R2

Chapters 8 and 9 in Talks to Teachers on Psychology were compelling yet confounding. Although James eloquently discussed the laws of habits, these ideas seem difficult to translate into practice for teachers. For instance, I wonder, how a teacher should compete with the habits of the culture and family of the child. One of James’ maxims was “Never suffer an exception to occur till the new habit is securely rooted in your life” (James, 1899/1962, p. 35). Since every minute step in opposition (of the forming habit) has the power to undo a potentially effective habit, what should a teacher do? In this case, it may be reasonable and beneficial to incorporate a child’s culture and family since much of the student’s time is spent outside of the classroom. However, if reinforcement by a child’s family is missing, then the teacher’s plan could fall apart. In essence, the teacher’s intentions for forming effective habits are at the mercy of the child’s expanded environment.

I completely agree that habits should be practiced as often as possible, however what happens when the environment is not conducive to forming that habit? Last year I began exercising at the Johnson Center on UK’s campus. Since I am a night owl, I would exercise around 10 pm, three to four times a week during the spring semester. Then summer break happened. Surprisingly, the center was not open during my normal workout hours. This led me to miss many workouts and eventually quit exercising there. This example makes me wonder how a teacher could help a student practice effective habits, when the teacher is only in control of a small piece of the child’s environment.

It is puzzling to figure out how a teacher could actually use the information that James provided to positively impact students, given the teacher’s constraints. One possible solution would be to teach generalizable habits that are strong enough to withstand environmental forces. In the book Outliers, Gladwell suggested that those at the top of their field practiced at least 10,000 hours or 10 years before they became outliers. James suggested the same type of practice where a student will “find himself one of the competent ones of his generation, in whatever pursuit he may have singled out” (James, 1899/1962, p. 39). The interesting part however, is that Gladwell also highlighted how certain environmental factors, along with hours of practice, undeniably helped to ensure the fate of these experts.

R1

Reading William James’ work was quite a task, but after a few pages it became much easier. The author’s thoughts led me to reflect on a few issues. For instance, in Chapter 1, James juxtaposed teaching with studying child behavior (James, 1899). Are the two mutually exclusive? Does not one contribute to the other, especially given the focus on data-based decision making in schools?

In another section of the book, James suggested,

“You should regard your professional task as if it consisted chiefly and essentially in training the pupil to behavior; taking behavior, not in the narrow sense of manners but in the very widest possible sense, as including every possible sort of fit reaction on the circumstances into which he may find himself brought by the vicissitudes of life” (James, 1899, pp. 13-14).

This passage is noteworthy because of its broad implications for teachers. This could be viewed as an aspiration, but how do teachers realistically apply this? Given the diverse student population in terms of culture, disability, language, and socio-economic status, is this a reasonable expectation? And if so, how do you measure it?

Highlighting another interesting quote, James wrote, “But imagine a child so lifeless as to react in no way to the teacher’s first appeals, and how can you possibly take the first step in his education?” (James, 1899, p. 20). In this passage, he discussed how it is easier to work with a student who has any reaction to teaching. This reminds me of my student client, who shows great apathy although he is in a gifted and talented program. According to many of his teachers and through my experience, he seems unmotivated. It has been a difficult task to determine how to effectively reach this student. An effective intervention for him lies in determining what gets him excited to learn, or generally, what makes him feel alive, just as James suggested. However, it remains a disheartening case because the student has potential, yet the services we provide in the school setting do not offer him what he really needs to engage.

Many of the ideas that James discussed seem timeless. A good example of this is found when he wrote, “It is often said that man is distinguished from the lower animals by having a much smaller assortment of native instincts and impulses than they, but this is a great mistake” (James, 1899, p. 22). This particular passage reminds of ideas found in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It compares reactions to responses, and how as human beings we should build effective habits to respond to our environments, not simply react. The author of the book, Stephen Covey, described reactions as impulses, which are less conscious and associated with simply acting in relation to conditions in the environment. Responses are characterized by conscious actions that are led by our higher-level thinking, or executive functioning. Therefore, an effective response takes the environment into account, but is not led by it. His argument is that we are not much different from animals in that we can be led by our impulses to react, but his suggestion is to use our thinking abilities to form good habits and therefore respond to our environment instead.

first thoughts

first night of blogging and I hope that this entry is one of many that I will use to share my thoughts throughout the semester.