Free Extracts

Personal Teaching Philosophy (pages 11 and 13 of Reflections on Classroom Thinking Strategies)

All of us have a belief system or an informal and formal philosophy, some of which are dynamic and empowering and some of which are limiting. It may be useful for teachers to be aware of their own beliefs and philosophies in terms of teaching, learning and thinking and then promote those beliefs which enhance the educative process. The concept map opposite may provide an opportunity to articulate some of your beliefs. Develop this as you apply the ideas in this book.

I have tried to isolate those beliefs which I think are important and promote them in teaching situations. They are all connected in some manner to my mission statement of ‘Promoting Thinking in Learning’. These beliefs are to be found on the page Framework for Developing the Thinking Classroom on page 8.

Some of these beliefs have their own chapter following this page whilst the others are explained here briefly.

The Tyranny of THE

In 1989, at the World Conference on Gifted and Talented Students in Sydney, I listened to Paul McCready, the inventor of the man-propelled aircraft, The Gossamer Albatross. He said that many people are limited by the ‘Tyranny of The’ and by that he meant that too often we look for one answer, ‘the’ answer. He explained that this resulted in orthodoxy, conventionality, safety, a limited imagination, and impoverished problem solving. He encouraged teachers to get away from the ‘Tyranny of THE’ by asking questions such as “what are all the answers to …” and “how many different ways…” instead of “what is the answer” and “what is the way”. From this I have developed The Comma Thinking Rule on page 29.

Avoid Passion to Porridge

I have always been impressed by those experienced teachers, educational leaders, school administrators and heads of departments who nurture and encourage those teachers who enter schools with a passion for teaching and ensure that the flame of passion never dies. The same holds true for those teachers who ensure that their students maintain a love for learning. Conversely, I am highly unimpressed by people who use a relentless cynicism to affect some teachers so that their passion turns to a ‘porridge-type’ performance. Unfortunately we also find that many students have become cynical about learning and have lost that early quality of curiosity which characterises young children. I am impressed by those schools where leaders and teachers are all pushing the same message of personal excellence, persistence and the benefits of a good education. Leadership is exactly that – it is letting everyone know that what we are doing in our schools is important.

If all teachers were to treat their classroom as if it were their own business, say a corner shop, then passion for what they are doing would be the least that their clients would expect. We can no longer expect students to be docile Pavlovian learners. They expect to be impressed and motivated by teachers who believe absolutely in their business of education!

Experts

See graphic on left. To encourage students to become risk takers, I do the following. I ask them to point to themselves and say “I am not an expert”. Some of the students find this a bit difficult but they warm to the idea when I invite them to point at their peers and say “You are not an expert”. This external assessment they seem to find very easy! I then ask them to point at me and say “He is not an expert either”. I then explain that since we have established an Expert-Free Zone, they are no longer to worry about being wrong and can now concentrate on the business of learning which has to be accompanied by mistakes. I also make it clear that a thinking environment demands total respect for the feelings of others and that destroying or damaging the self-esteem of others is basically criminal since it suffocates and prevents good learning.

Failure and Success

See graphics on left. I was always impressed by teachers who encourage students to be risk-takers and who would then debrief any resulting mistakes. I am also aware that a classroom or learning environment which discourages risk-taking and promotes the intellectual control and superiority of the teacher or facilitator is unlikely to encourage lateral thinkers. For these and other reasons, I discuss the idea that the only failures are those who do not contribute in the classroom. Sometimes we are totally wrong, sometimes totally right, but usually we are somewhere in between. I explain that I respect those who TRY! I also encourage them to think of the attitude of Thomas Edison who saw his experiments as learning opportunities. In fact, one of the reasons I was keen to migrate to Australia was the refreshing attitude of “Give it a go!”

Paradigm Shift

The story of Edison’s invention of the light bulb is inspirational, not only for its effects on the world and for his persistence, but even more so for his view or paradigm about the process. I encourage learners to be inspired by his commitment and for his view on those 9,999 experiments which did not result in success. He saw things differently and so should all of us. Is our drink half full or half empty, our holidays half gone or half to go? Are we being forced out of our comfort zone or into our excitement and growth zone? Ask students to generate a list of negative and positive paradigm reflections or circumstances.

Relax

We only have one life on earth, so let us relax and enjoy ourselves as much as possible. Though we need to be serious about what we do, we could encourage more laughter in our classroom and not take things too seriously. By this I mean keeping things in perspective. In August 1997 I listened to Bill Rogers in Emerald in Queensland. He displayed one of Leunig’s cartoons which showed a gentleman concentrating on a small dark dot on a large white sheet. The message was clear. Don’t concentrate on the negatives (the spot) in life when most of what we experience is positive (the unmarked area).

Respect and ‘Vive la Difference’

A basis for the thinking classroom is that we welcome diversity, difference and ambiguity. We learn to suspend judgment until we have applied some clear thinking procedures. We learn to delay gratification, pause before we respond and look for the other point of view. We need to appreciate that untold hurt is caused in the name of so-called evaluation or decision making. It is too easy to pass judgment on another person or dismiss the worth of an institution, event or proposal. Good thinkers are fair thinkers because they are taught that facts, information and data need to be brought to the fore and used in an analysis situation to give structure and clarity to the information before any evaluation is made. In this way, a great deal of unnecessary hurt will be avoided and more people will think more honestly and productively.

The following chapters refer to items dealing with Personal Teaching Philosophy:

Mr Majola and SUE
The Success Spiral
The ‘What’, ‘Why’ and ‘How’ of Teaching and Learning
Brainstorming
The Comma Thinking Rule
The Danger of HUH?
Personal Criticism

From Page 93. A cooperative Strategy. Doughnut or inner-Outer Circle

Doughnut or Inner-Outer Circle

This is a more personal form of brainstorming. It requires equal numbers of thinkers, so the teacher may have to fill in if the group has an odd number of students.

Process

Divide the class into two concentric circles with the inner circle facing the people in the outer circle. This is a useful strategy for developing debatable issues where the inner circle must argue in favour of point A while the outer circle argues in favour of point B. No attempt is made to take notes. Instead the thinkers need to remember what is being said. Once the conversation or discussion begins to slow down, ask the outer circle to move three places to the right, so that everyone has a new sparring partner. This process can be repeated several times. Then tell all involved to reverse their roles without moving from their positions (those in the inner circle remain there) so that those who were defending Point A, are now defending Point B and vice versa. This is a useful device in that it encourages Other Point of View thinking.

I particularly use this in ‘The Reconciliation of Goldilocks & the Three Bears’, where half the class (inner circle) is designated as Goldilocks whose task it is to ask for forgiveness of the Bears, the other half or outer circle. The negotiations run for 1-2 minutes before the rotation takes place, then another 1-2 minutes for the second attempt by Goldilocks to seek forgiveness. On the fourth rotation, I swap the roles, often with interesting results. Remember the old Indian saying “Don’t judge a person until you have walked one mile in his moccasins!” The Other Point of View perspective is often a sobering and moderating experience. At the conclusion of the Doughnut, thinkers go back to their own desks or groups in order to write a summary of their findings or to compile a final report.

Reservation

Though I have found this to be an extremely useful and lively strategy involving the whole class, it is possible that a few students may find the closeness of the contact too intimidating. However, this seldom occurred and I have noticed that they have seen the strategy through.

Observation

This is a very lively strategy which creates energy in the classroom and clearly places the onus on the learners.
The whole strategy can last as little as 5–7 minutes and has greater value if a debriefing session takes place.