[Xmca-l] Re: culture change in a preschool using positive language

[Huw Lloyd <huw.softdesigns@gmail.com>]

On 21 December 2013 04:03, Greg Thompson <greg.a.thompson@gmail.com> wrote:

> Derek,
> It seems like there is a very interesting Vygotskian connection in this
> talk - in the notion of fleshing out the meaning of a concept like
> "helpful". As parents we often present concepts like these in the negative
> "... you're not being very helpful..." and less often do we give children a
> sense for what these good concepts really mean. Instead we often pick out
> "bad" concepts. And compare the common refrain in poor inner-city
> communities in the U.S. "Stop the violence" - an important message, but I
> think it is the wrong one. Much better would be the more positive message:
> "Start something".
>

All three can be rather authoritarian.  Wouldn't you say?


>
> I wonder what others make of the process of teaching/learning everyday
> concepts like "kindness" (but these are perhaps as complex as any
> scientific concepts - and multiply so since they carry a moral weight that
> scientific concepts seem to lack).
>
Any thoughts?
>

Well, the technical business of what is being referred to here is the
naming of behaviours and attitudes.  The conception is imputed to what the
child does on their own, i.e. build up an image of what helpful means.

I watched as far as the experimental paradigm, "double blind, single
subject design" ... its all in the saying, I guess.  What I didn't "hear"
was "we're attending carefully to each individual situation" rather I heard
"we're getting data" similarly "intervening with the virtues project" got
me wondering about how the momentum of a project could influence how long
one eye-balls a student for, or how clipped one utters one's words (along
the lines of weighing words as one may assess a chess move as one
undertakes it -- the sort of social dynamic that an experimental design
might overlook).

I've nothing against the vid., some impressions, some thoughts.

Best,
Huw


> -greg
>
>
>
> On Sat, Dec 7, 2013 at 6:39 PM, Derek Patton <derekpatton19@gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
> > Dear folks,
> > This talk is really about changing children's concepts of themselves and
> > others by changing the culture of the preschool, in the Zone of proximal
> > development and the teachers' loan of consciousness to them at those
> > teachable moments. I was told NOT to be an academic and make it simple
> and
> > exciting to get the general public interested. I would be interested in
> any
> > input for the next time, in the sense that I am trying to get these ideas
> > across in the viewers' Zone, so they actually go away with at least one
> > thing they might do to change the world, their world, a child's world.
> >
> > If the link doesn't come through, just google Derek patton TEDx on
> YouTube.
> >
> > Published on 5 Dec 2013
> > Derek Patton explores the role of positive language - specifically, the
> > language of virtues - in engaging with young people with conduct
> disorders.
> >
> > Derek is a child and family psychologist finishing his PhD on the topic
> of
> > teacher dialogue that develops children's thinking abilities at the
> > University of Melbourne's Graduate School of Education. He is also a
> casual
> > lecturer and academic mentor in the Master of School Leadership degree
> > training school principals in whole school positive culture change. He
> > currently works in Victoria schools as a psychologist and previously
> worked
> > in youth justice, specialist residential schools and with traumatised
> > immigrant children.
> >
> > The common thread in his research and practice has been the use of a
> > positive language of change optimizing capacities and hope.
> >
> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uptMwDiJn-I
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> Gregory A. Thompson, Ph.D.
> Visiting Assistant Professor
> Department of Anthropology
> 883 Spencer W. Kimball Tower
> Brigham Young University
> Provo, UT 84602
> http://byu.academia.edu/GregoryThompson
>
Status: O