Group 4, reporting in.
Assessment.

Most of Vella’s 12 principles applied to the video, but we did not talk about all of them. 

The group in the video spent a lot of time assessing the needs; their conclusions were based on the fact that there were black people living very close to the church, yet church embers had no interactions with them

They also spent a large amount of time discussing what the people needed to learn (and how they were going to go about doing that).  The pastor seemed very empathetic and open to hearing other’s perspectives regarding what was necessary. 

Most people agreed that the groups meetings outside of the church seemed like a safe place, but that the congregation didn’t seem to think that they were in a safe space.  For some, this was expressed in the fact that many simply left and didn’t feel comfortable dialoguing.  Small groups seem to make people feel safer.   People’s remorse when the pastor resigned also demonstrated that they obviously did not feel safe standing up for him. 
Praxis, or action with reflection, was inherent in the pastor’s way of being.  It seemed as if he was trying to teach his people to move into this way of thinking and being, but they were resistant. 
Moving from “small to big, slow to fast, etc” was also one of Vella’s assessments.  The pastor seemed to think that he was doing this, but perhaps there were smaller steps that could’ve been taken. 

In thinking of how to proceed, I thought the ELCA’s conversation around homosexuality.  I appreciated that church has really stressed healthy dialogue in congregations, and have felt like many churches have done a really good job with that.  In this particular situation, large group conversations might get heated very quickly, so perhaps one-on-one or small group conversations would be a good place to start. 

-Julie B, Group 4

Along with listening to the songs and analyzing them in respect to prayer, we were asked to assess the learning environments and designs that are present within the songs; first, according to Jane Vella’s list of principles for learning, and then according to lists of verbs and/or a “Rubric of Understanding”.  Finally, we were asked to pinpoint any challenges that we see in the learning environments.  We will give a detailed use of the rubric with song one and then use the verbs for the remaining songs.

Song 1:  This song is written from one person to another person or people.  Because it is not directed at God, it could be difficult to view it as a prayer.  More than a prayer itself, this song seems to be motivating people to begin a life of prayer.  However, we could view the song as being sung to God, asking God; “where were you?”, “what were you doing?”  We found Vella’s principles of: ”learning with ideas, feelings, and actions” and “immediacy”.  The entire song is talking about feelings and actions that one may have had or taken after 9-11 and then suggesting what we can learn from those feelings and actions.  The song does a good job of focusing on the main point- or what is “really useful” and that is that the greatest thing God gave us is love. We analyzed this song according to the Rubric of Understanding:

Explanation: In-depth to sophisticated – using this event as an opportunity to stop and explore our emotional response, our relationships with other people, the meaning in our lives, and how that changed our actions, rather than simply analyzing the plane-to-building incident or its political inter-national/inter-religious ramifications, provides an inventive framework and unique perspective for situating the event in our lives.

Interpretation: Profound – the song invites us to view the incident as a call to look inside ourselves and review the deepest sources of meaning in our lives.

Application: Masterful – the invitation to interpretation-that-leads-to-action went in many diverse directions, all of them relational.  As we listen to the song and look back at how the event affected our understanding of our relationships, or at least the relative importance of them, what actions did we take in response to this new understanding? 

Perspective: Considered to Insightful – Jackson didn’t really argue “his perspective” in contrast to others — he focuses on encouraging others to explore their own reactions, although he does briefly articulate his own.

Empathy: Sensitive to Mature – the range of examples the singer lifts up, as he asks the hearers what emotional responses and actions they took in response to 9/11 consider a full range from helpful/positive to fearful/negative.

Self-Knowledge: Circumspect to Wise – Given this atypical response toward love rather than hate, it is fair to assume wisdom in understanding of the prejudices and projections operating in himself and others.  He also explicitly states his ignorance toward the situation: no strong political stance, no idea about the difference in [sic] Iraq and Iran.

One challenge that we identified was the understanding of the concept of love.  Do the learners/listeners fully understand that the greatest commandment of love applies to all, even our enemies?

Song 2: This song could be used as a way to thank God for the “ordinary” miracles that he has created in our lives each and every moment of every day.  However, once again it is more of a song from one person to another, encouraging them to see the miracles that exist all around us.  We found Vella’s principles of “learning with ideas, feelings, and actions” and possibly also “teamwork” is suggested as she states that we are all a part of the ordinary miracle and we all need to give.  The affective verbs stood out to us: share, celebrate, value, enjoy, notice, respond to, and change.  Words and music are used to create emotion and try to bring about change in others…so other verbs include verbal, musical, and interpersonal.  For the Rubric of Understanding: Explanation—sophisticated, Interpretation—revealing, Application—masterful, Perspective—aware, Empathy—mature, Self-knowledge—thoughtful.  One challenge that we identified was the song not specifically mentioning God as being responsible for the ordinary miracles.

Song 3:  This song does contain dialogue from the author to God; words like, “Father help us” and ”send us guidance from above”, however, much of the song is addressed to people and not to God.  In terms of assessment again we found: “learning with ideas, feelings, and actions”, and also “Needs assessment”.  The song attempts to focus attention on the problem of violence and urges listeners to diagnose what is needed to bring more love into the world.  We selected affective verbs, verbal, musical, and interpersonal. The challenge found was focusing too much on the negative, pointing out only bad things in the world, asking ”where is the love” and suggesting that love will one day be found as if we have no love right now.

Song 4: We found this song to be prayerful.  It moves from a more general/communal “city of ruins” to a personal “city of ruins”.  It states the despair and need for prayer and then encourages people to “rise up” and pray.  The last part of the song goes from being a personal “I pray for…” to a more communal “we pray for”.  Vella’s principle of “sequence” was suggested as the song moves from communal to personal and then from personal back to communal, along with “Immediacy” in the idea of “rising up”, “Action with reflection, or praxis” in that Springsteen is motivating his listeners not to give way to fear but to pray for the strength to rise up, and then of course “learning with ideas, feelings, and actions.”  Again verbal, musical, and interpersonal verbs stood out to us, as well as bodily in being asked to “rise up”.   Although it had a similar message to song number 2, this song put it in a more hopeful and positive way.   

Song 5:  We all agreed that we would not want to use this song as a prayer.  This song is different in that it is from God to us.  “Clear roles” are identified in this song, and we also noted Vella’s principle of “engagement”.  The song engages the listener to reject its point of view or agree with its view blaming God for evil in the world.  Again “learning with ideas, feelings, and actions” was present.  The song does use affective learning and also verbal and musical methods.  This song may be more intrapersonal though as it is mainly about God and his own personal feelings and isn’t really encouraging interaction with others…although it may encourage others to not put faith in God.

Song 6:  This song seemed to be the only one that had differing views among our group members.  A couple of group members had a hard time understanding it.  I personally like the song and can see the refrain as being very prayerful; “I pray that my feet don’t fail me now” and “God show me the way”.  I see this song as one individual stating his beliefs to the world and not being ashamed.  (In the printed lyrics it says “ya’ll” but in the song he actually says “I need Jesus”).  In this way he is presenting what he believes and then leaving it up to the listeners to make their own decisions like Vella’s “learners as subjects of their own learning”.  Other principles that came up included “engagement” and “safety”- some learners may feel more comfortable/safe expressing themselves within this type of music.  Verbs that stood out were affective, verbal, musical, and intrapersonal.

Song 7:   This song can be seen as a prayer if we assume that the author of the song is singing it to God.  One group member likened it to a Psalm as it openly expresses loneliness and dependence on God.  “Learning with ideas, feelings, and actions” was present as well as “action with reflection, or praxis”.  The song writer mentions her experiences and reflects on them.  The focus becomes an intrapersonal relationship between either two individuals or an individual and God.  The verbs that stood out again were affective, verbal, musical, and intrapersonal.  A challenge could be that there are not “clear roles” identified in who the song is for.

We viewed this week’s text and story from the viewpoint of assessment.  Assessment and self-reflection is supposed to be a part of every curriculum, so that teachers are able to upgrade their tactics and lessons.  One of the things we learned this week is that in assessing a situation, good or bad, right or wrong are simply not applicable or encompassing enough to use.  Instead we used three sets of verbs and principles that were at use in her story, and looked at how she used each.

First we had the Bloom list of verbs.  We identified these verbs in action in the psychomotor section (where I suspect much of the learning occurs at that age): Play and Build.  Clearly, the students identified the most with the lesson when they were involved in the creation of a world both inside and outside of their heads.  Through both the physical learning and their little mini-lecture we found these cognitive verbs to be the intended outcome: identify, compare, apply, and examine.  The children were encouraged, by examining a different culture, to find a way back to their own.

Within Vella’s list of verbs there were a few that really stood out as well used principles in this situation.  First was sequence and reinforcement.  She had a very well structured class, and the kids knew what to expect and what was going to happen.  They were eased into their discoveries.  The next one as well, reflection, seemed to be a primary goal, building self-awareness.  They definitely learnt by feeling, and feelings, and engagement, as I’ve already mentioned was there as well.  Also safety, because she created a safe space by separating the known offenders, having a helper in the room, using safety scissors and also by establishing a place where everyone is loved and chosen.

We also looked at the six facets rubric, which sets criteria for the learner to achieve (presumably over time) moving not so much from ignorance to knowledge, as from unawareness to mastery of concepts.  It was very interesting that although these kids were too young to be at anything but the very lowest rung for nearly everything, she still managed to lift them (hopefully) in the empathy category.

To summarize, there is no right and wrong when dealing with assessment, instead we try to maximize the fulfillment of these principles and verbs.  Even through the kids were young, and the story was short and not exhaustive, we all seemed to agree that she should pat herself on the back, and perhaps get an icepack for her neck.

In terms of the Vella principles, I would point to five in particular as being very present in this example, and quite pertinent to the strength of the learning.

First, the principle of “safety,” because readers can engage this essay at their own speed, in their own time, from their own interest level via the web or the magazine. There are few obstacles (short of having access to either the web or a library) to engaging it, although perhaps I might note command of adult level English language as one element.

Second, clearly the principle of “sound relationship” comes through strongly, because the author points to a relationship in which she was transformed by knowing this woman, and clearly continues to reflect on the relationship and to return to it. Yet she is also aware of the difference in their contexts, and the dynamics of power evident in those differences.

Third, the principle of “action with reflection (praxis)” is very clear, as the whole essay is an attempt to reflect on an action. It is pretty much a case in point of this principle.

Fourth, the principle of “learning as subjects of their own learning” because the author is reflecting on her own experience, and using that to imagine/envision how a sermon might unfold which is not in the typical church context, not done in the typical language of sermons (although, frankly, I’m on longer sure there is such a thing.

Fifth, the principle of “learning with ideas, feelings and actions” comes through strongly as the author works through her memories of the relationship, her sense impressions of the time, and uses both her command of vivid prose and her ability to evoke feeling to make her larger point.

Working with the Wiggins and McTighe rubric points directly to the reality that in choosing this particular essay, I chose an essay that demonstrates a particularly high degree of understanding across the rubric. I would rate it as a sophisticated explanation, with a profound interpretation, masterful application, insightful perspective, mature empathy, and wise self-knowledge. Of course, that’s not particularly surprising since this is an essay that won first place in a global competition! In some of the other focal situations I will put in front of you in this class, there will be persons with considerably less developed understanding of the situations they are engaging.

As to learning challenges, there are a couple of ways to engage this example. Clearly the author herself met some significant challenges in attending to the context in this way, and then writing so skillfully about it. Another way to go about analyzing it, however, would be to think about what would happen if you put this essay into the middle of a young adult event in a specific church context. In that case, the learning challenges might be steep. Could people relate to the essay? How might you design an environment that allows for people to engage it directly, and then to work further learning from it? Might you invite people to read it in advance, and then have a round table dialogue with someone who is homeless in your town?

Working with the Dykstra questions, the things that come to mind immediately for me include issues like: how might the author have sought help as she worked on writing her essay? How would she know she wanted/needed help, and how would she think through and find the best help available? What might help her to be ready to receive such help? In our own context at Luther, I often think about students working on writing, and wish that more students would ask each other for help, would ask a professor to read an early draft, would go the writing center, would take some time to take a walk around the library when they’re stuck, rather than pounding their head some more, and so on.