Teaching English for the Brain

What are the five minds of the future?

How do we shape the mind of the future?

What types of teaching methods can be used?

The Mind is affected by social, economic and by the cultural environment.

Present-day conditions have changed from the past and are rapidly going to change for the future. We cannot use the same tools for new requirements

We should develop the ‘New kinds of Mind’ that people will need in order to thrive in the world during the eras to come.

The world of the future [search engines, robots, computer devices etc] will demand capacities that up until now have been mere options.

To meet this new world on its own terms, we should begin to cultivate these capacities now.

Without these Minds, a person will be at the mercy of forces that he or she can’t understand, let alone control.

A person will be well-equipped to deal with what is expected, as well as what cannot be anticipated.

The Five Minds are:

the Disciplinary Mind

the Synthesizing Mind

the Creating Mind

the Respectful Mind

the Ethical Mind

1. The Disciplinary Mind

The ‘area’ of knowledge that one has studied

A second meaning of the word ‘discipline’: training to perfect a skill

Any professional has to master the bodies of knowledge and the key procedures of his/her profession.

(The awareness of this can only be acquired within the school environment!)

Much research confirms that it takes up to ten years to master a discipline.

The Synthesizing Mind

The Synthesizing Mind has to do with reading disparate texts and learning from distinguished and distinctive lecturers.

One has to make sense of various sources of information, putting them together in ways that are generative.

In whichever capacity one works, the job of the leader calls for synthesis.

The leader must:consider the job to be doneconsider the various workers on handconsider their current assignments and skillsconsider how best to execute the current priority and move on to the next one

Synthesizing the current state of knowledge, incorporating new findings, and delineating new dilemmas is part of a leader’s job.

The Creating Mind

In general, we look to leaders for examples of creativity.

Creativity is:

the CAPACITY TO UNCOVER AND CLARIFY NEW PROBLEMS, QUESTIONS, AND PHENOMENA.

What is the role of creativity in the workday life of a professional?

Creative is the individual who figures out how to evaluate people, situations and materials.

The Respectful Mind

The first three kinds of Minds deal primarily with cognitive forms; the last two deal with our relations to other human beings.

To be Respectful, it is important to avoid stereotyping or caricaturing.

One must try to: understand other persons on their own terms

seek to convey one’s trust in them

Being Respectful means that one has to make the effort, and not just make presumptions based on impressions. Such humility may in turn engender positive responses in others.

The Ethical Mind

Ethics also relates to other persons, but in a more abstract way.

If an individual wishes to be ethical, he or she should try to understand his or her role as a worker and his or her role as a citizen of a region, a nation, and the planet.

One should think about:

What if I were ignorant in relation to my position in the world?

What is my responsibility in bringing such a world into being?

Therefore, promoting stereotypes and celebrities as role models in our teaching and in our teaching materials, is highly unethical and disrespectful.

Educators bear the most evident burden in the identification and training of young minds.

Leaders at the workplace should select individuals who appear to possess the right kinds of knowledge, skills, minds, those who possess disciplined, synthesizing, creating, respectful and ethical minds.

Whether in charge of a classroom, a club, or a corporation, we need constantly to consider which minds are crucial, which to prioritize, and how to combine them within a single organization, as well as within a single skull. (e.g. study skills training)

What are the dangers of not consciously developing the Minds mentioned above?

Individuals without one or more disciplines will not be able to succeed at any demanding workplace and will be restricted to menial tasks.

Individuals without synthesizing capabilities will be overwhelmed by information and unable to make judicious decisions about personal or professional matters.

Individuals without creating capacities will be replaced by computers and will drive (or be driven) away (by) those who do have the creative spark.

Individuals without respect will not be worthy of respect by others and will poison the workplace and the commons.

Individuals without ethics will make the world a desolate planet and will be irresponsible citizens.

What should we do in our teaching procedure???

Be aware of the Minds of our Learners (individualization of the teaching process)

We should avoid focusing exclusively on the disciplinary mind

We should give learners tasks and projects to develop their synthesizing mind (NOT just miming & drilling!!)

We should give them the chance to develop their creative capacities

We should not omit the ethical aspect of contemporary life process

Bibliography:

Gardner H. (2007)-Five Minds for the Future. Harvard B.S.P.Boston