Notre Dame Notre Dame WorkshopWorkshop

Notre Dame Notre Dame WorkshopWorkshop

Earth Principles

Differentiation: the uniqueness of the Universe’s

beings• The Universe consists of differentiated

centers- articulated energy constellations (example: Fire ball differentiates into galaxies; stars differentiate into solar systems) Everything is different from everything else – not uniform homogenous sludge. The Universe is varied and diversified. Everything has its uniqueness.

Subjectivity• Subjectivity (Interiority – Individuality):

The depth of the Universe’s beings• The Universe consists of subjects with

an interior dimension. Everything that exists has an interior reality – depth, sentience, numinosity.

Communion (Community - Unity)

• The interrelationships of the Universe’s beings

• The Universe is a communion experience taking place in a multiplicity of centers. Everything is related to everything else. “To be” is to be involved in the primordial web – communication, sharing, relationship. The Universe is one united, interacting, developing organism.

Cosmological principles of the Earthview perspective of teaching and leadership:

1. Everything is connected.2. Order/hierarchy is circular.

Everything is interdependent and interrelated as a valuable contribution to the whole. Human beings have a special role of choice and responsibility.

Earth Principles• Rather that in a static existence, the

universe continually unfolds and emerges in time and space. All creatures are part of this process. Once an event takes place, it is irreversible.

• Participation in life is not an choice• Life reacts to directives.

Earth Principles• Human beings create their own

interpretation of reality.• A living system becomes healthier

by connecting it more to itself.• Note: Adapted from Swimme, B., & Berry, T.

(1992) the Universe Story: From the primordial flaring forth to the ecozoic era—a celebration of the cosmos. New York: Harper Collins. (See also Senge, 1990 and Wheatley, 1999)

Everything is connected!

• We are all part of the “Great Story”

• The Universe principles of Differentiation (diversity) Subjectivity ( individuality) and Communion or Community are part of each of us and all life.

Culture• Definition-one of many, many choices• A property of a group—shared

collective meaning system through which the group’s collective values attitudes, beliefs, customs, and thoughts are understood.

•

Culture, continued• Culture is an emergent property—

that is comes forth through the members’ social interaction and,

• A determinant of how the group’s members communicate

Culture, continued• Culture may be taken to be a

consensus about the meanings of symbols, verbal and nonverbal, held by the members of a community.

Intergroup Perspective• How people identify with groups• How other identify people as members

of groups• How groups define themselves and are

defined by others• How groups separate from and/or

compare themselves with other groups.• (Hecht, Jackson, &Pitts, 2005)

Culture:Layers of Meaning

• Structure/Patterns• Functions• Process• Product• Refinement• Group membership• Power/Ideology

Implications for Educators:

• Culture is a lens through which we view the world

• Distinguishing feature – cultural values shared by group not necessarily the individual

• Cultural values persist – even though not expressed consistently

• Culture is a dynamic process – change over time.

Culture General Framework

• Developed by Richard Brislin for use in International business interactions.

• Critical incidents developed by Kenneth Cushner for us in multiple cross-cultural situations including the classroom.

Eighteen Categories on the Cultural General

Framework• People’s intense Feelings:

– Anxiety: A common response to uncertainty, differs from fear in that fear is specific. In setting where there are various cultures, anxiety may occur when one does not know how to act or respond. Examples?

Framework:People’s emotional

response• Discomfirmed Expectations:

People enter most situations with cetain expectations. Teachers have certain culturally based expectations of student’s behavior, motivation, and values.

• Administration and Staff do as well

Framework, continued• Disconfirmed

Expectations:Students also expect that the adults with whom they interact will behave in culturally predictable ways.

• Belonging: People need to belong, to find their niche in the setting, to feel accepted.

Framework, continued• Belonging: Students and parents

from other cultures want to feel accepted in the school setting but often don’t because they are “outsiders.” In school this need must be recognized and understood in order for these students to feel apart and accepted.

Framework, continued• Ambiguity: Appropriate behavior

in a cross-cultural context may be difficult due to ambiguous stimuli. Students form different cultures may place an incorrect meaning on cures form their peers or teachers. Teachers, too, may misunderstand their students’ behavior.

Framework, continued• Confronting One’s Prejudice:

Prejudice serves various functions for individuals and can be found in many forms. Ethnocentrism and prior prejudices may emerge even within well-intentioned individuals in the best of situations. These prejudices may not be helpful in the classroom.

Knowledge Areas of Framework

• People are socialized within their own culture and learn certain “correct” ways of doing things. Some of these “correct” ways are identified in the themes of this category.

• Work: Differences exist between attitudes toward work, the locus of control and proper relationship between on-task effort and social interaction.

Framework, continued• Work: Expectations concerning

school work are critical to academic achievement and are subject to wide cultural differences. Such expectation are central to the evaluation of students’ and staff work and may have a major effect on success or failure.

Framework, continued• Time and Space: The classic cross-

cultural concepts of time and proper spatial orientation for difference interpersonal encounters vary greatly from culture to cultural. Time orientation issues are seen in the school context when students come late to school or meetings or have difficulty with deadlines.

Framework, continued• Spatial Orientation: These issues

may emerge when some students appear to crowd the teacher or are labeled as “pushy,” when in fact they are only seeking a comfortable interpersonal space. This can be true when meeting parents, as well.

Framework, continued• Language: Attitudes toward

language use and the difficulties of learning language as it is actually spoken versus how it is “read from a book” cause problems for all students whose second language is English. It also causes a problem for teachers.

Framework, continued• Roles: Role expectations between

cultures vary considerably. Gender, status, family, and situational role variations may result in strained and confusing interactions at school.

Framework, continued• Value of group vs. individual

allegiances: Perhaps the most potent cross-cultural difference is the way people orient themselves to others along the continuum from individualistic to collective. This has a very distinct effect on types of learning situations that are successful for different groups.

Framework, continued• Allegiances: These allegiances help

us understand and predict individual learning behaviors in the classroom.

• Rituals and Superstitions: One culture’s “intelligent practices” are often considered another culture’s rituals and superstitions.

Framework, continued• Rituals and Superstitions: A

student’s behavior may seem off or unacceptable , but it may be perfectly normal in his or her own cultural contact. Understanding and negotiation better here than punishment.

Framework, continued• Hierarchies: Class and Status. The

relative importance of class distinctions and markers of high versus low status differ widely from culture to culture. Wide shifts in status, either up or down, and misinterpretation of status markers may cause severe adjustment problems when people move to a new or different culture.

Framework, continued• Values: Understanding internalized

views—is a critical cross-cultural adjustment. Making accurate attributions about students’ behavior depends on understanding their values. One need not agree with another’s values to understand them

Framework: The Bases of Cultural Differences

• Categorization: People receive literally millions of stimuli a day; responding to each separate stimulus would be difficult if not impossible. So – we categorize the stimuli into groups and respond to the group.

Framework, continued• Categorization: People of

different cultures learn to place the same elements of information into different categories, which often causes confusion when trying to learn and live across cultures.

Framework, continued

• Differentiation: Categories themselves contain much information that must be ordered. One’s culture determines how finer distinctions are made within groups. In school cultures, teachers not only know how to teach reading but know and can differentiate between several methods of teaching reading.

Framework, continued• Differentiation: Differentiation of

more and more information within a given knowledge area can cause confusion.

• In-group-Out-group Distinction: Out-group members must recognize there are some in-groups behaviors in which they can never participate.

Framework, continued• In-group-Out-group: If new and

old students alike recognize this fact, the can avoid the hurt and anguish that comes of coveting some thing they can never have.

Framework, continued• Learning Styles: The style in which

people learn best differs from culture to culture. It is most helpful for school administrators and teachers to recognize the culturally based learning preferences of their students to ensure that optimum learning will take place.

Framework, continued• Attribution: People observe the

behavior of others and reflect upon their own behavior. Judgments about the causes of behavior are called attributions. Inaccurate or faulty attributions underlie many intercultural misunderstandings. The object of this framework is to help make this possible.

Framework - final• Isomorphic Judgments: When an

attribution I give to a behavior is, in fact, the actual reason for the behavior, this judgment is called “Isomorphic” – alike in shape and form. This is something to strive for in the classroom.

Critical Incidents• Break up into groups of fours• Each group receives an actual

incident that needs interpretation for the best possible response.

• Check responses, choose one, identify framework categories on which you base your choice.

Critical Incidents• Discuss choices• Read choices from the author as to

which would be “isomorphic” and discuss whether your choices were the same.

• What categories does he cite from the framework?

• Reporting back to the group

Stories• “Anyone who tells a story speaks a

world into being.” Michael E. Williams

• Story as the foundation of everything: the stories we tell ourselves determine how we see the world and our place in it.

• Stories about various cultures give us insight into the reasons for how they think and why they act.

Recent Fiction• The Help – Kathryn Stockett• Based on the lives of maids in the

1960’s in Jackson, Mississippi• Little Bee – Chris Cleave• Based on the difference between a

Nigerian refugee and a British family.

• Others?

This is “our” Story.We are all one and helping our students to understand one another is a great gift to

all on Earth.

Questions, comments• Thank you for participating in this

workshop.• If you would like any of the

material as handouts, please request them electronically from me at:

• ruthmaryp@sbcglobal.net.