Reaching Back to Traditional Teachings: Diné Knowledge and Gender Politics

As Diné, we must understand the traditional teachings that were once in place through oral traditions and teachings. There are many troubles Diné (Navajo) women and Nadleeh (Two-Spirit) people face from outside the community, but due to western influence, we endure the same effects from within our own Nation. Through this paper, I aim to propose resolutions to move our Nation in the right direction for social change and build a community of acceptance by reaching back to traditional teaching philosophies without the influence of cis-heteronormative patriarchal structures. I argue that adoptions of these western institutions have severe effects on Diné women and Nadleeh (Two-Spirit) livelihood and well-being. In this paper, I examine three areas of Diné philosophy and cosmology: (1) the central role of K’é (family) and the matrilineal clanship, (2) Diné women and Nadleeh voices in our creation stories, and (3) Hozhó, the beauty way, to understand the masculine and feminine energies of Diné cosmology in order to address the importance of women and Nadleeh on Dinétah.

Exploring the preferred learning style of preservice teachers and how this influences their philosophy of teaching

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to address how preservice teachers’ preferred learning style influences their philosophy of teaching agricultural education. A convergent parallel mixed methods design was used in which quantitative and qualitative data were collected simultaneously, analyzed separately, and then merged for combined analysis. In this study, we identified 17 preservice teachers’ learning style and then assessed how their learning style influenced their philosophy statement. We found 59% of the teaching philosophy statements were similar to the preservice teachers’ learning style, 18% were different, and 23% were deemed inconclusive. It appears the preferred learning style of preservice teachers does carry through into their teaching philosophy. The percentage of inconclusive statements show that teachers will incorporate multiple learning styles to meet the diverse learning needs of their students. When the various learning styles of a class are met, it is suggested that the learning experience will be more effective and beneficial for the learners. Based on the findings of this study, we recommend implementing professional development sessions to help teachers blend their preferred learning style with the needs of their learners. Additionally, further research is needed to compare teachers’ actual practice with their teaching philosophies.

The effects of empathy on support for Christmas music performance in public schools

Purpose Despite an ever-diversifying student population, it is still commonplace for US public schools to present Christmas concerts. These concerts can force minority students to choose between their own religious convictions and school participation. For some students, participation in public-school Christmas concerts can damage their personal identity and assimilate them into ways of being that are not their own. This study aims to test a method for teaching preservice teachers to empathize with minority students. Design/methodology/approach Using the framework of action research, the study followed a one-group pretest-posttest design. Participants (N = 19), all of whom identified as some kind of Christian, were asked to perform a concert featuring Satanic Worship prayers and a children’s Christmas song. This intervention was meant to induce empathy for religious minority students who feel uncomfortable performing Christmas songs because they are antithetical to their own faiths. Participants’ perceptions of public-school Christmas music performance was measured before and after the intervention. Findings The intervention effectively increased empathy for minority students. As a result, participants expressed altered teaching philosophies that were inclusive of religious minority perspectives. Originality/value This study demonstrates the effectiveness of empathy-fostering interventions as tools for teaching teachers to work with diverse student populations. The intervention tested in this study is of the researcher’s original design.

Adapting to Teaching During a Pandemic: Pedagogical Adjustments for the Next Semester of Teaching During COVID-19 and Future Online Learning

COVID-19 has altered public health higher education and its impact on pedagogy will be felt long into the future. In response to social distancing measures, teaching academics implemented a number of changes to curricula. It is important to better understand and begin to evaluate these changes, as well as set a course for future changes to public health curricula both during and after the pandemic to best enable transformative learning. Teaching academics have an understanding of academic hierarchies and student perceptions and are well placed to provide insights into current and future changes to pedagogy in response to the pandemic. A survey was developed to examine changes that academics had made to their teaching in response to COVID-19. Responses were received from 63 public health teaching academics from five universities in Australia, the United States, and Canada. Public health teaching academics rapidly implemented a number of changes to their teaching, including alterations that enabled online teaching. The great majority of changes to teaching were related to tools or techniques, such as synchronous tutorials delivered in a video meeting room. There remains further work for the public health pedagogy community in reevaluating teaching aims and teaching philosophies in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. This could include examination of the weighting of different topics, including communicable diseases, in curricula. A series of questions to assist academics reformulating their curricula is provided. Public health teaching evolved rapidly to meet the challenges of COVID-19; however, ongoing adaptation is necessary to further enhance pedagogy.

Generic Competencies and Specific Competencies among Teacher Education Institutions in Indonesia

The aim of this paper is to discuss and clarify the general framework of teachers’ competencies, especially on generic and specific competencies that shall be mastered by prospective TEIs in Indonesia. This study presents some empirical base data from selected Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) in Indonesia concerning with generic competencies and specific competencies that shall be achieved by prospective teachers. In addition, the purpose of study also to have relationship between competencies and teaching philosophies implemented by individual lectures. Descriptive research is one in which information is collected without changing the environment/setting of study. Instruments used were questioners, interview, focus group discussion, and documentation study. Result shows that generic and specific competencies will be influenced by individual teaching philosophies of lecturers. They are strongly influenced and inspired by institutional teaching philosophy. Teaching philosophy is obviously translated in daily teaching learning activities in campus environment. Results also show that teacher competencies affect their values, behaviors, communication, aims and practices in school and also they support professional development and curricular studies. Thus, teachers’ competencies that will improve the teaching-learning process in school is of great importance.

Organ Teaching for Children in Norway: An Educational Field in Development

Teaching children how to play the pipe organ represents a radical revision of a well-established instrumental education field. This article provides an overview of organised teaching praxis in teaching children to play the organ, established in Norway in the early 2000s. Commentary on the limited previous research in organ teaching for children is provided, and based upon the findings in these studies and on praxis experience, areas which necessitate further research are identified. The practical teaching experience of the author provides a frame of reference throughout. Selected instrumental teaching studies related to teaching philosophies, motivation and organisational frameworks, as well as teaching materials (textbooks) are also included in the discussion. These aid in identifying areas in which potential and existing tensions in perceptions and methodologies call for study, evaluation and revision. The primary aim of this article is thus to identify and map the educational field’s structural parameters (organ schools) and praxis in Norway, and identify areas where further research is required, in order to understand how childhood introduction to organ playing may inform organ education and the organist profession in general.

Kulturskolen: A Collection of ‘Artist Teachers’ or a Multidisciplinary Community of Practice?

This chapter explores three teachers’ descriptions of leadership and management challenges that they have encountered as kulturskole teachers in the context of Norway. The purpose of this study is to illuminate tensions that appear between the teachers’ philosophy of work and the kulturskole as an organization, and furthermore the challenges these challenges entail from a management perspective. The research has taken a qualitative approach, with the data material generated through written narratives. Through a narrative analysis, in dialogue with the data material and theory about professionalism and management, the research participants’ reflections are examined from a hermeneutic-phenomenological perspective. The discussion extends into reflections on findings related to the teachers’ professional identity, which reveal a strong connection to their art form and desire for professional independence, while at the same time a sense that a unifying kulturskole community is lacking. The study shows that the research participants describe commonalities in values and teaching philosophies across the different art forms. These commonalities can, according to the study, create a basis for common goals for the kulturskole as an organization. A central leadership challenge appears to be in creating a community of practice, which may help to balance the teachers’ roles as autonomous specialists and the development of a multidisciplinary yet unifying community.

Notare e far notare la bellezza del testo: il punto di vista di alcuni glottodidatti arabi sul gusto letterario

The role of literary taste (taḏawwuq adabī) in the learning and teaching of Arabic as a Foreign Language is an aspect needing further investigation nowadays, especially in non-Arab research environments. In this sense, the present contribution explores the debates on literary taste put forth by some significant Arab scholars and educators, and the resulting theories on the role of the Arabic language teacher and teaching philosophies. It puts them in connection with contemporary orientations in the field of modern language teaching (i.e. peer tutoring, holistic techniques and autonomy in language learning) not avoiding reporting some unique features (e.g. representation, good pronunciation, etc.) that enrich the discourse on literary taste and its implications in the teaching practice.