Emerald, Synthesis, and Conclusion

“…while the right to exercise one’s individuality is granted, it remains an aberration, a departure from the way one ‘should’ act. The journey into one’s own dark side has been considered but not yet taken. We still seek to eliminate rather than acknowledge the ‘negative’ parts of ourselves, believing the purpose of the journey to be the attainment of perfection. We have yet to learn what we can only know from the other side of the gulf—that wholeness is a far more precious gift than perfection” (Daloz, 1986, p.153).

Ok—so this is the story of Emerald, and a look at how the educational journey relates to the mythological quest of the hero.  Since this is the last post for the blog, I will also attempt to synthesize my personal educational path with Daloz’s work. The story of Emerald will not be too difficult to tell, but my own--- well I am still not sure where this will go. So please join me for what will unfold.

Part I of the Conclusion Blog

Emerald, one of twenty students Daloz mentored for an external degree program was widowed, thirty-five years of age, and worked as a bookkeeper in her brother’s business. In order to discuss and design her program, Daloz met Emerald in a New England diner, in the midst of winter.  He said the country side was snow covered as he traveled to the Come and Eat roadhouse café. “…The road and frozen river danced together as I glided past overgrown pastures scored from time to time with the tracks of snowmobiles” (Daloz, p.4).  Emerald, according to Daloz was “shy” but when she did speak she demonstrated confidence and conviction in her tone.  Like many adult learners, she wanted to improve her occupational opportunities and eventually become a CPA. Originally, she participated in office skills and business courses; however, for the external degree program some liberal arts courses were required.

Larry Daloz studied the expertly typed list that Emerald had constructed which detailed the classes she had chosen and the reasons for doing so. Next to each business class, she listed a liberal arts course—“data-processing and archeology,… budgeting with the Old Testament, business law and poetry, insurance and dance” (p.5).  The mentor felt dazzled by the stark dichotomies within Emerald’s list.

“Why these subjects? Why that order? It baffled and fascinated me at once…..Then I noticed her one liberal study course thus far-a death and dying course she took last term. How could I have forgotten?” (Daloz, p.6) When he asked her what she felt about that course, Emerald shrugged it off “Oh, fine.”

After the mentor guided Emerald toward a deeper disclosure with a few more questions, Emerald finally concluded that she didn’t need to grieve anymore although the others in her class did, and that she wanted to go back to school to be more herself, and so she would not be “getting jerked around so much by other people, not always worrying about what they think of me” (p.7).

The Search for Meaning as a Motive for Learning is the title of the chapter in which we discover Emerald. Her narrative is brief in comparison to Eric and Anne’s, and the chapter serves as an introduction to the core of the book. On the last page of the chapter, the writer summarized a primary purpose for his research “…those questions….I found the outlines dimly swimming somewhere in the space between me and nearly every film or novel I encountered, each story I read to my children, every conversation with my students; they began to fuse into a single deeper question: What is my place in the growth of those I care for?” (Daloz, p. 15)

Daloz’s work is deep and shows a remarkable caring for his students. He reflects on his own purpose, and he questions the effects of the transitions and transformation that often accompany adult learning. The transitions which sometimes lead to shake up in family structure, sometimes divorce, changes in occupation, and usually a dramatic shift in the way one sees herself and the world.

Part ii Conclusion Blog

My educational path has been through traditional institutions--community colleges and universities, and I feel that the external degree program with the mentorship would have been an enjoyable opportunity. The book was written twenty-four years ago, and I am on the side of those theorists that believe that time has accelerated, that time is accelerating at a faster and faster pace. Our world including our educational system often feels cluttered with too many things to do and too little time to do them. To slowly sip coffee at a diner with a mentor or to reflect on not killing a deer while conversing with one’s teacher in moments of compassionate enlightenment at the workplace seem more like excerpts from a novel than actual events that could occur within this world of accelerated time.

The tone of this book is close to the gentle openness revealed by Palmer (2007) in Courage to Teach. Both authors step back and reflect on the subjective aspects of the student – teacher relationship. Much discussion is on the transformative nature of learning—not merely about skill building, but about the changes that one experiences while letting go of what once seemed solid and sure.

I am a very non-traditional learner in that I completed my bachelors after having worked for several years as a holistic healer (body-worker, CMT)another eight years as a Certified Nurse’s Assistant and in –between these as a full time parent and part-timer in an assortment of interesting and sometimes very boring work situations. So with all that said, you can guess I am well over twenty-five in age. Like Emerald, I struggle to find a balance between that which seeks soul growth and creative expression through poetry and art, and staking a claim in economic certainty through improving my occupational skills. Like Eric, I am reluctant “to spill my guts in public” and like Eric I would much rather look the deer in the eyes and let him run into the woods than put him on the wall as a hunting trophy. With Anne, I share some aspects of feeling pressured when speaking with those who present themselves as unwavering authorities such as Anne’s Harvard educated male relative.

Daloz reminds us in his book that as we grow through our learning experiences we may rely less on authority, and that a lifting of the veil occurs—that both challenges our naiveté, and unlocks a deeper level of our own psyche. The writer relates the transformative tale of the mythic hero as told by Joseph Campbell--“The mythic movement from an old, familiar land into the darkness of the nether world and back home” (Daloz, p.25).

As I move toward the final semester of this master’s program, I feel that I have descended into that nether world more than once; I surface with new information and new tools to navigate once familiar terrain. Hopefully, within the program we are all one another’s Virgil (mentor) at one time or another. I am stopping here so I can go back to reading your stories.

Best--- Ann Courtney

Eric

Eric

“You wouldn’t believe this place,” he snorts. ….”They all scrap for the parking place closest to the boss. A regular pecking order. Same thing in meetings. Number three man needs to sit next to number two man; number two man has to sit next to number one man. It’s a crock” (Eric, p.41).

That’s Eric talking about his workplace to Daloz. Eric was an engineer when he entered into higher education. He wanted that “piece of paper” so he could ascend into upper management. Daloz met Eric several times at the workplace in order to mentor him, and to discuss the changes along his educational pathway. When we first meet Eric, he is asking Daloz what he should do for the Daniel Levinson (adult development theorist) presentation that Eric will do as his class project. Daloz described Eric’s office: “The walls are bare, beige, almost baleful; the table and chairs fit together with an engineered elegance. Through the glass partition behind Eric, I can see people moving about the office space in utter silence; businesslike, correct, and very, very careful” (Daloz, p. 35).

Daloz encouraged Eric to connect his studies and presentation to real life, but Eric was hesitant to reveal his inner world--- he didn’t want to “spill his guts out… at least not in public.” However, Eric’s growth will require new perspectives if he moves into management as he will be dealing more with people rather than diagrams and objects. Piling up “more education” (Daloz, p.85) was not the answer “he needed a richer education” (Daloz, p.85) which would prepare him for leadership. Interestingly, Levinson’s theory on adult male human development correlated with the changes that Eric experienced. According to the theory, thirty year old men move into more stable positions and begin to earn more money. You can find Levinson’s theory at the following site, and here also is a critique that his theory may apply to different economic times than these. Go ahead and click on the link –it is brief, concise, fun:

 http://humangrowth.tripod.com/id3.html

What I really loved about this section on Eric was his soul growth. He allowed himself to become more vulnerable as he reflected on his time in the woods. For many years, Eric had gone off to the woods for seasonal hunting treks. When he talked with Daloz about feeling authentic, Eric recognized that he felt closer to his true self on these outdoor journeys. While moving through his education, Eric briefly took a break to go hunting where he came across a deer on his path, and rather than shoot the dear, he paused, looked into the deer’s eyes, and had a transformative experience. “You know it’s funny. This fall, during hunting season—I almost always get my deer the first day—this fall I ran into a deer. It was a big buck, twelve-pointer. He stopped right in front of me. Not ten feet away. And we just looked at each other. Neither of us moved a muscle. We just stood there…. Finally, he just turned and walked into the bushes. I never even lifted my bow” (Eric, p. 40).

Daloz saw this as Eric’s ability to “respect another life” a quality that would be beneficial in his position as manager, and also the experience was transformational---“the delicate emergence of a new, more vulnerable Eric” (Daloz, p.85).

1.) What do you think about this word ---“transformational or transformative?”

2.) Have you had an experience in your educational journey that you would call transformative?”

3.) Levinson's Theory is more about developmental stages rather than transformational experience, although transformation could occur within the stages or in-between. What do you feel about Levinson's Theory of Human Adult Male Growth Stages:

http://humangrowth.tripod.com/id3.html

Thanks for stopping by, next time we will meet Emerald, and I will work towards a synthesis of the book and my own learning journey.

Happy reading and happy summer. Best--- Ann Courtney June 25, 2011

image from website:http://www.flickriver.com/photos/ronjbaer/2063614461/

Anne

“In the idea of continuity lies the synthesis, the bridge from one developmental balance to the next (Daloz, p.193).

Anne’s family was stationed in Saudi Arabia when she decided to return to college. Thirty-five and married directly after high school, she had only infrequently been away from her family, and residency back in the States for a few weeks was a requirement for the program she entered. Daloz discovered the complexity of her situation while he mentored Anne through her third residency in a philosophy class. She related to Daloz that her first residency in women’s literature had too much of a feminist spin, but she managed to successfully complete while working with a feminist mentor. The second residency in an art class found her feeling more comfortable except for uneasiness about a male mentor who she felt “came too close” despite her being married. The art instructor labeled her work “conventional” and “inhibited” Anne said after she rejected his attentions. Philosophy, she felt would be the subject to give her a level platform with men because it would sharpen her intellect through critical thinking.

Daloz transcribed his student’s stories as they were told to him. In the interviews, the reader senses, the balance of objectivity and care, a sense of both neutrality and empathy that he embodies as a listener and as a writer. Rural Vermont diners, the glasshouse workplace of engineers, and post-education interviews along Vermont beaches provide the setting for the mentor-mentee meetings. I sense that Larry Daloz integrated the natural and everyday settings to allow the authentic voices of the students to emerge in an informal and less structured environment than a university office.

Barriers for Anne surfaced in interactions with her authoritarian grandfather and her Harvard educated father –in-law. These two figures represent the external acquisition of knowledge and the duality of truth—this way is right – the other way is wrong. Anne attempted to at first discuss Socrates with her father-in –law, a religious minister. Basically, he devalued each point she brought up and held his own views as truth, backing his position by saying that he was educated at Harvard and studied several years of Latin. In his book Daloz discussed a developmental theory of adult learners where they begin their journey in duality with some multiplicity.

Moving away from a reliance on authority, in Anne’s case was questioning the dual precepts of patriarchy as represented by her male relatives. This questioning brings her to the next stage of multiplicity, where the learner begins to doubt the old world of dualism and external authority. Instead, one recognizes multiple ways of looking at both familiar and less familiar issues.

Her transformation takes place through an alignment with and deeper understanding of the women in her family including her daughter and mother-in-law. Here we see that the educational journey does not exist in an isolated container but encompasses the whole life of the learner. Gilligan felt that women’s transformation is like a spiral (Daloz, p.135), wherein the initial stages she seeks self-expression and self-protection onto the next stage where she is motivated by concern and compassion for those beyond herself, and then to the “synthesis” – an alchemy of the two previous stages in development.

Finally, Anne successfully completed a philosophical paper which integrated the cultural aspects of her relationships, the traditional norms of the country where she lived, and the ideas of ancient Greeks and Christians--the thesis "What it means to be a woman of virtue." In the paper, she looked through her own lens, as well as others. She came to synthesize her experience and her education, and to view these through the lens of contextual relativism—the ultimate developmental stage of the adult learner.

Daloz explained this stage of contextual relativism: “… to construct a world first of multiple opinions but eventually—and more importantly---of multiple ways of arriving at those opinions. The discovery that things can be related, that connections can be made rather than truths found begins to dawn and the world is reborn on a whole new level” (Daloz, p. 83).

Next time we will visit Eric, the engineer who finds his authentic self in his treks through the woods.

For those stopping by, please feel free to post comments to me, and I would like to know what you feel about these stages in developmental theory of adult learners. Have you experienced duality, multiplicity, contextual relativism or something else? Best---Ann C., June 23, 2011

Welcome Back

Welcome back to my blog on Daloz’s (1986) book Effective Teaching and Mentoring: Realizing the Transformational Power of Adult Learning Experiences. First, I want to say “thanks for visiting,” while I love this book and do not mind at all to blog about it, knowing that others are stopping by and expressing an interest is inspiring and adds a fire to my willingness to blog. Before I begin the discussion on the book, it would be helpful if you could click on this link

http://www.soundstrue.com/shop/In-the-Flow/3526.productdetails

Open one of the sample music selections which you find there, and answer the following questions,

      “Focus on the reason, why you decided to enter this particular educational program, and where are you now on your educational journey?”

       “How has your education changed your life experience?”

       “Has your outer world (work, family life, other relationships) experienced a shift since your return to school, and if so how?”

Discussions on the above topics are found in Effective Teaching and Mentoring: Realizing the Transformational Power of Adult Learning Experiences. Daloz’s writing flows like a dynamic mountain stream, and he easily combines the social-scientific model of developmental theory with the real-life stories of adult learners and their mentors. The book is the result of research that he performed through the funding of a Federal grant to study how adult learners from Vermont’s rural sections were impacted through their experiences in higher education (p. 252). He incorporates and acknowledges the feminist paradigms of researchers, Giiligan and Belenky, and masterfully connects Joseph Campbell’s mythological “hero’s journey” to the learner’s narratives.

Dramatic life transitions such as widowhood, reaching the glass ceiling in an occupation, divorce, an early 30’s or late-mid-life quest for meaning provide some of the underlying forces for the adult learners in Daloz’s study. I would say that the book moves beyond research or study, as the writer often touches upon the aspects of compassion and care as central to the mentoring and teaching relationship. While I felt at times he defined the journeyers’ stories too closely through his own lenses and developmental theory rather than the students interpreting their own journey, we need to keep in mind the model and premise of the research. I would be most interested in seeing if his later book Mentor (1999) does this differently.

Since Daloz recorded and then transcribed the mentor and mentees narratives as they were told to him  much of what the learners experience is revealed, and at times they do interpret their experiences through their own lenses. Next blog, I will introduce the narratives of three learners, Eric, Emerald, and Anne. All the names in Daloz’s book are pseudonyms.

Thanks for stopping by. ---Ann Courtney, June 18, 2011

Preview of Effective Teaching and Mentoring: Realizing the Transformational Power of Adult Learning Experiences

In a previous class EDAE 624, I participated in a team presentation that summarized a chapter about transformational learning. This section and the chapter on somatic and emotional experiences in learning were the most interesting sections of the book, Learning in Adulthood (Merriam et al., 2007). Learning involves a shift in perceptions, often away from static models towards more fluid and open approaches. Daloz surfaced as a contributor in this chapter on transformational learning along with Freire (social-emancipatory approach), Tisdell (spiritual), and Mezirow (psycho critical). So it was through the research and presentation that I first became of aware of Laurent Daloz.

Daloz believes that narratives hold a key to understanding the lives of learners as well as their ongoing processes through the educational journey, and he feels that listening to the student’s stories is an essential component in the mentoring relationship (Merriam, p. 138). As an ESL facilitator, I do feel that the learner’s narratives are vital in not only helping to assess and place the learners, but in humanizing the relationship between instructor and student as well as creating a sense of honoring and validating the learner’s experiences and development.

 I am eager to more deeply explore Daloz’s (1986) Effective Teaching and Mentoring: Realizing the Transformational Power of Adult Learning Experiences. Thus far, I have read selected sections, and briefly went through it from cover to cover. What I see is that Laurent has told the narratives of several students and mentors and touched upon significant aspects of their experiences. The former world views of students are sometimes challenged through education, and at times mentors face challenges that they were not prepared nor trained for. It will be an interesting read. Has anyone read it?

To find out more about the author Laurent A. Daloz go to the following link. It includes a photo.

http://www.whidbeyinstitute.org/member/ldaloz