Introduction

 

In recent years, United States’ lawmakers have expressed the desire to reform secondary education through passing laws, rewriting standards and offering more money for educational programs. The prevailing approach of many has been to treat secondary students very much like students in grade school, without enough consideration of their development and potential. The relevant literature suggests there needs to be a shift away from the failed methods currently used—as evidenced in a multitude of test results indicating poor standing of US students in comparison to students from both advanced and less advanced nations—to a new human-centered method. In this book, a new approach to teaching secondary mathematics is presented that has the student’s growth and best interests in mind. Far from than treating each student as a cog in an economic machine, this new approach supports the student to realize his or her own inner human potential through such techniques as Jung’s active imagination, which encourages the student to find inner purpose and motivation, in a creative context, and helps teacher encourage this growth and achievement as well as fulfilling the need to teach mathematics in a more effective way. Even though my teaching experience has been primarily in secondary mathematics, it should become apparent that these approaches could be applied to almost any level of education and any educational discipline.

Since these are somewhat different ideas, I decided to write this book with a different approach. Many of my ideas came through applying Carl Jung’s ideas of active imagination. I have also used this psychological method to aid me in much of my academic and psychological growth. In addition, I am currently reading Ken Wilber’s A Brief History of Everything and The Republic of Plato. The most interesting thing about these two books is that are written as mostly dialogues. This is very similar to the style of active imagination that I do. Through these experiences, I have learned that dialogues or conversations are my best way of communicating clearly.

As a result, I have decided to write this book in the following way. First of all, chapters are organized in the same way that I would teach a class the first time. It starts off with a motivation for teaching and then follows the process that I go through to organize a year of teaching something new.

In turn, each chapter is written in the following way; It starts off with a written concept about teaching high school and it is followed by a dialogue between two educators; the way I consciously teach and another voice that believes in a standard, mainstream way of teaching. The second character is a composite of all the educators I had conversations with that feel closely tied to the way things “have always been done.” These educators believe that the failing of schools, for the most part, are a result of groups not cooperating with their philosophies. For example, they are the type teachers who blame poor student on their lack of motivation.

At the end, a conclusion is written as an attempt to condense the discussion of the chapter.

It’s late May. School’s almost over. I am about to receive a PhD in psychology. The weather is nice. I should be happy but I’m not. It’s not that I’m unhappy. The best description I can make is that I’m confused.

I have been a high school mathematics teacher for about 14 years. I love teaching teenagers. However, I am starting to think that my mathematics teaching days are numbered. I used to think that I could answer any unknowns through mathematics. Now I am not so sure. I feel like I am losing my passion for teaching all things abstract, which is a big part of math…at least at the high school level…the way we are supposed to teach it.

On top of all this, I recently received the results of my kids’ mandated state tests. In previous years, my students performed these tests and were ranked in the 75th percentile. About 75% passed these tests. (This is not the metric that the state uses but I don’t really care about that.) This year was different. A few weeks ago I apologized to my students because I felt like I didn’t teach with “my A game.” I felt as if I failed them. Then came the test results and my fears were confirmed; my students percentile dropped to the 58th percentile. On top of that, only about 50% of them passed the test. It is a guilt that I am having a hard time releasing.

Now let me be clear about this; I am not a big believer in standardized testing. I believe that the SAT and the ACT are biased tests that tell us little about the student. No, I am not scared that these test results will get me fired. If they want to judge me on these results, then go ahead; they are not a measure of my self-worth. However, when mediocre scores are in line with my self-assessment of a mediocre performance, than I become worried that I am not serving my students well.

I know my students and their parents still love me and I know that administrators believe that my unorthodox methods are ineffective. (My department head is moving me up the mathematical ladder to teach juniors and seniors next year. I can’t help but think that they are doing this because I can’t hurt their state test scores next year.) I’m okay with that. But the bottom line is that I am starting to realize that my passion to teach mathematics is fading. I’d rather help these kids with their psychological issues, teach them non-mainstream psychology and help them with their personal growth. Maybe its time to switch from teaching math to teaching psychology or serving in some other psychological capacity. (I have decided a few weeks ago to take the test to be certified as a psychology teacher.)

This confusion is not isolated in my educational side. I recognized this in the past year and it is really gaining momentum. Next month, I am being awarded my PhD in psychology. I am very proud of this and the results of my dissertation. However, I am not sure what I am going to do with the degree. I enjoy teaching but I feel like I am growing beyond that and it is not the best position to help reform education. I have nurtured many ideas through me lately; teaching psychology at a college, helping to run a private school, teaching teachers an alternative way to secondary education, etc. My latest idea is to start a non-profit that does educational research with my unorthodox ideas. Non-Profits are a new idea to me and I am going to try to learn all I can this summer. My point is that I am not sure who I am as a professional.

I have asked myself this question every night I go to bed, hoping the answer will appear in a dream. I have received clues but I have made no conclusions. Then, it hit me. As I was walking home from Starbucks this morning, because I was playing hooky from school today, some deep questions entered my mind; “Where are you an asset and where are you a placeholder? If you’re placeholder, is it worth the effort to become an asset? If you are an asset, is it worth it to up your game?” It really got me thinking. That might be the answers I need to answer to grow and realize who I am professionally. I spoke to my wife not long after that and she agreed. She also helped me realize that this idea is not just in our heads. (She is dealing with similar issues at work.) But it is predicated on how people treat us. That is, do they treat us like a placeholder or an asset? I guess we will find out after some introspection.

In my past posts, I have written posts that seem, in retrospect, a little “angry.” Not aggressive or mean but just angry. Not angry at the characters or issues of the post but angry at education in American high schools, in general. You see, my educational experience before graduate school was not a great experience. I have always loved learning but I have not always loved how it was presented to me. Yeah, sure, I had some good teachers along the way but they were too few. There were some good administrators but even fewer. My experiences as a student were terrible, at best. (I was dirty and quiet and socially poor.) Not that I couldn’t learn because I could learn anything I wanted to. The trouble was that I didn’t want to learn much of what was being taught. I loved mathematics and music. Not much else. As a native Virginian, I loved the drama of the American Civil War. But not the way it was taught in school. I loved athletics but not the way it was taught in school. When I became a teacher in my early 40s, I said to myself, “Let me see what the standard way of teaching is and then I can change it to my liking, so it is more effective than what I was taught.” In my 14 years of teaching, that statement has been my foundation. Then, in my 50s, I worked on a psychology PhD, with a focus on high school mathematics teaching.

Now the PhD is complete and next month I become Dr. Jungian Educator. With this, I feel it is time to “slow my roll” and be more precise about what I believe education should become. During my PhD experience, I had a trusted mentor tell me that I was writing “too bombastic.” I obeyed this advice but I felt deep down that I was expressing my passion about the state of education. I am now ready to truly follow that advice. I will use this forum to explore, “Who am I professionally?” I ask myself this every night, with the hopes that my dreams will help me to answer that question.

In my conversations with my dissertation committee, the three wise professors urged me to write a book on education from my unique view point. I assured them I would and I am going to test out these ideas through this blog. I am hoping the ideas will come fast and furious…and clear. As you hopefully read them, remember that 90% of these are teaching ideas are to be tested later. The ideas are based on my education and experience and instincts as an educator.

When friends find out that I have finished a PhD, they ask me that question, “What do you plan to do with your degree?” I tell them that I have several options; keep on teaching, write a book and/or doing talks about how to teach better. When I thought about these ideas, I realized that my ideas are just conjectures at this point. Well-thought-out conjectures but definitely unproven. As a result, I am thinking about an additional option; an educational researcher. I have given some thought about starting a non-profit organization and to start getting grants to do some educational research independently. At this point, it is just an idea and will keep feeding it until it starts to take its own shape. Wish me luck!