Learning Partnerships, Pt. 8

Pg 120 – “The MEF asked students not only to learn about multicultural issues from an outside perspective, but also to become insiders – to understand how their own culture and perspectives came to be and how, through their actions and choices, they can change themselves and the culture around them.” ~ Research the MEF…

Pg 121 – This has the idea of a “color lens.” It would be interesting to have an “identity lens,” similar to a color lens, like seeing something through another identity’s eyes.

Pg 130 – “Arthur Chickering (1976) defines experiential learning as ‘the learning that occurs when changes in judgments, feelings, knowledge, or skills result for a particular person from living through an event or events’ (p. 63).” ~ Experience leads to greater identity development.

Pg 131 – While talking about a case study mentions that often missing from people is the ability to bring together “essential competencies,” the things that a person does very well. ~ Understanding what one does well leads to one understanding their own personal history, and, in turn, their identity more.

Pg 132-133 – “…Students were highly influenced and motivated by supervisors who validated them as knowers by treating them as knowledgeable and trustworthy from the onset of their internship experience.” ~ Challenge and support idea again.

Pg 139 – “These experiences provided challenge in the form of dissonance that granted students the opportunity to reconsider their multiple roles and their personal identity in the big picture of life.” ~ Dissonance leads students to greater identity development. It is necessary to develop, it’s the challenge of challenge and support.

Pg 142 – “Rhoads (2000) argued, ‘Reflection is key to promoting the self because it forces students to give serious thought to their experience and their overall lives’ (p 43).” ~ Reflection leads to understanding leads to development.

Pg 151 – “ ‘I hope you come to find that which gives life a deep meaning for you. Something worth living for – maybe even worth dying for – something that energizes you, enthuses you, enables you to keep moving ahead. I can’t tell you what it might be. That’s for you to find, to choose, to love.’” ~ Nice quote, absolutely nothing to do with identiy.

Pg 168 – How to bring about dissonance in students and what stages the students develop in afterwards. ~ Important!!

Pg 174 – “As students make the shift from defining themselves on the basis of other people’s beliefs and values toward becoming the authors of their lives, they experience dissonance in many areas, including the area of relationships.” ~ Dissonance from not being consumed by other’s beliefs.

Pg 178 – From a student’s quote, “I am embracing the idea that it is a process of becoming me. Today Beth is Beth and tomorrow she will be someone different and you can never fully capture who someone is.” ~ I love this! This is the idea that identity is never static put into words!

Pg 186 – “Students’ ways of knowing – that is, how they acquire, analyze, and judge knowledge – moves from a view that knowledge is certain or absolute and obtained from authorities to a view that knowledge is contextual and judged on the basis of evidence (Baxter Magolda, 1992). Students’ sense of self evolves from one defined primarily by how others articulate who the individual is to one based on self-reflection and self-definition (Chickering & Reisser, 1993).” ~ Not being consumed idea, again.

Pg 233 – It mentions Kegan’s theory of self-evolution. ~ Need to research Kegan…

Pg 245 – “The power of any framing device is that it provides a way of interpreting and giving meaning to the events, large and small, that we encounter in any domain of interest.” ~ Am I creating a development theory of framework for identity?

Pg 261 – “It takes time for groups to mature as communities. Many of our current FSGs have been in place for 2-4 years. From year to year, the membership may change somewhat with the loss of a member and the addition of another, but the agendas of the groups develop slowly and tend to progress in a manner that suggests a longer life span than we had first anticipated.” ~ Idea of culture growing, expanding and changing, important to the idea of personal identity.

Pg 261 – “…Bruner (1990) that storytelling is the premier vehicle for the social constructions of meaning and that storytelling can in fact be a prime indicator of movement from peripheral participation in the community to more central roles.” ~ Storytelling comes from experience, closest some have to actual experiences that change their identity.

Pg 267 – “Frames help us see familiar goals in new and sometimes disturbing ways.” ~ Nice quote.

Pg 315 – “To what extent do learners currently possess the self-authorship capacities required to achieve these learning goals? Identifying the underlying assumptions about knowledge, self, and relationships that learners currently hold is necessary to answer this question.” ~ This will help when creating final theory.

Pg 320 – “Three assumptions about learning serve as the foundation for Learning Partnerships Model practices: (a) knowledge is complex and socially constructed, (b) self is central to knowledge construction, and (c) expertise and authority are mutually shared among peers in knowledge construction.” ~ Rephrases earlier statement better.

Pg 323 – “Baxter Magolda identified three pedagogical principles that are central to connecting the three assumptions to learners’ current ways of making meaning and thus provide three specific steps that educators can examine for application to their own areas of practice: (a) validate students’ ability to know, (b) situate learning in learners’ experience, and (c) mutually construct meaning with learners.” ~ Rephrases earlier statement better.

Learning Partnerships, Pt. 7

Pg 91 – “…It is absolutely necessary for them to internally coordinate beliefs, values, and loyalties and act on them consistently as they interface with varying segments of their lives – all keys to self-authorship.” ~ So basically, creating a sold identity relies on students doing these things.

Pg 91 – “Thus, students best learn about other cultures when they experience them directly rather than simply reading about them in class. Similarly, critiques about social justice issues in society are more effective when witnessed firsthand.” ~ Experience is more important than verbal.

Pg 92 – “…One of our basic assumptions is that multicultural education often begins at a place that is too challenging for students without significant experience with culturally different people.” ~ Challenge and support again.

Pg 95 – “For example, with a theoretical understanding of culture, traditions such as food, music, art, and dance go beyond artifacts to be admired and demonstrate complex relationships between history, group identity, self-worth, and individual and group empowerment. Admiration, accompanied with a deeper understanding of why groups do what they do, helps dispel stereotypes and is an early step in prejudice reduction.” ~ Also into building identity based on how to embrace other’s identities and incorporate that knowledge into one’s own identity.

Pg 95 – “Again, the personal interaction with subject matter and people makes this a qualitatively different experience that has greater potential to promote self-authorship.” ~ Experiencing something creates more of a change in personal history, which affects identity development.

Pg 96 – “The emphasis on the individual reinforces the personalization of culture and the development of respect for culturally different people. The respect is based on a complex understanding of both culture and the importance of values and beliefs to individuals. With this understanding, it is then impossible to advocate for the amalgamation of cultures.” ~ Personalizing allows for students to incorporate more into personal history, which affects identity development.

Pg 96 – “…All cultures within our society shape each other and that the inclusion of all cultures would require the reconstruction of U.S. society. On a personal level, students may incorporate elements of other cultures into their own lives, perhaps through behavior, values, or educational activities. On a societal level, students may act to oppose inequity and work toward the inclusion of our society’s multiple cultures.” ~ This is so the personal history changing through experience and then affecting identity development!

Pg 96 – “They can not only take ownership of their own beliefs, actions, and relationships but also take ownership in societal transformation.” ~ What changing identity does to society as a whole.

Pg 96 – “Students needed a number of experiences and cognitive challenges to achieve greater understanding and appreciation of others, including exposure to people and communities that were ethnically or racially diverse.” ~ More experiences leads to developing a stronger, more solid identity faster.

Pg 96 – “Students needed a number of experiences and cognitive challenges to achieve greater understanding and appreciation of others, including exposure to people and communities that were ethnically or racially diverse.” ~ Challenge and support of experiences leading to identity development.

Pg 96 – Students need to change from having self defined from outsiders to self defined by self. ~ Back to not having one’s identity consumed by others.

Pg 97 – “The focus on experiential activities of each step, such as different culture immersion, observation and interpretation of campus cultures, the use of popular media, and so on, helps students develop their own knowledge about the construction of culture and their role in culture maintenance and change.” ~ Leading students to personal identity development.

Pg 113 – Cognitive dissonance needed to evoke change in person’s viewpoint. ~ Important part of how to identity develop!

Pg 114 – “…One oppressed identity might be qualitatively different than another and how multiple oppressed identities might increase the impact of White privilege.” ~ The idea of different personal heritage’s thinking the same basic idea being completely different and affecting things differently.

Pg 116 – “Movement toward a self-authored multicultural perspective required the students to reevaluate what they knew about diversity and contemplate what life might be like as a member of another cultural/racial group. While some students were able to make more progress in creating a self-authored perspective, many were unable to challenge or question the knowledge they had gained from their families and communities.”  ~ Idea that one must first know and understand one’s own identity before being able to understand another’s identity aspects.

Learning Partnerships, Pt. 5

Pg 42 – “…Three principles help educators join learners at their current developmental place in the journey and support movement toward self-authorship. These were powerful supports because they modeled and encouraged a blend of connection and autonomy. Thus, the three assumptions challenge learners to journey between their current developmental place and authoring their own beliefs, identities, and relationships.” ~ Good explanation of the theory.

Pg 42-43 – Three principles:
1.    “…Validating learners’ capacity to know…”
2.    “…Situating learning in learners’ experience…”
3.    “…Mutually constructing meaning…”
~ So the assumptions are how people learn, or the challenge to learning. These things are the support (Nevitt Sanford).

Pg 45 – “Students were encouraged to bring themselves into knowledge construction because the members of the group had to develop and support their approach.” ~ How to make the assumptions and principles apply to real life.

Pg 46 – Student talking about ideas of challenge and support. ~ Good for reference.

Pg 49 – “It takes some serious skills dealing with people, their collective knowledge” from Baxter Magolda, 1999, p. 126) ~ This should be the motto for student affairs professionals.

Pg 52 – “The goals of the course included learning to interpret, critique, and judge educational practices. The objectives of recognizing positions in educational discourse and interpreting educational practices as they related to the purpose of schooling required that students value their own perspectives or have a ‘mind of their own.’” ~ How students come to building an identity.

Pg 53 – “Critiquing positions in educational discourse and evaluating educational practices required going beyond an awareness of new perspectives.” ~ How students come to building an identity.

Pg 53 – “Judging educational practice and defending positions in educational discourse required taking a stance on what information and beliefs to endorse.” ~ How students come to building an identity.

Pg 60 – “New experiences to use to put her life into perspective introduced Lydia to multiple ways of living. Interacting with people who responded to life differently than she had been accustomed to doing helped Lydia reinvent herself. Her story reveals that she realized that she played a central role in constructing her view of life yet openly entertained others’ ideas through mutual construction of knowledge. She reported gaining strength, flexibility, and security through this process.” ~ How challenge and support leads to creating a firmer understanding of identity.

Pg 64 – “Transitional and independent knowers do not yet view knowledge in the context of a particular situation and generally are unable to comprehend that they must make decisions on the basis of their own values.” ~ Stage of identity development.

Pg 64 – “Robert Kegan (1994) has pointed out, most college students have difficulty distinguishing themselves from their relationships or organizing their relationships or the internal parts of the self into a coherent value or belief system.” ~ Stage of identity development.

Pg 66 – “We all agreed that writers operate best in a supportive environment, one where trying new styles and ideas and making mistakes are accepted and where the various members of that community work to support rather than compete with one another. As a result, writers need some opportunities to experiment in new ways and to talk openly and honestly about their writing obstacles and fears without fear of judgment or penalty.” ~ Challenge and support helps.

Pg 67 – “In addition to providing flexibility and creativity, we wanted each stage to respond to students’ developmental needs and to challenge these learners to expand their worldviews and thought processes.” ~ Challenge and support leading to stronger identity knowledge.

Pg 70 – “Underpinning this plan are the Learning Partnerships Model components and the assumption that writing is a process using a combination of cognitive, emotional, and social forms of intelligence.”  ~ Challenge and support leading to stronger identity knowledge with Learning Partnerships Model.

Learning Partnerships, Pt. 4

Pg 8 –  All below from Venn diagram:
“Epistemological foundation View knowledge as contextual, Develop an internal belief system via constructing, evaluating, and interpreting judgments in light of available frames of reference.”
“Interpersonal Foundation Capacity to engage in authentic interdependent relationships with diverse others in which self is not overshadowed by a need for others’ approval, mutually negotiating needs, and genuinely taking others’ perspectives into account without being consumed by them.”
“Intrapersonal Foundation Choose own values and identity in crafting an internally generated sense of self that regulates interpretation of experience and choices.”
(middle) “Self-Authorship Capacity to internally define a coherent belief system and identity that coordinates mutual relations with others.”
~ So basically, in order to have an integrated identity one needs these things. Might be interesting to incorporate them into the theory. THIS IS IMPORTANT!!

Pg 9 – “How people view themselves and construct their identities is the intrapersonal dimension of development.” ~ So I am creating an intrapersonal theory, good to know.

Pg 9 – “Understanding one’s particular history, confidence, the capacity for autonomy and connection, and integrity all depend on these intrapersonal capacities.” ~ Reason why one should know their own personal history in terms of their identity.

Pg 9 – “How people view themselves in relation to others and how they construct relationships is the interpersonal dimension of development.” ~ Also has to do with identity in terms of what happens for external identity.

Pg 9 – “Interdependence requires openness to other perspectives without being consumed by them.” ~ The ‘without being consumed’ is VERY IMPORTANT. Creating one’s identity is essential, but the identity must be one’s own, and not someone else’s. While one’s identity does tend to be a mish-mash of other person’s identities, cultures, and ideas, the ability to turn these ideas into something personal is key.

Pg 15 – Quote from an interview on doing what is ethical versus what is right. ~ Good quote.

Pg 17 – From an interview quote, “…I want to spend my life helping people more than just making companies more efficient, which is a good thing, but it’s just not the kind of good I want to do. (Baxter Magolda, 2001, pp. 101-102)” ~ I feel this way, too.

Pg 19 – There is a metaphor from an interview describing how self-authorship is a sieve that sifts through your life. ~ Good visual element.

Pg 26 – Quote from an interview, “I’m the kind of person who is motivated by being wanted (Baxter Magolda, 2001, pp. 98-99)” ~ I feel this way, too.

Pg 28 – “Doing what others expected or what they perceived others expected led my longitudinal study participants to conflicts between their own needs, desires, and interests and those of others.” ~ This goes back to creating an identity without being consumed by others.

Pg 38 – Gives a few more details about the background of the study. ~ Good to know, just in case.

Pg 41 – Graph of model. ~ Refer to this.

Pg 41-42 – Three assumptions through which “Learners were exposed to epistemological, intrapersonal, and interpersonal complexity…”
1.    “…Knowledge as complex and socially constructed.”
2.    “…Self is central to knowledge construction.”
3.    “…Authority and expertise were shared in the mutual construction of knowledge among peers.”
~ This is important for the basis of identity. People learn identities, and if this is how people learn, then it’s the basis for the theory.

Learning Partnerships, Pt. 3

Pg 4 – “Yet the authors recognized that learning to live with difference required understanding one’s own history and identity: (~ This is the basis of the idea for my theory. That in order to be fully developed you need to understand your identity, or at least a majority of it)

Because one’s own particular inheritances and experiences form an interpretive framework both for the construction of identity and for all further learning, all students should be encouraged to study these inheritances and to become conversant with and conscious of the images, symbols, stories, and vocabularies that comprise their own experience of cultural connections and particularities. (p. 21) (~ This is kind of another explanation of a personal history)

These authors also recognized that understanding oneself would be insufficient. They advocated understanding others’ histories and identities as well, writing, (~ Another aspect of my theory, that not only do you need to understand yourself, but others, as well)

Because our graduates will be part of a society that depends on engagement across difference, they need studies and experiences that enable them to become fluent in one another’s vocabularies and histories and to discover value in other ways of conceiving the world. (p. 21)

Finally, they noted,

Because issues of cultural diversity and racial inequity go directly to the core of human identity and self-knowledge, students should encounter these topics affectively as well as intellectually, learning to draw on experience and human empathy as well as rationality and analysis. (p. 22)” (~Good final goal for the theory)

Pg 5 – “Intercultural maturity includes the ability to use multiple cultural frames to construct knowledge, engaging in meaningful relationships with diverse others that are grounded in appreciation of difference, and the capacity to openly engage challenges to one’s beliefs.” ~ Basically, I think this rephrases my idea of identity lens’s. Also, it uses the idea of having to interpret things in many different ways at once. So you cannot just look at a situation or person in only on context, but in multiple contexts.

Pg 5 – From Lisa Landreman (2003) “achieving consciousness implies an understanding of self and identity (intrapersonal) in a historical and socio-cultural-political context (interpersonal), achieved through reflection (cognitive) and action” (p. 66).” ~ Again talks about the understanding of one’s identity in terms of various aspects, not just a single one.

Pg 6 – “Collectively, these reports suggest that contemporary college learning outcomes should include the following:
-    Cognitive maturity, characterized by intellectual power, reflective judgment, mature decision making, and problem solving in the context of multiplicity
-    An integrated identity, characterized by understanding one’s own particular history, confidence, the capacity for autonomy and connection, and integrity
-    Mature relationships, characterized by respect for both one’s own and others’ particular identities and cultures and by productive collaboration to integrate multiple perspectives”
~ The identity is seen as a key part of contemporary college learning. But I think to have cognitive maturity and mature relationships one first has to have an integrated identity. One cannot understand what others are going through without first understanding themselves.

Pg 7 – “The slow pace of change in higher education, faculty training in their discipline rather than in pedagogy, and the historical bifurcation of academic and student affairs all contribute to lack of reform.” ~ I just liked this quote…absolutely nothing to do with identity.

Learning Partnerships, Pt. 2

Pg xix – “Learning partnerships challenge authority dependence via three core assumptions about learning: knowledge is complex and socially constructed, one’s identity plays a central role in crafting knowledge claims, and knowledge is mutually constructed via the sharing of expertise and authority.” ~ The second assumption is HUGE for my paper. If identity helps us to shape knowledge, than no two people’s understanding of information can or will ever be the same because no two people ever have the same set of personal heritages. Their cultures and experiences might be similar, but never exactly the same.

Pg xix – “Learning partnerships support self-authorship via three principles: validating learners’ capacity as knowledge constructors, situating learning in learners’ experience, and defining learning as mutually constructing meaning.” ~These are also good portions of what helps students develop in terms of identity.

Pg xxii – “An internal sense of self is needed to act on the internal belief system. The capacity for mutuality is necessary for ethical action for the common good. Thus, effective citizenship requires self-authorship because it requires complexity in defining one’s belief system, a coherent identity, and mutual relations.” ~Basically, in terms of identity, one cannot have a belief system until one has an identity that one is comfortable with, so any MAJOR cognitive dissonance needs to occur before a belief system is founded, but MINOR cognitive dissonances might occur every so often. I think that this is a constantly occurring process, so once you reach a certain point in your identity you constantly go through periods of dissonance and identity change and belief system change.

Pg xxii – “Substantial evidence suggests that self-authorship is uncommon during college.” ~ Interesting that we try so  hard to do this during college, but it still does not happen until later. I wonder why. Do we coddle them too much during college? Or is their mind simply not experienced enough?

Pg xxii – “Just as learners are learning to dance in the space between authority dependence and self-authorship, educators must learn to dance in the space between guidance and empowerment.” ~ Back to us coddling students, if we help them along is it hurting their ability to develop?

Pg xxii – It talks about the actual study of Marcia Baxter Magolda that was a “17-year longitudinal study of young adults’ learning and development. Based on nearly 1,000 narratives from participants’ undergraduate, graduate, employment, and personal life experiences…” ~ Good background info

Pg 2 – “…Sharon Parks (2000) asserted that between the ages of 17 and 30, a distinctive mode of making meaning emerges that ‘includes: (1) becoming critically aware of one’s own composing of reality, (2) self-consciously participating in an ongoing dialogue toward truth, and (3) cultivating a capacity to respond – to act – in ways that are satisfying and just.’ (p. 6).” ~ Ways that individuals develop towards self-authorship. I think this also relates to how one composes his or her identity.

Pg 3 – From “Powerful Partnerships (1998), a joint report of the American Association of Higher Education, American College Personnel Association, and National Association or Student Personnel Administrators, includes among learning expectations for students making connections among ideas, experience, contexts, and self and others; actively searching for meaning and taking responsibility for learning; developing an integrated sense of identity that extends to the larger world; and engaging with others in risk taking, critiquing ideas, and sharing diverse experiences.” ~ So not only do people need to develop their identity, but they need to have it relate to the outside world, too. So, there is an internal identity and an external identity. The internal identity relates to how comfortable is with his or herself in private, the external identity relates to how comfortable one is with his or herself outside of the realm of the private.

Learning Partnerships Pt. 1

Pg xiii – “In interviews with our study participants, we have witnessed firsthand that learners’ identities are central to their cognitive maturity.” ~ So, this can be taken in one of two ways. The first way is that learners’ need to establish a solid identity in order to be able to mature cognitively. The other manner that this statement could affect would be that since learners’ never stop adjusting their identities that their cognitive maturity is constantly changing. I would like that think that since one’s identity is constantly changing and adjusting that during the time when one is losing a more major identity(s) that their cognitive maturation rate takes a break, versus when they are losing or changing only a small portion of one identity(s) that cognitive maturity can continue at a faster rate. Also, this brings up an interesting point of identity gain/loss and maturation and development gain/loss. This also brings up the idea of major identity versus minor identity. Does such a thing exist? If so, what constitutes a major identity over a minor identity?

Pg xvii – “…The essence of learning – taking risks to try something new, crashing on the initial attempts, and soaring after one develops expertise.” ~ This is why gaining/losing an identity is so difficult, because taking risks to join a new identity inevitably leads to some crashing which then affects the other identities one has.

Pg xvii – “…A crucial aspect of college learning – that college students must learn to be the masters of their own destinies.”

Pg xvii – “College is a time of transformation.”

Pg xvii – “Student affairs educators specify the boundaries of acceptable behavior yet encourage students to construct their own values that will lead to productive community participation. Parents gradually relinquish authority, hoping their daughters and sons will take it up wisely. Much guidance is available throughout the college environment regarding how to make adult decision, yet students are encouraged to make the decisions themselves. The balance of providing guidance and enabling responsibility is a delicate one. Educators try to make learning to fly as safe as possible, yet a certain amount of crashing is to be expected.” ~ Again, this is why gaining/losing an identity is so difficult, because taking risks to join a new identity inevitably leads to some crashing which then affects the other identities one has. This also nicely talks about the numerous identities one has when entering college, being a student, child, adult, etc.

Pg xviii – This is in reference to college students after graduation: “As employees, parents, and partners, they are expected to manage complexity and engage in multiple perspectives.” ~ Again an example of the numerous major identities one inhabits after college (or during).

Pg xviii – “Robert Kegan (1994) calls composing one’s own reality self-authorship.”

Pg xix – There is a neat metaphor relating self-authorship to being a potter working on a wheel. “He described the transformation of taking himself, the core piece of clay, back to the potter’s wheel to remold with his own hands. Reshaping the clay represents the coordination of beliefs, values, and interpersonal loyalties that stems from composing one’s own reality.” ~ I kind of like this idea for identities, as well. The clay is only put in the kiln after one dies, other than that the clay is constantly being molded and reshaped. While the whole clay sculpture might not ever be broken down and rebuilt, it has the potential to be fired at any moment, or to collapse at any moment.