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The Poehler Lecture was titled "Teaching the Children Well: One Educator's Perspective on Integrating Faith and Learning"

Carl Shoenbeck was the speaker and his comments on the education system at large and the personal educations system as teachers was quite insightful.  For me as a student I gained much from listening to a great educator give his advice on what works and doesn't work when learning and how people learn.  I attached my notes from the lecture.  Hopefully one of the quotes or one of his points will resontate with you as well.

Teaching the children well:

            Learning is a continuing process that is not bounded by the end of formal education

            Children continue to be taught and continue to learn.

 

Integrating Faith and Learning in the Bible:

            Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

 

 

Education Today:

           

Learning Outcomes--Rubrics to Identify Outcomes--Multiple teaching strategies--Gather assessment data on learning--Analyze data

 

"The pig doesn't get any heavier just by weighing it more." Carl Schoenbeck

 

New Courses

New Cirriculem

Extra Work

 

"For every complex problem there is a simple solution which is always wrong."

 

Recipe for passion for learning

Connections---Application---Questions

 

Connections of Individual Aspects of Human Development

Social-Intellectual-Spiritual-Emotional-Physical

            -This looks like the IOMA Model of learning

                        -Carl doesn't see any hierarchy in each separate discipline

                                    -They are all necessary and equal

 

The strongest learning comes from when all the variables are interacting and engaged.

 

Leonard Bernstein

 

"Education is a process form living, and not a preparation for future living."  John Dewey

 

Value of Questions:

            -Education is not about having the complete set of answers

            -Questions are tools to guide knowledge

            -Teachers must guide the students

            -They make us inclusive, not exclusive

            -Students must develop a comfort for ambiguity

 

 

 

 

From his perspective: What this means for Concordia

            -Concordia was founded on connections and faith is the core, it is not compartmentalized.

            -Integrate the study of disciplines

            -Makes connections to real life

            Advice for the future:

                        Don't rely on the past

                        Look to the future

                        Powerful education integrates the past with the needs of the future

                        Keep internships to make learning applicable

                        Keep Lutheran tradition to avoid closed minded thinking

 

"An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup."  H.L. Menken

 

"Only a life loved form others is a life worthwhile."  A. Einstein

 

4 Points that were key in his opinion:

Passion is Key

Questions result in more results

Faith gives strengths and flexibility

Faith prepares for the application in life

 

How does Concordia give education to a changing student body that is increasingly non-Christian?

            A. It's an opportunity.  Use the things in the past.  The passion for learning comes from the faculty. 

 

How do you teach non-Lutheran ideas at a Lutheran school?

            -Get back to saying what really Lutheran is is questioning the question.  Engage in the same mentality that Martin Luther raised questions.  There are not many strategies that are conflict free.

 

"Learning is not getting ready for life, it is life!"  Carl Schoenbeck

I found Xeexing Lee's teaching style to be very engaging.  Out of all the other guest speakers I really enjoyed listening to his insights and seeing his work.  He was one of my personal favorites.  His progression of gold leaf artwork and finding the sacred in his culture and family was especially intriguing.  It was fascinating finding the connections between the Hmong world view and his view on what are is and should be. 

Also he made the distinction that Hmong art is very personal and functional.  All of the traditional work is done for everyday living purposes.  The clothing was very ornate and intricate.  I have such a respect for these Hmong women that can create these masterpieces of art and simply use them for living.  Not hanging in a museum or selling them for massive amounts of money. 

Frequently I am in the music building so I have seen the art before, but I haven't really soaked it in.  After hearing Xeexeng's stories I spent a few minutes today looking closer at the artwork hanging on the wall.  The connections and the background of his lecture made the art stand out more so than it has before.  In general I enoyed his lecture and all that he brought to the table in his art and his outlook on art in the world.  I want to leave you with my favorite quote of his from the night...


"Art is about making the invisible, visible" -Xeexing Lee

Out of all the Hmong class sessions we have had I probably enjoyed this one the best.  First because I had a full 64 oz of coffee to sustain me!  I really didn't feel tired that night.  As for the speakers I was able to connect with all of them very well.  In fact, Xang lived on my floor in Wollaeger last year.  I got to know him casually but hearing his story and childhood was very interesting.  The other two girls, Xia and Pa Houa, were also fascinating to listen to their perspectives. 

First I enjoyed the countering arguments from Xang compared to the two women.  It was intriguing to hear the different perspectives each had to give about the Hmong culture and the American culture.  Especially regarding family.  The family unit in the Hmong culture is highly regarded and I was fascinated with the differences with American culture.  For instance, I didn't know that a Hmong daughter wasn't allowed to hug her father.  In that culture the daughter and father never get close, emotionally or physically.  The mom is the support for the daughters and the father is support for the sons. 

Then there was religion and rituals.  I wish we could have spent another 2 hours on that topic.  The Hmong culture is very holistic and being a theology major I was intrigued by their views on religion and spirits.  I really wish there would have been time to discuss Christianity and the Hmong rituals side-by-side.  That would have been quite interesting.  But Christianity aside, the Hmong view on death was really different than anything I have heard of.  When a baby is born they bury the placenta in the ground and when a person dies they travel back to that place, put on their "jacket" and travel to the spirit world.  I really wanted to talk more about what they believes happens from there.  I only know that they need this "jacket" to get to the spirit world.  I have no clue what this sprit world entails or what happens in this world.  Knowing more about that would have been interesting. 

Overall the discussion was fascinating and I really connected with these students since they are comparable ages and maturities in life.  

A few key thoughts struck me as I listened to these two Hmong-Americans talk about their time in Laos and their time in America; their "if you want it work for it attitude" and their deep sense of pride in their accomplishments.

First, Choua was very funny and on top of her humor she was a strong woman.  She could only have been about 5 foot even, but her voice was that of a 6 1/2 foot woman.  Her hospital stories and social work stories were fascinating to hear.  I would have been fine listening to her talk for another hour in her bold, almost overwhelming voice.

Long was much more calm and talked with thoughtful enthusiasm.  When he was asked questions about how he got his jobs he would quickly move from the job itself to the accomplishments.  Choua did the same thing.  It hit me as they quickly moved to telling stories about their individual accomlishments they had a deep sense of pride in their work.  They came from Laos and have made a life for themselves in a foreign land.  I was moved by their down to earth perspective on working and service to others.  Then in a similar way I was moved by their stand out, against the grain, way of living.

As I do research for Russian Immigration I would love to find a few stories with people like Choua and Long.  The type of strong personalities who have braved and seen many things, yet have made a life for themselves despite many daunting obstacles.

Well for starters, I had never set foot inside the Hmong Center until that night.  That fact alone brought about a few stark realities about my life.  First, the Hmong center is all of 50 feet from the RLC and I had no clue what it was about.  Second, I have been at Concordia for 1 1/2 years now and that only adds to my cultural ignorance. 

Lee was fascinating to listen to and hear his story and the story of his family.  I was also floored by how many political positions he has held regarding the Hmong culture.  I distincly remember towards the end of the presentation when he talked about how many Hmong are in America and how many are still in Tailand.  I had no clue there were just around 600,000 Hmong in America.  So far I assumed there were more and that shed even more light on the Hmong outlook on life.  It's no wonder they feel alienated in a land where they not only are much different culturally, but their sheer numbers are very few. 

Hearing Lee's story how he came to America was quite powerful as well.  Seeing him, a Dr. and well aquainted with America, growing up in Laos and his story of flying here caught me off guard.  I tend to forget that many refugees or immirants have had a much different childhood than me.  I, in ignorance, sometimes assume that if they are living in America they must be well steeped in "our" ways and that often is not the case.  So in a general way of putting it, I was opened to my own ignorances about the immigrants I see daily and my lack of time devoted to understanding and getting to know them.

Before I went to see the movie I had already heard a few friends talking about what it was like and what their opinions on the movie were.  The general response I got was "It was a great movie, but extremely racist."  That was my general stereotype of the movie going into it.  That day before I saw the movie I had read the book "The Latehomecomer" and the author Kalia Yang came into class to discuss the book she had written.  I have never had the opportunity to discuss a book with the actual author.  That was quite amazing.  It's one thing to read about a little girl who survived a refugee camp in Tailand and it's quite another to hear about it from her directly.  After hearing from Kalia about the Hmong struggles in Laos I had a very deep respect for the Hmong culture in general.  So that is what I carried into the movie.  A discussion with Kalia who had suffered the refugee camps and my friends who had seen the movie.

The movie itself was extremely powerful and moving.  There were some moments as my friends said where it was racist.  At points it was uncomfortable some of the slang Clint Eastwood used to describe Hmong people.  But the way his character developed was very well done.  It wasn't just powerful on a cultural understanding level but on a level of human connection.  By the end of the movie this Korean War vet felt closer to these Hmong neighbors than his own family.  And the ending was quite powerful indeed.  I won't give too much away incase you go see it, but I have never seen a theatre sit through half of the credits without a single person moving.  And half of the women in the theatre were in tears.  I myself was deeply moved.

The movie exposed such a new understanding of a persons ability to hate and learn to love another culture.  And of course it reminded me why Clint Eastwood is such a great actor, despite the fact that he's getting really old.  If you get the chance I highly recommend seeing it.