In John Taggʻs book, The Learning Paradigm College, he does an excellent job of helping you discover a new lens by which to think of the College system. At first, I self-reflected on how I was a true student of the Instruction Paradigm. Now as I am studying to become a professor, he has given me insight on how to break down the walls of the Instruction Paradigm and move towards a Learning Paradigm.
As he describes the paradigm as a lens, a habit, and a language, I could connect how the paradigm truly is all of these. I connected mostly with his part about the paradigm being a lens. As I look through my own lens, I can see my experiences and how they have contributed to molding my lens. I can see how I have been trying to put new lensʻ on but have come up short.
Since I was most recently a student within this Instruction Paradigm, I understood the tactics and strategies of surviving college. I was very much of the mindset that I need to push through my courses to get my degree to get out. Fortunately, I found a mentor my junior year and she helped me see the value and role that college plays in the formation of todayʻs youth. It was not until my mentor interviened that I realized that college could be fun. Learning could be fun. I began to make the connection of how the things I was learning in one class would help me succeed in the next class and eventually in the real world and in life. I was, in my own way, breaking down the classroom walls.
Instead of forgetting everything I was taught as soon as the final exam was over, I began to find meaning in the subject matter and was able to connect the material to my life. This is what pushed me into graduate school. I wanted to continue to learn and I wanted to learn skills that could help me create the environment of learning I had just discovered. Similar to Tagg, I had no notion of these paradigms or that I was trying to change it but I knew that something was wrong in the way students were approaching college as a whole and I am intended to change that.
While it would be so nice if Tagg could just pass along a recipe for creating a Learning Paradigm college, the reading has shown that only time and dedication can truly bring change. The examples that Tagg gives were excellent ways of showing how there are colleges out there RIGHT NOW implementing tactics to change the paradigm. Tagg gave me great ideas for both in the class as well as approaching changing the paradigm as a whole. The most succicient information that he gave was the Golden Rule.
Now I am a stickler on the traditional Golden Rule. I do not believe people should be treated how you want to be treated, I believe people should be treated how people want to be treated. But with the way Tagg reworded the Golden Rule to fit the mission of changing the paradigm, the rule fit perfectly. "Do what you want your students to do. Be what you want your students to be."(pg.347) While at first I struggled with this concept, trying to make sense of how do I be what I want my students to be. I realized that right now, I am student, and I can actually practice this more effectively.
I now have on a new lens. While I feel like over the years my prescription has changed and it will continue to do so, I finally have found a working lens that gives me perfect 20 20 vision. I see the issues that the instruction paradigm has pushed into our system. I see the thriving learning environment that our school system should be participating in through the learning paradigm. However, it is by taking part in living the Golden Rule and making that change, only then will I be able to begin to connect my own dots of how to transition from the Instruction Paradigm to the Learning Paradigm.
My eyes lit up when I read your thoughts on the Golden Rule because I was going to mention a similar concept in my blog.
ReplyDeleteLast year, I took a course on Intercultural Interactions, and one of the readings talked about the "Platinum Rule" in place of the “Golden Rule”. In the article (Bennett, 1966), the Platinum Rule was definite as, “‘Do unto others as they themselves would have done unto them’” (p. 213). It was an “ah-hah!” moment for me when I read that. It totally makes sense and that’s what I strive to live by.
I appreciated your reflection on the Golden Rule and how it can be applied to making the shift from the Instruction Paradigm to the Learning Paradigm. Although I am not a teacher/professor per se, as an academic advisor, I also need to interact with students in ways that model and promote that shift.
Bennett, M. J. (1966). Overcoming the Golden Rule: Sympathy and Empathy. In M.J. Bennett (Ed.). Basic Concepts of Intercultural Communication (pp. 191-213). Boston: Intercultural Press.