from Terry Haik
Quality – Do you know what it is, but you still don’t know what it is. But it’s self -reflective. But some things are better than others, that is, they have more quality. But when you try to say what quality is, except the things that have it, everything goes to Puff! There is nothing to talk about. But if you can’t tell what quality is, how to find out what it is or how to find out that it even exists? If no one knows what it is, then it does not exist for all practical purposes. But for all practical purposes, this really exists.
In Zen and the art of maintenance of motorcyclesAuthor Robert Pirsig talks about the evasive idea of quality. This concept – and the touching Church of Reason – pursues it throughout the book, more special as a teacher, when he tries to explain to his students what the quality writing looks like.
After some struggles – internally and with students – he threw away letters in full in the hope that students would stop looking for the prize and start looking for “quality”. This, of course, does not turn out to be the way he hoped he could; Students rebel, which only takes him further than his goal.
So, what does it have to do with learning? Quite little, it turns out.
Shared feeling of what is possible
Quality is an abstraction – has something to do with the tension between something and ideal something. Carrot and an ideal Carrot. Speech and an ideal Speech. The way you want The lesson that has to go and the way it actually goes. We have many synonyms for this idea, “good” is one of the most common.
In order for the quality to exist – in order to be “good” – there must be some shared sense of the possible and some tendency for variation – a mismatch. For example, if we think there is no hope that something is better, it is useless to call it bad or good. This is what it is. We rarely call walking good or bad. We’re just walking. Singing, on the other hand, can definitely be good or bad – this is to have or lack quality. We know this because we have heard good singing before and we know what is possible.
In addition, it is difficult to have a quality sunrise or a quality drop of water, as most sunrises and most drops of water are very similar. On the other hand, a “quality” cheeseburger or the performance of Beethoven’s 5th symphony has a bigger meaning because (a) we have had a good cheeseburger before and we know what is possible and b) can experience a huge difference between one cheeseburger and another.
Back to learning – if students can see quality – identify it, analyze it, understand its characteristics, etc. – Imagine what this requires. They have to see the whole way around something, compare it to what is possible, and make an assessment. Many of the friction between teachers and learners comes from a kind of scraping between students and teachers trying to direct them to quality.
Teachers, of course, only try to help students understand what quality is. We describe him, create rubrics for him, point him, model and sing his praises, but more often than not, they do not see him and press him more and closer to their noses and wait for the light to light up.
And when it doesn’t, we accept that they either don’t care or do not try enough.
Best
And so it is with relative superlatives -good, better and best. Students use these words without knowing their starting point – quality. It is difficult to understand what quality is until they can think of starting something to start. And then, in order to internalize things really, they have to see their quality. Quality for them based on what they see as much as possible.
In order to qualify something like good – or “the best” – first requires that we can agree what this “thing” should do and then can discuss this thing in its native context. Think of something simple like a mower. It is easy to determine quality To the mower, because it is clear what he should do. This is a tool that has some degree of productivity, but most is like a switch to switch/off. Either works or not.
Other things, such as government, art, technology, etc., are more complicated. It is unclear what quality looks like in legislation, abstract painting or economic leadership. There are both nuances and subjectivity in these things that make the quality assessment far more complicated. In these cases, students need to think “enough macro” to see the ideal features of something, and then decide whether they work, which, of course, is impossible because no one can agree with which features are “ideal” and we return to zero again. Like a circle.
Quality in the thinking of students
And so it is with teaching and learning. There is no clear and socially agreed connection with the causal effects between teaching and the world. Quality teaching will give quality training that makes This. It is the same with the students themselves – in writing, reading and in the thought of what does quality look like?
What causes it?
What are its characteristics?
And most importantly, what can we do so as not only to help students see it, but to develop their eyes for what they refuse to close.
To be able to see the circles in everything, from their own sense of ethics to the way they structure paragraphs, design a project, study exams, or solve problems in their own lives – and do it without using adults and external labels such as “good work” and “A+” and “you’re so smart!”
What can we do to nourish the students who are ready to sit and deal with the tension between the possibility and the reality, leaning all theirs at their will with a moment with affection and understanding?
