A Crisis of Understanding

Dr. Bonnstetter is the Secondary Science Education Coordinator at the University of Nebraska. His award winning program has been recognized by the National Science Teachers Association and Dr. Bonnstetter was honored as the first recipient of the Outstanding National Science Teacher Education by the Association for Science Teacher Education.

Abstract

The following message sent to a recent methods class speaks to all of us, as we struggle to prepare our future teachers of today for the schools of tomorrow. The message is intended to not only help preservice teachers better understand their own developmental phase, but to give voice to all methods instructors who struggle to communicate a vision of what could be, to a group of students whose only reference is past personal experience.

A Crisis of Understanding

“Personally, have no idea what's going on...Thursdays class made no sense to me, and all these terms and methods for teaching mean absolutely nothing to me. Am I behind the rest of the class and if so how can I catch up? Ron, no offense, but for me you make no sense and have no consistency from class to class. So everyday I walk in not sure what we accomplished last time and no idea where we are going that day.
Help”

Dear Methods Students:
I am sure this email message speaks for many of you. In the past my response at this point in the course was to convince each of you that “things will come together and will make sense soon”. In fact I sent a portion of Jen’s note to a couple of former students, and here is one immediate response. “Well, here we go again. Remember, the first five to eight weeks of methods are so full of anxiety...keep reminding them that it really does all comes together.”

But rather than simply saying, “trust me”, I think I will try another approach this time. Because I am trying to figure out the process myself, I should be willing to share both my insights and my frustrations with the process of helping each of you to become the best teacher possible. So here goes.

I find that most of us, at least in parts of our lives, are walking down a road facing backwards. In other words, we are moving forward, but only looking backward at past experiences and past beliefs to formulate our response to each new life encounter along the road. Consequently, many of us continue to make the same mistakes and respond to new events using old solutions.

Then you run into a roadblock, this course as an example. I am requesting that each of you reexamine this thing called teaching and learning, and in the process, begin to confront your own assumptions about how educating our future generations should be done. As I read Jen’s note, I hear a person who recognizes that I am not giving answers and is frustrated with “things not being the same as other classes”. This is good. She is starting to feel the discomfort that comes from no longer assuming that the past will open the doors to the future. As a friend of mine recently said, “You must be lost to realize that you need to find a new path”. In fact, I would go so far as to say that until you admit that you are lost, you can not truly learn to be a great teacher. Sadly, I have learned that some students, and some practicing teachers for that matter, who see no problem with the status quo, also see no reason to examine their beliefs about effective practice. They are doomed to a future that only used the past for direction. But I find that others who at least attempt to deal with new insights into practice appear to go through various stages of development.

In an effort to create a model for these stages, I would like to consider the literature on death and dying. Our family has had to recently face the issue of terminal illness and I have learned a great deal from this experience. For example, this body of knowledge suggests that many people move through 5 stages when faced with their own impending death. If we replace the word “death” with “the word loss” We might be able to find ourselves somewhere on this continuum as we face other life changing events as well.

So first, there must be a reason for change. Facing ones own mortality certainly qualifies, but as I previously stated, “you must be lost to realize that you need to find a new path. In effect, within this course, I must take something away from you that creates, at least for some of you, “a loss”. For example, you are being asked to face the fact that schools do not work for many of our students. For many of our teachers, teaching is not a profession that they find fulfilling. And having a course that offers more questions than answers leaves many with no ideas what to do or how to learn from the experience. At this point I must add that not everyone in our class is at the same point on this continuum nor do all students go through every stage. During any given semester, I will have students who have spent years thinking about nagging questions concerning effective teaching, while others simply have not given any of this much thought until now. Still others just want to be told what is expected so they can continue to continue with no real thought or personal anguish. They have been successful up to this point by gathering simple answers verse seeking understanding. By the way, this is the only group that really worries me as a teacher educator. They are so happy with the present that they have no clue of the numerous lost opportunities they have missed and will continue to miss. They truly believe that the past holds all the answers to the future.

Let’s examine the stages and see if we each can place ourselves on this continuum.

Denial (There is NO problem)
This is the first step. They view teaching as something they have experienced for years and fully intends to employ this model for the rest of their professional life. They can be heard saying, “It was good enough for me, it’s good enough for my students”. Some programs are built on this philosophy and when this is the case, both student and teacher educators are at peace. Even in a progressive program, a few students, behind closed doors, whisper to themselves, “All I need to do is put up with this B…S… and I can get my certification and teach as I please.” “They can’t “fix” me, because there is nothing wrong.” Many pre-service and present teachers successfully practice this passive aggressive behavior. Until this group sees that there is a problem, no amount of convincing will change their behavior.

Therefore, a methods program that is proactive must recognize this stage and help these students see problems where they presently perceive none. But a warning must be given concerning this group. With continued pressure to address problems within the present system, some will move to the next phase. A program with one or two such students may be helped with time and care, but if the number reaches a critical mass, the instructor can loss the battle for learning and have outright rebellion in a methods class. Let’s examine the characteristics of this next stage.

Anger (No ownership of problem)
“I CAME INTO THIS PROGRAM TO BE TAUGHT HOW TO BE A TEACHER!” What this really means is “I already know how to teach and all you are supposed to do is bless my ideas and then get out of my way and YOU ARE NOT HELPING!!” “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, TELLING ME I HAVE TO CHANGE MY IDEAS ABOUT TEACHING!”

The focus of this anger is many times directed at either the methods instructor, the University supervisor or the cooperating teacher. It is absolutely amazing that an “n” of one perspective for these students out weighs any and all research supported logic.

Both preservice and classroom teachers, who are in the anger phase, must be allowed to voice their emotion in a loving and caring environment. The goal is to help them understand both the need to change and then to help them take ownership of the problem and their role in it.

Bargaining (I will only look and act like I am complying)
This phase involves students who become wolfs in sheep’s clothing. They play the game and appear to be on board. But down deep they are only playing a role. They are masters at displaying the right skills, but still have no understanding of the reasons for the skills. No real understanding of the problems facing teachers each day and no rationale for their actions. They bargain away true understanding and replace it with noncommittal and passionless actions. “Just tell me how to do it and I will comply, but don’t expect anything else of me.”

4. Depression (I see the problems and it is simply too much for me to handle)
These students can show clinical signs of depression and withdrawal and hopelessness. They begin to grasp the problem and are terrified of not being able to meet the challenge and teach to meet the needs of their students. Actually all of us fall back into this phase from time to time and from one day to the next. This group sees the problem and without help can be consumed by it. This is where colleagues, family, and friends must be ready to join forces to help each of us see the problem clearly and develop plans of action that confront the problem in a proactive manner.

5. Acceptance (This group accepts the challenge and rejoices at new dilemmas.
For these teachers, everyday is a new opportunity to learn and grow professionally. They thrive on new experiences and seek understanding. They share their new insights and actively seek new questions. They can be described as “life long learners”

After a recent class, a student locked firming in the Anger stage, let go with both barrels stating that “it” worked for her and it was high time that students learned to cope and not expect the teacher to meet a student’s every need or teach to different learning styles or offer any choice” and on and on and on. As the class left the room, a preservice teacher from the Acceptance Stage, whispered to me, “People coming into this program should be requested to sign a contract that states that they are willing and able to 1. Listen, 2. Consider options, and 3. Rejoice at new ideas and challenges”.

Reflection
I hope some of this helps explain why I cannot “give” you the answers to MY problems. Answers are only useful for YOUR problems. So the first step is to help each of you clearly understand and articulate the problems you will face as an educator. Once you are armed with the question, I am convinced each of us will attack the problem with a vengeance. I might add that for you to see the problem, you must not depend on past experiences for your vision of education. You must gather as many experiences with children as possible. Only then will you start to gain new insights into both the problem and possible solutions.

I challenge each of us to consider that we are walking down a road facing backwards. We need to be open to new ways of thinking and new ways of having students learn. Using the same approaches that have worked in the past may not be the answer for the future.

My responsibility is to listen to each of you and be prepared to communicate based on your needs and where you are on your continuum of growth and development. This requires that I maintain a working relationship with each of you and keep the lines of communication open. While this internal struggle is going on, every effort will be made to maintain an environment where we can disagree without being disagreeable and allow social constructivism to lead all of us to new insights.

So we are both faced with a challenge. It is up to each of us to decide how we will face it.

Voice and Choice Observation

Comments sent to Preservice Secondary Science Teachers
By Ron Bonnstetter, (April, 2005)

I have something on my mind that needs to be shared. Some of you have figured out that I have intentionally NOT played the typical teacher role this semester. I have not told you when you are wrong, or praised comments I liked. I HAVE attempted to have each of you feel what it might be like to take responsibility for your own learning. Just as project based learning in a full blown act may not fit every student, I have seen where my approach has not worked with everyone in this class. That fact saddens me.

One issue that came up last week on our visit to the New Country School that has not been mentioned much, is the comment about where their teachers come from. It was pointed out that teachers who come from "real schools" rarely fit into "project based learning settings. It seems that they are unable to give up control to students. They can not buy into the concept of “voice and choice”. So who or what are the biggest blockers to educational reform; administrators, parents, community, students, or teachers?

I remember meeting with William Glasser several years ago. Maybe I caught him on a bad day, but he was angry! He told me how he and many others have known and seen how education SHOULD function for years, and yet he sees so little change. At the time I was still idealistic enough to feel sorry for him and to believe I, and my generation, would be successful where others had failed. I now understand his feelings.

I now believe that public education is the main problem. Just as in biology, competition leads to survival of the strongest, education needs variety to push reform. Charter schools or some other form of option are long over due. The world is changing, and public education is not keeping pace. Oh we can all give a multitude of reasons for why we are not able to meet the challenge, but do we have the ability to change it??

Business knows that change rarely comes from within, but from the fringe. Maybe some of us are just too close to the problem to see the solution. Maybe we should let the fringe in and listen. And maybe some of us should get out of the way so others can DO what some among us feel can not be done.

I will give you an example. I have worked for years to help TEACHERS to be better questioners. But today I read an email stressing the need to help STUDENTS be better questioners. In a flash I realized that my time might have been better spent teaching students and not wasting my time on teachers. Now you might say, “you teach the teachers and THEY will teach their students”. But sadly most teachers are so tied to control that having students question scares them.

So when graduate students question the material from this semester, I should be elated! Yes, if I believed that the questions were an effort to better understand how to move toward better education, but I believe far too often the questions raised are an effort to defend the status quo. “If it aint broke, don’t break it”. But it IS broken and no one seems to notice. The Emperor has no clothes on, but we see only what we want to see. Our education filters block our ability to see teaching and learning any other way, than what we have experienced for a life time. WE ARE THE PROBLEM. Each of us.

lack of common vision between methods and student teaching

The following is an exchange from one of my distance classes on educational reform. The first writer is in her forth week of student teaching.

Teacher Training!
Ron, I LOVE our program...you know that, but the practicum and student teaching format needs work. I don't feel like we students of teaching get to employ all of the lessons and techniques we learn while out in the classroom. If we do, it is a novelty and an exciting event, but not the norm. I do not fault the teachers we are with, but the restrictions and realities of their day to day job of teaching. We student teachers are guests, that is the reality of the situation. How can we become the qualified teachers this report demands when we cannot fully practice what we learn? That is like training an Olympic caliber athlete for an event then asking them to compete in that event, but not use the techniques they have learned and perform based only on how others are performing around them. "We want you to win, but don't do what we've been talking about, do what others are doing around you...and do your best...this is important!"

Reply from Ron:
I think this is one of those thoughts that is best thought and not written, but most of you know me and know that I share my heart and my thoughts. So here goes.

XXX is correct. The miss fit between current research on effective practice and the realities found in most classrooms leads to a conflict between teacher prep and practice and I am sorry to say, reality wins. I and many other educators prepare teachers with one vision, only to have classroom practicum and student teacher placements force these new teachers into the old outdated mode of operation.

I miss the days of campus schools or lab schools where we controlled the environment for learning and teaching. I miss the days where I had direct contact with each and every cooperating teacher and knew his or her philosophy of teaching.

Today, with greater concerns for security, control issues and Unions, I am not allowed to recruit the best teachers as models, I am not allowed to visit classrooms daily as I did for years, I am not allowed to wonder into schools to see best practice at work. And with greater demands on teacher time, I have not found a way to meet with all cooperating teachers to share the current visions or new practices. For example, I would love for cooperating teachers to follow up in the classroom to reinforce: inquiry based lessons, concept mapping for both the teacher organization and student learning assessment, authentic assessment experiences, rubric designing and use, CBL's in use regularly, preparing lessons with the outcomes established FIRST, portfolios for documenting student learning, understand layered curriculum as a way to implement the latest brain-based learning and simply being part of the teacher prep team, instead of an independent influence. At present, I feel like I prepare one kind of teacher, only to have that vision wiped out by reality and replaced with old school status quo.

I know these comments will offend many good teachers, but I am not convinced that it is their fault. The system is designed and implemented, thus creating constraints that few if any, can break. I am guilty of first creating a teacher with a vision of what should be. I also know that reality must fit this image at some level. But I grow more sickened by reality daily.

I just read this to Nicolette, who of course feels very differently. She feels I should point out that practicum and student teachers should focus on the culture of the classroom and big picture, thus learning about teaching and schooling, and in time what YOU will do in your own classroom.

One primary reality is that during this time, YOU ARE NOT IN YOUR OWN CLASSROOM. The real goal then is to not lose the vision and to work toward the day when you control your own learning environment. She pointed out that the networking during the first three years of teaching is crucial. We MUST work together so we do not feel isolated. That is why I have the listserve for each cohort and why we spend so much time on relationships.

As we confront system analysis of schools these next few weeks, please help me figure out how to regain the communication with the classroom, so teacher prep can once again function as a whole, with a team effort between the teacher prep vision and the classroom practice.
Thanks
Ron

First Science Education Entry

This is an experiment to learn what I can accomplish with a science education blog. I am the secondary science education program coordinator at the University of Nebraska and feel that more and diverse outlets for teaching and learning ideas are needed. There are many reasons for this comment, but let's just say that this blog has the potential to place research and ideas in the hands of educators much faster than our present traditional journals.
It is time to think and act outside the box.