Re: [xmca] Can the Right Kinds of Play Teach Self-Control?

[mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com>]

PS-- One of the poems was by Langston Hughes. NONE of the students except
the student who brought in that poem because she had written a report on
Langston Hughes in middle school could identify anything about him.

Been a tough day, education-wise.
m

On Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 4:46 PM, mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com> wrote:

> Not to discourage this line of discussion at all, but a couple of notes
> from several hours of teaching today.
>
> One class I am teaching is an "integrative senior seminar" to communication
> majors who are graduating this year. One of the activities they engage in is
> reading a text that they have, in principle, encountered in earlier class,
> another is bringing in a poem and explaining why it is important to them.
>
> Two issues. Reading the intro to berger and luckman on social
> constructivism they encountered the term "virtigo of relativity" in
> connection with issues of cross-national differences. One student of the 24
> could work up to saying what virtigo was.... and we linked it to the movie
> by Hitchcock. For relativity, e=mc**2 and Einstein. NO ONE admitted to every
> hearing the phrase, cultural relativity before. One remembered hearing about
> cultural capital. None could interpret that part of the text.
>
> They have been educated in a university by a department that takes great
> pride in its educational achievements and commitment to diversity.
>
> Write that up in the NY Times?
> mike
>
>
> On Wed, Sep 30, 2009 at 9:58 PM, Jay Lemke <jaylemke@umich.edu> wrote:
>
>> Perhaps a second, more serious response.
>>
>> Critical thinking, I believe, is a "habit of mind". That is, it's not
>> something one turns on and off, or something that we can stimulate in a
>> single class or around a single issue or text. It inhabits a longer
>> timescale, it is more of an acquired disposition, and once you acquire it
>> it's there with you in relation to pretty much everything.
>>
>> How we acquire it is a big, important question. I think we know,
>> epidemiologically, that those who are marginalized in society are more
>> likely to acquire it spontaneously. I always found Freire a useful text with
>> Brooklyn College pre-service and new teachers, initially to talk about how
>> to stimulate critical thinking in others who were already living in
>> conditions that limited their human potential. But it always wound up being
>> about how these students/teachers themselves were being limited by
>> institutions, biases, power inequalities, etc. (even those in our own
>> college classroom). They, too, were living in conditions that made them
>> ready to discover critical stances. It took a while, and I don't know for
>> sure how long the active critical disposition lasted in the face of the pain
>> of seeing the pain around us, and the ease of easing off from a critical
>> stance in life.
>>
>> One critical breakthrough can catalyze a more generalized critical
>> disposition, but "transfer" is often as much a learned capacity in regard to
>> critical thinking as in regard to any other higher intellectual function.
>> But the deeper, the wider, and the longer it sinks its teeth into us, the
>> more likely we will be looking and feeling critically for the rest of our
>> lives.
>>
>> I know that you and your students will keep at it!
>>
>> JAY.
>>
>> Jay Lemke
>> Professor (Adjunct)
>> Educational Studies
>> University of Michigan
>> Ann Arbor, MI 48109
>> www.umich.edu/~jaylemke <http://www.umich.edu/%7Ejaylemke>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sep 30, 2009, at 7:23 PM, Beth Ferholt wrote:
>>
>>  An interesting twist as I used this paper in a class of student teachers
>>> here at Brooklyn College:I was excited to bring in Bodrova from the New
>>> York
>>> Times.  I thought I could encourage critical thinking about the
>>> troublesome
>>> 'frame' in which the article presented this exciting work with play.  I
>>> overestimated my abilities to encourage critical thinking about the piece
>>> ... but comments from the students after class made me think that these
>>> teachers-to-be may included more dramatic play in their classrooms
>>> because
>>> they read these ideas in the Times.
>>> Beth
>>>
>>> On Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 7:23 PM, Jay Lemke <jaylemke@umich.edu> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> David and all,
>>>>
>>>> Briefly, the dynamic, in the sense of the mechanisms at work, may be
>>>> much
>>>> the same, but the degree of residual choice, or freedom-in-practice,
>>>> remains
>>>> considerably greater. Call is power-within-the-system as opposed to
>>>> power-over-the-system, which, I agree, individuals in general,
>>>> regardless of
>>>> social class lack. That's why collectives are more formidable in
>>>> resisting
>>>> or changing the system. A deep question I think is whether the
>>>> marginalized
>>>> or the middle class in fact play this role. The former, I think, find it
>>>> harder to organize and participate in collective action over longer time
>>>> spans, but if they do are more likely to initiate major changes. The
>>>> latter
>>>> aggregate in search of their interests more often and easily, but are
>>>> less
>>>> likely to do more than negotiate relative advantage within the existing
>>>> system. Here too one sees, I think, the implied powers of burgher and
>>>> pauper. (Genuine princes are in a much more paradoxical position!)
>>>>
>>>> JAY.
>>>>
>>>> Jay Lemke
>>>> Professor (Adjunct)
>>>> Educational Studies
>>>> University of Michigan
>>>> Ann Arbor, MI 48109
>>>> www.umich.edu/~jaylemke <http://www.umich.edu/%7Ejaylemke>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Sep 27, 2009, at 10:36 PM, David H Kirshner wrote:
>>>>
>>>> But there is a world of political difference among controlling
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>  yourself, carrying out commands, and controlling others.
>>>>>
>>>>> Jay,
>>>>> Not to dispute the critical stance of your concerns re self-regulation,
>>>>> I wonder to what extent the politicization of the issue obscures its
>>>>> dynamics. Even the wealthy scion inheriting position and power has to
>>>>> learn to navigate in an existing system "he" (most likely, he) hasn't
>>>>> created. The rewards for self-control undoubtedly are much greater and
>>>>> much more readily forthcoming for the prince than the pauper. But isn't
>>>>> the dynamic the same?
>>>>> David
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]
>>>>> On Behalf Of Jay Lemke
>>>>> Sent: Sunday, September 27, 2009 11:26 PM
>>>>> To: lchcmike@gmail.com; eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
>>>>> Subject: Re: [xmca] Can the Right Kinds of Play Teach Self-Control?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> As a footnote to my worries about the politics of teaching "self-
>>>>> control", and in response to Mike's note about re-framing in cognitive
>>>>> psych discourse, a thought or two about "executive function".
>>>>>
>>>>> There is a value connotation in this term, from "executive" in its
>>>>> sense of high-status individual in a managerial role (cf. "Executive
>>>>> MBA program" or "Executive Summary" not to mention "Executive
>>>>> Washroom"!).
>>>>>
>>>>> And it's not so semantically distant from the putative denotative
>>>>> meaning of the term: the function of executing decisions. The history
>>>>> comes, I believe, from computer programming and computer processor
>>>>> design, where the executive function carries out the commands of the
>>>>> program.
>>>>>
>>>>> So there is a sort of root cultural meaning-message here: "it's good
>>>>> to be in charge" conflated with "self-control is good". But there is a
>>>>> world of political difference among controlling yourself, carrying out
>>>>> commands, and controlling others. Or as I argued in my other post,
>>>>> learning how to control yourself to act your part in someone else's
>>>>> drama.
>>>>>
>>>>> It may be obvious but perhaps still worth noting that there's also a
>>>>> difference between the meaning of "self-control" or "self-regulation"
>>>>> as the basic and necessary ability to focus your own attention and
>>>>> action in order to get something done beyond the single instant vs.
>>>>> their meaning as conforming to the norms of behavior set by others. In
>>>>> free cooperative or collaborative activity, where group norms are
>>>>> agreed and remain subject to challenge by all and to revision, this
>>>>> latter difference fades. But how often does that happen in schools? or
>>>>> any late capitalist institution?
>>>>>
>>>>> JAY.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Jay Lemke
>>>>> Professor (Adjunct)
>>>>> Educational Studies
>>>>> University of Michigan
>>>>> Ann Arbor, MI 48109
>>>>> www.umich.edu/~jaylemke <http://www.umich.edu/%7Ejaylemke>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Sep 27, 2009, at 9:22 AM, mike cole wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> I am pushed to get ready for classes monday, Ageliki.
>>>>>
>>>>>> I would be glad to discuss the issue I referred to as re-framing
>>>>>> within the
>>>>>> context of the discussion of learning sciences and vygotsky just to
>>>>>> keep it
>>>>>> in the bounds of time constraints-- have you read that discussion?
>>>>>> Otherwise
>>>>>> my comments will make no sense.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Within that context, I might start with executive functioning as a
>>>>>> "neuroscience term," the discourse on 0-3 and ways to make babies
>>>>>> brains
>>>>>> develop more quickly (see xmca discussion of brain and
>>>>>> education),and the
>>>>>> linkages to no-child-left behind. Seems a long way from Kharkov in
>>>>>> the late
>>>>>> 1930's, or 1990's, or the recent (to the NYTimes) discovery of
>>>>>> Vygotsky.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> mike
>>>>>> Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 9:15 AM, Ageliki Nicolopoulou <agn3@lehigh.edu>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi Mike,
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Can you explain a bit what you mean by re-framing and why you see
>>>>>>> it as an
>>>>>>> issue of re-framing?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>>> Ageliki
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>> **********************************************
>>>>>>> Ageliki Nicolopoulou
>>>>>>> Professor
>>>>>>> Department of Psychology, Lehigh University
>>>>>>> 17 Memorial Drive East
>>>>>>> Bethlehem, PA  18015-3068
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Personal Webpage:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>  http://www.lehigh.edu/~agn3/index.htm<http://www.lehigh.edu/%7Eagn3/index.htm>
>>>>>> <http://www.lehigh.edu/%7Eagn3/inde
>>>>>>
>>>>> x.htm
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>  Departmental Webpage:  http://www.lehigh.edu/~inpsy/<http://www.lehigh.edu/%7Einpsy/>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> nicolopoulou.html<http://www.lehigh.edu/%7Einpsy/nicolopoulou.html>
>>>>>>> **********************************************
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> mike cole wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks Peter-- I was just about to forward this story. Apart from
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> its
>>>>>>>> considerable intrinsic interest to members of this group, it seems
>>>>>>>> relevant
>>>>>>>> to the prior discussion the origins of learning sciences and the
>>>>>>>> ways in
>>>>>>>> which re-framing can operate to change the terms of discourse.
>>>>>>>> mike
>>>>>>>> On Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 7:36 AM, Peter Smagorinsky <smago@uga.edu>
>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> September 27, 2009 The NY Times Magazine Section
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> The School Issue: Preschool
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Can the Right Kinds of Play Teach Self-Control?
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> By PAUL TOUGH
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>  _______________________________________________
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>>>>>
>>>>>
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