The Hidden Wholeness: Paradox in Teaching and Learning

1
The Hidden Wholeness Paradox in Teaching and
Learning

• By Susan E. Zinner, Assistant Professor, School
  of Public and Environmental Affairs
• Indiana University Northwest

2
Parker Palmer and good teaching

• John Lantos asked Do We Still Need Doctors?
• Parker Palmer asks, not do we still need
  teachers, but whether the same class taught by
  two individuals is the same class
• Key to good teaching located in the selfhood of
  the teacher
• Less focus on pedagogy

3
We Are Trained to Think the World Apart

• Education often adopts an either-or approach
• May destroy the wholeness and wonder of life

4
Paradoxes in Education

• 1. Separating the head from the heart
• 2. Separating facts from feeling
• 3. Separating theory from practice
• 4. Separating theory from practice and
• 5. Separating teaching from learning.

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Paradoxes in Classroom Design

• 1. Space should be open and bounded.
• Space should be hospitable and charged.
• Space should invite the voice of the individual
  and the voice of the group.
• Space should honor the little stories of the
  individual and the big stories of the
  discipline.

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Paradoxes in Classroom Design (cont.)

• Space should support solitude and surround it
  with the resources of the community.
• Space should welcome both silence and speech.

7
IUN Responses

• Colleague support
• Discussions of successes and failures at faculty
  meetings at end of semester.

8
Paradoxes in Spring 2005

• Graduate student A.U.
• Date lesson learned February 7, 2005
• Lesson learned Boundaries and rules are useful,
  but real learning opportunities can occur outside
  of the rules (and student can serve as an example
  to her classmates).

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Paradoxes in Spring 2005 (cont.)

• Graduate student D.T.
• Date lesson learned January 26, 2005
• Lesson learned Establishing an atmosphere were
  students are comfortable discussing their views
  may result in uncomfortable comments this can
  still be a valuable experience.

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Paradoxes in Spring 2004 (cont.)

• Undergraduate student J.A.H.
• Date lesson learned January 2004
• Lesson learned Displays of emotion can serve to
  bond the class together life events affect the
  classroom as well as home life.