Life of Learning

Some of the insights that I had while looking over the material this week include the following: When I am a teacher to students from different cultures I will have to understand that some of them aren't as in control of their own lives as I was as a child. I have to remind myself that maybe they weren't taught to use their free will and be responsible for their actions. Students are motivated by their collectivism/individualism--so knowing what background my students have will be helpful in getting them to try their best at learning. Some potential misunderstandings and problems that could arise are: Students could have a hard time understanding each other. I could have a hard time getting students to take responsibility for individual actions. I will address these misunderstandings in my classroom by: I will help my students to understand that the way they see each other isn't as important as the learning that needs to take place--I'm not really sure how. Some stu...

In the lesson by Professor Ivers he clearly defined a spectrum of emotional expressivity. Emotional expressivity describes to what degree public shows of emotion are permitted in different cultures. For instance, Japan and most Asian cultures fall on the low end of emotional expressivity. The Middle East countries on the high end of emotional expressivity. He places the US squarely in the middle of the spectrum and then subdivides different cultures depending on where they lie. He then describes how the two far ends of the spectrum tend to perceive each other and the misunderstandings that follow. That's what he talks about and illustrates--how different people handle things differently and how their paradigms determine their reactions. This was something that I was familiar with to some degree. I had seen that different cultures would respond to similar stimuli with different responses. The underlying emotions could be the same and the output could be opposite sides of the spe...

This week Brother Ivers talked about how different cultures see the world through their own paradigms. Today he provided examples of ways that people see each other differently because they have different cultural expectations. He talked about Latin cultures and how they prioritize the experience of having a good time over the accuracy of the information. He talked about how different cultures view politeness and how people's expectations of politeness interfere with understanding another person from a cultural standpoint. My favorite part that he talked about was the differences in Japanese culture. I've seen too many Japanese tv shows--so when he was describing the way that they are humble through being negative, or being indirect about what the point of a conversation I can compare that to what I've seen. Suddenly all the weird, winding, and awkward conversations that never got to a point make sense to me. I believe that he described that very clearly and can see how t...

There are two kinds of time; Monochronic and polychronic. Those whose lives are dictated by schedules, appointments, and procedures live in monochronic time. They keep appointments. They believe caring for people's time is more important than caring for people. Polychronic people live without schedules. They develop relationships with people. They care more about feelings than they care about wasting time. Most places in the world are polychronic--business and monochronic cultures seem to go together. Chances are I will teach students that don't even understand the concept of a monochronic culture. I think that there will need to be some compromises on both sides so that we can work together effectively in our classroom. If I am teaching students who are new to our monochronic culture it will be part of my job to help them adapt to the way our country works. Being late will result in consequences just like it would if you missed a bill or a doctors appointment. If I am teachi...

I think something that I will struggle with when I am teaching students from another country is seeing things from their perspective. I have experienced other cultures only through media. Never having visited a foreign country, I don't think that I can accurately imagine what it would be like to have lived like them without having experienced that. I know that as their teacher I would need to be a safe place where they could ask questions and learn without feeling judged. I am not worried about that. I think that I am very empathetic and would be able to make my classroom somewhere they could bring their troubles too, but as far as understanding their life and how they grew up--I'm not sure they would have the vocabulary or I would have to life experience. As far as recognizing when my brain is using paradigms to judge a situation or something--I think that will take some training. In the classroom, it will be my to teach and help the students connect to our culture without l...