First thing’s first… This chapter made me feel a little
sentimental because I took a developmental psychology course at ASU (go ‘neers!)
from the late & great Dr. Eric Hatch.
He was by far the best teacher I have ever had, and I’ll always remember
the way he pronounced the words “locus of control” (he had this awesome and
funny accent that made it easy for me to remember the vocabulary from the
course because I would repeat the words in his voice over and over in my head,
just because they sounded so cool
when he said them). He passed away in
2009, but I think of him often, and this chapter just reminded me of how much I
loved his class. Cheers to you, Dr. H!
Thanks for letting me share my developmental psych. story. Now back to chapter 13…
If you want to see an adult migrate through various
stages of cognitive development, put them through a life altering experience:
divorce, loss of a loved one, accomplishing a major life goal, the birth of a
child. Any event that requires a person to change the way they
operate on a daily basis will inevitably enforce cognitive change.
Last week I had to fire a student. Yes, I said fire. Donald Trump style. She was skipping work shifts at her
internship site, and so at the request of her instructors, I parted my hair in
glorious comb over fashion and headed to the internship site to ruin her
day. (Ok, maybe I didn’t do the comb
over…)
Anyway, when I showed up to talk to the student about her
poor attendance and help create an improvement plan, she initiated a fight or
flight response to my “accusations” (although I promise you that in my mind
they were less like accusations and more like supportive statements….tom-ay-toe,
tom-ah-toe…). First came the tears and
trying to reason with me. “I’ve been
sick, my son was sick, bad weather,” etc.
Then, when the tears clearly weren’t making much of a difference, came
the anger, and return of accusations. “You’re
a terrible teacher, this is your fault, I hate working at this office,”
etc.
After a dramatic display of frustration complete with two
slammed doors and hysterical sobbing, she claimed to be having a panic attack
and began the 9 mile walk to her house (I’m almost certain she called for a
ride to meet her at the entrance to the parking lot). The office manager (needless to say) asked
that I inform the student that she was officially fired, and could not return
to the internship site. A few days
later, the student came to my office where I informed her that she would be failing
her internship, which meant she would not be able to graduate this semester, as
planned. She was devastated, and halfway
through my meticulously planned spiel, I almost
changed my mind. Maybe she does deserve
to graduate, maybe her absences should have been excused, maybe the panic attack
was real…? Ultimately I stuck to my guns and assigned her a grade of “F” for
the course, in hopes that this lesson would be a hard but valuable one, and
that nothing justifies a bout of hysterics after a mild confrontation,
especially when your job is on the line.
After all, we community college professionals are in the business of
preparing students for work, aren’t we?
I bring this up because I think that unfortunately
for my student, we come from two different perspectives when it comes to
cognitive processing. It seems to me
that during her lifetime, pitching fits and making empty threats have helped
her accomplish her goals, which stumped her cognitive development in some
way. The context of her life has led her
to the thought that making me miserable will help her in some way, which is a
pre-conventional way of thinking. Her
world is upside down right now because her plans for graduation have been
postponed, and she isn’t getting her way.
It’s traumatic for her (and understandably so), but she is growing from
the experience, and moving to a different phase of cognitive processing. In the world of internships and job
prospects, a conventional way of thinking is the bare minimum requirement, and
even then an employee’s morals or dedication could be called into question.
Emma, Good for you for sticking with your guns. As newly minted administrators it's hard to know what to do in every situation. I have learned that the more we learn the more I have to learn. As in this chapter, it's all about "Wisdom". Wisdom is all about being multidimensional.
ReplyDeleteI know “searchers” are supposed to post online resources, but I would like to share a written one that I found to be extremely useful. It is a book called “Please Understand Me: Character and Temperament Types” and I was assigned to read it as a part of the RCC President’s Educational Leadership Academy (PELA).
ReplyDeleteKeirsey, D., & Bates, M. (1984). Please understand me, character & temperament types. (5th ed. ed.). Prometheus Nemesis Book Company.
Why was this book helpful? It helped me learn a lot about myself and develop the wisdom I need to manage myself and staff more effectively. This book was written by David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates and focuses on the classification and categorization of personality types. The book contains a questionnaire, known as the Keirsey Temperament Sorter, which links human behavioral patterns to four temperaments and sixteen character types.
As part of the PELA program, I was tasked to take the test and read about my personality type. In addition to that, I was instructed to test and read about the personality types of my colleagues. This book opened my eyes, helped me understand my colleagues and their personalities traits, but more importantly it helped me understand my strengths/weaknesses – which has aided me in developing wisdom instead of just knowledge.
I'd like to invite you (and your students, co-workers, friends, etc.) to check-out the Lumosity website at www.lumosity.com.
ReplyDeleteI’m sure you’ve seen the commercials for Lumosity, the online brain development site, but did you know that the site serves as the “lab” for a large-scale research endeavor called The Human Cognition Project? Researchers from around the world utilize the 500 million data points provided by the users or game players, for all varieties of research on cognition. For more information on the current research being conducted visit http://hcp.lumosity.com/research. You’ll find research on decision-making, improving classroom performance and even work on how cognition changes throughout adulthood.
The site even has a Neuroscience 101 section for those of you who want to learn more about the actual workings of the brain but need that information in say, laymen’s terms. I was thrilled to read that we can and I’m sure are through the CCA program, developing new neural pathways (aka greater cognitive development). Check it out at http://hcp.lumosity.com/research/neuroscience.
The researchers are always looking for new individuals to participate in their work, so sign up today; and remember it’s not just brain games; it’s important research on cognitive development!
Often times I do my school work on my laptop from work. One of the more awesome features about my laptop is that our IT folks have added a force shut down feature to it. As a result, the computer automatically shuts down at 10 p.m. each night. Most days that is the hour when I am free to catch up on work and school, and inevitably I end up losing significant portions of whatever project I've started. Unfortunately, tonight is no exception. I'm hoping I will make some serious cognitive strides and start remembering to avoid the situation going forward!
ReplyDeleteEmma,
Thanks for sharing your memory about Dr. Hatch and your experience this week with your student. I think your point about life altering events sparking cognitive change in adults is well made. I found myself very interested in the discussion at the end of the chapter about wisdom. Wisdom develops, according to the chapter, through special types of experience based knowledge, and leaves us with the ability to move away from absolute truth, to be reflective, to take action for the common good, and to make sound judgements related to everyday life.
I find a lot of similarities in your story to my current interactions with my two-year old daughter, Charlotte. Charlotte can be charming, which is a good thing because it can be awfully hard to remember or recognize those qualities in her when she throws a temper tantrum. We're kind of in a permanent time out phase at home. Your story is a great reminder of why we shouldn't give in to her demands. I guess having a two-year old is as good of practice as any for honing and learning administrative skills.