1) ''Self-Reflection is the School of Wisdom '' - Baltasar Gracian
The research of the ancient civilizations, together with the wisdom in everyday life practices of those times and their ongoing impact on our modern world, has consistently engendered a sense of intrigue and fascination in me. I initiated this research from ancient civilizations, acknowledging their potential to offer valuable educational perspectives, and the Sumerian riddle below captivated my attention:
''What is this?:
A house which like heaven has a plow,
Which like a copper kettle is cloth-covered,
Which like a goose stands on a base,
He whose eyes are not open enters it,
He whose eyes open comes out of it''(Kramer, 1963, p.236).
Even if the first three lines are obscure, it is not particularly hard to guess the answer from the last two lines, and it gains further clarity through the insight provided by Kramer (1963, p.229) regarding the writing and learning spread the world over from Sumer. The word "house" in the riddle can be considered as a metaphor for a place for learning, growth, and transformation where people enter with "blindness" and emerge with the ability to "see" things more clearly.
These lines invite us to a ''school'', which is also the answer to the riddle, where people enter with limited information, knowledge, and understanding and leave with more information, knowledge, and wisdom. (Kramer, 1963, pp.236-237). Thus, as implied by the riddle, schools are places where learners are intended to acquire information, gain knowledge, and cultivate wisdom.
The aforementioned educational objectives continue to be a significant subject for educators who focus on the holistic development of learners. It is widely accepted that education should strive for a broader purpose than mere information transmission and encourage learners to engage with the information meaningfully to expand their knowledge and develop wisdom.
Mere information transmission is mostly a one-way flow of delivering facts from teachers to learners, ignoring the participatory role of the learners in their learning journeys and disgracing the meaningful skills linked to this role. These skills include engaging with information on a deeper level and embracing the ownership of their learning journeys navigating by an inner compass: self.
I strongly believe that education, at its best, must embrace the learning processes where the learners, as active participants, have opportunities to use information meaningfully to develop knowledge and be more aware of their learning experiences and processes, fostering a close link with their authentic selves - a connection already innately exists within children.
I placed particular emphasis on the self because nurturing skills connected to one's self, especially self-reflection which holds special importance to me, serves as the base for something more meaningful and purposeful in education. This base paves the way for the learners to engage notions that might fall within the concept of wisdom: a more profound awareness of oneself, others, and the world we exist in (It is more deliberately discussed in the thesis itself).
A Self - Reflection Tool: European Language Portfolio - Language Biography
I've always been interested in materials that encourage pupils to reflect on their learning experiences and processes. I had the opportunity to explore one of these materials, the European Language Portfolio (ELP), more closely during my master's degree studies at the University of Eastern Finland, and I was motivated to conduct this study about one particular part of the ELP, Language Biography (LB) because LB aims to promote learners to reflect on and record their foreign language learning experiences and processes. LB offers self-reflective guidance for the learners on the following concepts: 1) Their linguistic, cultural, and learning experiences 2) Their ways of learning to learn (i.e. learning how to learn) 3) Their goals on why they want to learn foreign languages or what they want to achieve in their developing language skills (i.e. goal-setting)(Council of Europe, 2020).
It creates a bridge between what is visible, that is, information transfer, and what is invisible, namely, learners' self-reflection on abstract concepts. It helps learners to represent the visible embodiment of the abstract. This feature of ELP- The Language Biography helps learners to "see" more clearly by making the self-related concepts more visible, much like in the riddle, contributing to the main aim of education which is more than mere information transmission. The role of self-reflection in realising this meaningful educational aim has motivated me to conduct this research on the ELP - LB by combining theoretical and practical aspects of it.
2) Pedagogical Approaches Used to Develop the Toolkit
This part covers the main elements in the toolkit and the pedagogical approaches used to develop them. The chart at the end of this part presents all the learning materials and experiences in the toolkit.
Language Biography: As indicated in the main title, the toolkit was developed on the European Language Portfolio - Language Biography. It has already been created by the principles of constructivist and social constructivist approaches. Although there might be many aspects to explain why it follows the constructivist and social constructivist approaches, the most prominent ones for each are explained below:
It is constructivist because it guides pupils to take an active role in their learning by promoting self-reflection on their own learning processes and their own linguistic, cultural, and intercultural experiences, shifting them from merely being recipients of knowledge.
It is social constructivist because it helps learners to gain awareness of the linguistic and cultural experiences of others. Additionally, it functions as a tool that fosters metacognitive development in learners. Whether utilised autonomously or under teacher guidance, it guides learners to reflect on how they learn. In this way, it refers to the principles of Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development regarding what a learner can do with guidance.
Storytelling (Stories) : Stories were developed to provide a model for learners to guide them to reflect on related learning processes or experiences in their language biographies. Storytelling has been examined from both constructivist and social constructivist perspectives in the literature.
It is constructivist because learners interpret and make meaning based on their existing knowledge, experiences, and cultural backgrounds when they engage with a story.
It is social constructivist because it is also a social activity where the discussion of the story and the reflection on learning experiences through meaningful connections with the story take place.
Learning by Doing ( ``An Experience`` as it is described by Dewey) : Learning experiences were designed for learners to reflect on their learning processes and the experiences designed.
They are constructivist because learners have active roles while constructing knowledge in their learning experiences.
They are social constructivist because learners engage in these experiences in groups.
Other learning materials in the toolkit were also developed following constructivist and social constructivist approaches.
All the designed elements in the toolkit encourage learners to reflect on their learning processes and experiences in their foreign language learning journeys.
Language Biography (LB) comprises three parts. Accordingly, three lessons were structured for this study, each aligning with the outlined objectives of respective parts. Designed learning materials and experiences (DLME) based on the principles of constructivist and social constructivist approaches:
3) Learning Materials and Experiences in the Toolkit
My Language Biography ( 1st, 2nd and 3rd Parts )
European Language Portfolio, which includes language biography as one of the components, is a property of the learners. Therefore, language biographies were provided for each learner in a booklet form, sized A5, for this thesis research.
The instructions in the language biography above have been adapted from the Finnish Language Biography for grades 1-3 ( Kielisalkku / Luokat 1-3 ). I redesigned the format and provided options to contextualize the instructions. During this process, I used my own ideas and drew inspiration from the language biography published by the Center for National Languages (CILT) as well as the templates provided on the ELP website.
I received feedback from my supervisor via an online platform Canva, which enabled her to provide written comments. After revision, I got feedback from her to develop the language biography further in an online meeting. Following that, I obtained feedback from three of my classmates in another online meeting. I made some revisions based on the feedback received.
This part covers how the stories are integrated into the lessons to introduce and use the language portfolio.
These are designed for the first part of the language biography:
These are designed for the second part of the language biography:
You might want to use the school kitchen to make a pizza to provide an authentic learning experience.
These are designed for the third part of the language biography:
You might want to use the art classroom to craft the clay to provide an authentic learning experience.
After presenting the main elements of the toolkit, there are two more learning materials below that you might want to incorporate into your teaching.
Dice Activity ( For page 4 in the Language Biography )
Video : When have you needed foreign languages? ( For page 8 in the Language Biography )
The objective of this video is to encourage pupils to reflect on when they need to use foreign languages and their intercultural encounters.
4) Visual Highlights: Toolkit Implementation at the Primary Level of Finnish Basic Education
Just like I started my post with ancient civilizations, I would like to end my words with the inspiration I drew from ancient cultures to explain one of the perspectives on how education holds wisdom in its nature and the role of self-reflection in cultivating it.
A warm thank you for reading! ❤️
References
CILT, the National Centre for Language. (2006) European Language Portfolio - Junior version: Revised edition. http://deniscousineau.pbworks.com/f/elementaryportfolio_revised.pdf.
Council of Europe. (2000). European Language Portfolio (ELP): principles and guidelines. https://rm.coe.int/16804586ba.
The Finnish National Board of Education. (2014). Modal for primary learners grades 1-3. http://kielisalkku.edu.fi/fi/luokat-1-3/.
Kramer, S. N. (1963). The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character. Afghanistan: University of Chicago Press.
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