Teaching Philosophy A Pragmatic

PatriciaM. Shields Texas StateUniuetsity Southwest

,rasrcil M.s[el& b rhe &ttl.nr of rhc 2002 NASPME\ccllcncein TeichingAvl!, givcn 'ln e.oSdnon of ontsMndLl8 .o dbudonsro ed{cadonft" lublle scnicc rhrcllh 4cel-

9 (200r:1:7-12 I-PAE

this discussion by notingthat I amlucky I would like to prface for the Masters of Public experienc enoughto tachthe capstone (SV'D.Th 4t SouthwestTexas State Univer$ity Administration Prcg&m two semesters. [n the frst is a process ihat takes capstone experienc "Problems (PoSI 5335), students find in Research Methodology" course, question, prepare a literaturerevieq andpresenta their research (POSI Research Proiect' pfospectus. In th second cour$e,'Applied prospctus, collect data, andwritethir studnts write a formal 539D, Projectclass Prqect (ARP).The AppltedResarch AppliedResearch via th l11temet. Students doesnot meetfofmallyandis managed defendtheir paperin an oral exambefora conuritteeat th end of aresmall, usually wlth seven to 18students the semesterThe classes sizeptovideme with pr class,The twosemest$ formatandsmallclass attentio4. Since to givestudents individualized uniqueopportunities Projects. morethan 200AppliedRsearch 1992,Ihavesuprvised charlessanders I usethe philosophyofJohn Dewey,William James, of my individualized teaching Addams asthe foundation Pehce, aodJan philosophy. the wotks of theseclassical since 1990, t havexamind pragmatists I began to discove. in my life asa scholar.When American for the classroom, my teaching becam that their ideas hadapplication began wiining awards, mofe coherentandmy students American of Classical Thercfore, within the largerframwork I filst approach teaching with a spftit of critical optrmism. Pragmatism,' paperis a form of fiat a research second,Itakeasa point of depanure a tacher, one of transformations.As inquiry andthat inquiry involves developing of inquiry by my iobsis to facilitatethe tmnsfomations of inquiry Fourth, tools.Third,Itreatthe class asa conrmunity teaching consequences. Fifth,I broaden my own andthe I focuson pragmatic suchastheory/practice.Afld students' horizons by bridgingdualitis lo the light of public scruliny' fu1ally, wheftver possible,lopenthe class

Erlucatrcn7 Jonnal ofPublicA-fJai^

A PraqlnaticTeaching Pbilasophll "is rhe belief that Criticaloptimism(meliorism) the specificconditions which exist at one moment, be they comparatively good,in bad or comparatiyely anyeventmaybe bettered.ltencourages intlligenceto work to improveconditionsandit atouses reasonablness andconidencasoptimismdoes not'@ewey,1929,179).I applythe spirir offfirical oplimismto the student leamerandto the two courss. Lun oplimisticthat eachsludenthasthe pote ial to write a fine appliedrcsearch project. Thfeis,however, room fot vrystudentto improveandstretchas4 professional. Courses that arefoundedon a spidt of critical optimismareconstandyreviewed for improvements. Examples of improvmenls in the MPA capstone experience include . the developmenl ofwb syllabi ' the useof a class list serveacross courses

TableL Classifyingt4icro-Conceprual Frameworks Stotr:srcoi Te.hnique Casestudyis typical: Anything Soes structured interviews, Any type of statistical possible analysis focusSroup,Anything goes-surYey, existlhg aSSregated dara quelitative Usually

Quest/bn Exploration Anything Goes

Hypotheses

Description

Descriptlve Categories How closeh Practical ldealType

Survey and ContentAnalysis lfEeneralizing andcontentanalysis lfgeneralizing -Case study.

Simpl descriptive satktics Simple descriptiye lf case study-

Gauging

Decision f4aking

Modhof Ope|ations

Cost BenefitAnalysis, Quantitativ Operations ProSramminS,deision

Explanation/

Experimntaland

Correlation, t-test, Chi Square.

desiSn (broadly defi nd) Survey, existinS data simple andmultiple

8 Jaltrnal oJPublicAlfairs Educatiolx

PbilosoqbJl A PrdqmaticTeaching praised the behind'th-scenes to students. Students organization the notebookprovided. the notebookwasnothingmore Nevefiheless, After rcading thanan assignflent. JohnDewey's it to seeit nsa tool of inquhy because ZogO I began world, alowing the order to the tangible brought studentto focusmoredirectlyon th litemtureas andcritical well asthe doubi,conirsion,surprise, of pragassociated with the tmrsformations thinking notesthat maticinquty.'MPA $aduateKevinBaum the Stepnotebookmethodis a"practicalapproach paper, that provides a critical forumfor intemal thy to rcsearch writ a largerescarch Wlen students debate...and opponmity to write andthinl( about simplinsight arengaged in a fofm of inquiry.That Wilsonfoundthe Jtel crcdit what we haveread';andSam proplled myteaching in nwdircctions.I "stimulatc$ (1918) fertil andprousfuI bcause it method ,a.E,qt e meory of Inquiry JohnDewy's purpos' Devey placs ductivethinkingin a cdtical manflr]5 asth source of the insight. Thscond tool I llse to facilitateinquty is ful humaninquiry asa focalpoint of his philosophy, Using Dwey's Ioglc nndJamcs' mof abstracl, inquiry as'th controlledor dircctcd He define$ nowviev tleory a$a tool.Myjob tfllnsformation of anindetermlnate situation(finding Pragmatlsm,l is to help the strdent find the tool that seking an approach to addreli$- asteacher a rcse,rchquestion, question and thcm to address their research question)...into whole" enlbls a unifid ing thersearch coliection andatulysis. As (completed hclpthmengage in dntn paper). andPeirce stress BothDewy ,)f inqury areollenrdgpublic affhirspractitionrs they too shouldview thethatlhe rmnsformarions thembe moreeffective. gered wilh lhequejrioning of ory asa tool thathelped by doubtassociated '[he of theodesls toolsbegan through understanding Doubtls resolved existingbeliefsystems. rvilliam mctaphori with hotelcorridor An effective ilrther inquiry andreflectivethought. James' "Pragmatism the midst of theories Likea hotel lies m the vahe of the uansfolmaway to communicate to in and all the ffc ini. corridor,Allth roomsopenout Students tionsof ulquiryis a leffningcurve. "whnt ownsdlc coffi l'mSmatism of rcomscanbe entefed, tially attracted to a topic andhavea $nse roomto to freely ftom they dor and the nght move in a type of equilibrium. As is."They begin (1907, many useful theo" Thus, thercare is roonf' 54). th(ir inilialunder<rarrding learchrhelircrature. (disquilib- ries,andbecause (doubt$tage) the inqldringpractitionerowlrsthe cha enged by the Literature procetd,they problem,rtic sit ationhe or shedecides which theG rium).Asthef readingandnote-taking problemln addilion,James a ry hlps address the they reach moveup th leamingcurve.Eventually co$ains (1959,.i) viewstheoryas'l wayfor peopleto work new equilibriumwherc thir understanding "far lessmentalffort"to geater complexitlrTools smartbecausc it takes d1a1 direct their Progfess the complexities of the wodd.Like any uoderstand ajd the joumeyof discoveryr goodtool,theorymakes life easier on two toolsthat keepsnrdnts I havedeveloped Eerlyin the fust course,Idistinguish betweenthe notebookmethodand track-drc Step,,/ Srep that students leam in their MPA larger meta-theories fmmeworks.The .t ep notebook micro{onceptual frame andthe naffowermicro-conceptual their classes helpstlrc studentstayfocusd by organizing worksdrcywill needto developfor thir applied this tool asa time,materials, andideas.Ideveloped projects. Foryeafs,Iusedtritditionai professor research assistant while doingmy o\tn struggling (xplanation, puposes descripfion, and research research.I usethe methodtodayandcredit it with to fiarrow ,rsa medlaflismfor students exploration)6 asa scholar, Whent began my own limited success question.Aftr classjI introducedit their topic andrcfin thef research teaching the Research Methods Journdl of PttblicAlJain E lucation 9 . the expansion ofthe or;rlexamconrni$eesto unjltrindudcFrculqfrcmorherdeparlmen!s. pmctitionets sity administrators,and . oral exams movedto the statecapitoland city haI . the development of conceptual framworks the paper(se Table1) that organize . a requircment tableslinkthat students de!"elop ing thir conceptual fr.mework to the literature collection andto the mods of evidenc

A Pragm4ticTeacbing Pbikrropb) finding the topic their next stepwasto 6nd a cona1the prcposalslage.Widl the micrc-conceptuat ceptualftameworkfot dleil research question. ftameworks fun y in place,I amalwal,s consistent as Students always had qucstions aboutconcptuat the advisor because the framewofkallowsm to see ftame\rorks, \Vhatis a micfo{onceplualftamework? quicklywhat is going.Supervision takesfar lessmenHow is it identinedfor a particularrcsearch questd effortl tion? Wherdo I find th framework? How is it trsed? Onefinal nole on concptual fmmeworks-stt I nevcradmitted to myselfthat I couldnot rcally dentserc requfued to constructthis tool from the li! namewhet I w?stalkingabout.Iwassuprisd to eratur. Som1imes they find a framwofkin the literfind thal Deweydiscussed conceptual filmewotks it an[e;othr timc$they mustconstnrctthir own, ZoSr'c, Somehow.I sawa connection betweefi Dewey(1938,16) majntains that Dcwey's insights andthe studentqueslions.Ibegan to sethat therwerlots of differrt t).pesof conTheris the same sort of advaxtage in having ceptualfranework andthat theseframeworks conceptual JtameoorksmaNfacturcdandon grcupedoaturally aroundth reijearch purposes handin advance of ictual occasions for thir definedabov. Usini th connection between frumc, use, a$theris in havingtoolsreadyinstead of work andrcsearch purpos,Idvloped five pairsof improvising themwhen needariseslitalcs pufpos/micro-concepnlal fr^mework.Theyrre addedl. exploration/working hlTrothses, descdption/cate, gories, gaugindpracticid idealtype,decision-makI havlearnedto rela"x andlet thsetoolsprcpel ing/modls of operations relicffch,and andstrengthen the tnnsfomationsof inquiry thnt explanatioo/fomal hypotheses.T (SeeTable I for the occurduringtheARPprocc$$, Moststudnts seethe listingof thesefmmeworks). valueof the .tftl notebookimmediately. On the othef InTbe Conoluct of Inqulrl4 Abraham Kaplan hand,micro-conceptual framewo*s generally (1964,268) poinrs our rhatoneofth mo$ practical become highly valued whenthestudents wflreme purposc$ of theory is thatit helps organizes thecol. rerlrlts chaptcrThenlhe enrirccapsrone experience lection dndanfllysis of data. makes moreseflse, Everytheoryserves, h part,asa rcsearch dirc, Asidefrom developing the roolsof inquiry,t also tive. Theolyis useful because it guides thecollection try to createa conmunity of inquifysduringthe capof dataandthe subsequent analysis, by showingus stone expedence,The pojnthereis thatI try to crebeforehand wherethe dataareto be fitted,md q/hat atea sense of interconnectedness. Ideally, studnts we arcto make of themwheD we getthem,,,without eypcrince cornectionsbetweeneachother, with a theoryhoweverprovisional or loosly formuhted, me,with the authorsof the literaturethey rcad,and thcrcis ,)nlya mis( rllanyof obsenation5 having no with former students, Cofllectionsareenhanced significance. through class assignments; prsentations by forner '$/ith this insight,I wasableto seethat certirin snldents, and,rcccntly, a class list serve.The ARP-L mods of datacollectionandevenstatistical (Iist serve)ljnks the strdentswithin md betwccn techniqueslired up with the purposes andmicro frame- classes (53J5ard 539D.The list serve gives mea works.The materialinTable1 playsan importanrrole v/ayto communicate with the POSI 5397srudents at all steges of th fiJstcoursebecause it allowss!u, wlro meetasa grouponly oncc,one indicationof dentsto work throwh thef research question/pur- how connected the students feel is their rclucrancc poseandthen havea sense of how to proceed(write to get off tlrc list afterdrcy graduate. Cuffendy,81 a successfr. proposal). students afeforcedto specify students areon the list serve.Approximately 60 thefumicro frnmworks because I requirethat the graduals arestill engaged aspan of the community studentidenti4.the micro-conceptual framework and of inquiry throughthe list serve. linll(it to the literatureandmodes of datacollction

10 Jouttdl al PublicAllairs Educatian

A PragmaticTeacbing Philosopb) In the lastfew months,Ihavebegunsffessing in a oew way the importance of community, I have noticedthat the students le:lstlikely to finishfieir ARqregardless of ability, arethe onesthat aremost isolated ftom the group.RobertBoice(1990,100),a respctd scholar in the psychology of writing,notes "most that writing is,afterall,a socialact." Hc identifid socialskillsdeficitsascontributingto writers block-He hasfourd that effectivewriters'build social ntwork"(102).I explicitly encourage social ntworksin the capstone xperience, (1958b)definedclassical Charles Sanders Peirce pragmarism by linlrnSidea5 andactiorls ro rhcir practicaleffcts(or usfulness). Sotoo I judgemy teaching assignments, lectures, rcadings, list serve, pficetc.,bythet consequences.The fustoveffiding tical consquence is for the studenls to write a paperthat they carisuccessfully dfnd(andther" graduate).ln fore addition, I encourage studenls to choos topics thattheiragncis canuse,9Mosl stlr' dentsindicatethat thef orgarization andwriting skillsimprovdrastically while ngaged in th car} stone experinc.As a rcsult,many students arepfo. motedor go on to moretuLffIlngjobs.roA surpdsing consequnc ofthe notebook method ls its applica' tion outside the context of formal scholarljhip, Formerstudents haveusedthe methodto planwed" dings, prom4nag large-scale soft*'aredevelopment jecrs. planandmanage proiecrr. reque\r approprjay:nate,and lion5. re5rdy bcfure theTexa\ urSanjze mountiin climbingtrips. Oneof the fust aniclesI re,rdaboutJohoDewey hadwhat I considered a mostpeculiartitle"BattlingDualisms.'tr It wasn'tuntil I began to bridgcdualisms lik theory/prrctice;teacher/scholar; administmtor/teacher in my role asa teacher that I wasableto rulderstand Dewey's insights. Oneof the fust examples is the notebookmefiod (Step&Jr .ttep). At first th notebookwasjust a simpleteaching assignment. to seeit irsa source of WhenI began scholarship,lhe mthodevolved into a workbook that is now adopted outsideSouthwestTcxas State Uni.r'ersiq. Step+tt-Step evolved asI bddgedthe practice (teaching assignment) andtheory(tool of inquiry visa-visPmgmatism). Bddgingthe dualism betweenadministrator OIIPA director)andteacher alsoimprcvedthe capstone cxperience.As adminisffator,I help to organize melltoring activities for students md alumni. Recentll4I added a mntoringcomponent to the capstone practilione$ haveparlicipatd expedenc.Alumni in oral examinations andha!'served assecofld rcaders.InthiswayI canpairstudents with e\perienced practitioners in their field.Thestrdent workswith the practitioners anddevelops a relationship.The inclusionof practitioners alsooffe$ an oppo.tunity to addsomediversityto th onl examconrmitte. ryadley. Onr example is Sahrina anAfri(anAmerican anda recntgmduate, MarthaCa-\tex'Tatum, San Marcos' fhst AfricanAmrican City Councilperson, wasSabdna's second rcadetBoth\romenbenefited fromthe experienc programhashld svenlof the Recntly the MPA practitioner-filled oral xams at theTexas State gave presence settjng a symbolic for the Capitol.Thjs SW'T MPAprogram in the seatof stategovernment powr. Cours innovationinvariably followsa$I bridgeseemingly unrelated dualities. The pragmatic spirii of critical optimismleads me pub' to lay muchof my teaching opento tle light of projccrs lic scrutiny.Firsr. applicd rcsedrch arc bound andcatalog[ed in thesvT librarystudent papers improvedalrnost immedi^tely afterthis policy wasenacted. Eventhe leastmotivated student doesnot want to be embaffassed by vrork $/ith their nameon it catalogud in a library. process Second,the is,lso moretdnsparent prcjects(since a list of appliedrcsearch because (since 1992) andabstracts 1999) is posted on the swT MPAveb sit.12 In addition, the Resarch Methods syllabus ard theAppliedResearch Proiect rcquifements, deadlines, expectations, etc,,areposted on theWeb.'r Thfd, SWTfaculfyandadministmtors outsidethe prcgramselveon oml exirmcommittees. MPA Over years.vice pre\idenr\. lhe la\l sevn deans.chaiJs. andfacultyfrom depfftmentsaroundthe campus haveseffedon oral examcommittees. Recently, havebenfurther opnedup to include committees " pmctitioners.

Educ^tbn 11 Journal af PublicA".fairc