COTESOL 2017 Adult Education SIG Session Delivery Notes

COTESOL 2017 Adult Education SIG Session Delivery Notes Mark A. Clarke ([email protected]) 11/3/17

Adult Development, Transformation, and Educational Innovation

Today’s Realities Let’s begin with a reality check (or, more accurately, let’s see if my reality and your realities overlap.) Teachers today face a daunting array of challenges both inside and outside the classroom. Rate each of the following according to your sense of their impact on your teaching:

Minor Major 1) 1 2 3 4 5 A world in frightening disarray – mass migration caused by violent weather, drought, civil disorder, and violence. 2) 1 2 3 4 5 Dramatic shifts toward right-wing politics and validation of xenophobic policies that play to people’s fears and suspicions of newcomers and reveal the deep roots of racism and ethnocentrism. 3) 1 2 3 4 5 University/state regulations that privilege credentials rather than pedagogical accomplishments and commitments to professional responsibilities. 4) 1 2 3 4 5 The school as factory — assembly-line approaches to teaching that give priority to programs, curricula, textbooks, rather than authentic communication. 5) 1 2 3 4 5 High stakes testing and centralized decision-making driven by politics rather than informed policy. 6) 1 2 3 4 5 Micro-managing administrators operating under such pressure that they have become enforcers rather than educators. 7) 1 2 3 4 5 School policies and procedures that reduce the discretion with which teachers teach. 8) 1 2 3 4 5 State and federal education policies that prioritize budgetary decisions based on narrowly defined criteria of learning. What do we do about this? How do we react to the world as we find it? How do we conduct ourselves in the classroom, in meetings, in professional discussions in the face of these sorts of facts?

Meditation Let’s begin with a few minutes of mindful silence. If you would, put down your pens and papers, coffees and devices. Feet flat on the floor. Close your eyes. For the next five minutes, the goal is to stop the chatter in your mind, to quiet the narrative buzz that fills your brain with all of the busy-ness of the day: to-do lists, child-care crises, dinner plans, running arguments with self, others. Bring your attention to your breath. Just focus on the air coming in and out of your lungs. Count quietly as you inhale. As you exhale. Now, extend the time you take with each inhale and exhale. If your mind wanders to your busy-lists, gently bring it back to your breath. Breathe. Rest. Nothing more. Just breathe.

The whole point of mindfulness is to challenge and encourage people to become their own authorities, to take more responsibility for their own lives, their own bodies, their own health. We are the world authority on ourselves, or at least we could be if we attended to things mindfully. A great deal of the information each of us needs to learn more about ourselves — information we desperately need in order to grow and to heal and to make effective life choices— is already right beneath our noses. What is required to participate more fully and effectively in our own health and well-being is simply to listen more carefully and to trust what we hear, to trust the messages from our own life, from our own body and mind and feelings. This sense of participation and trust is all too frequently a missing ingredient. We call it “mobilizing the inner resources” for coping better, for seeing a little more clearly, for getting through the day more skillfully. (Kabat-Zinn 2009, pp. 192- 193)

It is obvious that you and I cannot directly impact any change in the scenarios listed. We cannot change the world, but we can change the way we view the world. We can move beyond merely reacting to crises, and we can begin to respond more meaningfully to the problems we encounter (Clarke & Edge). We can identify our spheres of influence where changes in our perspective will result in changes in objective reality – this is what Freire calls “praxis.”

It is beyond the scope of this paper to examine at length the sorts of organizational changes we might effect, but we can begin the process of self examination that Freire advocates and I want to offer Kegan’s approach for this, Four Column work.

Systems Theory Systems theory provides a unifying framework for conceptualizing work and organizing change efforts (Bateson 2000, Capra and Luisi 2014, Larsen-Freeman and Cameron 2008). All systems function according to the same basic principles: They function toward stability, which means that they resist change. Unlike mechanical systems, which operate on the basis of material stimulus and reaction, open systems respond to external stimuli according to internal predispositions. This means that outcomes cannot be precisely predicted and that change efforts are more likely to succeed if they are conceived of as the orchestration of constraints that increase the likelihood of a loosely specified direction of change, rather than mandates with minutely specified outcomes.

Critical Pedagogy Critical Theory grew out of Marxist conceptualizations of power and cast all understanding of life and work as a matter of ideology. Paolo Freire’s 1968 Pedagogy of the Oppressed has been the touchstone in critical pedagogy since its translation into English in 1970. The book has energized educators around the world and brought hope into the lives of individuals seeking safe haven and opportunities for themselves and their families. Freire argues that both oppressors and oppressed are slaves to materialistic world of profit and power, and that education reflects this perspective with its “banking model” of teaching – depositing knowledge in students heads through problem-solving activities in which the answers are already determined by society. He advocates “problem-posing” education in which we create lessons that permit students to define themselves and their world and to work on learning that matters to them. But more than this, Freire wants us to help students see that success as defined by mainstream society is a bankrupt version of what life can be. He urges us educators to enter into the world of the student and to understand their lives in ways that can lead to liberation from the preconceptions of the dominant culture.

2 Adult Development Development is more complicated than learning, involving as it does a shift in consciousness, an adjustment in fundamental aspects of identity (Kegan 1982, 1994). As with learning, it involves change – a change in understanding, of perspective, and ultimately, behavior – but, significantly, the change also involves one’s understanding of oneself in relation to the world, which is why development entails a change in one’s identity. Robert Kegan and his associates have identified three distinct stages in adult development, which they refer to as “socialized, self-authoring, and self-transforming” mind (Kegan, Lahey, et al. 2016, 57-64). Individuals operating at the socialized stage of development respond to their perception of what others expect of them. Self-authoring individuals operate according to a personal code of right/wrong. Self-transforming individuals are guided by an awareness of the possibility that their own perspective may be flawed or incomplete, and they bring a sense of dialectical playfulness to their assessment of situations and self.

The details of Kegan’s research, developed over the course of some forty years and countless studies, are beyond the scope of this presentation1, but the gist of the distinctions between the stages and the importance for us in their perspective, lie in the pivotal fact that we humans make choices as we attempt to solve life’s problems and these choices are always shaped by our theory of the world, our epistemology. “Epistemology,” a word that covers a complex array of technical philosophical tenets, can be understood as a matter of perception – the lens through which we apprehend the world and ourselves in it. The question is, to what extent are we aware of the lens that shapes our understanding? Kegan argues that this awareness is at the root of epistemology; he characterizes this as a function of the “subject/object” tension: Are we able to distance ourselves from a point of view – are we able to see it as an object to be understood? Or are we subject to it, unable to disengage from the perspective and the emotions it engenders? All significant change efforts begin with an increasing awareness of one’s own mental model.

The subject/object distinction is also important for Freire. He operates on one basic assumption: that one’s work in life is to escape being an Object of someone else’s power and to become a Subject who acts upon and transforms his or her world, and in so doing moves toward ever new possibilities of fuller and richer life individually and collectively.

Transformation Kegan believes that transformation entails moving from one level of mental complexity to a higher level. Freire argued that those who authentically commit themselves to the people

1 Kegan’s 1982 and 1994 books lay out the theoretical and philosophical foundations for this perspective, and subsequent publications with Lahey (Kegan and Lahey 2001, 2009) describe applications of the approach that are most relevant for education; many other scholarly and practitioner-focused works have been contributed by others operating within this tradition (see, for example Baxter-Magolda 1999, 2001). The latest book (Kegan, Lahey, et al. 2017) provides a more detailed application to organizations, but insights are limited by the fact that the examples are drawn from the relatively less complex corporate arena. 3 must re-examine themselves constantly. This conversion is so radical as not to allow for ambivalent behavior.

“Conversion to the people requires a profound rebirth. Those who undergo it must take on a new form of existence; they can no longer remain as they were. Only through comradeship with the oppressed can the converts understand their characteristic ways of living and behaving.” (Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary Edition (Kindle Locations 797-799). Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition.)

In other words, “transformation” is not a word to be used lightly – it involves very profound changes in the identity of individuals.

Educational Innovation “Innovation” is another word that gets used a lot these days, and that I think we should examine more closely as we work to improve our teaching. Educational innovation is reported as a policy and programmatic phenomenon, but if it is truly significant and if it endures, it is because of fundamental changes in the identities of the players.

The organizational meta-patterns created by policy and procedure influence the choices made by individuals on a daily basis and these choices become ingrained in their thinking and behavior so that, gradually, they develop powerful assumptions that govern their actions and sense of self. In the process, an organizational culture develops so that it is possible to characterize the school as having certain values – “skills-based vs. communicative,” “traditional vs. alternative,” for example. The cultural markers of a school range from the tangible (school uniforms, administrative memoranda, hallway and classroom displays, etc.) to the visible (classes changing at predictable times, public prayer and classroom recitation, students lining up to pass from class to class, announcements over the public address system, etc.) to the ephemeral (an “aura” of order or creativity or a sense of excitement or determination, etc.). Cultural norms are also evident in the behavior and speech of students and staff, and in expressions of motivation or explanation for behavior or non-behavior; that is, in the reasons people give for doing or not doing certain things.

If we are to follow Freire’s teachings, we have to work with others to create organizational environments that support the development of our students. But first and foremost, we have to work on ourselves.

Applications With the foregoing as a framework for thinking about Critical Pedagogy in today’s world, I would like to focus on one aspect of the issue – our own personal approach to critical consciousness. I will offer you a tool and a process for approaching this, and I will coach you through a first attempt to use them, providing an example from my own efforts.

Four Column Work

4 The following exercise is a prototype of the approach:

1. Think of a problem you have been working on that seems to resist all your best efforts at change and note them in column one below. The problem should concern something that … a. … is truly important to you (Do not pick a trivial “tongue-in-cheek” difficulty.), b. … is about you (Do not name another person or a situation that is “the problem.”), and that … c. … you have the power and prerogative to change (Do not identify something outside your sphere of influence, such as racism, global warming, or world peace, for example.).

It does not matter if the problems you identify are personal or professional, but it is important that you follow the above admonitions in your choice of problem to work on or the exercise will not work. Jot notes-to-self in the first column. Very often several separate problems are inextricably intertwined and need to be considered together. List each one separately.

I am committed …but I often do (or fail … so I must Apparently, I to … to do) the following also be believe or assume sorts of things that committed to … or am afraid that… prevent me from realizing my commitments…

2. In the second column, list the things you do or say that undermine your change efforts.

This requires a measure of commitment and honesty that is sometimes difficult to muster, especially if the activity is being conducted in a group. But at the moment, it is only you and the chart, so total disclosure should be possible.

Now, take a moment to step back and ponder what you have written down in columns 1 and 2, to make sure that you have been honest with yourself, and that you have accurately uncovered contradictory tendencies between your intentions and your actions. This might take some time unless you are used to reflective soul searching. You may, in fact, want to consult with a close friend or colleague. This sort of work is generally more successful when you engage in it with trusted friends and colleagues, especially those who are able to speak frankly with you about your short-comings.

3. In column three, identify the reason(s) you have not actually made progress on the primary commitments you listed in column one.

5 Column three provides an opportunity for insight, but it also gives you a chance to escape self-criticism, because you might be inclined cloak your competing commitments in self- congratulatory motivations. It is important to avoid doing that – what you put in column three should evoke a sense of sheepishness. So, for example, if you have said that you want to cut down on credit card debt or frivolous spending, but you continue to plan extravagant vacations with friends, you might be tempted to put in column three that you do not want to hurt your friends’ feelings, when in fact, if you were honest with yourself, you might admit that you do not want them to know that you cannot afford to run in the same circles.

4. In column four, the task is to identify the fears and assumptions that contribute to your continued avoidance of significant change.

The pay-off comes in column four, if you are able to accurately identify heretofore un- recognized fears and assumptions that have prevented you from making progress with your change efforts, or if you are able to articulate fears that you have been aware of but not admitting even to yourself for some time.

Here is my personal example of the effort. Since 2004 I have worked with New America School as part of a school/university partnership. My primary focus was on professional development – adult development – and although we did not characterize our work as a Critical Consciousness effort, we were, in fact, attempting to improve our ability to understand the students’ lives and aspirations. I, in turn, was attempting to understand the lives and aspirations of NAS faculty.

I am committed to …but I often do (or fail to … so I must also be Apparently, I believe … do) the following sorts of committed to … or assume or am things that prevent me from afraid that… realizing my commitments…

… discovering people’s … merely waiting for others to … being right. I’m afraid that I might fears; listening carefully stop speaking so I can tell them discover some fundamental to what people say (and what I think the correct … flaw in the systems theory/ don’t say), so that I staying true to my interpretation is, the answer to constructive developmental understand what is professorial habits of their conundrums, solutions to their confluence. What would really on their minds; thinking and acting. problems. happen to the theoretical figuring out how they edifice I have constructed if it … avoiding situations see the world, what they were REALLY put to the … silently (or orally!) critiquing where my knowledge see as the problems to test? (Not to mention what others’ opinions, hypotheses, be solved, acting on and skills are not would happen to my sense of proposed solutions to problems or their concerns. optimized. purpose in the world, to say situations. Dismissing other nothing of the very foundation perspectives out of hand. and framework of my identity?! ZOUNDS!

I’m afraid that if I push too hard I might lose the leverage I have at Lowry, given that there is no contractual commitment to my approach for PD work. Conclusions The conclusions are, I’m afraid, frustratingly ambiguous.

6  This sort of work is tentative and time consuming.  It also leads very slowly toward indistinct outcomes. There are no definitive and totally unambiguous indicators that we are making progress.  There is also the fact that, as much as we benefit from understanding our students better, we do have to figure out how to nudge them toward English proficiency and educational success.  Personal insight and self-awareness are important first steps toward praxis, but we need to also identify specific projects that improve the material facts of our working lives and the learning conditions for students.  Personal development at all levels of the organization is required if progress for our students is going to happen. We need to engage colleagues and superiors in this work.

References Baxter Magolda, M. B. (1999). Creating contexts for learning and self- authorship: Constructive- developmental pedagogy. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press. Bridwell, S. (2013) ‘A constructive-developmental perspective on the transformative learning of adults marginalized by race, class and gender’ in Adult Education Quarterly, 63(2), 127-146. doi:10.1177/0741713612447854 Clarke, M. A. (1990). Some cautionary observations on liberation education. Language Arts, 67(4), 388-398 Clarke, M. A. (1994). The dysfunctions of the theory-practice discourse. TESOL Quarterly, 28(1), 9-26. Clarke, M. A. (2003). A Place To Stand: Essays for Educators in Troubled Times. Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press. Clarke, M. A. (2007). Common Ground, Contested Territory: English Language Teaching in Troubled Times. Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press. Clarke, M.A. (Forthcoming). Changing Schools: Identity, Transformation, and Educational Innovation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Clarke, M.A. & Edge, J. (2009). “Building a communicative toolkit for leadership.” In Murray & Christensen (Eds). Leadership in English Language Education: Theoretical Foundations and Practical Skills for Changing Times. New York: Routledge. Drago-Severson, E. (2004) Becoming adult learners: Principles and practices for effective development, NY: Teachers College Press. Freire, P. 1970. Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Bloomsbury Academic; 30th Anniversary edition (September 1, 2000) Kabat-Zinn, J. (1990) Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness, Delta Publishing, New York, NY, USA. Kegan, R. (1982). The Evolving Self. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Kegan, R. (1994). In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Kegan, R. and L. Lahey (2009). Immunity to Change: How to Overcome it and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization. Boston, MA, Harvard Business Press. Kegan, R., and L. Lahey (2001). How the way we talk can change the way we work. San Francisco, CA: Jossey- Bass. Kegan, R. and L. Lahey et al (2016). An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press. Larsen-Freeman, D., & Cameron, L. (2008). Complex systems and applied linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ouellette-Schramm, J. (2015) Epistemological Development and Critical Thinking in Post-Secondary. Australian Journal of Adult Learning Volume 55, Number 1, April 2015