A culture of teaching


Is there a culture of teaching? How do you know?
I’m a member of the culture of teaching. At least, I thought I was... and as such, I still vouch for the principles of openness, reciprocity, care and improvement. To me, being part of that culture meant that, notwithstanding the place one would come from, the language, beliefs, ideas and principles shared would unite and turn our practices into common ground for understanding and application.
But, in a recent event I attended, 20 practitioners from all over the world came together to a country that was not native to any of them. That country provided us with the language and the services to be propagated by us in our respective countries. In the morning, we would attend the presentations and subsequently had to deliver parts of it as training for what we would do once back in our places of residence.
At first I thought that our shared knowledge of the subject, our similar experiences at work and our intent would unite us in a streamlined group. But when I saw that a colleague from the a continent wanted us to go word by word in the procedure, whereas a member of another continent admonished us to obey quietly the instructions given, and another yet, from a remote corner of our world, replied by moving to and fro desks, I sensed that where we came from mattered a lot to how we operate (Kitayama & Park, 2010).
My classroom culture changed and I noticed that, before content, comes beliefs . Acknowledging our beliefs, finding common grounds, streamlining expectations and working on metacognition (Frith, 2013)  is  central to understanding not only the goals and intentions of others (Sommerville [UcTv], 2013), but also to creating a culture of awareness of others (Frith, 2002) where any real teaching stands a chance at being developed. 
What about you? Are you a member of any culture? How do you know? What has challenged your perceptions so that you could endorse (or not) your membership? 

References


Frith, C.D. (2013). How the brain creates culture. [video] (1:04:38 minutes). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Mind, Brain Behavior Distinguished Lecture. Available on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxAUXoc-7XI 

Kitayama, S., & Park, J. (2010). Cultural neuroscience of the self: understanding the social grounding of the brain (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.). Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 5(2-3), 111-129. 

Sommenrville [UcTv]. (2013). CARTA. What is theory of mind? Theory of mind in human babies: The social brain in adolescence. [video]. (58:37 minutes). Available on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFTe3z5ISGo 

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