Instructional Paradigms: Implications for Practice

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For the most part, implications and questions are presented as originally written by participants at the Meeting of Minds Symposium. This means that some items might be fragments of thoughts and therefore hard to understand. If you were a participant and see such a response, please feel free to edit the implication to reflect what you or your table was thinking.

To comment on the implications, use the edit function of the wiki. To add a new implication, use a single *. To add a comment to an implication, use **. Using this notation creates the following structure:

Topic

• Implication
  • Comment

Instructional Paradigms
Hal Beder, Rutgers University
(Meeting of the Minds Symposium)

Implications for Practice

• Look at El Civics opportunities for Emancipatory Education Acquisition Literacy (6)
• Begin to consider how to discuss ESL student goals with them (2)
• Groups read “Easy English News” and discuss
• Reminded me how stats can be misused
• Different kinds of research
• We have recently done a project based learning unit for ESL. It has continued on way beyond our original vision. It incorporated basic skills within the context of the project, but led to a number of valuable interactions within the community.
• Include more authentic context into instruction (3)
• There is more than one way to do things; all have value, no right or wrong; however some are more measurable.
• Teachers reflect and decide whether their philosophy or approach is standardized
• Alignment of proper goals, teacher/staff goals and student goals (2)
• Assure that all 3 models are integrated and reflective in our organizational mission, vision & values statement (5)
• Related staff development for instructional staff pertaining to all three models and the relevance of integration
• Professional development needs to be broadened (3)
• The idea of “accommodative ed” can be used
• Ability to be fluent in all three for PD and RD
• Group set by goals and the appropriate paradigm instead of level (2)
• Must set the values. What we expect successful adult learners to know and do
• The virtue of each model has to validated for teachers and program administrators to feel comfortable that program goals can be achieved suing them, singly or in a mixture.
• Have teachers be aware of going beyond just basic skills; there’s more to ABE than that
• These paradigms are not mutually exclusive
• Important to teach in accordance with how students learn in today’s world.
• Learning basics without application will result in short term quickly forgotten tasks are meaningless
• Integrate approaches to meet the needs & learning styles of students
• How do you train new teachers to integrate 3 approaches? (2)
• What does staff development look like?
• Build values examination/clarification into our classroom practice since values are what shape our perceptions about learner success.
• Can’t pre-stipulate outcomes for emancipatory approach creates opportunities but is at odds with documentation of outcome
• If instructors are familiar with various paradigms they can then apply them based on their learners’ goals and instructional objectives the learners define together
• Interview students and teachers concerning their experiences and values
• Materials should be more authentic
• Teachers use more than basic skills model
• Teachers can integrate all 3 approaches, some pedagogies not likely to be supported by government
• Base the selection of instructional paradigms on the immediate needs of the population served
• Use a functional context to teach basic skills so practical knowledge is gained
• Using/learning basic skills can be transformational
• All the methodologies are needed in order to reach outcomes and produce a productive citizen
• Process learning will not occur unless a successful product oriented approach is mastered
• The comments described different approaches but didn’t assess whether one is more effective than another
• How is it possible to teach emancipatory literacy without basic skill in place?
• The 3 models can and should co-exist
• Be aware of the approach(es) you are using. Be conscious and deliberate. Know why you do what you do.
• Define what you’re doing and be sure that assessment & evaluation are aligned with the goals of the approach
• How do we develop professional development programs that support integration and appropriate use of the different instructional strategies?
• How do adult learn androgyny vs. pedagogy?
• 3 paradigms are not mutually exclusive.
• Clarify both skill and emancipatory goals in lesson planning
• How can we apply the concepts of emancipatory education within the constraints of our “NRS reality”?
• How can I combine the best part of all 3 approaches?
• Tension between learner needs and government requirements
• Different approaches to instruction
• Idea that you can use more than one approach and that it can be transformative
• Amplification for what we can do and how we assess quality
• Importance of considering what we expect adults to do
• Overlooks need to address literacy need in students’ first language
• Where are the models for emancipatory approach?
• Tests not to drive instructor-we can’t ignore federal state mandate duty to provide emancipatory and functional if that’s what our students want
• Move to open questions, set up chances for student expression
• Continue with emancipatory education in classes?
• At the provider level our challenge becomes protecting our role as responders to adult learners and their identified needs first and foremost. We have to deal with the reality of state and federal policy and respond accordingly, but should never do so at the risk of ignoring why adult learners have come to adult education and what they want to achieve
• Civic participation woven within social studies and ESL