Coming soon: planetary destruction or human transcendence. Is there a lesson plan for that?

By Sean Federbusch

Last week, all fifth-grade teachers from my district came together to create an assessment. With the effort we put in, one might have thought we were creating some sort of particle accelerator. How hard can it be?!

Living in this time of human evolution, teachers are faced with unprecedented opportunities in the mist of impossible and contradictory expectations.  My mind races with possibilities. At times, this can lead to paralysis.  

For years now, my PLC has been fueled with reading, watching and developing curriculum with the end in mind:  Our world is profoundly changing and technology must be a part of the solution. I keep waiting for my path as an educator to become clear; to see the technology, philosophy, policies, curriculum, and the society become aligned in such a way that I am able construct an eloquent and articulate post about the future of education, and know exactly how my classroom and student fit into that alignment.   

The main problem with waiting for this solution is that there is no one solution.  Education is a messy business, and in this culture, the modality of teaching is interlaced with contradictions and conflicting forces,  the main one being the discrepancy between the rich and poor.  Schools in the US are doing a great job, considering the amount of poverty we have to contend with.  The other main challenge we face is the disfunction of attempting to solve a social problem with a financial solution.  Our school systems have been designed to fit an outdated economic architecture.   

The disfunction of the antiquated structure of our school systems is accelerated exponentially as Moore's law applies itself to nanotechnology, robotics,  and bioengineering.  These transformative features of our technological landscape create a host of new requirements for people entering our work force, not to mention, a shift in the entire economy.  

As the need for awareness of the interconnection between cultures, nations and our warming planet grows, as the merging of our biological bodies evolve to incorporate the tools we develop, as our international social fabric develops with our social media, as our tools of learning transform the educational landscape to the point were the current educational system no longer seems relevant, what is the appropriate reaction for a fifth-grade teacher?  

With so many paradigm shifts happening, where is the best place to stand?


What I think I know

I know that the likelihood of human survival on our planet is precarious and I realize that the key to survival may require a profound change in our economic, military and national framework.  I know that the power of the Corporation will only decrease when we are unified as a world community, and realize the power of the collective is more important than the continued acquisition of wealth for a few.  I know I am not alone feeling the suffering of the all of members of our community, when our people of color are killed and enslaved by the current system of injustice and economic dis-opportunity.  

I know the constructs of human creation- the infrastructure, economic models and educational and religious systems- are the byproducts of human thought, awareness and wisdom, and that any cultural enlightenment we can produce will only manifest as a result of our collective personal transformation away from fear and towards wisdom, compassion and understanding.  

What I think I should do. 

• Connect with my students

Because of these beliefs, I greet my fifth-grade students every day with an immediate need to educate them.  I look each one of them in the eye, and attempt to connect with them on a personal level. My intention is to recognize their inner strength of awareness and compassion and to see their power manifest in their writing, mathematics, understanding of our physical world, awareness of each other and their ability to use technology to transform their education.   

• Find work / life / growth balance

Because of these beliefs I do my best to find the balance of work, play, meditation, family and professional development.  Each activity I engage in, I do so with a single point of focus, somehow keeping the background knowledge of our tenuous situation at bay- at least on the good days.  I wake each day making the wish that all beings find happiness, brew coffee, and sit down with my PLC of Twitter and Flipboard.  I drink in the knowledge, wisdom, best practices and teaching ideas share by progressive educators around the globe.   

• Teach my students why things matter. 

I train my students in the vision I have; that my students will use technology to help them better understand their world, both personal and as a member of a world community, while (skillfully) communicating that their existence on this planet, as well as their own personal happiness, may depend on their ability think critically, work collectively and develop a profound sense of personal freedom and human justice.   

• Reflect 

As I reflect on my ability to do these things, I realize the distance between my goal, and its application, is great.  That on most days, I grow frustrated, ill-tempered and unable to remember the long-term vision I have as a teacher.  But I do so with compassion for myself, understanding that all of us can only work from where we are.  

And in this way, education is slightly less messy.    

Conflict Resolution in Schools

If you understood everything I said, 

you’d be me.    

                                                  – Miles Davis

           

The practical methods that I will employ as a teacher include conflict resolution techniques, Councils and class meetings, I-Statements practice, developing a feelings’ board and finally, creating a peace corner. In addition, I will integrate the practice of stretching (to calm the body) and meditation (to calm and focus the mind). The goal of all of these methods will be empower the children to become independent problem-solvers and to help develop their self-awareness and communication skills.

As a teacher, I make an assumption that all people want to be happy and that all of us have an intrinsic ability to find happiness, assuming the right influences and environment. If all have a divine-like perfection that exists within us why then do so many of us fail to find happiness? One component to finding happiness may be that there are some specific techniques or skills that need be developed in order to reveal the qualities that help us find happiness. Since we are social beings it makes sense that getting along with others is one characteristic that happy people seem to master over time. This quality of playing nicely with others is a skill that takes time, good teachers and practice to develop. Helping students develop and perfect this skill is one motivation I have as a teacher and I plan to implement the use of I-messages, talk-it-out strategies, a Peace corner, and short writes about issues of social justice, equality and self-awareness to meet this intention.



Attitude plays another critical role for people when developing happiness and learning to work as a team member. One tool I will use to help others develop a great attitude is to help them understand that how they “listen” will have a great impact on what others have to offer them. Elbert Hubbard once said: “We awaken in others the same attitude of mind we hold toward them”. What he meant by that is that people respond to what others expect of them. There is data that shows clearly that the perception a teacher has for his students produced results that mirror that expectation. For example, if a teacher is told that a group of students has learning challenges the teacher will treat them like they do and the results are will be lower than average measurements. The opposite result will manifest if a different teacher is told that the same group of students has exceptional skills. Somehow, in obvious and subtle ways, we humans affect each other based on the judgments we have for each other.

As teachers, I believe we have a responsibility to help students clarify what judgments they have and how those judgments affect their personal interactions and helps to shape the world around them. Consequently, helping students develop a powerful way to interact with others will be another intention within my teaching. One measurable way to help students with this is to have them become aware of what they are thinking or feeling. As students develop clarity about their feelings, teachers are able to engage them in conversations via Council meetings that help examine the cause and affect of certain behaviors. For example, in a conversation about the affects of bullying, we can come to understand that the people who are the victims are not enjoying it, the people who are the bystanders are not enjoying it and even the people who are doing it fail to develop a long term beneficial reaction from it, especially when they can see the harmful results of their action.

A third tool that is available to teachers is helping students articulate their intentions. Involving students in developing class rules or agreements help to empower the students. This exercise can teach them that they are capable of defining a safe and equitable environment. It also holds them to a different level of accountability when upholding these agreements, since they are the people who have created them. Another example of empowering students and helping them understand their intentions is to facilitate common ground during a Talk-it-Out session. This method of resolving conflict has the participants first agree on some shared intentions or common ground the two party’s share. For example, if two kids on a playground want the same ball, when both parties can acknowledge their predefined goal of sharing, they then have the option to resolve the conflict. In this case, one resolution they my brainstorm and both agree to might be “When I am done you can use it” or “Let me play with it for ten minutes and then you can play with it after that.”

As we help our students listen for others in ways that help illuminate the shared values of their classmate and encourage them to identify their own needs, we are able to provide for them a framework to create the optimal classroom (and the happiest of students). However, powerful listening and self-awareness alone is not enough to produce all qualities we should expect from our students and our classrooms. We must offer our students a platform through wish to communicate via class meetings, regular input when developing class rules and the use of Councils. We must also give them skills so that they may develop into independent solvers of conflicts.

One exercise that can help understand feelings is to have students brainstorm what feelings are. Starting with a feeling like “happy” students can expand the definition to further understand the complex components within the feeling of happy. While the teacher writes on a board, students can call out words that describe what it means to be happy. Words like “content”, “joyful”, “silly” are all words that can help students understand that happy can mean a variety of different feelings. These words can help to identify, understand and provide reference during the practice of using I-statements in the future.

Another great technique that I will offer my students is the use and practice of I-statements. Informal and impromptu practice of the use of I-statements using random situations (perhaps created by the kids or pulled out of a 'conflict hat') will help to solidify the process of use using I-statements during calmer times. As conflicts arise and the intensity of the situation increases, students are then able to utilize the tool of social justice by using their I-statements to resolve a conflict.

I will also incorporate the Talk-it-Out method to resolve conflict. Good instruction of this method plays an important role in the results students will have with them, as will practice and the environment in which to practice. As important as these elements are in producing good results, I think it critical to emphasize that the awareness (and motivation) the students bring to these exercises plays a significant role in determining the results of the experience. Other environmental factors can also influence the quality of interaction between students. If the child cannot sit because he hasn’t had proper opportunity for exercise or if she hasn’t had proper nutrition during the day, neither student will be able to properly asses their own feelings or work with others to resolve conflict. Similarly, if students have little understanding of their own needs or emotional state, than how can we expect them to control them? Offering children time to reflect when needed by extending to them access to a peace corner, the use of written reflections in a shared or private journal, giving them simple secular mediation skills and time to simply be will result in a child who is much more self-aware and available to work well with others.

How can we know if these methods are being effective? Ask the older teachers! You can also ask the kids: “What have been the affects of these practices? Do they think they are better able to achieve academic success after developing these skills and practicing these methods? We can develop formal testing techniques and spend millions of dollars but a simpler way is simply asking the parents, the kids, and the teachers: “Is this helpful?” Our world is so filled with access to information and technology that can measure mind-boggling amounts of data that sometimes I believe we forget that we have an amazing computer and the access to transformative wisdom right between our own two ears. As educators we use every appropriate means to understand what is effective in our classrooms. Proper training, constant personal and professional growth and a desire to benefit the kids should be a requirement for all teachers. Additionally, teachers should never loose sight of the wisdom and understanding that already exist within each of their students.

I think that the biggest challenge all teachers face is how to incorporate all the beneficial ideas, knowledge, wisdom, methods and techniques that we think all children should have into the time we have with our students. The demands are vast and the time is limited for teachers, therefore, we must make concessions and practice flexibility. In addition to the physical constraints, there are the emotional demands of constantly being the focus of attention and the burden that can come with being responsible for the emotional, intellectual and physical well being of your students. As a result of these demands, teacher must employ a strategy to remaining calm, centered and available to their students. One proven method that is available for education to meet these demands is the tool of meditation. Given the amazing expectations placed on teachers, combined by the job requirements, teachers must employ some method of self-reflection, relaxation, and a mechanism to enhance and develop one’s focus and mental acuity.

If educators are interested in providing a solution to the many demands placed on them through meditations, as well as provide the practice to their students it will behoove them to take into account our society’s general understanding of what meditation is, and its negative associations with religion. As we engage others or as we develop programs that encourage change in our schools, I would encourage those wishing to affect change to concentrate on scientific data and concrete evidence that illustrate the positive affects of meditation, especially as it relates to academic achievement in schools. Using different language such as “deep and daily reflection” or “relaxation and stress-reducing techniques” can help others understand their relationship with meditation in a different way, which will help to facilitate change in our schools, and our students.

The personal growth I have made in the last two months incorporate many of the techniques I have discussed here. Knowing that there are teachers and administrators out there practicing these techniques and methods gives me both the courage to practice them, as well as the confidence knowing that these methods are effective. I realize that the acceptance (and perhaps the understanding behind them) is not the norm in every school. However, reading about people who have incorporated them in the curriculum and to learn of their success gives me the inspiration to do what they have done - offer people the opportunity to learn skills that will help them develop their happiness and ability to work with others. 

Language Policy for the Oppressed

“The more you can increase fear of drugs and crime, welfare mothers, immigrants and aliens, the more you control all the people.”
~Noam Chomsky



During this section we studied the political implications of Language Policy in the United States. As you may have guessed, I was not pleased.

This section was really difficult to sit through. Wishing to remain respectful to the class, I did not get out of my chair and yell out in frustration listening to the litany of injustices that have taken place during our country’s history. These injustices seemed to be based on fear, motivated by profit or simply to maintain the unbalanced control of power in this culture. This section helped clarify and solidify my understandings of the political aspects of language. Language policy is one tool used by the powerful to control, manipulate and institutionalize racism within our culture.

As painful as it was to listen to, I was pleased that we took time in class to document the consistent efforts that have taken place in regards to our language policy during our short and fearful history of the United States. When our corporations needed access to inexpensive labor (with non-existent labor rights provided), we allowed Chinese people to build our railroads. When these laborers asked for fair pay or wanted to extend their stay after the completion of the railroad, we developed laws to push them out. German was the protected language of this land because the people who stole this land descended from central Europe. But when Germany was viewed as our enemy, any associations with that culture, or its language, were viewed as unpatriotic and no longer enjoyed its lofty status. As our fear percolated into a crescendo of mistrust for anything foreign during the 1950's we created the Immigration and Nationality Act that limits access to our country simply based on associations with any country that was outside the Western Hemisphere. Here in California, if the price of food reflected its fair and ethical price, taking into account fair wages for workers who enjoy the minimal standards of safety recognized throughout the world (not to mention access to proper health care), most people could not afford it. Instead, we rely on access to inexpensive labor to maximize profits for the elite few. Our powerful corporations are working hard to carefully manufacture access to cheap labor while at the same time, continue to limit access to any social services for the people who work these farms.

One exception to that rule is access to education. Here in California we provide access to education for all people living here, regardless of legal status. However, we have constructed a language policy that severely limits the affects of any education offered. This policy ignores the vast array of data and the experiences of other countries that illustrate that providing bilingual education is by far the most effective way to insure that academic achievement is maximized, that respect and understanding for the culture of origin lay intact and, perhaps most importantly, the student's relationship with school, education and self worth is left to flourish.

As teachers who work in the public sector it is imperative that we understand how racism is in the culture has been institutionalized. Furthermore, it is our responsibility is to utilize this understanding as we provide equitable education system to a diverse group of students.

None of us are free until we are all free

During the short write exercise in class I wrote the following statement: "I have experienced oppression living in a time where war and fear are the underlying prescription for the economic expression throughout the world. I am oppressed by the limited understanding of love and compassion manifested in my world community."

The words seem to come flying out of my hand and I put my pen down, somewhat shocked at the honesty that had come from me.

I feel blessed at my background, which I reflected on my short write about privilege: "I have experienced privilege in my life by being born as healthy, white, male, to educated, loving parents who saw me as someone who is both lovable and important. I was born during a time that was free of war and disease (for me), and where access to information and wisdom have been readily available." I know how much has been offered to me, which is why I was surprised at my writing about oppression.

All of us have developed a strategy to deal with the inequities that exist in our world. Some become bitter or hateful while others are able to find a level of acceptance. Members of the ruling class must come to grips with that fact they have much more than others. It seems unfair to say that their burden is greater than those in the minority, but the point is that we all have some pain associated with the unfair fact that some are born in to wealth and others into poverty. These questions of what it means to feel privileged and or what it means to be oppressed is relevant to all people of our global village, even our children.

The emotions that I became aware of during these practices all surrounded interdependence (empathy, oneness, understanding, acceptance and community). The insights that I can take from these exercises into my classroom all have to do with the idea of fairness and that we all cope with inequality and unfairness differently, given our diverse background. Sexual orientation, race, wealth, gender and political background all play critical roles in developing a framework through which we see the world. As important as the physical traits of the individual, the emotional capacity and wisdom of a person also helps to create one's relationship with their surroundings. For example, someone with a high degree of empathy will have a different reaction to injustice in the world than someone who may share those person’s same physical traits, but differs in their emotional intelligence. Regardless of our personal construct of the world, as teachers, we should encourage the constant examination of students and the world around them. Using the discussions of Labels or what it means to be oppressed is to encourage self-examination and the ideas surrounding equity and fairness. I see these discussions, and the wisdom behind them as part of the set of tools that I am developing to help others empower themselves.