Education

rules and structure in holistic education

In my first few weeks back (after a 2 year break) at PSCS, I have been struck by how sophisticated some of the structures/rules have become. At the heart of the education at PSCS is the belief that according freedom to students' in making a large majority of the decisions connected to their education is critical to their development into becoming responsible, self-aware beings of high-integrity. So, when I noticed a greater number of "mandatory" requirements (rules so to speak of), it made me pause and wonder what effect these requirements can/are having on the learning experience of students.

In my own reflection on the topic and through discussions with Andy (the Director of PSCS) I have arrived at some level of clarity. To begin with, it is essential to recognize that structures are not all bad. Structures and essential for practical reasons. For example, the fact that school starts at 9 am and that everyone is implicitly (at PSCS explicitly) expected to arrive at 9am is a practical essentiality for running a school. So, one has to accept some basic structures that are essential to making a place run. However, how do you decide what "basic" is? What is basic for one person and one place is not basic for another.

I have let my mind run in circles to answer this question and the only thing point of clarity that has arisen from all my musing is that the essential need for a structure is determined on a case-by-case basis. There is no structure and no rule for determining how and when to create a structure. There are however some aspects to consider based on what your goals are.

In talking to Andy, I learned that he weighs in to identify the needs of the community, over those of the individual when creating any structure. If a structure makes the community stronger he is more likley to be convinced of its need than if it doesn't. He believes that without a strong community, the individual can do nothing. I completely understand where he is coming from. I do myself consider the presence of the larger whole essential for the existence of any being. That said, I think understanding and experiencing community is essential for any individual to completely accept and uphold a structure. Otherwise, the structure is just a structure, a rule to be blindly followed and to be scorned when it interferes with individual needs. So the question now becomes, how can one understand the essence of community?

Surely, the only way to know community is to be in it. Can one understand the significance of community by not being in it? In some ways yes, but one cannot know what one is missing unless one has at some deep level experienced it at least once. So, do we first create structures to get students to experience community and then hope they experience it to such a deep level that they buy into those structures or can we do this without first enforcing structures? That remains the question on the table. Some ideas that have come to my mind as I have mulled this further are ones that engage students in defining and creating their community at the start of every school year. This does happen at PSCS. The danger however lies passing down too many pre-defined structures as the history of the school creates more and more traditions and structures that newer generations just have to accept. How far can we go back to the drawing board at the start of each school year so that students get to define and create the community that we consider so essential to their learning?

The question of community that Andy considers essential for creating structures for, I extend to a few other determinants --

-- a sense of knowing yourself -- who you are, your limitations, your connections to all that is around you and the idea that you are part of a grander whole ... if structures enable students to experience this sense of themselves, it might be one worth considering. I doubt though that there is a structure that will enable this. I can think of more structures that come in the way of this process and so the vigilance lies in inspecting structures that endanger a sense of deep self-awareness

-- freedom -- Ultimately, structures that are created by "others" can interfere with an individual's sense of freedom. In fact, freedom and structures are often at odds with each other. I think it is important to understand what freedom is. Is freedom the choice to do what one wants? I think not. I think freedom is the state of a conflict-free mind. When one does not have any kind of conflict in one's mind and when one has not created external conflict, then one is free. It is a hard state to achieve. So, the question for structures is whether a structure interferes with such a state of being? If a structure creates conflict or instills fear, it is detrimental to an optimal learning situation.

These three elements -- of community: or knowing that you are part of a grander whole and that your being is inter-connected with that of the whole, of self-awareness and of freedom -- are those that rise to the top in terms of ones to be considered when determining whether and how to create a structure.

This question of structures touches upon the heart of many significant aspects of holistic education. I continue to reflect on the impact of structures. While my current reflection has brought me some level of clarity, my work here is not done.

Creating a middle school seminar

When middle schoolers first arrive at PSCS, they have often been in educational settings that dictated their education to them. They come from this largely instructive environment to one in which they are asked what they want to learn and are required to take responsibility for their educational journey. While most incoming students cannot get enough of the freedom PSCS has to offer, they also struggle in defining the structures and spaces that can help them make the most of their education at PSCS. With this in mind, we are creating a middle school seminar this year with the following key goals and elements at its heart.

Goal

To support middle schoolers in understanding PSCS and getting the most out of their education at PSCS through the elements of community, service, pursuing a personal passion and above all developing a deep self-awareness.

Major elements

Middle school seminar: A weekly meeting focused on building a sense of community through activities that help students get to know each other at a deeper level. As the year rolls, this seminar will also serve as the fertile ground for discussions on writing a credo and developing a project.

Project: A year-long portfolio development that documents the developing passions of the student. The ultimate project will be one created by the group, with each student contributing pieces from their passionate work completed throughout the year. Imagine a mural, a collage, a sculpture, a totem or some other structure that can hold together evidence of the evolution of passionate work completed by a group of 10 or so students.

Service: Middle schoolers will engaged in two types of service activities -- a) Service to the school and, b) Community service in the larger Seattle area.

Credo: A statement of beliefs that is the result of a process of understanding one's values and connection to the world. Every middle schooler will develop a credo that will be presented in a community setting.

Field trips: Periodically field trips will be offered that are targeted for middle school students to connect with each other and the larger community.

Flow for the year

We expect to start the year with several activities for getting to know each other as members of a group. Games and play will abound. We will slowly transition into building something together and taking on responsibilities in and outside of the school. As the year rolls the project and credo process will unfold.

On success

In the opening seminar of the required course on Scholarship in Education: Research Methods, we were asked to read through JK Rowling's commencement address to Harvard graduates and contemplate the following questions: What is your definition of success? In your view, is success always valuable?

Here are my responses:

In my view, success as is commonly understood and accepted, of all forms is an external measurement of an individual. It is a measurement of the individual as a person who can and must achieve. The individual’s sense of self; defined as who they are, what they do and what they achieve is being measured in terms of the values that define success. A success-seeking individual struggles to develop and strengthen the sense of self so it might measure positively on the success barometer. The process of strengthening the sense of self is at its very core an exercise in building up the ego (or the self as I like to call it). In order to measure up, the self needs to be special and unique, different and better than the self of other individuals. This need to be special makes the self of every individual separate from that of every other. While no human being wants to be separate and isolated from other beings, an inevitable consequence of seeking success is that one is deeply separated from other human beings and creatures. This sense of separation runs so deep that it becomes the basis that drives all human action. It makes a person compete with other people and other creatures. It is the cause of wars, overuse and hoarding of natural resources and the reason why humans walk the earth defending themselves against it, not just when attacked but in every breathing moment.

Thus, in my view the drive for success is one of the reasons why human beings experience the levels of conflict and pain in their lives that they do. While the pain and conflict caused by success is scary enough, what is even more scary is that society at large, across the globe not only endorses the drive for success, but that it encourages and even demands that all beings worthy of respect drive for success. So, society at large endorses, supports and pushes for all of to experience isolation and be in conflict. Scary!

I recognize that I am making some big claims by stating this view. Rowling’s address provided me with some evidence for this view. When Rowling speaks of failure and her experiences with it, she is telling us what can happen when one does not attain success. She tells us what emerges when there is no success. Her words, “…failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was … I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realized” indicates how a drive for success prevents individuals from being themselves. However, if you are lucky enough to hit rock bottom, you feel liberated because you have shamed and embarrassed yourself in the grandest way possible, leaving yourself with the greatest courage ever – the courage to be yourself and to not be measured by an externally defined yardstick. I believe that when human beings can be themselves, they are at their best self ever – because the inner core of all beings, when it is not driven by the fear of failure or the drive for success is pure and connected, it is not separate from the universe that surrounds it. A connected human being is a compassionate and loving human being, free of pain and conflict.

It is a pity that we humans have to experience failure to understand how debilitating the desire for success can be.

Based on the view I have expressed above, it is needless to say that I think success is never valuable. Why? Fundamentally, success is a measurement and any kind of measurement, however it is defined is problematic. When we measure, we fail to see what we are measuring. Only “what” we are measuring is real. The measurement is a symbol, something that is not real. It is a tool and one that we “think” is essential for understanding “what” we are measuring but perhaps things can be understood without being measured. Measurement necessitates that we quantity the “what” that we are trying to measure. However, I contend that the vast majority of life cannot be quantified. Life, most any of it, cannot be quantified, it is whole and illusive to casual observers like myself. A keen inspection alone can reveal something the whole. No measurement can do that. So, as long as we measure, we will fail to see the “what” that we measure and will remain stuck in symbols that are a step removed from reality. Working with symbols removed from reality leaves us with lives full of illusions. Reality and life is happening beyond our grasp while we divide, quantify and measure. This is why success of any kind is invaluable to living a “real” life.

An introduction

I am a Seattle-based (United States) educator interested in innovative approaches to mindful holistic education. I know that is a mouthful, and I promise to clarify what I mean through this blog.

Most of the clarity will come from scholarly writing and reflections that will be an outcome of my graduate studies in education. Having recently completed the coursework for certification in Elementary education, I am embarking on a Master of Arts in Education. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the seeds of this study were sown in me when I was 9 years old. I would rise at 5 am to look for the Hailey's comet and afterwards sit with one of my dear uncles pondering questions of the cosmos, our place in it, my miniscule life in it and tremendous loss of perspective I have on my place in the world. This is the study I then conceptualized most concretely in my first summer off after starting to teach, in 2005. As I sat on the dock of the condo on Lake Sammamish, I pondered what it is I really wanted to do in the world of education and what the phrase, "you are what you teach" really means. Since then, I have made several ineffective attempts at reaching a level of clarity in my work going ahead. When my son Vehd was born in 2007, it became evident to me that my life until that point was going to be like a dream, impactful but disconnected from the reality that lay ahead. Everything changed for me on June 6, 2007. Vehd's soul has made me dig deeper into myself than anything else before. Being with him has made life urgent to me. Now, understanding the phrase, "you are what you teach" is no longer an intellectual exercise. It is a question of how I live going forward. I don't want to know the answer any longer, I need to know what that means.

So, I am embarking on a completely self-designed graduate study answering two questions that come from the phrase "you are what you teach". The questions at the heart of it all are -- "Who am I" and "What does it mean to educate a whole human being". The hope is that this study will launch me on a path of greater self-awareness and potentially transformation. Outwardly, it will hopefully help me conceptualize a learning environment that "educates the whole human being". I hope to be a student in that learning environment alongside Vehd and anyone else who needs to join us. I expect to complete these studies in 2 years and to have created this learning environment I speak of by that time. Yes, I have a whole new life ahead of me.

In my journey so far, I have had the the grand opportunity of being connected with the progressive Puget Sound Community School, having taught there full-time for 3 years. I return this Fall of 2009 for an internship connected to my graduate studies. In my time at PSCS, I have had the opportunity to create a learning environment in which students feel trusted and honored for who they are. In multi-age classes, I taught any number of different topics based on student interest. My longest standing classes included teaching the Hindi language, cooking, science, cultural literature readings and Mathematics amongst others.

It is hard to tell, like it should be, whether I learned more from my students or they learned more from me. Whichever way, I  have ended up with a desire to continue exploring the world of holistic learning in which every person is received, accepted and nourished as a whole.

Should you have questions, concerns or comments about the content on this blog, please contact me.

In the meantime, be well and smile often.

I am a Seattle-based (United States) educator interested in innovative approaches to mindful holistic education. I know that is a mouthful, and I promise to clarify what I mean through this blog.

Most of the clarity will come from scholarly writing and reflections that will be an outcome of my graduate studies in education. Having recently completed the coursework for certification in Elementary education, I am embarking on a Master of Arts in Education. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the seeds of this study were sown in me when I was 9 years old. I would rise at 5 am to look for the Hailey's comet and afterwards sit with one of my dear uncles pondering questions of the cosmos, our place in it, my miniscule life in it and tremendous loss of perspective I have on my place in the world. This is the study I then conceptualized most concretely in my first summer off after starting to teach, in 2005. As I sat on the dock of the condo on Lake Sammamish, I pondered what it is I really wanted to do in the world of education and what the phrase, "you are what you teach" really means. Since then, I have made several ineffective attempts at reaching a level of clarity in my work going ahead. When my son Vehd was born in 2007, it became evident to me that my life until that point was going to be like a dream, impactful but disconnected from the reality that lay ahead. Everything changed for me on June 6, 2007. Vehd's soul has made me dig deeper into myself than anything else before. Being with him has made life urgent to me. Now, understanding the phrase, "you are what you teach" is no longer an intellectual exercise. It is a question of how I live going forward. I don't want to know the answer any longer, I need to know what that means.

So, I am embarking on a completely self-designed graduate study answering two questions that come from the phrase "you are what you teach". The questions at the heart of it all are -- "Who am I" and "What does it mean to educate a whole human being". The hope is that this study will launch me on a path of greater self-awareness and potentially transformation. Outwardly, it will hopefully help me conceptualize a learning environment that "educates the whole human being". I hope to be a student in that learning environment alongside Vehd and anyone else who needs to join us. I expect to complete these studies in 2 years and to have created this learning environment I speak of by that time. Yes, I have a whole new life ahead of me.

In my journey so far, I have had the the grand opportunity of being connected with the progressive Puget Sound Community School, having taught there full-time for 3 years. I return this Fall of 2009 for an internship connected to my graduate studies. In my time at PSCS, I have had the opportunity to create a learning environment in which students feel trusted and honored for who they are. In multi-age classes, I taught any number of different topics based on student interest. My longest standing classes included teaching the Hindi language, cooking, science, cultural literature readings and Mathematics amongst others.

It is hard to tell, like it should be, whether I learned more from my students or they learned more from me. Whichever way, I  have ended up with a desire to continue exploring the world of holistic learning in which every person is received, accepted and nourished as a whole.

Should you have questions, concerns or comments about the content on this blog, please contact me.

In the meantime, be well and smile often.

Reading specialists

St. Joseph's School | 1st Grade | Reading resource work | Present: 1-3 students, reading specialist and myself | 3 hours field experience including reflection time

Background

In order to experience and learn from focused reading instruction, I chose to spend time with a Reading Specialist at St. Joseph's school observing the various techniques and kits she uses in doing remediation reading work with K-2 graders.

Key observations and points of reflection

• The reading specialist works with children on the very basic building blocks of reading including phonemic awareness, phonics work and so on. I am amazed by the idea that working on such separate, basic building blocks actually adds up to the skills of being a proficient reader. The reading specialist assured me that in two years all her struggling readers will be reading well. I wonder though what lies in their heart about their love for reading. Does reading become a chore for them, something they were not good at and need to work on or can it also be something they have an ease with and love?
• Some of the activities I watched in use included Visual memory exercises to help the students recall pronounciation and letter-sound associations from memory, sound games that included dropping a sound in a word and still reading the word, finding the words in a song, looking for specific kinds of endings to words, reading sight words, recognizing and reading base words and reading nonsense words.
• The exercise of reading nonsense words was intriguing. When I asked what it helped with, the specialist explained that there has been shown a high correlation between reading well and knowing what words are nonsense. I did not get a deeper explanation.
• The children were all thrilled to be working with the specialist. This struck me as being surprising. I thought they would feel stigmatized or left out from their classmates in some way when they were pulled out of class to work separately with a specialist on something they were struggling with. On the contrary, the children felt relieved on receiving help. Further, they loved all the games and activities they did with the specialist and most importantly, seemed to feel very special getting such a high degree of individual attention.
• I was thrilled and touched to see that the children did not seem to suffer from any obvious signs of lack of confidence in themselves because of their work with the specialist. They seemed to accept this separate, out-of-class work very factually. This was touching to me.

Overall, I was moved to see that such 1:1 attention is given to the children that need help with reading. I was thrilled to see that the children did not feel stigmatized by the process. I came away appreciation the work of the specialists but I question its effectiveness. I have come to appreciate reading as a highly personal endeavor, one that we do when we are ready and that lasts us a lifetime. I cannot imagine that something so basic can be broken down into parts that magically add up to a whole when administered separately. I sincerely want to believe it works out that way but I questions whether working on the basic reading blocks builds lovers of reading.