hosted somewhere else. 

Comments

Ed, thanks for posting your question. I could not access the video you shared. If you find another link to it, please post it.

We work in Adult Ed; controversy defines us, given the diverse nature of the populations we serve. We are raised to think we are right. That's it!

Ideally, we would go from controversy to open mindedness. In my view, that defines lifelong learning. What do you think?  I would like to think that the more we become open to issues without defense, open to dialogue, the better we model open mindedness to our students. I look forward to exploring the video you shared. Leecy

Ed, thanks for introducing us to Prince Ea's view on education. The clip, which now works, is very timely in this forum, and I hope that members here will take 6 minutes out of their day to watch, and then maybe 5 more minutes after to drop in here and comment. Would it be effective to share the clip with adult learners? What think? Leecy

I often hear students sharing very negative and judgmental language when they talk about their academics. "I suck at math" "I am just not one of those that get math." "I'm sorry, I'm really not one of those math people." 

I calmly ask the student if they can spare ten minutes. When we get the time alone, I ask them to elaborate on why they feel so negative and then we watch this clip then discuss again why they feel so negative. I feel it is vital to help learners realize that, while they struggle with something, their struggle is does not describe them nor does it in any way limit their ability to find success. It may offer challenges to over come, and it may require different attempts and strategies, but success can be had by all, provided a variety of options are accessible. 

This clip offers a nice counter point of view to the judgmental negative views imposed on a system of education that has a history of filtering those that "get it" from those that "will never get it". Perhaps the problem is not with the individual. Perhaps it is the system and options available that need to "be fixed". 

You describe the problem well, Ed. Other than taking the path of pouring new wine into old wineskins, which often drives teachers crazy, both in Adult Ed and K-12, how might we encourage systemic changes (improving the wineskins to hold new wine)?

We speak of technology as offering valuable tools to address those learners who have been left out of instructional practices. We've discussed inclusiveness: letting diverse students see themselves in characters, offering different ways of assessing progress, approaching problem solving from many different perspectives and more. How about other ideas out there? How can we welcome those who "don't get it" into our learning communities so that they share the fact that there are many ways to "get it!" Comments, questions, ideas are welcome here. Let's talk. Leecy

When we bring a car into the shop, there are a series of diagnostics that help indicate potential problems and for every problem there are a number of options available. These options are often even prioritized in order of those options that are quick/easy/inexpensive at the top to those that are invasive or involve a complete overhaul towards the bottom. 

Likewise, if we have a medical problem, doctors have diagnostics and then a series of options to address those needs discovered. 

In fact, in every other service industry that works with individuals, other than education,  there is a diagnostic system followed up with options to address any given need with the options often prioritized in some way. I wonder if education might better serve individual needs by better organizing our diagnostics and vastly improving the number of options teachers can try. 

A perfect illustration of this happened with a student this morning. The student was working with Matrices in mathematics and there was a struggle with, "What do these things really mean and how would I apply them in society?" The student was not able to come right out with that request, but my series of questions helped derive what needs he had (diagnostic work example). Knowing what the learner was needed, I then dove into a few different strategies that were more traditional explanations and representations. This process uncovered a few other learner needs. In relatively short order, we discovered together that working with orienteering (maps and compass) was the method that was going to best help him understand the concept and apply the procedures appropriately. This lead to him connecting the concept of slope being similar to a heading and how points on the line were simply different locations on the trek through terrain over time. From there he was able to extend this to how a network of headings (represented of course in a matrix) could be used to triangulate locations using satellites. See, he was ex military and had experience with the real life applications that were far more specific than my skills. Even though he knew his craft so much more than I, he expressed how shocked he was that I knew what questions to ask to help him make these connections and how valuable that experience was for him to understand this math that had been bothering him for two weeks in another class he was taking. I probably will never use this specific orienteering to teach matrices again, and yet the process that I used to help guide the learner to his discovery can be a valuable tool to use with future students. Imagine if there were an easy way for me to document and share some of the questions that helped this student. If those questions or the procedure used could then easily be shared with the field, well, it gets me giddy every time I think about how many wonderful things I could learn about teaching just from the people reading these posts. 

Just like medicine, education is not a field that will have a one prescription works for all. I work daily to tinker with technology solutions or ideas that may give us some backbone structures to help educators share what works and I welcome others to tinker and share their ideas as well. It can be hard to think about "what could be" because we are all living in some structures that have been in place for over a century. Try to erase all that we know and all that we do... think about what would work best for both learners and teachers and then we can start fleshing out all those pesky details that need to be resolved to get things created and started. Discussion is key and the key to discussion is that there is no right or wrong ideas. Simply the exchanging of ideas, thoughts, challenges and "what ifs" is what is needed for our profession to really make a system that works for all involved. I am always excited to hear the big ideas that teachers share with me because all of those ideas are fueled by experiences, passions and desires that aim to improve the educational successes. What would work best in your view of education? I am respectful that there are existing systems, but if we were to just put aside those systems for discussion, what would we envision? Would it be something like that diagnostic, treatment options checklists used by other services or are there other models people feel would work well?

 

 

Ed, thanks for you thoughtful comments on Educational Diagnostic Technicians. I want to repeat your last question, hoping that others will dip in here with their responses.

Discussion is key and the key to discussion is that there is no right or wrong ideas. Simply the exchanging of ideas, thoughts, challenges and "what ifs" is what is needed for our profession to really make a system that works for all involved. I am always excited to hear the big ideas that teachers share with me because all of those ideas are fueled by experiences, passions and desires that aim to improve the educational successes. What would work best in your view of education? I am respectful that there are existing systems, but if we were to just put aside those systems for discussion, what would we envision? Would it be something like that diagnostic, treatment options checklists used by other services or are there other models people feel would work well?

Leecy