Dr.Rose

I‘ve spent almost fifty years successfully teaching from kindergarten to graduate students. During this time I have constantly challenged the status quo asking, “Why are we doing it this way?” It caused me problems with some of those with more legal power, but it sent me to the libraries and then the Internet to find solutions.

In these searches I didn't find the solution, but found many . It amazed me how many could effectively solve specific problems. Once I truly understood how complex and enormously different each student was from every other I began experimenting with ways to individualize instruction. The disadvantages were total exhaustion for me and the unconscious encouragement of selfish behavior for my students. I learned to balance that by developing extensive group dynamics and group cohesiveness techniques.

I also evolved from using fear and coerciveness as my main methods of control to more techniques that depended on persuasiveness. The two management styles (control methods) still weren't getting enough of the students to develop self-control and personal responsibility . Mutual respect through better listening and observation on my part lead to giving more and more earned power to my students as they became increasingly responsible. This culminated in the continuous feedback and the negotiations that helped them live in a real democracy.

Finally, I managed my classrooms by using a combination of coercion, persuasion, and negotiation that resulted in the most efficient delivery of lessons, good test scores, and happy, well-rounded students. With all the new technology these results are much easier to achieve.

In my education books you can see my efforts and growth as I went from a completely naive and clueless teacher to a professional who has attempted more unique approaches than any other teacher I've read about. It has convinced me that teachers need more, not less autonomy (power). They need to be able to find out who they are, what teaching styles work best, what materials work best for them, and then allowed the opportunity to learn from their failures without being demoralized by excessive criticism. These teachers then would have the attitude towards learning and the confidence to allow the same respect and shared power with their students to totally change students' present attitude towards learning.