Less Coddling Means More Learning

The Coddling of the American Mind is a book that has helped me analyze and understand student behaviors I have seen and heard over the last few years. Things have changed and some would argue that “not for the better.” I remain an optimist and believe that the “worst” of behaviors are overblown in conversation and media.

In The Coddling of the American Mind, authors Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff argue that well-intentioned parents and educators are unwittingly harming young people by teaching them in ways that implicitly convey three untruths:
Fragility: Avoid challenges for they make you weaker.
Emotional Reasoning: Make decisions and take action based on your feelings.
Us vs. Them: Life is a battle between good people and evil people.

The authors suggest to succeed in pursuing your own goals, you do three things:

Seek out challenges “rather than eliminating or avoiding everything that ‘feels unsafe.’”
Free yourself from cognitive distortions “rather than always trusting your initial feelings.”
Take a generous view of other people, and look for nuance “rather than assuming the worst about people within a simplistic us-versus-them morality.”

Read the book and make your judgment; I am reminded of three positive teaching practices which overcome the coddling untruths. These are, Appropriately Challenge Students, Nurture Critical Thinking, and Avoid Judging People by Actions or Beliefs

Following are examples to remind you of how to apply each of these.

Appropriately Challenge Students

Create a supportive learning environment: It is important to create an environment where students feel safe to take risks and make mistakes without fear of judgment or ridicule. This can be achieved by providing positive feedback, encouraging teamwork, and building a sense of community within the classroom.
Set clear expectations: Clearly communicate to students what is expected of them and the learning goals. Students are more likely to take on challenges when they know what is expected of them.
Use real-world examples: Use real-world examples to illustrate the importance of taking on challenges and the rewards that come with overcoming them.
Model taking on challenges: As an educator, model taking on challenges and show students that it is okay to make mistakes and learn from them.
Provide opportunities for self-reflection: Allow students to reflect on their learning and their challenges. This can help them to identify their strengths and weaknesses and develop strategies for future challenges.
Use positive language: Use positive language to encourage students to take on challenges. For example, instead of saying “this is difficult”, say “this is challenging, but I know you can do it”.

Nurture Critical Thinking

Provide examples: Provide examples of situations where emotions may lead to poor decision-making and contrast them with examples of situations where rational thinking is the better approach.
Practice mindfulness: Encourage students to practice mindfulness techniques, such as deep breathing and meditation, to help regulate their emotions and stay focused on rational thinking.
Provide opportunities for debate: Provide opportunities for students to engage in debates or discussions that require them to present evidence and use logical reasoning to support their arguments.
Highlight the consequences: Highlight the potential consequences of emotional decision-making and help students understand how their decisions can impact themselves and others.
Incorporate metacognition: Incorporate metacognitive strategies, such as think-alouds or self-reflection prompts, to help students become more aware of their own thinking processes and to monitor their own decision-making.
Celebrate successes: Celebrate instances when students demonstrate rational thinking and decision-making, and provide positive feedback to reinforce these behaviors.

Avoid Judging People by Actions or Beliefs

Model open-mindedness: As a teacher, model open-mindedness and demonstrate that you value diversity of beliefs and opinions. This can create a positive learning environment where students feel comfortable sharing their own beliefs without fear of judgment.
Encourage empathy: Encourage students to develop empathy for others and consider the perspectives and experiences of those with different beliefs.
Emphasize the importance of respect: Emphasize the importance of treating others with respect, even if we disagree with their beliefs or opinions.
Incorporate diverse perspectives: Incorporate diverse perspectives into the curriculum, including texts, activities, and guest speakers who represent a variety of beliefs and viewpoints.
Challenge stereotypes: Challenge stereotypes and biases that students may hold about people with different beliefs. This can help students to recognize their assumptions and to approach others with an open mind.

THE PUSH AND PULL OF STUDENT LEARNING

Teaching is challenging! Many times, at the end of the day, exhausted teachers wonder if they are making any headway in moving a reluctant student toward success. Having to repeat safety procedures, reminding students to replace their tools, or tutoring a student for the third time on multiplying fractions can create the unsettling feeling that learning is impossible. The Greek legend of Sisyphus comes to mind as an apt metaphor for this kind of frustrating teaching — endlessly pushing a boulder up a hill, never making any progress.

The boulder could well represent some of our students, who require considerable effort to push them to the place where we hope they will be, on the mountain of education achievement. The mental image of the weary teacher and a massive, impassive student boulder is not healthy for teachers or student learning.

Working with reluctant learners feels like pushing students across the finish line of passing a course. Instead of thinking of teaching as a “pushing” exercise requiring considerable effort, reimagine it as pulling. Your immediate reaction might be, “Wow, pulling an object up a hill is even more challenging than pushing.” However, think about using an internal pull rather than thinking about an external pull of you trying to pull the boulder uphill. Shift the mental model of the teacher working externally to pull or push students toward a learning goal to one of facilitating the student’s internal pull toward that goal. This is the push and pull of student learning. Teachers pushing students to learn is exhausting and frustrating. In contrast, the feeling is very different when the student feels an internal pull to accomplish a learning goal. Setting up an internal pull still requires effort, and teachers may exert more time planning and facilitating learning. Still, the results are rewarding for students and teachers.

What drives our students? And how can teachers create an internal pull that motivates students? In his book Drive, Daniel Pink describes the three inner motivators that move people, in other words, that pull people toward a goal. Pink points out that it is not rewards and punishment that drive people; it is a shared purpose, frequent measurement of mastery, and the ability to make autonomous choices. First, we are motivated when we adopt a clear goal or objective, especially when we share that common purpose with others we care about. Second, when people can frequently measure that they are gaining proficiency in their work through frequent recognition, feedback, or even self-reflection, it drives them to continue to practice and improve. Finally, when people have greater autonomy in what they do, and when they do it, it increases their drive. These motivating principles apply to students as well.

Career and Technical Education offers some natural pull learning because the subject matter is usually not a requirement, students have some choice in what they study, and the courses have a clear, relevant purpose. Moreover, mastery is often visible because it is measured by performance in a real-world setting. That is why CTE students are generally more motivated than students in general academic courses.

Of course, even CTE teachers’ work can sometimes drift into feeling like teachers are pushing reluctant students to success rather than the learning goals pulling them toward success by their interest in the content. Teachers can rely less on pushing and facilitate more pulling by applying the Drive principles — shared purpose, frequent measurement, and autonomous choices — in a mental learning model.

A great way to think visually about push vs. pull learning is to use the Rigor/Relevance Framework™. The framework categorizes high and low levels of rigor and relevance. Low rigor/low relevance learning is what teachers seem to have to push students to complete. CTE is naturally highly relevant, but even CTE can sometimes become bogged down into low-rigor tasks. When students are challenged with real-world problems of high rigor and high relevance, solving that problem becomes a pull on student motivation. In these teaching situations, students will work to acquire the foundation knowledge of skills needed to solve the problem or construct the solution ultimately.

Think about your teaching. The more you can pull learning into your work with students, the more motivated they will be.

Try to include more pull in your CTE instruction, and at the end of the day, your instruction will seem less like the work of Sisyphus and more like the reason you became a CTE teacher.

Taking a Spin With ChatGPT

Much has been posted in education circles on the innovative AI tool ChatGPT. Is it a way for students to cheat? Is it a teaching tool? Should educators ignore it? In five decades of experience, I have seen educators embrace many forms of technology, and some were always reluctant. I took ChatGPT for a spin to try it out. After using ChatGPT, I believe this is an easy-to-use tool to improve writing and save time. Teachers are likely to use this more than students doing tasks such as writing teaching scenarios, content for online courses, and student feedback. ChatGPT and future AI products add to existing tools of SpellCheck, Grammarly, and GoogleSearch to make us more productive in our work.

To try ChatGPT, I posed this statement related to the Integration of Academics in CTE – It is important to teach academic skills when teaching technical skills

ChaptGPT “wrote” in a few seconds this clear and accurate passage.

Yes, it is important to teach academic skills when teaching technical skills. While technical skills are essential for performing a specific job or task, academic skills provide a foundation for lifelong learning and success in various aspects of life.

Academic skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, effective communication, and time management are crucial for success in any field, including technical fields. These skills help individuals to approach tasks systematically, make informed decisions, and effectively communicate their ideas and findings.

In addition, technical skills often require individuals to research, analyze, and interpret data, which are all academic skills. Without these skills, individuals may struggle to perform technical tasks, especially when faced with complex challenges.

Moreover, academic skills can help individuals to adapt to new technologies and stay updated with the latest advancements in their field. This is particularly important in technical fields, where new technologies and tools are continually emerging.

In summary, teaching academic skills alongside technical skills can help individuals to become more well-rounded and adaptable professionals, who are better equipped to succeed in their careers and tackle complex challenges.