Can We Teach Without Listening? Listening, Humility, and Learning to Teach

• In Event: Teacher as Listener: Empirical and Philosophical Perspectives on the Roles of Teacher-Listening in Supporting Democratic Learning Environments

Abstract

1. Objectives/ purposes: In this paper, I underscore the moral dimension of teaching by developing a concept of “humility in teaching” that is distinct from the virtue of humility as it is generally understood. I argue that humility in teaching is necessary for building democratic classrooms and is learned only when teachers listen to students in particular ways. This paper contributes to our understanding of human virtues and how they relate to the teaching profession.

2. Theoretical framework: My perspective on teaching is informed by the traditions of critical pedagogy (Freire) and pragmatism (Dewey). Accordingly, teaching is oriented on cultivating student voice through dialogue, and the teacher is also a learner, who must listen carefully to students in order to learn about their strengths and needs. Teaching is a moral task and requires that teachers have particular virtues, including humility (Freire 2005). The term “humility” refers to a “sensitivity to bias, prejudice, and limitations of one’s viewpoint” and a willingness to address one’s blind spots (Paul, 1993). By listening, I refer to English’s (2013) notion of “educative listening” as the form of listening teachers do when they listen for students’ struggles and shift teaching practice on the basis of what they hear.

3/4. Methods/ modes of inquiry and Data Source: My mode of inquiry consists of: (1) text analysis using sources in educational philosophy and ethics to develop the concepts of “humility” and “educative listening”; (2) I use these theoretical concepts as a lens for analyzing the teacher-listening and teacher-humility in an instructional episode from a 5th -grade classroom science lesson documented on film (August to June, 2013).

5. Results: The teacher in the documentary shows humility by shifting her practice towards the needs of the learners. By listening to the two learners who are struggling with the science assignment, the teacher recognizes that she at first did not know that the two learners would have trouble working together. She shifts the assignment to address this need, changing it from a cognitive task in science, to a moral task in working together.

6. Scientific/scholarly significance: This paper is situated in the context of international philosophical research on the value of humility as a human virtue necessary for being receptive to others in democratic society (e.g. Zazgebski 1996; Gallardo 2013). While a small subset of this research has considered how humility should be taught to students (e.g. Battaly, 2006), there is little consideration of how humility is a necessary virtue of teachers. As international policies on testing and teacher accountability increase, teaching is at risk of becoming a practice of passing on pre-determined knowledge, without consideration of the moral dimensions of teaching. This paper highlights these moral dimensions and contributes to our understanding of the importance of learning humility as a teacher by listening to students.

Author

• Andrea R. English, University of Edinburgh