Reflexive Pedagogy: Discovering Self with the Other

Reflexive Pedagogy: Discovering Self with the Other

“We do not see things as they are. We see things as we are.”

Rabbi Shemuel ben Nachmani, as quoted in the Talmudic tractate Berakhot (55b.)

 

Abstract

Reflexive Pedagogy is directed first at the SELF and gradually overflows and embraces the OTHER. It offers, teachers and particularly teacher educators a process to examine the often conflicting ethical, social, emotional, and intellectual messages that they offer to learners about what it means to be a TEACHER. While reflexivity remains an integral part of ensuring the transparency and quality of the research inquiry, its role in teacher education among teacher educators in India has merited scant attention. A Structured Learning Experience (SLE) drawing on Experiential Learning (EL) techniques is offered to Teacher Educators to ‘Discover Self through the Other’

Key Words: reflexive pedagogy, structured learning experience, experiential learning, self discovery,

 

A Structured Learning Experience to Discover SELF with the help of the OTHER. Is this even possible – see for yourself!

Through this interesting game YOU are invited to discover a bit, perhaps more of YOURSELF through the eyes of the OTHER.

The facilitator / Teacher / Teacher Educator, suggests to the participants – ‘I am inviting you to pick an object  ... which you believe ‘says’ something ... an important ‘aspect’ of yourself  ... any object that is around you ... (the lesser the instructions the better ...) you could add ‘... please avoid plucking flowers etc ... I am sure there are lots objects ... around you that does ‘depict’ an important part of yourself ...’ (best ... to avoid giving examples ... cos most folks tend to ‘follow examples’)

While you go about picking that object that you believe depicts an important aspect of you ... a  request – PERFECT SILENCE ... NOT TO TALK TO/WITH ANYBODY and  DO NOT SHOW THE OBJECT TO ANY OTHER PERSON ...

You could add ... not talking is going to be difficult  ... but believe me. ... you will soon understand WHY ? ....

By this time you have selected a suitable space .. where the participants can comfortably stand around in a circle ... and before the participants come in with their selected objects.... position yourself in the space you have chosen ... and silently indicate to the participant to ‘place’ their object right in the middle of the space you have chosen ... the golden rule... the lesser the instruction ... the better ...to queries such as ‘should I place it here ...?’ you could just nod or say ‘yes’

Once all the objects have been placed in the middle ... and with the participants standing around in a circle ... yes a large circle ... with all the chosen objects right in the middle of the newly formed circle ... there is bound to be a lot of chit chat and giggling  ...

After they are sufficiently curious as to what comes next ... you could get started by ... inviting at random any two persons (a name list of the participants, would be useful) to the centre ...it’s important you ‘choose the two’ and better  to choose those from different points of the circle ... not a pair standing together ...

With the two now in the middle, near the chosen objects, with the others watching  ... the activity starts... invite them to say their names... and whether they know each other ... if they know each other ... would they know the object ... chosen by the other ... ?Even if the answer is YES ... you could still proceed ...

Invite one person to ‘pick out’ the object that represents the other ... well he/she may say ... how is it possible ... etc? ‘It is not possible ...’ You could help by adding...TRY ... it is very interesting to note how persons respond to this request ... pick out the object that represents the other ...

Observe carefully the hesitation or confidence with which the person picks out the object... some may just ‘refuse’ ... but you could add ... just GUESS, and do pick an object ... it is important that you pick an object ... that you think represents ... the other person now standing with you ...

Once the object has been picked... ask the person who picked the object ... to name the ‘quality’ that she sees in the object ... that represents the other...

Most folks start describing the object ... intervene and say ... ‘what quality about the other do you see ... in the object that you are now holding ... what could that quality of hers/ his made him/ her choose this particular object ... with which you think she chose to describe herself....’ there is bound to be a lot of silence .. and kindly note the silence the gestures, the hesitation, the words giggles ...(in your analysis .. you could recall ...with your participants ...’do you remember how he/she hesitated to guess ...’)

In most cases when a person is asked to pick an object it is usually the wrong object.... and this is revealed only after the person has painstakingly tried to describe the other ...

At the end of the description ask the person who was being described ... is this the object you chose ... if the answer is yes... then you could ask him/him .. was the other person able to identify the quality that you saw of yourself in the object ... ?

If the other person has failed to choose the right object... ask the person being described to now pick out the object she/he chose ... and offer it to the other person ... now you could add ... now that you have the correct object he/she chose ... could you identify the quality that he/she sees of him/herself in the object that you are now holding in your hand?

Try this with a few more pairs, senior most and junior most, two best friends, different subject teachers, male and female ...

When a few pairs have tried to identify the other ... and when they have all gone back to the larger circle ... ASK THE PARTICIPANTS ... WHAT DO YOU THINK IS HAPPENING NOW ... HOW DO WE SEE THE OTHER? WOULD YOU LIKE TO ADD ... TO WHAT WE ARE DISCUSSING...? ALLOW THE PARTICIPANTS TO SPEAK ... THIS IS VERY INSIGHTFUL AND A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR PEER LEARNING...

An analysis of the objects: after having invited three or four sets of people ... draw the attention of the participants to the objects themselves ... ask them to come closer... and ask ... now what do you ‘see’ ... can you ‘really’ identify folks from their appearance ...? How accurate are we in our observations of the other?  

Invite them into their classrooms ...What about the children in your classrooms... how would they want you to ‘see’ them ... which is that quality or qualities that they so desperately wish for you to notice ... On a more personal note ... invite them to their homes... ‘do you even see your sons and daughters, spouse ...’ as they really are?

Look at these objects... what do you see... yes like these objects... we just see stones, leaves, flowers... and what have you ... but the truth is that these were chosen by persons to represent themselves ... now isn’t that striking... how easily we dismiss persons by their appearance? All similar yet so strikingly perceived by the self as unique ... Our tendency to generalize, conversations about the North East for example ... eight states crying out uniqueness and we reduce them all to convenient moniker.  

Let’s go a little deeper ... how many leaves do you see... are they all the same... even if they are the same... do you think that the people who chose them chose them for the same reasons ...

Take a closer look at the objects  ... Have you noticed some objects are large, colourful, bright ... yet there are others ... tiny ... hidden away and they are hardly noticed ... all this is happening as you describe the objects they have brought ...  ARE THERE PEOPLE, STUDENTS, FAMILY MEMBERS... tiny and hidden  away ... but do they really want to hide? What would you do to discover these people?

Who are the teachers, people in society, who are the most visible ...  and what about them is visible ...but from what you see would you be able to describe how they wish to be seen and known ...who are the INVISIBLE ONES ... HIDDEN AWAY FROM PUBLIC GLARE ... How does your classroom, your school make PERSONS ... VISIBLE and INVISIBLE?

By way of summing up ...You could add... you know some of you  ... must have certainly wondered ... at the beginning of this small game ... ‘what quality of mine would I want to project’, perhaps you’d never given it a thought ... representing my quality through and object ... or for others ... ‘chalo yaar ... its just a game’ ... and some of you must have gotten lost in your ‘gupshup’ ... and this is so true... most folks go through life ... not knowing who they are ... how they wish to be seen and  ...  lost in gupshup.... the most frightening truth is ... that these folks ... are to a large extent lost ... it is the folks who ... are curious to discover and know themselves ... who appear to lead  ... meaningful lives ... for themselves and for others...!

While we all agree this is a game  ... none of us would deny the fact that there is a lot of REALITY that can be seen through this STRUCTURED LEARNING EXPERIENCE.

The Emperor’s New Pair of Trousers: A Modern Day Parable

Managerial elite, corporates, business tycoons and industrialists all seem to be extremely interested to invest in the education sector. With the assertion of business priorities before inclusive education dreams, the education system needs serious attention.

 

 

 

Why does every tom, dick, hari and harini ... feel confident to sashay into EDUCATION ... ?

 

You’ve probably heard of ... NGO’s. Well, you’d be surprised as to the many other facets of this increasingly attractive tribe and its many avatars. Civil Society Organizations, Social Sector Development Organizations ... Corporate Responsibility Outfits ... Bleeding Hearts, Philanthropic Mavens, Want to give back to society wannabes, Robin Hoods, Good Samaritans, and a host of other outfits and individuals ... it’s an interesting bunch out there! What probably unites this ‘assorted combine’ is their ‘desire to develop society’ with education the most favoured tool. Now this certainly begs a fundamental question - Why does every tom, dick, hari and harini ... feel confident to sashay into EDUCATION ... ?

 

Academicians, adapting to the demands and exigencies of bureaucratic technology, have morphed into ATMs ... spewing out soiled and used ‘value’ ...  to be reused ... like all ATMs do, they too, have their ‘cashless’ moments?

 

Rationalization, consolidation, optimum resource utilization ... and a host of decontextualized corporate terms have been loosely tethered together to promote - schools being shut down. If one were to go by the admissions to the Public School System … the decreasing trends ironically indicate, subscription to Free and Compulsory Public Education is hardly attractive! 

 

An increasing awareness and aspiration among the general public, disenchanted with the ‘free doles’, have begun questioning, inquiring ... and vociferously condemning of the Public Education that they are condemned to ... like the little boy in the Emperor’s new clothes … the public outcry is ... ‘ hey, the System is naked ... ‘ 

 

A tired and ‘scale-up oriented’ (disorientated) system ... is desperate ... having long run out of ideas ... Is the above mentioned ‘assorted combine’ their knight in shining armour … their ‘wish fulfillment’?

 

Corporate ‘honchos’, wannabes and also-rans, alumni of famed ‘alma maters’ raised on a staple of ‘efficiency and accountability’ ... have identified this as the ‘yawning chasm’ in the Public Education System and have banded together for a ‘second career option’ ... 

 

Where their early careers were marked by ridiculously lavish PROFIT at any COST ... this time irrespective of the fact that they are dealing with ‘the future of life as we know it ... ‘  for corporate guys and gals ... LOSS is inevitable... but mention LIVES  ‘...  is that even a variable ... ?’ could be the retort.

 

With the hustle and bustle, chintzy accoutrements, glitzy stages, garish audio and video gimmicks, celebrities … that usually accompany the collaboration and synergy efforts of the ‘assorted combines’  ... bureaucrats of every hue and rung, as if on cue, have begun to unabashedly ... ‘applaud’ the collaboration between Civil Society Organizations and the System ... lending to these combines a very convenient and much desired legitimacy! One cannot help but wonder if these cleverly crafted attempts … are the last nails driven into the coffin meant to inter the public education system in India. 

 

For the time being, the System ... has conveniently discovered a ‘new pair of trousers’ ...  to ward off a too virulent ‘public outcry / outrage’ ...

 

And like most Indian mythical tales ... they lived happily ever after ... !!