July 2010 Archives

In the opening chapter of their new book, Now What? Confronting and Resolving Ethical Questions, authors Sarah and Calvin MacKenzie state

Schools are among the most complex institutions in our society. The relationships and interactions that unfold within their walls raise a ceaseless array of ethical questions and concerns. Teachers especially are confronted at nearly every turn with tasks and opportunities that have ethical implications. There is no escape from the constant need to recognize and do the right thing.... School settings are full of potential pitfalls and dilemmas that challenge even our best efforts to act ethically.

The first is The Golden Rule, or, as my son used to put it, "Would you like it if I did it to you?" Of course the reality is that "It's not fair!" tends to carry the codicil of "....to me or my interests." Whereas, "All's fair in love and war" seems to be a popular option when it works in our favor.

The Rule of Benevolence is the second ethical benchmark addressed. As a "utilitarian" rule of ethics. "This rule holds that one should act in ways that conduce to the greatest good for the greatest number or the least harm to the greatest number." The MacKenzies cite both Truman's decision to use the atomic bomb and affirmative action as applications. It's a commendable mindset, but I wonder if any of us can really presume to determine what will result in the greatest good for the greatest number and least harm to the greatest number. Who is deserving of benevolence and who presumes to act as benefactor? That seems to be an ethical dilemma in itself.

The Rule of Universality seems straightforward in asking "Would it be acceptable if everyone did it? " The MacKenzies ask "What if everyone 'borrowed' a ream of paper from the supply room?" Well, in my mind, stealing is stealing even if no one else did it and any real teacher knows they wouldn't have access to the supply room after hours anyway. A stickier, trickier application might be, "If a teacher allows a student to redo a specific assignment, is she then obligated to allow other students to redo a different assignment?" That's a universal teacher dilemma that can involve administrators, colleagues parents, and impact student learning.

Finally, there is the Rule of Publicity which asks, "Would it be acceptable behavior in everyone knew about it?" The authors refer to it as the "kid on your shoulder" rule: Would you do it if your own child were sitting on your shoulder watching you?" There are many things I have done and continue to do that I do not want my children observing over my shoulder. Use your imagination and talk among yourselves. Enough said......Even teachers have a right to some degree of privacy in both their personal and professional lives.

To their credit, the MacKenzies acknowledge that while the rules are clear in theory, the devil is in the details of application. But as they offer case studies and discussion that determine "correct" ethical actions, something is missing. The discussions seem to be a little too quick presume motives, intentions, experiences, and judgments of others. There is surety of ethical rectitude that does not encourage the reader to delve too deeply into the self examination and determination which forms the core of ethical behavior.

But I think what bothers me the most is that there seems to be a overriding assumption that the authors and the reader are somehow on a higher ethical ground than the general teaching population and therefore have the authority to make judgments about the ethics of others. That's unethical. In analyzing the scenarios presented, the discussions too often trespass on my personal ethical baseline which is

Assume good intentions.

When confronted with an ethical dilemma, if we assume good intentions, we are more likely to dig deeper for information and practice self reflection before judging the actions and ethics of others. That kind of open and inquiring habit of mind seems to be a foundational disposition for effective educators. A reflective practitioner might consider

• Am I applying personal or professional ethical standards in this situation?


• Can I presume I have all the facts necessary to make an informed ethical judgment?


• Does my ethical position require or justify imposing it the other parties involved?"


• If I have determined that I have the obligation to act on my perception of ethical practice, am I prepared to accept responsibility for repercussions to my school, my colleagues, and my students that result from my actions?"

Perhaps these questions are exactly what the authors intended the reader to raise, because on the back cover, Deborah Meier says

This is a book that should set off needed conversations in every school, classroom, and school board meeting---and at the dinner table. Sometimes I wanted to quarrel with the authors and that's part of the book's genius. It always managed to provoke me to think and to engage with these dilemmas.

Now What? Confronting and Resolving Ethical Questions, is styled "A Handbook for Teachers" and clearly designed as a professional development tool since the authors include a schedule for a five hour workshop and a protocol for examining potential ethical dilemmas.

Because the MacKenzies encouraged me think about ethics used the Resource B: Adapted Critical Event Reflective Journal Entry to determine a plan of action for an ethical dilemma I confronted in reviewing their book.

Now What? sells for $33.95 and has approximately 146 pages of text excluding index and references. Of those pages approximately 52 of them are the scenarios collected from practicing teachers. Authors profit financially and professionally from writing books. So I'm just wondering---If one applies the four rules of ethics shared in this book, do the MacKenzies have an ethical obligated to share credit and compensation with their teacher contributors?

Now What?

Posted by Susan Graham at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

One of the best things about summer is more time to read. There are books beside my chair. There are newspapers on the kitchen counter. There are magazines on the coffee table. And there is, of course, this screen on my desk. My son keeps telling me I need a Kindle. But while I communicate and publish digitally, I prefer to read off the printed page. As I sat reading my print version of The Washington Post I found a soulmate in Kathleen Parker who maintains that how we access reading has changed how we interact with what we read and write.

The tactile experience of reading is also crucial to my reading pleasure. Holding a book compares to nothing short of a baby's contact with his favorite blankie... We are all part of this immense digital experiment and we know not where it leads. But the tactile vacuum inherent in the medium can't be insignificant.... Reaching out and touching someone has become easier than ever, but we never really make contact. Hunkered over our keyboards, tapping and clicking messages to the vast Other, we have become a universe of lone rangers keeping the company of our own certitude.

Like it or not, how we read is definitely changing. In Smithsonian Magazine's 40 Things You Need to Know About the Next 40 Years issue, I ran across this:

America was founded on the written word....But reading and writing, like all technologies are dynamic....We are people of the screen....Books were good at developing a contemplative mind. Screens encourage more utilitarian thinking... Screen reading encourages rapid pattern-making, associating this idea with another, equipping us to deal with the thousands of new thoughts expressed every day. The screen rewards, and nurtures, thinking in real time.... Using their thumbs instead of pens, young people in college or at work around the world collectively write 12 billion quips per day from their phones. More screens continue to swell the volume of reading and writing.

It is inevitable that the digitization of information is going to change how we read, how we respond to reading and how we use what we read. It is a necessity that education adapt to technology because, just as surely as the printing press revolutionized the world in the 14th century, screens are changing the world humans live in now. My fellow blogger here at TM, Anthony Mullen, recently attended the International Society of Technology in Education conference. He talks about how he saw the future in the instructional tools presented, but, more compellingly, how he saw the future in real time.

A group of middle school children deftly weaved in and out of the crowded exhibition hall. They were wearing yellow shirts with red stripes and moved with the grace and synchronicity of a school of tropical fish. But the truly amazing feat was how they managed to navigate through the crowd while still performing tasks on their cell phones. It was then that I realized how disconnected I was from their world. The middle school students were living in a world dominated by opposable thumbs and I was living in a world managed by my left and right index fingers. The Age of Opposable Thumbs had usurped the forefingers largely responsible for accessing the Digital Age and I missed this seminal moment.

As educators we must adapt or become irrelevant and we must be given the latitude to make decisions about how to integrate and adapt learning to meet the needs of a changing world. It is both daunting and exhilarating. Here comes the future, ready or not.

Thumbs up--full speed ahead.

Posted by Susan Graham at 11:53 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Actually, it wasn't that much of a News Flash that High School Students are Bored. To tell you the truth, I don't know (and probably don't want to know) anyone who made it through high school without ever being bored. Because, just as when I was in high school,

....the factor the students most frequently cited as the cause of their boredom was that the "material wasn't interesting," with "lack of relevance" of the material following not too far behind. Some 35 percent of the bored students, however, indicated that the source of their boredom was a due to "a lack of interaction with their teacher."

Ouch, that last statement hurt! It demands that I look at my practice in the mirror of student perspective, so I checked out the the Indiana University School of Education High School Survey of Student Engagement. It reported that

As for what methods they preferred in the classroom, 65 percent agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, "I like discussions in which there are no clear answers."

Wow! That's enough to drive a data-driven principal into apoplexy! What's the mastery objective? Where do you put that on the curriculum map? When will this fit into the pacing guide? How will we know what they learned if there is no correct answer to put on the bubble sheet? Can a teacher be trusted to guide discussion? Can a teacher trust her students to engage in meaningful open ended discussion? Troubling questions, indeed.

So, what else did they like?

"Projects and Lessons Involving Technology" was chosen by 55 percent of students as an instructional method that was exciting/engaging either to some degree or very much.

Project based learning is all well and good; but does the project have content specificity with a clearly defined learning objective? Is there a measurable outcome? Will there be a rubric based assessment? Might the technology become a seductive distraction from the content? Does the teacher have the technical capabilities and classroom management skills to insure that students can manage this sort of assignment?

Teaching is a tricky business. Sometimes quality control seems to be more important than creativity and when that happens instruction tends to become rather static and less engaging.

Monday night I hung out with educator buddies from around the country. These incredibly creative, engaging and inspiring educators had gathered to present at the Virginia Commonwealth University Center for Teacher Leadership Symposium. First we had a long dinner with conversations that literally danced around the table--changing partners and topics, to and from classroom practice, our children, policy reform, literature, our individual work, gossip about friends, world events, the future of education, our futures, and the brainstorming projects we ought to pursue, to the big "what ifs." Then we gathered in a hotel room, huddled around two laptops, and attended a Teacher Letters to Obama webinar where teachers with varying perspectives and agendas from around the country came together to share their insights and perspectives on education policy. This group does not have an agenda of advocating specific "clear answers," they would just like to be part of the discussion.

One of the coolest things about the webinar format is that while one person has the mike and talks, it is possible to carry on a written instant message conversation with any and everyone in the virtual room. You can butt in without interrupting, pass notes without getting in trouble, and share insights and ideas as they come. Monday night there were four of us in the room carrying on a third tier of conversation as we talked among ourselves in physical space. Sounds like a high school classroom where all the kids are texting, twittering, and talking out loud at the same time!

I was still turning over the ideas and the insights and the possibilities from Monday's dinner and webinar when I read Anthony Rebora's review of the High School Survey of Student Engagement -- and I began to reflect on interactions with my colleagues and interactions with my students.

"I like discussions in which there are no clear answers."

Yeah, me too, and I learned a huge amount during those unstructured, somewhat chaotic, loud and rowdy discussions. And while I'm not an intuitive techie, my need to create materials, prepare presentations, and communicate with colleagues around the country have motivated me to become technologically proficient. Just as students learn best in project based learning situations, I've built my skills because I needed them to do meaningful work.

But do you know what I liked best about this survey?

It had an open ended question that allowed high school students to say what was on their mind, and it is interesting that one out of five responded. The executive summary of the survey results tells us

The most frequently expressed idea is that taking this survey is "pointless" and a waste of time. Those that give reasons for believing that there is no point in doing this survey generally state one of the following: no one listens to students or cares what students have to say, and no one will take action in response to students' views.

Wow! How often have I heard, "No one listens to teachers or cares what teachers have to say, and no one will take action in response to teachers' views."

I guess we are not alone in our frustrations. Or perhaps in creating frustrations for others. When reflecting on how we would like to be treated as educators, it behooves us to look at the mirror image of how our students would like to be treated as well.

Posted by Susan Graham at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend