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A New Beginning

Being a teacher also means being part visionary - here's some food for thought at the start of a new year

Each fall, millions of young people enter school anticipating the very best for the year. You can see the hope in your students' faces and smiles and perhaps even in their hidden fears. It's an awesome responsibility to be the steward of a child's hopes and dreams.

If there's a sense of coherence around this form of non-verbal communication, it tends to draw the class together into a sense of collective identity.

Classroom aesthetics
Very often we think of classroom management in practical, behavioral ways. How you organize your classroom is critically important for your students' success. Outstanding teachers know how to contour their classroom so that it becomes a learning community. How the chairs and tables are arranged, where you place your desk and how the books, computers and other learning aids are organized all influence your students' perception of the importance of learning and their role as learners.

The aesthetics of your classroom are important. Students respond to images, symbols, colors and ideas made visible. If there's a sense of coherence around this form of nonverbal communication, it tends to draw the class together into a sense of collective identity. This is one of the keys for your success in the coming year.

A collective experience
In the United States we tend to think of education as an individual undertaking. However, education is always a collective experience. The Native American culture, for instance, emphasizes collective identity and achievement far more than our culture. Many Asian cultures encourage group learning over individual learning and, of course, team sports emphasize the team rather than the individual even though certain individuals may have talents that the others do not possess. In order for a team to succeed, however, there is the requirement that there be a sense of collective achievement.

An essential understanding
Years ago, I was asked to teach Latin to a group of eighth grade boys who had no background or particular interest in ancient languages. Confronted with this seemingly impossible pedagogical task, we translated Latin in terms of a language they understood: sports. In that process, many of them learned more Latin than I, or they, ever thought possible. In fact, the boys in this class became the most expert in the school, at least in terms of Latin vocabulary, because we had found a way of talking about Latin that resonated with their level of development and interest.

This understanding of collective identity and inquiry isn't just something that's "nice to have" – it's essential. If we look at the challenges facing the world and our communities it seems evident, at least to me, that the highly individualistic approach favored by mainstream media is no longer adequate in terms of adaptation and problem-solving.

At a crossroads
Recently, I had the pleasure of reading a study by two developmental psychologists who are particularly interested in how humans learn to become reflective and capable of imagining alternative solutions to complex problems. In their book, The First Idea (De Capo Press, 2004), Stanley I. Greenspan and Stuart G. Shanker argue that the world is at a crossroads because stereotypical non-adaptive thinking compounds problems rather than solves them. They argue, "in an interdependent world the unit of survival is no longer the individual or even the small group, but the global group. Therefore, self-interest and the large group interests are the same."

They believe that there are basic foundations for developing this sense of adaptive global connections. Thinking along these lines has tremendous implications for you as a teacher in a very practical way. When organizing your classroom, do you think of your students as separate individuals, each in his or her own space with his or her own thoughts? Or do you think of your classroom as a small group engaged in collective inquiry? Greenspan and Shanker believe that the foundation for problem- solving in this century begins with "care giving practices that promote increased developmental and psychological capacities for reflective thinking, empathy, and broader global identifications."

Seeing the future
Let's return to your classroom. Has it been organized to promote reflective thinking, empathy and broader global identification? Have we built in educational experiences that encourage cross-cultural understanding and the ability to step outside one's personal experiences?

This is the part of being a teacher that is visionary. Sometimes people write about teachers as though they were technicians or civil servants or extensions of the testing system. For me, teachers must, of course, have strong managerial skills, but they also must be visionaries. They must help their students see the future and help kids attain the skills by which they can shape the future.
As a new teacher you have the opportunity to help articulate this new twenty-first century conversation and thus shape the future in a way that's life-affirming, inclusive and productive. Don't be afraid to be a visionary – I can guarantee that your students will never forget the experience of having a teacher who understood the genuine purposes of learning.

Peter W. Cookson, Jr. is the founder of TCinnovations and the Dean of the Graduate School of Education of Lewis & Clark College. He is also founder of the Center for Educational Outreach & Innovation at Teachers College at Columbia University.

*_Courtesy of © 2007, YellowBrix, Inc._*

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