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Genesis Unbound

A Pedagogy of Becoming

Creed
...from where they are to where they are willing to be…

To Heal
Or
To Hurt

To Humor
Or
To Humiliate

To Inspire
Or
To Impoverish

To Glorify
Or
To Denigrate

To Sanctify
Or
To Condemn

These: My Choices

Moment By Moment

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Genesis Unbound
A Pedagogy of Becoming

Precepts
Principles of Practice

1. Engage students where they are, and guide them to where they are willing to be.
2. Valuing the student means valuing what we, who have gone before, know the student
needs.
3. Our calling is to promote healthy human development.
4. The question must always be: will it help them to more fully be who they are willing to
become.
5. People have a right to be who they are.
6. Learning is the mechanism of development.
7. We learn when we are taught, not because we are taught.
8. School is not other than life.
9. Teaching must be relentless.
10. Do not confuse the content with what you are teaching.
11. Rigor is a function of the teaching.
12. To teach is to train.
13. Teach to the many with an eye to the one.
14. Teach to the one, with an eye to the many.
15. Treat your students as you would treat your children.
16. To declare yourself a teacher is to declare yourself something other than those you teach; it
is to declare yourself worthy of emulation.
17. We teach who we are.
18. To improve teaching and learning, improve teachers and learners.
19. Teaching and learning are doing.
20. There is always more to do.

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A Pedagogy of Becoming

Questions
Elements of Pedagogical Development

Reflective Contemplative
1. Why am I here? 1. What is education?

2. What am I doing? 2. What is the ideal school?

3. Why am I doing it? 3. What is learning?

4. Is what I am doing effective? 4. What is necessary to learn?

5. How do I know? 5. How should content be organized?

6. How can it be more effective? 6. How should lessons be organized?

7. Would I want my children taught this way? 7. What is teaching?

8. What is the ideal way to lead?

9. How do you know if someone has learned?

10. What is the ideal way to learn?

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A Pedagogy of Becoming

Disciplinary Attractors
Essentials of Craft
Pedagogy
Good ideas are not accepted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous
patience. Admiral Hyman Rickover.

 Pedagogical Philosophy: a synthesis of knowledge and practice regarding fostering human


development.

 School: an institution built to foster human development.

Learning
Fall seven times, arise eight. Zen Proverb.

 Learning Theory: a system of assumptions devised to explain the process by which humans
acquire and refine knowledge

Content
Kneel only to truth, follow only beauty, obey only love. Kahlil Gibran.

 Content Standard: knowledge defined as essential to fostering human development.

Curriculum
If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and
work, but rather teach them to long for the immensity of the sea. Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

 Curriculum Design: the reasoned, intentional plan of action for organizing knowledge and
learning within a school devoted to fostering human development.

 Instructional Model: a framework of beliefs and practices for guiding the structuring of lessons.

Teaching
If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse; however, if I treat you as though you are what you
are capable of becoming, I help you become that. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

 Teaching Technique: specific actions that direct student engagement in learning endeavors as a
means to foster human development

 Leadership Style: a distinctive manner of inducing purposive action in others

 Assessment Method: specific activities used to evaluate learning particular to the learning
endeavor by those who have already apprehended the lesson content.

 Learning Endeavor: specific practices that embody the responsible, conscientious, and
concerted striving towards acquiring and refining knowledge.

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A Pedagogy of Becoming

Pedagogy
 The art of fostering human development.
• Foster: to conscientiously tend to the needs of.
• Development: the unfolding of potential.

 Pedagogical Philosophy: a synthesis of knowledge and practice regarding the fostering of


human development stressing comprehensive personal growth along multiple streams of
development within the context of the individual’s environment.

Common Pedagogical Philosophies

 Essentialism: a pedagogical philosophy stressing academic rigor, mental discipline, and the
learning of specified content.

 Existentialism: a pedagogical philosophy stressing feeling, student choice, and the cultivation
of ‘authentic’ persons.

 Holism: a pedagogical philosophy stressing personal identity and purpose, connection to


community, the natural world, and spiritual values.

 Humanism: a pedagogical philosophy stressing the understanding of self and other.

 Integral Pedagogy: a pedagogical philosophy stressing comprehensive personal growth along


multiple lines of development within the context of the individual’s environment.

 Integralism: a pedagogical philosophy stressing movement toward expanded consciousness and


an ‘ecological selfhood’.

 Perennialism: a pedagogical philosophy stressing the universal concerns of humankind and the
study of the great works of literature, philosophy, history, and science.

 Progressivism: a pedagogical philosophy stressing student need and interest, democracy, and
personal enrichment.

 Reconstructionism: a pedagogical philosophy stressing the creation of a new and improved


social order.

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A Pedagogy of Becoming

School
 An institution built to foster human development stressing comprehensive personal growth along
multiple streams of development within the context of the individual’s environment.
• Foster: to conscientiously tend to the needs of.
• Development: the unfolding of potential.

Functions of School

 Academic
• Preparation for intellectual life
• Driven by the requirements of higher education
• Focused on the future
• The student is defined as a future student

 Economic
• Preparation for work
• Driven by the requirements of business
• Focused on the future
• The student is defined as a future worker

 Citizenship
• Preparation for cultural inclusion
• Driven by the requirements of culture
• Focused on the future
• The student is defined as a future group member

 Integral
• Honoring the developmental needs of students within their specific environments
• Driven by the needs of the students
• Focused on now
• The student is defined as a uniquely created individual possessed of both an inborn desire
and will to be the greatest human being possible, and an absolute right to be precisely
who he or she is

Responsibilities

 Leaders
• Make it possible for others to:
 Freely be who they are
 Allow others to freely be who they are
 Freely become who they are willing to become
 Allow others to freely become who they are willing to become

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A Pedagogy of Becoming

 Teachers
• Honor the developmental needs of students

 Students
• Give to the teacher their attention and effort

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A Pedagogy of Becoming

Development
 Development: the unfolding of potential.

Core Concepts

 Developmental Streams: the various fluid lines of consciousness which evolve and, therefore,
can be fostered through education.

 Developmental Waves: the various fluid levels through which a particular developmental
stream may progress. These waves may manifest in stream-specific forms, but generally follow
a pattern of pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional.

 Developmentally Optimal Environment: an environment which allows for the development of


the greatest number of developmental streams by mitigating inadequacy, minimizing distress,
discouraging downshifting, promoting intent, maximizing eustress, and encouraging flow.

Core Developmental Streams

Needs (Abraham Maslow)

Core Question: What do you need?

 Survival
• Oxygen
• Food
• Water
• Protection

 Safety

 Belonging
• Love
• Affection

 Esteem
• Respect
• Self Respect

 Self Actualization
• Authenticity
• Purpose

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A Pedagogy of Becoming

Cognition (Jean Piaget)

Core Question: How do you process reality?

 Sensorimotor
• Reflexive
• Reactive

 Preoperational
• Grounded in sensory reality

 Concrete operational
• Grounded in logical manipulation of symbols related to concrete objects

 Formal Operational
• Grounded in logical manipulation of symbols related to abstract concepts

Ego (Jane Loevinger)

Core Question: What kind of person are you?

 Impulsive
• Impulses dominate behavior
• Control is effected through external constraint and immediate rewards
• People are valued in terms of what they can provide
• Present dominates, with little sense of past or future
 Self Protective
• Impulses are controlled and rewards are anticipated
• ‘Don’t’ get caught’ is the main rule
• Blame is placed on others or circumstances
• Manipulative and exploitative relationships are common
 Conscientious
• Internal sense of responsibility
• Self criticism is possible
• Rules are internalized
• Exceptions and contingencies are recognized
 Autonomous
• Can tolerate and cope with inner conflict
• Acknowledges other person’s needs for autonomy and need to make mistakes
• Mutual interdependency is highly valued
• Self-fulfillment and issues of justice are added to the concerns of individuals

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A Pedagogy of Becoming

 Integrated
• Self-actualization
• Valuing of individuality and interdependence
Morality (Lawrence Kohlberg)

Core Question: How do you define “good”?

 Punishment and Obedience


• Avoid physical punishment
• Defer to power
 Instrumental Exchange
• Exchange of favors
• Value is in terms of utility
 Interpersonal Conformity
• Act to gain approval of others
• Conform to behavioral expectations of society or peers
• Conventionally respectable and nice
 Law and Order
• Respect for rules, laws, and properly constituted authority
• Defend and maintain social and institutional order for its own sake
• Maintain consistency and precedent
 Prior Rights and Social Contract
• Mutual obligation and sense of public good
• Individual rights
• Critically agreed upon standards
 Universal Ethical Principles
• Equality and worth of all human beings
• Every individual is due consideration of his interests in every situation
• Other’s needs are of equal importance to one’s own
Values (Clare Graves/Spiral Dynamics)

Core Question: What do you value?

 Beige
• Survival
• Biogenic needs satisfaction
• Reproduction/Satisfy instinctive urges

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A Pedagogy of Becoming

 Purple
• Placate spirit realm
• Honor ancestors
• Protection from harm
• Family bonds

 Red
• Power/Action
• Asserting self to dominate others
• Control
• Sensory pleasure

 Blue
• Stability/order
• Obedience to earn reward later
• Meaning/Purpose/Certainty
 Orange
• Opportunity/Success
• Competing to achieve results
• Influence/Autonomy
 Green
• Harmony/Love
• Joining together for mutual growth
• Awareness/Belonging
 Yellow
• Independence/Self Worth
• Fitting a living system
• Knowing
 Turquoise
• Global community/life force
• Survival of life on Earth
• Consciousness
Identity (Erik Erikson)

Core Question: What drives who you are?

 Trust vs. Mistrust (Infancy)


• Environment can be counted on to meet basic psychological and social needs

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A Pedagogy of Becoming

 Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (Toddler-hood)


• Sense of control
• Corresponding sense of regret and sorrow for inappropriate use of self-control
 Initiative vs. Guilt (Early Childhood)
• Begin action, explore, imagine
• Feel remorse for actions
 Accomplishment vs. Inferiority (Elementary)
• Do things well/correctly compared to a standard or to others
 Identity vs. Role Confusion (Adolescence)
• Relational self sense
• Internal thoughts and desires
 Intimacy vs. Isolation (Young Adult)
• Ability to receive/give love
• Long-term commitment to relationships
 Generativity vs. Stagnation (Middle Adulthood)
• Guide development of next generation
 Ego Integrity vs. Despair (Older Adulthood)
• Acceptance of life as lived
• Importance of people and relationships developed
Intelligence (Howard Gardner)

Core Question: How do you interact with reality?

 Linguistically
• Rapid conversion from a physical representation of stimuli to higher-level codes
• Manipulate information in activated memory
 Logically-Mathematically
• Generalize from specific experiences
• Form new, more abstract concepts and rules
• Reason quickly and well
• Reason quantitatively
 Spatially
• Visualize
• Mentally manipulate stimuli

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A Pedagogy of Becoming

 Bodily-Kinesthetically
• Control of one’s bodily motions
• Handle objects skillfully
 Musically
• Translate written symbols into pitch, rhythm, timbre
 Interpersonally
• Notice and make distinctions among individuals
• Notice/distinguish among other’s moods, temperaments, motivations, and intentions
 Intra-personally
• Distinguish/identify thoughts and feelings
• Use these to understand one’s own behavior
 Naturalistically
• Environmental concern/care
 Spiritually/Trans-personally
• Search for/connection with unknowns
Self (Robert Kegan)

Core Question: How do you define your Self?

 Incorporative (Birth – 2)
• Self is reflexes
• Self has no separable objects to have
• Child and environment are extensions of one another
 Impulsive (2 – 5/7)
• Self is impulses and perceptions
• Self has reflexes
• Reflexes embedded in what coordinates them (perceptions and impulses)
• Only understand objects as presently seen
• Impulses acted upon because there is no ‘self’ to coordinate and control them
 Imperial (5/7 – 12/16)
• Self is needs, interests, wishes
• Self has impulses and perceptions
• Absence of shared reality with others
• Awareness of personal, private life
• Emergence of ‘me’
• Can’t imagine feelings of other’s interior responses (empathy)
• Only understands consequences of external behavior

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A Pedagogy of Becoming

• Others viewed in terms of meeting my needs, wishes, interests


 Interpersonal
• Self is mutual with other people
• Self has needs, interests, wishes
• Ability to negotiate needs
• Empathetic/reciprocal obligations
• Embodies many different voices
• Self is shared reality
 Institutional
• Self is identity, ideology
• Self has relationships with others
• Institutional as in regulating relationships
• Administer of relations
• Self-reflective of one’s roles, norms, self-concept
• Truth depends on faction/class/group
• Defensive when chaos threatens order/structure of the self
 Inter-individual
• Self is a weaving of personal systems
• Self has identity, ideology
• I have roles, but I am not them
• Understanding of the systems/groups that have shaped the person and of which the self is
a part
• Seek out information that causes changes in behavior
• Able to construct negative judgments of oneself
• A self that can be given to others

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A Pedagogy of Becoming

Learning
 The acquisition or refinement of knowledge.

 Learn: to acquire or refine knowledge.


• Acquire: to gain possession of by one’s own efforts.
• Refine: to clarify, deepen, and make more complete.
• Knowledge: that which can be perceived.
 Perceive: to become aware of.

 Study: to endeavor to learn.

 Student: one who endeavors to acquire or refine knowledge.

 Learning Endeavor: specific practices that embody the responsible, conscientious, and
concerted striving towards acquiring or refining knowledge stressing comprehensive personal
growth along multiple stream of development within the context of the individual’s
environment, that take the form: to know this, you must do this, and that include the Three
Strands of Knowledge Formation: 1) Content Injunction, 2) Content Apprehension, and 3)
Communal Verification.
• Endeavor: the responsible, conscientious, and concerted striving towards a chosen end.

 Lesson: the circumstances in which a learning endeavor is embedded.


• Circumstances: the specific factors that direct one to action.

Fundamental Learning Forces

 Discipline: the balance of intent and ability in one’s learning.

 Enthusiasm: the balance of challenge and confidence in one’s learning.

 Engagement: the balance of attention and effort in one’s learning.

The strong and balanced combination of Learning Forces yields Studentship.

Dynamics of Learning

Discipline: Focus on where you are and what you are doing

 The dynamic balance of intent and ability in one’s learning


• Low Intent – Low Ability = Apathetic
• Low Intent - High Ability = Disinterested
• High Intent - Low Ability = Inadequate
• High Intent – High Ability = Disciplined

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A Pedagogy of Becoming

Enthusiasm: Choose to challenge yourself

 The dynamic balance of challenge and confidence in one’s learning


• Low Challenge - Low Confidence = Acquiescent
• Low Challenge - High Confidence = Bored
• High Challenge - Low Confidence = Frustrated
• High Challenge – High Confidence = Enthusiastic

Engagement: Choose a reason to be here

 The dynamic balance of attention and effort in one’s learning


• Low Attention - Low Effort = Disconnected
• Low Attention - High Effort = Unfocused
• High Attention - Low Effort = Unproductive
• High Attention - High Effort = Engaged

Dynamics of Understanding

Mastery

 The dynamic balance of information and skill in one’s understanding


• Low Information - Low Skill = Novice (Imitative)
• Low Information - High Skill = Craftsman (Manipulative)
• High Information - Low Skill = Expert (Evaluative)
• High Information – High Skill = Master (Innovative)
Comprehension

 The dynamic balance of insight and abstraction in one’s understanding.


• Low Insight - Low Abstraction = Literal
• Low Insight - High Abstraction = Analytic
• High Insight - Low Abstraction = Reflective
• High Insight – High Abstraction = Interpretive

Learning Theories

 Learning Theory: a system of assumptions devised to explain the process by which people
acquire and refine knowledge.
• Theory: a system of assumptions devised to explain a given phenomena.

 Behaviorism: a learning theory focused on objective, observable behaviors asserting that


learning optimally occurs by way of conditioning.

 Brain-based Learning: a learning theory focused on the structures and functions of the brain
asserting that learning optimally occurs through the stimulation of the brain’s natural learning
mechanisms.

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A Pedagogy of Becoming

 Community Learning: a learning theory focused on membership in a ‘community of practice’


asserting that learning optimally occurs within communities of shared values, beliefs, languages,
and ways of doing things.

 Constructivism: a learning theory focused on personal reflection that asserts that learning
optimally occurs through the adjusting of our ‘mental models’ to accommodate new experience.

 Control Theory: a learning theory focused on relevance to personal needs asserting that
learning optimally occurs when learning activities meet those needs.

 Experiential Learning: a learning theory focused on personal change and growth asserting that
learning optimally occurs through significant applications that meet the needs and wants of the
learner.

 Integral Learning Theory: a learning theory focused on fostering human development


stressing comprehensive, personal growth along multiple streams of development within the
context of one’s environment asserting that learning optimally occurs when inadequacy is
mitigated, distress is minimized, downshifting is discouraged, intent is promoted, eustress is
maximized, and flow is encouraged.

 Learning Styles: a learning theory focused on the individual information perception and
processing tendencies of the student, typically referred to as ‘styles’, asserting that learning
occurs optimally through the alignment of teaching style with learning style.

 Multiple Intelligences: a learning theory focused on specific, identified ‘intelligences’ (verbal-


linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical-rhythmic,
interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist) by which people perceive and understand their world
asserting that learning optimally occurs when the learning activity engages an appropriate
intelligence.

 Social Cognition: a learning theory focused on culture as the prime determinant of individual
development, asserting that learning optimally occurs through problem-solving experiences,
shared with someone else, at a level just beyond what the individual is capable of alone.

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A Pedagogy of Becoming

Content
 Knowledge to be learned.

 Content Standard: knowledge identified as essential.

 Content Injunction (Learning Endeavor/Practice): an activity intended to foster learning.

Content Dynamics

Sophistication

 The balance of novelty and complexity in content.


• Low Novelty – Low Complexity = Simple
• Low Novelty – High Complexity = Difficult
• High Novelty – Low Complexity = Challenging
• High Novelty – High Complexity = Sophisticated

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Curriculum
 The organization of knowledge and instruction.

 Curriculum Design: the reasoned, intentional plan of action for organizing knowledge and
instruction.
• Design: a reasoned, intentional plan of action.

Curriculum Designs

 Basic Schools: a curriculum design dedicated to four essential building blocks of an effective
education: (1) the school as community, including shared vision, teacher leaders, and parent
partners; (2) a coherent curriculum, including the centrality of language, core commonalities, and
measuring results; (3) a climate for learning, including partners to fit purpose, resources to
enrich, and support services for children; and (4) a commitment to character, including core
virtues, and living with purpose.

 Comer Schools: a curriculum design dedicated to the support of developmental growth in


students through changed school governance in which parents, community members, teachers,
administrators, and school staff work together in making key decisions; the creation of a social
skills course of study; and the adoption of a developmental perspective regarding children and
how they learn.

 Core Curriculum: a curriculum design dedicated to the teaching of a predetermined body of


essential knowledge to all students.

 Effective Schools: a curriculum design dedicated to quality, equity, and high student
achievement, grounded in the beliefs that all children can learn, that staff development must be
effective, that the school organization must be developed, and that change must be planned.

 Integral Curriculum: a curriculum design dedicated to fostering human development stressing


comprehensive growth along multiple streams of development within the context of the
individual’s environment.

 Outcome-based Education: a curriculum design dedicated to clarity of focus around defined,


significant, culminating exit outcomes; the expansion of time and resources to ensure that
students meet the exit outcomes; consistent and high expectations of 100% success; and the
explicit relationship between learning experiences and outcomes.

 Paideia: a curriculum design dedicated to the preparation of individuals for earning a living,
citizenship, and self-development through a single, required, humanistic 12-year course of study.

 Standards-based Education: a curriculum design dedicated to the attainment of specific


content and performance standards through a rigorous and consistent program of assessment
driven instruction.

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A Pedagogy of Becoming

 Tech-prep: a curriculum design dedicated to preparing students for the technical labor market
through an integrated, applied, and sequenced course of study, typically including mathematics,
science, communications and career specific technologies.

 Total Quality Schools: a curriculum design dedicated to improving student achievement by (1)
understanding the school’s systems and processes, (2). using specific data for decision-making,
(3) utilizing problem-solving teams, (4) clearly identifying and understanding constituent needs,
and (5) identifying and achieving school-wide goals through the use of quality planning
processes.

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Instruction
 The structuring of lessons.
• Lesson: The circumstances in which a learning endeavor is embedded.

 Instruct: to give structure to.


• Structure: purposeful shape.

 Instructional Model: a framework of beliefs and practices that guide the construction of
lessons.
• Model: a framework of beliefs and principles that guides action.

Instructional Models

 Apprenticeship: an instructional model that has students enter into an ongoing training
arrangement with a content area expert, augmented by classroom learning.

 Clinical Teaching: an instructional model that has students guided through a learning endeavor
typically consisting of: (1) the definition of objectives and standards, wherein the students are
made aware of the goal of the lesson; (2) an anticipatory set, wherein students are brought to
focus on the lesson at hand; (3) teacher input, wherein necessary information is imparted to the
students; (4) modeling, wherein the teacher the information provided to show what is expected
as an end-product; (5) checking for understanding, wherein it is determined whether or not the
students understand well enough to proceed; (6) guided practice, wherein students are given the
opportunity to demonstrate understanding by working through an activity under the direct
supervision of the teacher; (7) closure, wherein the lesson is brought to an appropriate
conclusion; and (8) independent practice, wherein students reinforce their grasp of the lesson
content.

 Constructivist Learning Design: an instructional model that has students build knowledge
personally through interaction with their environment.

 Cooperative Learning: an instructional model that has students engage in, required, positive
interdependent actions integrated with lesson content.

 Integral Instructional Design: an instructional model that has students engage content
injunctions as a means to foster learning.

 Mastery Learning: an instructional model that has students engage in a variety of primarily
group-based learning experiences focused on well-defined objectives monitored by frequent
diagnostic assessment.

 Problem-based Learning: an instructional model that has students acquire extensive, integrated
body of knowledge that can be easily recalled and applied to the analysis and solution of a
typical adult vocational, professional, or personal problem.

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A Pedagogy of Becoming

 Service Learning: an instructional model that has students combine and integrate service to the
community with classroom learning activities.

 Thematic Learning: an instructional model that has students engage in learning experiences
organized around macro-themes integrating basic disciplines (reading, writing, mathematics,
science, social science) with the exploration of a broad subject.

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Teaching
 The fostering of learning.

 Teach: to foster learning.


• Foster: to conscientiously tend to the needs of.
• Learning: the acquiring or refining of knowledge.
 Acquire: to gain possession of by one’s own efforts.
 Refine: to clarify, deepen, and make more complete.
 Knowledge: that which can be perceived.
o Perceive: to become aware of.

 Teacher: one who fosters learning.

Core Concepts

 Teaching Technique: an explicit action by which learning is fostered.


• Technique: a procedure by which a task is accomplished.

 Guide: a dialogic teaching technique in which the teacher leads the student
to content apprehension by direction within the learning endeavor.
• Dialogic: characterized by two-way communication.
• Content: the knowledge to be learned.
• Apprehension: personal experience of.
• Learning Endeavor: the responsible, conscientious, and purposeful
striving towards acquiring or refining knowledge.

 Inform: a monologic teaching technique in which the teacher directly conveys content.
• Monologic: characterized by one-way communication.
• Convey: to pass on.
 Integral Teaching: specific actions by which learning is fostered stressing comprehensive
personal growth along multiple streams of development within the context of the individual’s
environment.

Fundamental Teaching Forces

 Passion

 Action

 Surrender

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Freedom Is First
Before all else, there must be freedom. This has nothing to do with curriculum, what should or should
not be studied, what books should or should not be read, who should or should not take a certain class,
or anything of that nature. This freedom is the simple liberty to engage in practice, to engage the
teaching endeavor freely, without restriction to meeting any goal save that implied by the teaching,
without restraint by any need for approval.

Passion
Full and unrestricted passion for the task at hand is the gift freedom gives to both teacher and student.
Trusting that all necessary goals, standards and requirements are securely embedded in the teaching
(where they should be), none of that needs be dealt with. Free from the need to garner the approval of
another (attaboy!, gold star, grade, money, job security, advancement), the teaching may be fully
experienced for what it is, and not for what you may get because of it.

The imposition of any other considerations, no matter how well intentioned or noble, must be rejected if
any true educational freedom is to exist. This does not mean that there cannot or should not be
requirements for graduation, standards of achievement, benchmarks for success, etc. There can and there
should. It does means that they must be intimately grounded in the teaching. They cannot be pasted on,
added, or spliced into. This diminishes freedom by placing the teaching in a secondary role wherein it
cannot be truly effective.

When full focus on the teaching is permitted by all concerned, (parents, administrators, teachers, and
students,) all are allowed to be just who they are, because, in the discovery of the teaching, none of their
labels matters in the least. There is only the teaching. And since we are all focused on the same teaching,
we are all in the endeavor together, though our discoveries may be unique and personal to each of us.

Teachers, freed in this manner, are confident and sure. Mistakes occur, things do not go as planned,
disasters happen, but, not bound by the need for approval, they are honored for what they are and
become simply a part of the teaching. There may be frustration, anger, resentment, disappointment,
confusion, boredom...it is all part of the teaching. Most importantly, the teachers are freed from the need
to earn the approval of their students. The students' achievements become theirs alone, as do their
failures. Both become simply a part of the teaching. In freedom, the lesson is never ending, and includes
the spectrum of human thought and action.

Students, so freed, have absolute control over their own learning, and absolute responsibility. As such,
they have no reason not to choose discipline and participation, for there is nothing to rebel against. But,
if they so choose, even their lack of effort, apathy, outright defiance becomes simply a part of the
teaching. In freedom, everyone learns what they have come to learn, even if it is not what they thought it
would be.

The Teaching Is The Master


The force which drives what we do must be the teaching itself. This clearly and precisely focuses all our
efforts within the learning environment. All considerations are secondary to the needs of the teaching
itself: the test, the standards, the workplace, the desires and abilities of any of the people involved,
anything, everything...all of it falls before the teaching, all of it falls into place if the needs of the
teaching are met.

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A Pedagogy of Becoming

Action
Action, active participation in the learning endeavor, is the hallmark of teachers and students committed
to doing what they have come to do. The forms of Action are legion, and there is no one "right" way to
do it. The teacher sets the tone by structuring the class in a way that reflects the wonder of his own
discovery, whatever that may be. The student gives herself over to that structure in the trust that he will
be the better for it. Methods, techniques, strategies, and activities all alter to meet the needs of the
teaching moment. Those needs are determined by the attentive teacher, and acquiesced to by the
disciplined student.

When fully engaged in the teaching moment, the teacher evidences a clarity and sureness of purpose.
Labels, preconceptions, and expectations are nonexistent as the teacher revels in the joy of "'being' in the
service of others". Every task, exercise, and routine becomes vital. Nothing is wasted. Nothing is
unimportant. Creativity, not mere re-arranging, but purposeful movement into novelty, arises
spontaneously, fueling the fire of the moment. Assessment becomes an outgrowth of the teaching
entirety, and not an end result toward which we labor.

Students fully engaged in the teaching moment are focused, driven, intent on wringing every last drop of
knowledge from the experience being presented to them. They, too, radiate the joy of the moment,
though they may be frustrated, exhausted, fed up and mad as hell. Discipline is seldom a problem, as
students willingly accept the conditions of the moment as being absolutely and perfectly necessary for
their development as human beings. They are not concerned with their future, their job, their grades,
their parents' expectations, their boy/girl-friends, or the mystery meal they just had for lunch. Their only
concern is to follow the teacher into the now of their learning, knowing full well that they will emerge
from the journey battered, bruised, and grinning from ear to ear at the thrumming satisfaction of it.

There Is Only Now


What we are doing right now, this moment, should be our constant concern: this moment, and this, and
this. It is only in this way that we are able to keep a moving, living reality for ourselves, a reality in
which we are a vibrant and active part. Less than this consigns us to a pinball existence, moving from
stimulus to stimulus to stimulus until one day we fall over dead.

Surrender
Absolute, abandoned, wild, succulent surrender to the wonder of the teaching moment is the source of
our discovery and our learning. Acting here and now, we encompass all time, all possibilities. Judgment
becomes suspended here: action occurs, for good or ill, to our betterment or to our detriment, it is all
taken into the wonder of the moment and lived to the fullest.
Fully invested in the moment, the next moment takes care of itself. Fully invested in the living moment,
the test which evolves out of it will take care of itself, as will the testing. Fully invested in the living
moment, the teaching, the learning, the curriculum, the standards, the graduation requirements, the
course prerequisites, the benchmarks, the goals...all take care of themselves, for they are all here. Fully
invested in the living moment, each and every thing will be precisely what it must be, and can be
experienced as such: joyously, sadly, angrily...it is all the moment. The devil himself can be conjured up
in this moment, or God called down from his heaven if need be. There is no, "No." There is only, "Yes."

The strong and balanced combination of Teaching Forces yields Presence.

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A Pedagogy of Becoming

Dynamics of Style

Discipline: Control the classroom

 The dynamic balance of control and acceptance in one’s teaching


• Low Control - Low Acceptance = Abusive
• Low Control - High Acceptance = Indulgent
• High Control - Low Acceptance = Authoritarian
• High Control – High Acceptance = Disciplined

Coherence: Explain Clearly

 The dynamic balance of focus and clarity in one’s teaching


• Low Focus – Low Clarity = Nonsensical
• Low Focus - High Clarity = Fragmented
• High Focus - Low Clarity = Confusing
• High Focus – High Clarity = Coherent

Professionalism: Help students whenever and however necessary

 The dynamic balance of commitment and comprehension in one’s teaching


• Low Commitment - Low Comprehension = Amateurish
• Low Commitment - High Comprehension = Knowledgeable
• High Commitment - Low Comprehension = Dedicated
• High Commitment – High Comprehension = Professional
Rigor: Ensure student do their work

 The dynamic balance of support and requirement in one’s teaching


• Low Support – Low Requirement = Lax
• Low Support – High Requirement = Demanding
• High Support – Low Requirement = Enabling
• High Support – High Requirement = Rigorous
Caring: Take time to know students and their lives

 The dynamic balance of interest and availability in one’s teaching


• Low Interest – Low Availability = Distant
• Low Interest – High Availability = Open
• High Interest – Low Availability = Closed
• High Interest – High Availability = Caring

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A Pedagogy of Becoming

Flexibility: Vary the classroom routine

 The dynamic balance of structure and spontaneity in one’s teaching


• Low Structure – Low Spontaneity = Stagnant
• Low Structure – High Spontaneity = Chaotic
• High Structure – Low Spontaneity = Static
• High Structure – High Spontaneity = Flexible
Inspiration: Help students to believe in themselves

 The dynamic balance of expectation and belief in one’s teaching


• Low Expectation – Low Belief = Dismissive
• Low Expectation – High Belief = Patronizing
• High Expectation – Low Belief = Misleading
• High Expectation – High Belief = Inspirational
Mindfulness: Be a steady force in student lives

 The dynamic balance of detachment and awareness in one’s teaching


• Low Detachment – Low Awareness = Ignorant
• Low Detachment – High Awareness = Reactive
• High Detachment – Low Awareness = Dissociated
• High Detachment – High Awareness = Mindful

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A Pedagogy of Becoming

Leadership
 The capacity to induce purposive action in others

 Lead: to induce purposive action in others


• Induce: to move to
• Purposive: determined to achieve

Styles
 Autocratic: a monologic leadership style characterized by leader-based decision-making
regardless of group input.

 Integral: an integral leadership style characterized by decision-making based on a thorough


analysis of relevant factors and the needs of those involved.

 Popular: a dialogic leadership style characterized by group-based decision-making, with or


without leader input.

 Representative: a dialogic leadership style characterized by leader-based decision-making after


group input.

 Social: a dialogic leadership style characterized by group-based decision-making through


discourse between leader and group.

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A Pedagogy of Becoming

Assessment
 Evaluation in terms of mastery.

 Assess: to evaluate in terms of mastery


• Evaluate: to judge.
• Mastery: a relative, dynamic proficiency continuum of information, skill, insight, and
abstraction
 Information: Factual knowledge.
 Skill: Utilitarian knowledge.
 Insight: Reflective knowledge
 Abstraction: Analytic knowledge

Methods

 Observation: monologic assessment.

 Examination: dialogic assessment.

 Formal: assessment distinct from the learning endeavor.

 Informal: assessment indistinct from the learning endeavor.

 Integral: specific activities used to evaluate learning particular to the learning endeavor by
those who have already apprehended the lesson content stressing comprehensive personal growth
along multiple streams of development within the context of the individual’s environment.

Characteristics

 Criteria
• General – Specific

 Intelligibility
• Vague – Clear

 Score
• Complex – Simple

 Worth
• Low – High

 Feedback
• Private – Public

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A Pedagogy of Becoming

Pedagogical (Professional) Development


 Professional development in the field of pedagogy.
• Pedagogy: the art of fostering human development.
 Practice: work as a teacher.

 Aspiration: desire for advancement and growth in teaching.

 Study: pursuit of knowledge of teaching.

 Reflection: thought on personal, current practice as a teacher.

 Contemplation: thought on the pedagogical attractors and principles of practice.

 Community: sharing with other teachers.

 Play: personally meaningful activity outside of teaching.

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A Pedagogy of Becoming

Guidelines

From: Spolin, Viola. Improvisation for the Theater. 3d ed. Evanston: Northwestern University Press,
1999.

When it bogs down, play a game. (xiii)

Always throw them off balance. (xiii)

That which is not yet known comes out of that which is not yet here. (xiii)

See things through the eye, not with the eye. Keep it in flow. (xiv)

Let the magic of the focus work for you. Stay out of it. (xiv)

Focus is not the content of focus; it is the effort to stay on focus. (xiv)

Put the focus in motion. (xiv)

Authoritarians lean on discipline and goals. Involvement is goal. Discipline is involvement. (xiv)

There is only one way—the seeking—in which one learns by going through the process itself. (xxiii)

We learn through experience and experiencing. (3)

The cue for the teacher-director is basically simple: we must see that each student is participating freely
at every moment. The challenge to the teacher or leader is to activize each student in the group while
respecting each one’s immediate capacity for participation. Though the gifted student will always seem
to have more to give, yet if a student is participating to the limit of his or her powers and using abilities
to the fullest extent, he or she must be respected, no matter how minute the contribution. The student
cannot always do what the teacher hopes, but as progress is made, capacities will enlarge. Work with
students where they are, not where you think they should be. (10)

When the form of an art becomes static, these isolated “techniques” presumed to make the form are
taught and adhered to strictly. Growth of both individual and form suffer thereby, for unless the student
is unusually intuitive, such rigidity in teaching, because it neglects inner development, is invariably
reflected in performance. (14-15)

In any art form we seek the experience of going beyond what we already know. (16)

A system of work suggests that, by following a plan of procedure, we can gather enough data and
experience to emerge with a new understanding of our medium. (18)

It is the demands of the art form itself that must point the way for us, shaping and regulating our work
and reshaping all of us as well to meet the impact of this great force. Our constant concern then is to
keep a moving, living reality for ourselves, not to labor compulsively for an end-result. (18)

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A Pedagogy of Becoming

The teacher must keep a dual point of view towards himself or herself and the student: (1) observation of
the handling of the material presented in its obvious or outward use as training…; (2) constant close
scrutiny of whether or not the material is penetrating and reaching a deeper level of response…. (19)

You become the diagnostician, so to speak, developing personal skills, first in finding what students
need for their work and second, finding the exact problem that will work for each student. (21)

It is axiomatic that the student who resists working on the focus of an exercise will never be able to
improvise and will be a continuous discipline problem. (25)

Lack of discipline and resistance to the focus of an exercise go hand in hand, for discipline can only
grow out of total involvement with the event, object, or project. (25)

A firm hand must be used, not to attack or impose one’s will, but to maintain the integrity of the art
form. If students train long enough, they will realize this way is not a threat to them, will not destroy
their “individuality”; for as the transcending power in keeping the focus of an exercise is felt by
everyone and results in greater theatrical skills and deeper self-knowledge, their resistance will in time
be overcome. (25-26)

Side-coaching alters the traditional relationship of teacher-student, creating a moving relation. Side
coaching allows the teacher-director an opportunity to step into the excitement of playing (learning) in
the same place, with the same focus, as the players. (28)

Side-coaching keeps the stage space alive for the student-actor. It is the voice of the director seeing the
needs of the overall presentation; at the same time it is the voice of the teacher seeing the individual
student-actor’s needs within the group and on the stage. It is the teacher-director working on a problem
together with the student as part of the group effort. (29)

Side-coaching reaches the total organism, for it arises spontaneously out of what is emerging on stage
and is given at the time the players are in action. Because it is a further method of keeping the student
and teacher relating and must therefore be objective, great care must be taken to see that it does not
disintegrate into an approval/disapproval involvement instead—a command to be obeyed! (29)

Side-coaching gives the student-actor self-identity within the activity because it keeps players from
wandering off into isolation within a subjective world: it keeps one in present time, in the time of
process. (29)
Try always to keep an environment in the workshop where all can find their own nature (including the
teacher or group leader) without imposition. Growth is natural to everyone. Be certain that no one is
blocked off in the workshops by an inflexible method of treatment. (37-38)

Be flexible. Alter your plans on a moment’s notice if it is advisable to do so…. (38)

Avoid giving examples. While they are sometimes helpful, the reverse is more often true, for the
student is bound to give back what has already been experienced. (39)

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If the environment in the workshop is joyous and free of authoritarianism, everyone will play and
become as open as young children. (39)

Actors is improvisational theater, like the dancer, musician, or athlete, require constant workshops to
keep alert and agile and to find new material. (39)

Act, don’t react. This includes the teacher and group leader as well. To react is protective and
constitutes withdrawal from the environment. (39)

Never use the advanced acting exercises as a bribe. Wait until students are ready to receive them. (41)

Self-discovery is the foundation of this way of working. (41)

Do not be impatient. Don’t take over. Never force a nascent quality into false maturity through
imitation or intellectualization. Every step is essential for growth. A teacher can only estimate growth,
for each individual person is a personal “center of development.” (41)

The more blocked, the more opinionated the student, the longer the process. The more blocked and
opinionated the teacher or group leader, the longer the process. (41)

Tread gently. Keep all doors open for future growth. This includes the teacher and leader of the group
as well. (41)

Creativity is not rearranging; it is transformation. (42)

Discipline is involvement. (264)

Self-discipline will develop in students when their involvement in the activity is complete. (276)

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