Teaching Puzzle Prompt #4

Iris Kuo
Purpose:
Throughout the quarter, weve been reading various texts and discussing ways that
education is rocking in the United States, as well as places it needs improvement in. This last
puzzle is a chance to draw on those conversations and form a preliminary idea regarding how we
can take one step closer towards maximizing learning.
Context:
Humans are social creatures. Multiple studies and anecdotes indicate that we simply cant
live without healthy relationships with other people. The two most intuitive relationships are
platonic friendships and romantic involvement with a significant other. However, peer mentoring
can be just as powerful or detrimental depending on how it operates. Im sure that weve all had
our share of inspiring role-models and awful professors who tried too hard to be liked. The
question is, what determines whether we come to like or dislike a teacher? Are we consciously
aware of the reasons that are behind this process? How many healthy relationships do you need
to happily navigate through school? (What does healthy even mean in this case?)
To address these questions, I will go into this puzzle with the simplest scenario in mind. I
am meeting with a handful of my fellow classmates in my Teaching to Transgress class. We are
of similar age and are similarly passionate about various topics in education. To me, small
groups are ideal for instigating dialogue, and that is what I will aim for. Therefore, I will treat
this as a typical seminar dynamic with myself as the moderator in order to mirror the topic that I
will be discussing (interpersonal communication between student and peer/teacher).
Materials Needed:

Blank white paper, enough for everyone

Some stories in my back pocket

Method:
To start, I will bring up the Universal Parenting Machine paradigm and ask everyone to
make guesses based on their intuition and what they know about developmental psychology.
Lets say that 15 children are raised in a facility. There are machines that give them their
needs, and other than with themselves, they have no human contact. They have no education,
only a large facility that they can live in for the rest of their lives. Picture an enormous dome
with both man-made places like where they can eat and sleep, as well as some nature like trees
and grass.

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Would those children be capable of love?

How about evil deeds?
Would there be a distinction between males and females?
Would they be capable of complex thought processes?
Could these individuals develop relationships?
Would they know right from wrong?

After a couple minutes of discussion and jotting down thoughts, I will ask everyone to
reflect back on their time at UW and think of a professor, mentor, or friend who they were able
to connect with. This can be related to academics or something else entirely. It doesnt have to
have taken place in a classroom. They will record that persons name as well as one sentence
explaining how meeting that person ended up changing their life. We will repeat this process for
junior/high school and elementary school. I will give people about 60 seconds for each phase.
After everyone is done, we will reconvene and discuss. I will first ask for general feelings
and thoughts. For instance, was it more difficult to think of examples from childhood than from
their time at UW? Was it the opposite? Or was it equally difficult for all phases? Then, I will
have them look for patterns among their examples. Finally, everyone will come up with a short
descriptor detailing the type of peer they tend to connect with most (Someone who listens while
they talk? Someone who is always honest with them and doesnt sugar-coat their opinions?).
If all goes well, everyone will have different types of people they connect with, in
different situations. We will revisit the Universal Parenting Machine paradigm to wrap things up,
and perhaps everyones answers will have changed after having thought about their own
experiences with other people. Finally, I will tell everyone that our project would use the UPM
as a launching point to teach budding teachers and parents about basic developmental
psychology and why communication matters to people of all ages, especially students. The point
is to show that one persons learning style does not necessarily work for others, and it would be
wise to let students decide what they want. In fact, learning how to recognize and forge lasting,
healthy relationships with peers, teachers, etc, is what ultimately gets you through stressful times
in school, and eventually through life.
Results: