Using Taoist Stages of Cultivating Growth to Enrich Teacher Evaluation

• In Event: Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism in Education SIG Paper Session

Abstract

Evaluation systems using identifiers and descriptors to carry evaluation subscribe to Western philosophical beliefs of being. This conceptual paper designs a system of bringing Taoist concepts of cultivating growth into evaluation through a series of cycles and phases of conducting dialogic conversations. This system, Cultivating Dialogic Feedback (CDF), looks to re-incorporate teacher voice back into teacher evaluation by enriching the evaluation process with deeper conversations that examine a teacher's goals and artifacts with clear and measurable stages of growth. Incorporating CDF does not change the evaluation process, but deepens it, rebuilding strong conversations between teacher and evaluator, allowing for a plurality of strong teacher practices built on collective narratives.

Author

• Adrian M. Blumenthal, University of Denver