MISSION INSTRUCTION:Look back…Look here…Look between…Look beyond
Julie Machnaik, November 2007
DeconstructReconstructSelf-ConstructInstruct
But…do NOT self-destruct!
Assignment 1: Background Review
Look Back
What are our views of instruction in the schools of yesterday?
“I am beginning to understand the historical constructions…”
Assignment 2:
Look Here & Look Between
What are our views of instruction in schools of today?What has changed/not changed throughout the decades?
“Historical constructs still with us?? This is where the Mission Possible assignment intensifies…”
GPS Global Positioning System
Features:
• set course, single destination, right way
• path defined, determined by outside force
• no nonsense “common sense” route
• route summary provided with step by step, linear
• take a wrong turn, rerouted back on track
• controlled by satellites
GPS Global Positioning System
• driver
• vehicle driven
• road conditions
• roadblocks, detours
• unpredictable weather
Factors not considered:
Connection to Instruction?
• lesson plans, objectives - set course, destination predetermined, linear
• students will know, do and be like…“common sense” route (SWBAT)
• doesn’t take into account different needs, interests, abilities, backgrounds
• one ‘regular’ or ‘right’ way to reach destination
• if you take an incorrect turn, satellites (discourses) will reroute/guide/assist & PERSIST/INSIST you back on track
• If you’re not secure in your way or your choice, you will succumb to the pressures
• Drivers become dependent on GPS for direction• Begin to blindly trust and accept direction(s)
without question• Diversity is a liability - stay on the main road,
know your place, pay attention to directions and all will reach same destination
• Learning is in a classroom setting
• GPS is all of the regulative discourses within each satellite system (curriculum, administrators, parents, colleagues, students)
• As context changes, the satellites (regulative discourses) may change but always exist
GPS Model: Technical-rational Instruction
Education viewed as a technical problem and teachers transmit fixed curriculum designed for the greatest number of students (Vibert & Shields, 2003).
Teaching is a technical exercise where teachers transmit packages of knowledge to others in a technical delivery system (Parker, 1997).
“The industrial revolution invented a way of thinking about productivity that is still with us” (Eisner, 2005, p. 16).
GPS PLUS Features:
Engaged (or busy?) traveller - Activities, games, books, DVD player, iPods
Single destination with traveller input Directions are animated and motivational Arrive at the destination but have
diversions along the way Common Sense route ‘with heart’ Learning through play - Playroom
Diversity is still a liability but it now can be overcome with care, love and respect in a classroom environment that engages the child to be a more active, responsible learner
Still says…stay on the main road, but we’ll take better care of you and keep you busy, happy, engaged, entertained
Same route, same destination, more enjoyable trip
GPS PLUS: Interpretive/student-centered instruction
Edelsky (1999) reminds us that progressive education may simply be a “kinder, gentler way to maintain systems of dominance” (p. 152).
Kumashiro (2004) states, “Common sense often makes it easy to continue teaching and learning in ways that allow the oppressions already in play to continue to play out unchallenged in our schools and society” (p. XXIV).
As Foucault (1979) states, “Whenever one is dealing with a multiplicity of individuals on whom a task or a particular form of behavior must be imposed, the panoptic schema may be used” (p. 205).
Assignment 3:
Look Beyond
Think beyond…what would happen if GPS stood for Global Possibility SystemsGlobal Possibility Systems?
GPS FutureGlobal Possibilities System
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What are the possibilities? What could this look like?
Enable multiple routes to varied destinations based on need and interest
Acknowledge different drivers, different passengers
Who are you traveling with? What are their needs? Interests? Backgrounds?
Directions are open-ended, interactive involving choice and priorities
Choose your own adventure!
“Context is the window to understanding”
Every step you take opens options to a new world of possibilities
You don’t know what is possible until you take the next step
Learning occurs in a ‘learning space’
GPS FutureGlobal Possibilities System
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Features:
• Imagination
• Improvisation
• Creativity
• Hopefulness
• Thoughtfulness
• Caring, respectful
GPS FutureGlobal Possibilities System
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Satellites Focus on:
• Critical Consciousness
• Ask troubling questions
• Problematize how any approach to teaching is partial (Kumashiro, 2004, p. 15)
• Being aware of the multiple satellites that track, guide, yet still control
• Freeing individuals
• Diversity as being an asset!
GPS FutureGlobal Possibilities System
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A site of uncertainty, a site of possibilities and hope… ~Aoki~
“Our task is to look for new images, even if they cannot be put into the structures of today”
~Huebner~