Dispositions in General

I don't believe dispositions can be taught in the literal sense. They can be brought out of people through experience, relating ideas and other methods. I do believe that things such as humility, inventiveness, passion and those such things can easily be talked about and realized but they cannot be put into a box that is teaching right now. The whole system of teaching these things is very hard to standardize and put into a box. I think the whole dispositional blog is a great start in the whole discussion about these dispositions but I do not; however, believe that it is the answer. I believe the true answer to these dispositions lies with either present day teachers and or the colleagues that students currently have. I believe these to be the best two resources at our disposal to date. I think if there was a constant open discussion board between these sets of people that it would do more than anything for the educational dispositions of students.

Resilience

There is no way to prepare teachers for what they are about to experience. Teaching is a stress of it's own. You can describe it or prepare them on how to avoid unneeded stress but there is no way to teach them how to prepare for it. Each person has their own ways of dealing with stress and should employ them in their fight against teacher's stress. One way that could help them would be as I said teaching ways to avoid unnecessary stress. Things like showing them how to use tests that kids can grade themselves, showing them how to not talk down to kids but talk to them like equals, learning how to deal with 'stupid questions,' how to deal with special needs kids, etc. These would help the teachers in the best way on how to stop stress before it occurred.

Humility

I have a long history involving this very subject. When I was younger I was always the cocky little guy that no person could argue with because I literally was always right or did things in the right way. This continued throughout my elementary years until I reached the junior high level. When this happened I hit a great wall. I was literally at the bottom of the totem poll and to top it off I had next to no friends. I believe this was all because of my complete lack of humility. My dad is one of my greatest role models and he always said, 'he who builds the highest pedestal for himself has the furthest to fall.' Because of this simple saying I have tried as hard as I can to stay humble about everything in this world. In my mind there is always bound to be someone better than myself in every way shape and form of my being. Therefore I should always take any advice I can find and hopefully apply it to my life. I should especially do this if I know that person is a lot better than me at something. I have been wrong quite often but I always take criticism and use it for making myself better be it constructive or destructive criticism.

I think the best way for teachers to balance between being humble and being confident in what they know is to always recognize that you could be wrong. However, you should present anything you presently hold as fact without a doubt. I believe that anyone who is unwilling to take advice or take into consideration that they are wrong are setting themselves up for not ever learning and for being passed by in our technological age.

Collaborativeness

In a group is the best way for a person to get the most out of anything. One single person alone may get one idea out of an activity but in a group that is multiplied times however many people are in the group. This leads to greater understanding for all involved. When there is a highly effective team the understanding of a concept comes faster too. In group work there is a possibility that one person could take over the whole thing. In a truly effective team all the people work towards a common goal. In this respect no one is overwhelmed with the bulk of the work. In an effective team all people are engaged in the project.

Efficacy

Efficacy is imperative to a teacher's development. This is what motivates the students to do as the teacher does. If the students see the teacher working hard then they will mimic what they see. This creates a classroom where work is rewarded and becomes a more efficient, sustainable atmosphere. This all starts with the teacher and the way they view their own work ethic. The best way to develop this trait is to make it a habit. Every time you do certain things make sure to follow up on them later on. This will create a pattern that can be followed. Since we are creatures of habit we easily do things after they happen several times in a predictable way. This way the students also know what to expect from the teacher.

Inventiveness

I think the best way to encourage inventiveness in the school setting is to create activities that require it in the activity. This way there is a sense that they have to be inventive. If these activities are found to be fun by the kids then they will do it on their own later on. I think in some schools this is being stifled out because everything is being standardized. If this is the case then there is only right and wrong answers. There is no room for any grey area. This grey area is where imagination lies. I think the kids have to know that having an imagination is okay in the classroom. This could also be accomplished through the teacher coming up with inventive classroom settings. This would show that you are glad to see inventiveness. Also you should let them know when there is no grey area such as in things like math and certain science principles. The rest is pretty much completely debatable.

Reflectiveness

Every great educator will reflect on the things they have taught in the classroom. They see their own mistakes and make themselves better if they use it in a constructive manner. I also think that this is the reason that most students and teachers hate to reflect. The old saying is that you are your own worst critic. There is not a person in the world who wants to look back and find their own flaws. However, if they look at these incidents as opportunities and not just failures then they can learn from them. This is the heart of teaching because it is the purest way to check whether or not we are doing our jobs. Without this personal reflection we would never find any fault in our teaching and would become stale in our presentation. Personally I reflect best when I have nothing else bothering me and I have peace and quiet. When this occurs I can think back to just about any event that I set my mind to. I try to do this weekly at some point. Sometimes it is quite a while between reflection times. However, I do not know how I would function properly if I did not look back to find all the things I do wrong on a daily basis.

Compassion 2

I believe compassion is all in the eyes of the beholder. I for one believe there is not a whole lot of compassion in the world. It is a sad truth but it is the truth nonetheless. What I mean is that in a business run culture there is no room for this characteristic. If you are five minutes late to work they will not have compassion. Most likely you will be fired and if it becomes a pattern then you will be fired for sure. In the classroom setting there is a sort of compassion in the younger years. The further you go in the educational world the harder the stipulations become and the less compassion there is in the classroom. For instance in third grade you could turn in homework whenever you got it done. Most likely the teacher would realize that you would not work on it outside class and give you time to finish in class. Now there is also the typical college classroom. In this environment there is no room for this kind of laid back working. There is a sort of rigidness to the everyday work that needs to be done. If you don't turn in a paper on time usually it will not be graded. In fact, it is rare to have the teacher even look at your work if it is turned in late. This is the same across the board. No matter where you go in the educational system there is no room for compassion. I think this is a slight problem in our society. There should be a sense of compassion. Especially if there is to be any quality of life. A person in a job with no compassion at all finds him or herself being trapped in. There is no room to mess up. I think this may lead to the worker becoming afraid to take risks and succeed in different ways than the typical. This lessens imagination in the workplace. In the society we live in today there is a need for workers who take risks in the workplace in an effort to make things better or improve them. Without this kind of creative thinking our productivity will fall and the US will no longer be the envy of other nations.

Role Playing

I believe role playing is a great way to get ideas out there long as respect for the other parties' opinions is upheld. If this is not the case the whole thing would become just a big shouting match. The point of role playing is to think of things that have never been thought of or brought up in discussion before in a smaller setting. The only problem with this type of teaching is that some people might not get the whole overall point of the role playing. One person might find out the meaning of life while another person is left wondering why they didn't get a chance to speak. However, in a role playing situation the subject of voice is easier to explain. When someone is simply ignored it becomes an issue in role playing. In a lecture type of setting that would be thought of as listening and agreeing.

I also think there is a good point behind having all the kids learn the basics before moving on, but not all kids learn at the same pace. Even though some kids don't get the basics right away they could learn them with another concept later on. It's kind of like algebra. Some things just make more sense with other things. If you don't get the concept right away its okay. It will come back again later. I also think that by holding a child back until they pass a test is not a good thing. Then they are stuck in a grade with younger kids and that would either make the kid feel stupid or pressure him to pass. This puts unneeded stress on the child. This is a lot like threatening a child not to fail. They art going to fail sometimes and that is just a fact of life. Plus in real life are you held back from something just because you don't know something? If that is a fact then no one in this world is ever going to get a job for the first time unless they have schooling in it.

I am a firm proponent of the emotional side of learning. Emotions are the spice of life. If you can't feel good after passing a really hard test then there is no point in taking the test. Accomplishment and achievement are both academic standpoints and also emotional standpoints. If you don't feel like you have accomplished or achieved anything then there is no point.

I think there is a reason school boards listen to higher achieving people than non-achievers. I think that has to do with the sense of understanding we have for those people is greater. Because we are now from a higher part of learning we appreciate people who try to achieve as we did. This gives us an easy excuse for a bias. This we must watch out for though because there still could be great input from less educated or lower achieving people as from the other end. As we have read before in Santrock there are multiple levels of intelligence and achievement is only one of them. Also the money for projects and programs comes from community members so there is a good reason we listen to the more influential people in the community. Its because they are INFLUENTIAL! Duh! That is why they have that name.

Passion

I can very clearly remember a person who influenced my whole life with his passion. This person is Benjamin Kambs. He was my choir teacher in high school and he really was the one who stirred up my passion for choir and singing. If he was not there in my life I don't know if I would have as big of a passion. Whenever I talked about that subject with him he would "light up" so to speak and give me several examples about anything I would ask of him. His ability to give out well informed information about his passion really ignited mine.

On the other hand this was not true at all about my 10th grade English teacher. He would not care about what went on in class or how anyone did in that class. I was usually a straight A student and I managed to get an F on one of my midterm report cards. He would always hand out a lot of homework just before the bell rang and then expect us to finish before the next class. He would never talk about his subject either. He would talk about other things and ramble on about random things until the last few minutes of class. I got an F in that class at one point because the class bored me so much that I just didn't want to do the homework. I felt like it was a waste of my time. The other side of this story is the 11th grade. There was another English teacher that was very passionate about her subject and would answer any question we had about her subject matter. She gave out even more homework than my teacher in the previous year but I was still able to keep up with the work. Because of her passion, I was able to keep my grades up and like the English language once again.

Authenticity

Authenticity is something that can not be explained in great detail. It is sometimes called "being real" and not "fake." I believe this feeling of being "fake" comes from a lack of trust in a person. I think when someone does not trust me properly they don't think I am being serious. I could say I have shook the hand of every major conductor in the Midwest but no one would believe me right away. Trust is required to give authenticity. Students are very good at calling out authenticity. The most common ways are asking for the teacher to expand on what they just said. If the teacher fumbles for words or seems to have no answers then the students don't believe it. Then a small amount of trust is lost between the student and the teacher, making the next fact even easier to not believe.

Ultimately the whole issue of authenticity comes down to trust. The students must believe the teacher to learn anything from them. Without this trusting relationship then the students will be lost in their teacher's ramblings. The teacher must be able to back their stance somehow.

Personally I try to keep things simple. That way there is no need for long explanations. But, if there is a need for a longer explanation then I will give it. I believe the longer explanation would be well worth the trust of the students.

Compassion

I have not encountered compassion very often in my life. I grew up in a farming community in Indiana among two of my three brothers. More often than not I was shown no compassion and if I was it was only fake and meant almost nothing to me. I was often told that 'life is not fair.' That is why whenever someone showed me compassion it meant a lot more to me than they could ever have known.

One such example was my Freshman year in high school. I was put into the top show choir that year because I was a great high tenor. That year I recieved not one but two solos in the final show. Unfortunately before the year ended my voice decided to change. I dropped about three octaves in my voice and lost both solos. My choir director felt bad for me because there was nothing that I could do. So, my director 'took me under his wing' so to speak and was in conversation with me throughout this phase in my life. If it wasn't for his compassion I do not think I would have this love for singing that I enjoy to this day. It took very little effort on his part to show he cared but it meant the world to me and my singing career.

Respect

Respect is when a person is held to a high standard. The person who is held in respect has worked for some time at getting that type of treatment. Having respect means there is no longer a need to motivate the followers to give respect. It is an intangible thing that makes a person want to do things for the person they have respect for. Without respect, a person is not well trusted, liked, and even not welcome sometimes. If you don't respect someone, you don't even want to be in their presence.
In a classroom setting, if the teacher has respect from their students then the class will naturally be quiet. In my experience throughout high school and college the more the teacher is respected the more focused the class is. If the teacher is respected the class will know that the teacher is trustworthy and will enjoy listening to them.
I would say that the easiest way to earn respect is to find out about the kid's lives. If the teacher knows of a common interest then they can build a relationship through that. This would then start the trust in the relationship. But, the teacher must also be very careful in this stage to be totally honest because the student is very vulnerable and is not looking to trust the teacher yet. There must first be a reason to trust and respect. Without this key stage in the classroom there can be no real respect for a teacher.