Dr. Edward Roy Krishnan

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]“In my view the main purpose of language testing is to provide opportunities for learning, both for the students who are being tested, and for the professionals who are administering the tests” (Tomlinson, 2005)

I totally, completely, whole-heartedly agree with Tomlinson. In my opinion, testing (measurement and evaluation) is another way to teach & learn. Although scores on a test provide teachers and students with information about “how well a particular content has been understood and assimilated”…the more important objective of tests is LEARNING itself. In other words, students get an opportunity to reinforce, revise, and re-establish whatever they have learned in a class, ONE MORE TIME! Every test taken is actually every concept, idea, principle, re-visited. Tests help students to re-think and re-structure whatever was stored in the brain – when previously learned materials are pulled out – the brain re-constructs the same by associating them with other old and new materials, giving the concepts, ideas, and principles learned, in-depth meaning and complex and more structured connection with real-life.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Teachers are often comfortable to present students with definitions, explanations, and descriptions of concepts (especially if they are new) from textbooks. While this is not a harmful practice, I wonder how many of us want to convince ourselves that only those who write textbooks are capable of aptly defining, explaining, and describing something. Since we are innately predisposed with an intense sense of curiosity, we tend to desire the act of explaining things on our own…in our own words, the way it reflects and is connected to our own past, present, and future realities. This, in essence, points toward our need and ability to construct and re-construct knowledge by attaching meaning to a new (or any) learning material.

Keeping this in mind, today’s lesson on General Learning Goals (in EDUC390 Measurement and Evaluation for Education class) was introduced by presenting students with series of examples of General Learning Goals(GLG). After allowing some time for scanning and reading the examples of GLG, students were asked the following questions:

1. What are the similarities among the examples?
2. What are the differences among the examples?
3. What are other characteristics that you see emerging from the examples in front of you?

After writing answers for these three questions on the board, students were asked to write down their own definitions of GLG, in their own words, in pairs. These were some of the definitions proposed by students:

“General Learning Goals are statements that show the desired achievement of students as a whole, with no specific criteria.”

Vannak & Daneth

“General Learning Goals are central goals and can be broken down into sub-goals.”

Song & Champ

“General Learning Goals are aimed at building abilities in various aspects of learning in accordance to the course objectives or desired outcome from the course.”

Rachel

“General Learning Goals are broad views of what students will be able to do or know, that can lead to writing the specific objectives.”

Lerie & Monta

“General Learning Goals are overall expectation of students’ achievement.”

Waleed, Asher, Jimmy, Ju

Textbook Definition:

“General Learning Goals are the general educational aims – the broad outcomes that are expected. In articulating learning goals, teachers are answering the question – what will our students learn? Goals can focus on content, skills, or attitudes.”

Now, how different is the textbook definition from students’? Not much of a difference!

However, when encouraged and permitted, students who formulate their own definitions are better able to retain the meaning of a concept, recollect the same whenever necessary, and apply it in appropriate settings to refine and extend knowledge. Learning becomes fun, personal, and more meaningful this way. This is known as brain-based teaching!

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Managing children’s disruptive behavior at home and in the classroom is one of the most frustrating tasks for parents and teachers. Most adults learn and utilize numerous techniques for managing children’s behavior only to find themselves hopelessly fighting a losing battle. In the face of actual behavioral crises, adults sadly realize that most theories and techniques of behavior management are either too detached from the practical day-to-day life, or too technical to be completely understood, hence implemented.

“He can’t be handled…”

Such was the experience of a teacher, who came face-to-face with a disruptive student, whose primary interest was soccer. He was least interested about learning. His unruly behavior caused uproar and discomfort for everyone in the classroom. After trying out a variety of behavior management techniques, the teacher came to a dead end. The unpleasant, out-of-the-norm behavior was reinforced. The student became even more difficult to handle as time went by.

The past and present

In the medical world, physicians treat the sick by identifying symptoms and matching them to appropriate medication. This approach focuses on curing the symptoms. The actual cause of a sickness usually goes undetected. Such diagnosis provides temporary physical relief. Sooner or later, the symptoms surface, and the medication is repeated, with some revision to previous diagnosis, to relieve the person from the symptoms once again.

Adults at home and school have been using a similar approach to behavior management for many decades. They identify misbehaviors and match them to whatever behavior management techniques they are aware of. They try using these techniques to reduce or eliminate misbehavior after diagnosing the crisis situation. However, unlike a wound or some other physical sickness, a child’s behavior cannot be treated at a superficial level. Success in behavioral changes requires the utilization of a more holistic, systemic, and practical approach.

In other words, instead of superficially curing a wound, a good behavior management model requires that the source of the wound is identified and treated alongside the wound itself. If the wound is recurrent, it is possible that the actual root of the whole issue is abuse at home. In this case, treating the wound alone does not solve the problem. Parents and teachers who attempt to reduce or eliminate a disruptive behavior (symptom) at a superficial level commit the mistake of overlooking the actual reason(s) for misbehavior.

The New Approach: Focusing on Strengths

At the core of traditional behavior management techniques is the obsession to focus on the weaknesses of children (their wrong-doings), to the extent that the power of these weaknesses are overestimated. Adults have failed to recognize and make use of children’s strengths to their advantage. In other words, problems in behavior management persist because we fail to look at the right place for solution.

The new approach to behavior management requires that we shift our gaze and attention from children’s weaknesses, problems, deficits, to their strengths and potential. According to Buckingham and Clifton (2001), “the real tragedy of life is not that each of us doesn’t have enough strengths; it’s that we fail to use the ones we have!”

A longitudinal research, conducted over a period of 30 years by the Gallup Organization on the best ways to maximize an individual’s potential found the following:

1. Each individual’s talents (strengths) are enduring and unique.
2. Each individual’s greatest room for growth is in the areas of his/her greatest strength.

Thus, instead of focusing on a problem behavior (or asking the question, “What is the problem Roy?”), adults should ask themselves and children the following questions:

›  “What are your strengths?”

›  “What specific qualities, supports, skills, attitudes, aptitudes, and talents have you relied on to make it this far?”

Preoccupation with a problem behavior and trying one’s best to treat, reduce, or eliminate it only accentuate and reinforce the behavior. A better approach to deal with a disruptive behavior is not to talk about it at all. Instead, examining, identifying, and discussing about the strengths one possesses yield a more positive result in the long run. The outcome of such an approach is lasting and genuine (inside-out change). Further, a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment derived from one area of strength help children to gain control of and experience success in other areas of life. Eventually, children become internally motivated to behave constructively in all of life’s situations.

He can be handled

Employing the new approach to behavior management to deal with the child whose preoccupation in soccer causes disruption in the classroom, the teacher stopped focusing on the many misbehaviors displayed during lessons. Rather, the teacher visited the child during a soccer game and watched him in his best state of mind and behavior. The teacher observed the child as he demonstrated his soccer skills and celebrated his strength. By doing so, the teacher communicated an important message to the child – “I am proud of you and I believe in your potential to continually succeed in soccer!”

The outcome of the new approach was fascinating!

When the child came to class the next day, he swapped his back seat to one closer to the teacher, paid attention during lessons, participated when required, and asked the teacher and classmates to help him with homework and other assignments.

This incident clearly reflects the truth in what Saleebey (2001) said about behavioral changes, “People are more motivated to change when their strengths are supported.”

How does it happen? (The process)

The new approach to behavior management takes into account children’s strengths. As such, the primary role of parents and teachers would be to identify and use these strengths to deal with any sort behavioral crises. The process is simple and is illustrated in the following diagrams:

behavior mgt. new approach.ppt

Conclusion

When parents and teachers identify, support, and celebrate children’s strengths, they provide an opportunity for the young ones to find meaning and gain satisfaction in life. Focusing on strengths rather than wrong-doings allows for a more positive interaction between children and adults. As such, the new approach to behavior management is a more constructive intervention tool that yields definite and explicit encouraging results in terms of behavioral changes.

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Introduction

Schooling is one of the most fascinating and vital components in a child’s life. Although the school is a social institution that is relatively slow in adapting to and meeting the demands of the changing world, it still plays a crucial role in the growth and development of individuals. As such, parents are naturally inclined to choosing a ‘good school’ for their children.

The choice for, and the selection of, a ‘good pre-school’ have become a major concern for parents who intend to provide their kids, in the early childhood years, with the best possible schooling experience. The question, “What makes a pre-school good, or not-so- good for my kid?” is common among parents. When answered realistically, parents can assure themselves of the long-term benefits of the mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual growth and development of children, as a result of enrolling their kids into a good pre-school program.

The Essential Four

Parents who are successful in discovering a ‘good pre-school’ for their children are aware of, and work in accordance to, the following four factors:

1. The philosophy and objectives of a pre-school
2. The developmental milestone of early childhood years
3. The professional and personal characteristics of teachers and other staff
4. The attitude and leadership approach of administrators in relation to teachers, students, parents, and the wider community

At the heart of these four factors, is the need to ask an extremely crucial question (in a time where most schools are run for commercial purposes): “Is the pre-school run like a money-making business, or an educational-social-institution, aimed at fulfilling the needs of children in the context of their developmental characteristics and the demands of an ever-changing world?”

Early Childhood Development

During the early childhood years (approximately 2 to 6 years), an individual experiences the peak of growth and development (physical, mental, and social-emotional) like no other throughout life-span. Psychology indicates that it is a time of ‘rapid’ growth.

During this period, a child steadily increases in weight (5 pounds every year) and height (2-3 inches every year). By the age of 6, children make up almost 45% of body length. They lose their baby teeth and gain new ones. Their legs grow much faster than the rest of the body. Every part of the body, including internal organs, becomes optimized in function. Both fine and gross motor skills become fined-tuned and enhanced in utility, enabling the child to perform both smooth and coordinated physical acts. Gradually, the senses become perfected to pick up the numerous stimuli present in the surrounding to help the child make sense of the world and everything in it.

The brain increases from 70 to 90 percent of its adult weight – the neurons rapidly multiply and the dendritic-connections become ever more complex as a result of the stimulation of various senses that serve as windows to the mind. The left hemisphere of the brain becomes active and ready for the acquisition of a communication tool, namely, language, and related skills. The right hemisphere of the brain becomes active and ready for the development of spatial skills (drawing, recognizing shapes, etc.).

Children are constantly attempting to assign meaning to everything that they encounter at this stage. They engage in complex information processing by utilizing their past knowledge and connecting the same with their present learning. Children in this stage of life acquire new concepts on a daily basis. At first, these concepts are superficially understood. However, children constantly re-examine their repertoire of concepts to gain an in-depth understanding of the same. As such, learning itself is their best buddy…they learn everywhere, anywhere, from everyone, and all the time! Concepts acquired and understood are foundational to what would become the knowledge-bank of the child when he/she goes into the elementary school and is required to work on more complex tasks.

Abstract thinking is not clearly evident at this stage. Children decipher things by relating to concrete experiences and happenings. They use language to simplify, and concretely comprehend everything that they come into contact with. For example, the concept of ‘love’ may not be understood by a child as it is understood by an adult. For a child, ‘love’ is simply something as beautiful as a butterfly, or a puppy, etc. Relating ‘love’ to a butterfly or a puppy is the only way a child partially understands an abstract concept such as ‘love’.

It is not unusually for children to give ‘life’ to inanimate objects. They might engage in pretend-play with imaginary friends. They use lots of symbols in their drawings, actions, and talking. These symbols reflect the deep rooted desires, hopes, and other internal experiences.

Children start off by being primitively intuitive in understanding everything around them (e.g. the phenomenon of rain might be understood as a giant crying in the sky). Gradually, they become more and more scientific in their attempts to understand things. They formulate simple hypotheses and test them in opportune time. Children rely on their interactions with adults to be able to obtain qualitative data to test and establish their hypotheses. Thus, the rain, which was initially understood as merely the tears of a giant, is later recognized as the outcome of a series of complex process that takes place on earth and its surrounding atmosphere.

Simply put, the mind of a child is constantly working to assign meaning to everything around him/her. This is the time when most fundamentals of concept-formation and concept-attainment are set for later acquisition of knowledge, both simple and complex.

Socialization and acculturation are two other important developmental characteristics of children in this stage. Apart from using their bodies, senses, and brain to the optimal level, children also strive to achieve mastery in the area of social life. Although they start off as highly egocentric, they slowly come to realize that others are different from them and do not have to be alike to be liked and interacted with. They learn about social interaction and social mannerism from parents, siblings, relatives, teachers, and friends. They quickly become adapted to social norms and try their best to live in accordance to the requirements and demands of their social groups. Their need to belong to other humans is intense at this stage. This helps them to form a clear identify of themselves. Their identities are embedded in their immediate cultural and societal heritage and experiences.

Positive social and cultural environment allow children to develop strong sense of trust (pre-requisite to emotional stability), independence (to act, to make choices, to initiate), and resourcefulness (putting to use creative energies). These qualities, when nurtured in the context of constructive relationships with significant and non-significant adults, help children to become confident in their abilities to initiate thinking and action to accomplish tasks that are important to them. Enhancement in the area of self-efficacy (“I believe I can do things and be a success in them”) leads to the development of positive self-image. Children who are allowed these privileges invariably take on high self-esteem.

Choosing a ‘Good’ Pre-school

In the light of the above-mentioned points, the following hints serve to guide parents to evaluate whether a pre-school is ‘good’ or ‘not so good’ for their own children:

1. The pre-school is founded upon, and run based on, a strong and consistent philosophical foundation of education. The objectives, both short-term and long-term, reflect the philosophy of education. The individual and collective practices of every member of the school workforce are aimed at fulfilling these objectives.
2. At the core of all educational practices, the child and his/her learning experiences constitute the number one priority of administrators, teachers, and other staff. The pre-school focuses on learning-centerededucation for each child, regardless of his/her entry level abilities and experiences.
3. All the members of the school’s workforce are genuinely caring, understanding, and empathic under any circumstance. Children are approached in the spirit of unconditional love. Their needs are met without compromise. Their learning is personalized to fit their own physical, cognitive, and social-emotional abilities.
4. Positive interaction exists between children and teachers. Teachers are passionate about their work and spend most of their time in the pre-school working with and for children. They do not spend more time chatting away with other teachers during recess or additional free time. Rather, they make use of every opportune moment to strengthen relationships and provide useful learning experiences to children.
5. Children are not curbed to be themselves in any way. They are allowed, encouraged, and stimulated to express themselves through various activities (play, drawing, writing, drama, dance, music, etc.). The unfolding of their inner experiences and the development of the same are vital goals of pre-schooling.
6. Multi-sensory approaches to learning are utilized, incorporating activities that will tap into all the possible intelligences possessed by children, depending on their individual preferences and strengths. This is done by creative and resourceful structuring and re-structuring of programs and learning activities that involve every part of a child – physical, mental, social, emotional, and even spiritual.
7. Ample opportunities for positive, respectable, and dignified discussions between teachers and children. Discussions such as these encourage children to become strong decision-makers, critical and creative in thinking through issues, and compassionate and sensitive to the needs and experiences of others around them.
8. Facilities and equipments that help children further develop their bodily and cognitive faculties are essential components of a pre-school. This includes fun and educational toys, a well-planned playground, computers with educational software, and other essentials.
9. Language development is at the core of all that takes place in a pre-school. Children think and express themselves using a language. Opportunities for verbal interactions among children are provided on a daily basis. At the same time, it is important for a pre-school to celebrate the native language of a child so that he/she can use both his/her native tongue (e.g. Thai) and the school language (e.g. English) to understand things more deeply. By denying the rights to use and honor one’s own native tongue, a child might become disillusioned and confused about his/her own identity and question who he/she really is.
10. In a global-village-like world, it is appropriate to have pre-school classes that are diverse in its student population. This helps children to become aware of the diversity that exists in the real-world and learn to adapt to the requirements and challenges of the same. This also exposes them to a variety of culture and lifestyles early in life, and encourages them to appreciate differences without becoming defensive or offensive.
11. Safety and security is one of the most important concerns in a pre-school. Children are packed with energy and they release it by being physically active. Often, in their quest to make use of their physical energies to the maximum, they might injure themselves through accidents of different sorts. A pre-school is well-equipped with emergency measures, well-connected with clinics and hospitals, and ensures that its staff has basic knowledge of first-aid interventions. Apart from that, the pre-school compound is also vigilantly guarded to keep away from negative external forces.
12. Children are not taught by teachers. Children are not required to memorize. They are allowed to learn as they would learn in the natural environment – as they would in real-life. Teachers simply serve as facilitators of events and experiences. Teachers provide enriching learning environments for children to explore and discover and make sense of knowledge by themselves (analogy: provide bricks and other necessary materials to build a house – and allow children to build their own houses – teachers do not build a house and present their houses to children, and ask them to reproduce the same). In essence, both teachers and students are learners!
13. Teachers strongly believe that everything they do and say in the classroom affect children in significant ways. Thus, they are careful about what they say and do. They hold high but realistic expectation of every child and work with each one individually to maximize his/her potential. Teachers take complete responsibility for the success of every child and treat each child with respect and honor.
14. Children are not treated like ‘little-adults’ – rather, they are valued for who they are and what they bring with them into the classroom. Teachers give equal importance to the learning of concepts and skills and to the emotional well-being of children. Everything is done in a conducive, trusting, respectful environment.
15. The administrators treat teachers with respect and take care of their welfare. They also relate well with students and parents, and utilize open and transparent communication styles to resolve any issue or conflict. The leaders of the pre-school are willing to listen to and learn from students, teachers, and parents. They are constantly motivated to change for the better and improve in educational practices. They put students, parents, and teachers first before themselves. They are continually asking the question: “Are we doing enough to ensure the maximum development of children and the people who are helping them?”

Conclusion

All of the above and many other factors determine whether a pre-school is apt for children’s education or not. Ultimately, the most important characteristic I would personally look for in a pre-school is whether the school is a CARING COMMUNITY or otherwise. A school, filled with caring people, invariably falls in-line with important principles of early childhood education.

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The Myth and Fact

about Motivation

(This article is inspired by and dedicated to Ms. Rupali Jeswal, who is a caring mother, teacher, and healer)

When I first started lecturing at college, I bumped into a serious problem that was, according to my colleagues, pervasive and irreversible. Teachers complained that students, while academically capable, were not applying themselves well in learning. According to them, although students possessed average or above average intelligence, they did not have the motivation to excel and perform at the level of their true potential. Often, students underperformed not because they lacked the intellectual capabilities, but simply because they did not want to achieve the best.

Since I faced the same problem in my own classes, I became personally interested in studying this phenomenon and finding a solution for the same. My reading, interviews, and observations led me to learning an astonishing truth about motivation and how it operates in human life.

Defining Motivation

Motivation encompasses all the bio-physiological, social-psychological, and mental-spiritual drives that govern human functioning. These are essentially internal processes that allow an individual to interact with his/her environment to fulfill his/her immediate and/or distant needs. When motivation is in operation, it affects and is affected by the external environment of an individual. Both internal and external processes interact to formulate the kind of experiences an individual has, at a particular point in time, in his/her life. The collective outcomes of motives-driven behavior (over time, space, and events) make us who we are and what we strive for.

In common terms, motivation drives the human behavior, thinking, and emotion. Our motives, whether they are biologically-originated, spiritually-initiated, or mentally-activated, command the execution of a series of purposeful, systematic, behavioral patterns. The end product of any ‘motive-in-action’ is goal-fulfillment, in the form of need satisfaction.

Motivation in Learning

Let’s go back to my experience in dealing with students who are intellectually capable, but who are seemingly least motivated to achieve the best at school. Traditional viewpoint on motivation would label such students as lazy and de-motivated (not motivated). However, the problem is not as simple as that. These students are NOT lazy. They are anything but de-motivated. If they are truly lazy, then they would not even be there in the class. If they are lazy, they will not wake up early in the morning, clean up, get dressed, and walk all the way from their dormitories to the cafeteria for breakfast, and then to the classroom. There was something else that was missing in the whole equation, and I was determined to find out what it really was.

As I investigated further into the issue, I learned that humans are NEVER de-motivated. When we hear statements such as, “He is a lazy student,” or “He is least motivated,” or “She might as well quit schooling because she is not motivated,” we must dismiss them as a myth. There is no such thing as a ‘de-motivated human’. The only time a human being is de-motivated is when he/she is dead (or asleep). That is when we cease to behave, think, and feel. That is when we become non-existent (or non-functional), hence, de-motivated.

So, how do we explain the behavior of students who, in spite of possessing the intellectual prowess, wish not to apply themselves well in the classroom? Well, there is no simple answer to this question. However, we now know that these students are not necessarily de-motivated in any way. They are highly motivated individuals. The question that parents and teachers should attempt to answer is, “What really motivates them?”

As mentioned earlier, our behavior, thinking, and emotion are all driven by motives. When students display lethargy, indifference, and lack of interest in learning, they are actually telling their parents and teachers that their object-of-desire is not the same as the one held by parents and teachers for them.

The clash of Desires

For example, a student’s object-of-desire might be to own a Transformers toy. At the same time, his parents’ object-of-desire is for him to pay undivided attention in school work, and perform well in the upcoming science test. When the two desires clash, there is an explosion that cause bitterness and unproductivity. As a result, the student might disappoint his parents by not performing on the test the way his parents had expected him to perform (for the simple reason of him not investing time and energy preparing for the test; Instead, his time and energy were directed at wishing/longing for his object-of-desire, which is the Transformers toy). The student on the other hand, might get upset with his parents for coming in the way of his desire to own and cherish a Transformers toy (need not fulfilled).

The example above illustrates the fact that while humans are constantly motivated, they are not motivated or driven toward the same thing. Problems in the classroom, specifically in learning occur when students’ objects-of-desire significantly differ from the ones specified and expected by their families and society. Students are highly motivated, at any given time. However, it is rare to find students who are highly motivated in learning. As such, parents and teachers must realize that their greatest task is to identify ways and implement strategies to create and instill in students LEARNING as their number one object-of-desire! Once students become intensely desirous of learning, nothing and no one can distract or ‘de-track’ them from achieving the best at school. When students reach this state of functioning, they are said to have had obtained an internally driven desire to learn.

The Crux of the Matter

While some needs are biological and can be fulfilled with relative ease, the need to achieve and become successful at school is a matter of choice. It is not hard to motivate children to eat, play, sleep, or even watch a cartoon. However, when it comes to learning, parents and teachers often find themselves in a game of ‘tug-of-war’ with their children. The secret to motivating children in learning is to instill in them the DESIRE TO LEARN. Ideally, this desire is instilled early in the life of a child. However, a desire in anything can be instilled and nurtured in any stage of life. So, parents and teachers CAN help their children to become highly motivated in learning by instilling and nurturing the desire to learn in their children/students, at any given time and place.

Instilling the Desire to Learn

I have discovered the following to be very useful and effective to instill and nurture a desire to learn in children/students:

1. Talk about school, learning, success, achievement, knowledge, etc. as something positive and beneficial. Mean it, in words and action, that “Learning is rewarding, fun, and life-changing.”
2. Provide, and talk about heroes or role models who themselves had valued learning and became successful individuals as a result of doing well at school. Don’t go too far looking for such individuals. It can be the child’s grandfather, mother, uncle, cousin, teacher, etc.
3. Introduce and uphold the reading-culture at home and in the classroom. Our society is contaminated by the MTV-culture where shopping and TV watching have become the main activities of children and youth. If we want our children/students to become people of substance and noble character, we need to encourage them to read. This has to start with us, parents and teachers! Read when you are alone; read when you are with your children/students.
4. Play an active role in children’s/students’ learning experiences. Be a part of them. Cherish and celebrate every success achieved. Your attitude toward learning significantly affects your children’s/student’s attitude toward it. Your desire for learning will infect your children/students with a similar desire.
5. Talk, talk, and talk about learning. Desires are borne out of a constant exposure to something. When we expose children/students to the act of learning and all the rewards and satisfaction that it brings, they will become convinced that it’s worth making LEARNING their number one OBJECT-OF-DESIRE!

Copyright July 2007 by Edward Roy Krishnan, PhD

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The School, a Place of Healing

More and more schools now require students’ involvement in community outreach services. For some educators, this is an integral part of the existing curriculum. For others, it is an addition to what students’ learn during regular instructional days. Regardless of its purpose, research indicates that there is more to social involvement than just enhancing learning and acquiring a rich repertoire of real-life experiences. Volunteering and helping others in the community increase the personal happiness level of students, and eventually, affect their academic performance, in significant ways.

Money, good looks, intelligence, and youth – these have often been popularly thought of as ingredients for one’s happiness. However, an article released by Psychology Today (Jan/Feb 2005) confirmed that the above mentioned components do not predict one’s happiness. In fact, when schools advocate these as being important predictors of personal satisfaction, an unwarranted pressure is placed on students. In their attempts to reach these high and unrealistic standards, students find themselves developing negative pictures of “who they are?” and “what they are capable of?”

Thus, a school that encourages students to focus on doing something good for others effectively helps to reduce the feeling of unhappiness in them. When students are happy, they emit positive feelings and these feelings facilitate the development of sound mental and physical health.

A Case to Consider (adapted from www.SelfGrowth.com)

In the year 2000, a teenage boy died in a drowning accident in a small rural town in Oregon, USA. The small town was too poor to pay for services that would allow its residents to respond to emergencies of any sort. The sad part of the story is that, the boy’s death could have been prevented if an ambulance and trained medical personnel had been available.

Stricken by an intense grief for her son’s death, the mother decided to change the situation in her small town. She directed her energy into something positive. Preventing such accidents and deaths in the future became her life-goal. Instead of waiting for things to happen, she took the initiative and proactively moved in the direction of this goal and its fulfillment.

She got herself trained and qualified, raised money to purchase an ambulance, and trained volunteers to help her. To date, it is estimated that this volunteer ambulance service has saved the lives of over 100 people that might have died, as her son did, due to a lack in emergency care.

When interviewed, she said, “It’s easier to forget your own loss when you are busy helping others.”

The Psychology of Social Involvement

Humans are essentially social beings. Research in social psychology indicate that most factors responsible for happiness are anchored in the concept of interpersonal relationship. This concept is a thread that runs through all the empirical research findings (e.g., developing good social skills, volunteering and charity work, getting married or living together, etc.) that talk about happiness and life satisfaction.

According to Shaoni Bhattacharya (Health Psychology, May 2005), “Low levels of social connectedness can adversely affect the body – lowering immune response and affecting heart health.” In other words, when an individual human becomes an isolate or loner, he/she faces a greater risk of suffering from unsound mental and physical health.

In the context of the school, it is now known that most students reject learning and perform poorly on the basis of emotional, rather than intellectual reasons. When students lack a feeling of social connectedness at school, they shut off their minds to learning and engage in what the adults perceive as ‘deviant behaviors’. In essence, this can be prevented and eventually removed if schools become a place where opportunities for social involvement and participation are encouraged and celebrated.

When students are allowed to make a difference in the lives of others around them, their attitude toward schooling changes. They become increasingly motivated to work hard, excel, and continue to contribute (in their own ways) to the community. In other words, by doing good to others, they experience the psychological removal of the “I feel bad” attitude. Their happiness level increases significantly, and the healing that they have always longed for sets-in, in the most natural manner.

Benefits of Social Involvement

Various research indicate the following to be the outcomes of active social involvement:

1. Less likely to suffer illnesses – the close interpersonal relationships in community service projects enhance physical and psychological healing processes
2. Improves social support networks – people with strong social support networks have lower premature death rates, less heart disease, and fewer health risks
3. Improves self-esteem
4. Protects from the effects of stress
5. Decreases insomnia (inability to sleep well)
6. Shortens surgery recovery time
7. Produces a heightened sense of well-being
8. Increases opportunities for close interpersonal relationships (develops social skills)
9. Strengthens a sense of identity
10. Increases the overall life expectancy

Apart from bringing personal benefits to students (sound physical and mental health), social involvement, in various forms of community service projects also help them to realize their place and responsibility in the larger society. These projects open their eyes to the many problems faced by the people living in the ‘world’. They become sensitive and considerate toward the needs of others. They become charged to initiate changes. They feel a sense of ownership and accountability for everything (good and bad) happening around them. These are the qualities that make up for a good citizenry.

Implications for Schools

Although students are naturally inclined to mingle around and have friends, the school must play an active role in binding them together, by means of socially involving activities and tasks. Encouraging students to work together on community service projects allows them to bond socially, on a more purposeful level. They put their heads together, plan, organize, implement, and evaluate their actions in the presence of others.

This sense of collective-achievement-of-goals produces a therapeutically healing environment in the context of positive interpersonal relationships and substantial contribution toward making others happier. The effects of this healing process is more powerful than the slow-paced healing that takes place in a counselor’s room, that spans over a period of at least 12 therapeutic sessions. In reality, the school is not just an institution of learning; it is also an institution of healing, both for students, as well as for others around it.

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Setting a definite goal and moving in a particular direction in the light of a pre-planned schedule and a set of procedures may work well in all spheres of life – but it may not be so in teaching and learning. Unlike other activities that we commonly engage in, teaching and learning require tons of flexible and spontaneous activities and experiences. While scheduling and procedures make up crucial components in the delivery of quality education, they should not dictate and dominate the progress and processes of teaching and learning in the classroom.

Since the school system stemmed from a necessity to fill the need of industrialization (producing workers to fit into various job-descriptions), one the most widespread teaching practices that was and is still prevalent is TEACHING TO THE TEST. Teaching to the test means teaching (covering content/syllabus) a particular subject in preparation for a forthcoming test. When a teacher teaches to a test, everything he/she does in the classroom is geared toward accomplishing the goal of getting learners ready for that test. The ultimate purpose for everything that happens in such a classroom is to make sure that students are equipped with enough knowledge and/or skills to successfully face and deal with the questions in the test.However, there are many problems with this approach, some of which are enumerated as follows:

• Rigidity in instruction and learning
• Lack of time and opportunities for explorative activities
• Knowledge is ‘passed down’ instead of ‘discovered’
• Test anxiety
• Death of creativity
• Pressure to cover course contents – other more important aspects of learning, like social-emotional learning, relationships-building, character-building, etc., are neglected
• Quality compromised for the sake of quantity
• Lack of meaningful teaching-learning experiences (while learning should be structured, students benefit the most when certain amount of flexibility and spontaneity are injected in the process of acquiring knowledge and skills)
• Lack of fun in the learning process (negative emotions significantly obstruct meaningful learning)
• Inability to experiment with different answers and approaches
• Demotivation & lack of interest
• etc.

An alternative to this ineffective and dated approach is the TEACHING FIRST, AND THEN TESTING approach. This approach does not compromise or do away with the application of structured instruction. However, within every structured learning program, a teacher infuses a variety of creative, constructive, stimulating, engaging, and exciting activities that inspire learners to actively create their own knowledge, form, extend, and use concepts, and evaluate their understanding of a particular knowledge/skill. Because the pressure for content coverage and test anxiety are eliminated, both the teacher and students are encouraged to explore, inquire, analyze, and examine every lesson extensively. This provides an opportunity for students to gain meaningful learning experiences. It also allows them to become creative and critical about everything that is discussed in the classroom. They no longer act as ‘mere reflectors of other people’s ideas’ – rather, they become ‘idea creators’ themselves. Application of knowledge to real-life settings is at its peak in this kind of learning environment.

Teachers who utilize this approach realize the importance of flexible and spontaneous classroom practices to elicit maximum participation in students while learning. Students’ needs are constantly assessed and content coverage greatly depends on interest, desires, and aspirations of students (as opposed to what curriculum designers or the education superintendents feel/think students need at a particular time). This makes sense because it is the teacher who is directly in touch with his/her students; it is the teacher who knows his/her students well. This implies that it is the teacher who has the inherent right and privilege to decide what should be taught and how and when it should be taught. Having that established, it also makes a lot of sense to allow the teacher to decide, along with his/her students as to what testing should and should not encompass (and how it should and should not be, which give way to a more creative and practice-based assessment and evaluation techniques).

When learning takes place in a classroom that is characterized by teaching to the test, students find it difficult to establish meaning and purpose for learning the contents of a particular subject. However, when teachers teach first, and then test, students are passionate about what they are learning, and they enjoy tests.

How long do we want to follow the same old practice of teaching to the test merely because it has been in operation from time immemorial? How long should we focus on teaching our learners a set of knowledge so that they can do well in a pre-determined set of questions in a test paper? Shouldn’t we start thinking about teaching our students how to create their own knowledge? Isn’t it time for us to consider testing students on their own ideas and inventions – challenging them to justify their concepts and understanding through explanations and dialogues?

The greatest advantage of the teaching first, and then testing approach is that students acquire lessons in living balanced and healthy lifestyles. In other words, the social-emotional aspects of a learner are cared for in the process of learning. This is not a possibility in the teaching to the test approach because the teacher and students are focused completely on doing well in the test. Both would do whatever it takes to reach that end (even if it is without any meaning). This is the reason why more and more ‘educated’ people are involved in crime and socially unacceptable behaviors. While they do well in tests, their characters are not developed. They simply didn’t have the time for both academic and social-emotional learning in the classroom. Feelings are neglected and relationships are injured in the teaching to the test approach. The end product of this approach is intelligent humans without bodies and hearts that would support a purposeful existence. That’s why many ‘good students’ in the old school tremble and fail in the face of trials and difficulties in life. They don’t have what it takes to be ‘bullish’.

On the other hand, students who are taught first, and then tested, become proud citizens who cherish their purposeful lives, and steadily create opportunities to excel while working toward improving the lives of others around them through creative innovations and constructive contributions in the form of ideas, products, and quality relationships. In other words, they become blessings to themselves and others around them.

Copyright by Edward Roy Krishnan, PhD
April 12, 2007
www.affectiveteaching.com
[email protected][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]