TeachingPhilosophy
A Pragmatic
PatriciaM. Shields
TexasStateUniuetsity
Southwest
,rasrcil M.s[el& b rhe &ttl.nr of rhc 2002
NASPME\ccllcncein TeichingAvl!, givcn
'ln e.oSdnon of ontsMndLl8.o dbudonsro
ed{cadonft" lublle scnicc rhrcllh 4cel-
I-PAE9 (200r:1:7-12
I would like to pr€facethis discussionby notingthat I amlucky
enoughto t€achthe capstoneexperienc€for the Mastersof Public
StateUniver$ity(SV'D.Th€
AdministrationPrcg&m4t SouthwestTexas
[n the frst
capstoneexperienc€is a processihat takestwo semesters.
Methodology"(PoSI 5335),studentsfind
course,"Problemsin Research
their researchquestion,preparea literaturerevieq andpresenta
Research
Proiect'(POSI
pfospectus.
In th€ secondcour$e,'Applied
collectdata,andwriteth€ir
write a formalprosp€ctus,
539D,stud€nts
Projectclass
Prqect (ARP).The
AppltedRes€arch
AppliedResearch
Students
doesnot meetfofmallyandis managedvia th€ l11temet.
defendtheir paperin an oral exambefor€a conuritteeat th€ end of
the semesterTheclassesaresmall,usuallywlth sevento 18students
p€r class,Thetwosemest$ formatandsmallclasssizeptovideme with
uniqueopportunitiesto givestudentsindividualizedattentio4.Since
Projects.
1992,Ihavesup€rvisedmorethan 200AppliedR€search
philosophy
charles
sanders
ofJohn Dewey,William
I usethe
James,
Pehce,aodJan€Addamsasthe foundationof my individualizedteaching
philosophy.since 1990,t have€xamin€dthe wotks of theseclassical
I beganto discove.
Americanpragmatistsin my life asa scholar.When
my teachingbecam€
that their ideashadapplicationfor the classroom,
mofe coherentandmy studentsbeganwiining awards,
American
Thercfore,within the largerfram€workof Classical
I filst approachteachingwith a spftit of critical optrmism.
Pragmatism,'
second,Itakeasa point of depanurefiat a researchpaperis a form of
a t€acher,one of
inquiry andthat inquiry involvestransformations.As
my iobsis to facilitatethe tmnsfomationsof inquiry by developing
teachingtools.Third,Itreatthe classasa conrmunityof inquiry Fourth,
Fifth,I broadenmy own andthe
I focuson pragmaticconsequences.
students'horizonsby bridgingdualiti€ssuchastheory/practice.Afld
fu1ally,
wheftver possible,lopenthe classlo the light of public scruliny'
Jonnal ofPublicA-fJai^Erlucatrcn7
A PraqlnaticTeachingPbilasophll
Criticaloptimism(meliorism)"is rhe belief that
the specificconditionswhich exist at one moment,
be they comparatively
good,in
bad or comparatiyely
anyeventmaybe bettered.ltencourages
int€lligenceto work to improveconditionsandit atouses
reasonabl€ness
andconidenc€asoptimismdoes
not'@ewey,1929,179).I applythe spirir offfirical
oplimismto the studentleamerandto the two
cours€s.Lun oplimisticthat eachsludenthasthe
pote ial to write a fine appliedrcsearchproject.
Th€feis,however,room fot €v€rystudentto
improveandstretchas4 professional.
Coursesthat
arefoundedon a spidt of critical optimismareconstandyreviewedfor improvements.
Examplesof
improv€menlsin the MPAcapstoneexperience
include
. the developmenlofw€b syllabi
' the useof a classlist serveacrosscourses
TableL Classifyingt4icro-Conceprual
Frameworks
Stotr:srcoi
Te.hnique
Quest/bn
Exploration
AnythingGoes
Hypotheses
Description
Gauging
How closeh
Casestudyis typical:
AnythingSoesstructuredinterviews, Any type of
statistical
possible
analysis
focusSroup,Anything
goes-surYey,
existlhg
aSSregated
dara
Usuallyquelitative
Descriptlve
Categories
Surveyand
ContentAnalysis
Simpl€
descriptive
satktics
PracticalldealType
lfEeneralizing
Simpledescriptiye
andcontentanalysis
lfgeneralizing
lf casestudy-
-Case study.
Decisionf4aking
Mod€hof
Ope|ations
Cost BenefitAnalysis, Quantitativ€
Operations
ProSramminS,de€ision
Explanation/
Experim€ntaland
Correlation,
t-test,
Chi Square.
desiSn(broadlydefin€d)
Survey,
existinSdata
simpleandmultiple
8 Jaltrnal oJPublicAlfairs Educatiolx
A PrdqmaticTeachingPbilosoqbJl
. the expansionofthe or;rlexamconrni$eesto
unjltrindudcFrculqfrcmorherdeparlmen!s.
pmctitionets
sity administrators,and
. oral examsmovedto the statecapitoland
city haI
. the developmentof conceptualfram€works
that organizethe paper(se€Table1)
. a requircmentthat studentsde!"eloptableslinking th€ir conceptualfr.mework to the literature
andto the mod€sof evidenc€collection
to students.Studentspraisedthe behind'th€-scenes
organizationthe notebookprovided.
the notebookwasnothingmore
Nevefiheless,
thanan assignflent.After rcadingJohnDewey's
ZogO I beganto seeit nsa tool of inquhy becauseit
broughtorderto the tangibleworld,alowing the
studentto focusmoredirectlyon th€ litemtureas
well asthe doubi,conirsion,surprise,andcritical
with the tmrsformationsof pragthinking associated
maticinquty.'MPA $aduateKevinBaumnotesthat
the Stepnotebookmethodis a"practicalapproach
to rcsearchthat providesa critical forumfor intemal
Wlen studentswrit€ a largerescarchpaper,th€y
debate...and
opponmity to write andthinl( about
ar€engagedin a fofm of inquiry.Thatsimpl€insight
crcdit
what we haveread';andSamWilsonfoundthe Jtel
prop€lledmyteaching
in n€wdircctions.I
methodus€fuIb€causeit "stimulatc$fertil€ andproJohnDew€y's,a.E,qt e meory of Inquiry (1918)
ductivethinkingin a cdtical manfl€r]5
asth€ sourceof the insight.Devey plac€spurpos€'
Th€s€condtool I llse to facilitateinquty is
ful humaninquiry asa focalpoint of his philosophy,
mof€
abstracl,UsingD€wey'sIoglc nndJamcs'
He define$inquiry as'th€ controlledor dircctcd
tfllnsformationof anindetermlnatesituation(finding Pragmatlsm,lnowviev tleory a$a tool.Myjob
a rcse,rchquestion,se€kingan approachto addreli$- asteacheris to help the strdent find the tool that
question)...into
enlbl€sthcm to addresstheir researchquestionand
a unifi€dwhole"
ing ther€search
As
(completed
hclpth€mengage
in dntncoliectionandatulysis.
paper).BothDew€yandPeircestress
,)f inqury areollenrdgpublic affhirspractition€rsthey too shouldview thethatlhe rmnsformarions
geredby doubtassociated
wilh lhequejrioning
of
ory asa tool thathelpedthembe moreeffective.
'[he
of theodesls toolsbegan
understanding
Doubtls resolvedthrough
existingbeliefsystems.
rvilliam
with
hotelcorridormctaphori
ilrther inquiry andreflectivethought.An effective
James'
"Pragmatism
the
midstof theoriesLikea hotel
lies
m
the
vahe
of
the
uansfolmaway to communicate
ffc ini.
corridor,Allth€ roomsopenout to in andall the
tionsof ulquiryis a leffningcurve.Students
"whnt
rcomscanbe entefed,l'mSmatismownsdlc coffi
tially attractedto a topic andhavea $€nseof
they
dor andthe nght to movefreelyftom roomto
in
a
type
of
equilibrium.
As
is."They
begin
is
roonf'(1907,54).Thus,thercaremanyusefultheo"
th(ir inilialunder<rarrding
learchrhelircrature.
cha enged(doubt$tage)by the Literature(dis€quilib- ries,andbecausethe inqldringpractitionerowlrsthe
problem,rticsit ationhe or shedecideswhich theG
rium).Asthef readingandnote-takingprocetd,they
ln addilion,James
a
ry h€lpsaddress
theproblemmoveup th€ leamingcurve.Eventuallythey reach
.i)
co$ains (1959, viewstheoryas'l wayfor peopleto work
new equilibriumwherc th€ir understanding
geater complexitlrToolsd1a1direct their Progfess
smartbecauscit takes"far lessmental€ffort"to
uoderstandthe complexitiesof the wodd.Like any
ajd the joumeyof discoveryr
goodtool,theorymakeslife easier
I havedevelopedtwo toolsthat keepsnrd€ntson
Eerlyin the fust course,Idistinguishbetweenthe
track-drc Step,,/ Srepnotebookmethodand
that studentsleam in their MPA
larger
meta-theories
fmmeworks.The
.t
ep
notebook
micro{onceptual
frame
classesandthe naffowermicro-conceptual
helpstlrc studentstayfocus€dby organizingtheir
worksdrcywill needto developfor th€ir applied
time,materials,andideas.Idevelopedthis tool asa
researchprojects.Foryeafs,Iusedtritditionai
strugglingassistantprofessorwhile doingmy o\tn
descripfion,and
researchpuposes(€xplanation,
research.Iusethe methodtodayandcredit it with
exploration)6,rsa medlaflismfor studentsto fiarrow
my own limited successasa scholar,Whent began
their topic andrcfin€ thef researchquestion.Aft€r
teachingthe Research
MethodsclassjI introducedit
Journdl of PttblicAlJain E lucation 9
A Pragm4ticTeacbingPbikrropb)
finding the topic their next stepwasto 6nd a cona1the prcposalslage.Widlthe micrc-conceptuat
ceptualftameworkfot dleil researchquestion.
ftameworksfun y in place,I amalwal,sconsistentas
Studentsalwayshad qucstionsaboutconc€ptuat
the advisorbecausethe framewofkallowsm€ to see
ftame\rorks,\Vhatis a micfo{onceplualftamework? quicklywhat is going.Supervisiontakesfar lessmenHow is it identinedfor a particularrcsearchquestd effortl
tion? Wher€do I find th€ framework?
How is it trsed?
Onefinal nole on conc€ptualfmmeworks-stt
I nevcradmittedto myselfthat I couldnot rcally
dentserc requfuedto constructthis tool from the li!
namewhet I w?stalkingabout.Iwassupris€d to
eratur€.Som€1imes
they find a fram€wofkin the literfind thal Deweydiscussed
conceptualfilmewotks it
an[e;oth€r timc$they mustconstnrctth€ir own,
ZoSr'c,
Somehow.Isawa connectionbetweefi
Dewey(1938,16) majntainsthat
Dcwey'sinsightsandthe studentqueslions.Ibegan
to se€that ther€wer€lots of differ€rt t).pesof conTher€is the samesort of advaxtage
in having
ceptualfranework andthat theseframeworks
conceptualJtameoorksmaNfacturcdandon
grcupedoaturallyaroundth€ reijearchpurposes
handin advanceof ictual occasionsfor th€ir
definedabov€.Usin€ith€ connectionbetweenfrumc,
use,a$ther€is in havingtoolsreadyinsteadof
work andrcsearchpurpos€,Id€v€lopedfive pairsof
improvisingthemwhen needariseslitalcs
pufpos€/micro-concepnlal
fr^mework.Theyrre
addedl.
exploration/workinghlTroth€ses,
descdption/cate,
gories,gaugindpracticididealtype,decision-makI hav€learnedto rela"xandlet th€setoolsprcpel
ing/mod€lsof operationsrelicffch,and
andstrengthenthe tnnsfomationsof inquiry thnt
explanatioo/fomal
hypotheses.T
(SeeTable
I for the occurduringtheARPprocc$$,
Moststud€ntsseethe
listingof thesefmmeworks).
valueof the .tftl notebookimmediately.
On the othef
InTbe Conoluctof Inqulrl4 AbrahamKaplan
hand,micro-conceptual
framewo*s generally
(1964,268)
poinrsour rhatoneofth€ mo$ practical becomehighlyvaluedwhenthestudents
wflreme
purposc$
of theoryis thatit helpsorganizes
thecol. rerlrltschaptcrThenlhe enrirccapsrone
experience
lection dndanfllysisof data.
makesmoreseflse,
Everytheoryserves,h part,asa rcsearchdir€c,
Asidefrom developingthe roolsof inquiry,t also
tive.Theolyis usefulbecause
it guidesthecollection try to createa conmunity of inquifysduringthe capof dataandthe subsequent
analysis,
by showingus
stoneexpedence,The
pojnthereis thatI try to crebeforehandwherethe dataareto be fitted,md q/hat atea senseof interconnectedness.
Ideally,stud€nts
we arcto makeof themwheDwe getthem,,,without eypcri€ncecornectionsbetweeneachother,with
a theoryhoweverprovisionalor loos€lyformuhted, me,with the authorsof the literaturethey rcad,and
thcrcis ,)nlya mis(rllanyof obsenation5
havingno
with former students,Cofllectionsareenhanced
significance.
throughclassassignments;
pr€sentations
by forner
'$/ith
this insight,I wasableto seethat certirin
snldents,and,rcccntly,a classlist serve.The
ARP-L
mod€sof datacollectionandevenstatisticaltech(Iist serve)ljnks the strdentswithin md betwccn
niqueslired up with the purposesandmicro frame- classes
(53J5ard 539D.The
list servegivesmea
works.ThematerialinTable1 playsan importanrrole v/ayto communicatewith the POSI5397srudents
at all stegesof th€ fiJstcoursebecauseit allowss!u, wlro meetasa grouponly oncc,one indicationof
dentsto work throwh thef researchquestion/pur- how connectedthe studentsfeel is their rclucrancc
poseandthen havea senseof how to proceed(write to get off tlrc list afterdrcy graduate.
Cuffendy,81
a successfr.proposal).studentsafeforcedto specify studentsareon the list serve.Approximately60
thefumicro frnm€worksbecauseI requirethat the
gradual€sarestill engagedaspan of the community
studentidenti4.the micro-conceptual
frameworkand of inquiry throughthe list serve.
linll(it to the literatureandmodesof datacoll€ction
10 Jouttdl al PublicAllairs Educatian
A PragmaticTeacbingPhilosopb)
In the lastfew months,Ihavebegunsffessingin a
oew way the importanceof community,I have
noticedthat the studentsle:lstlikely to finishfieir
ARqregardless
of ability,arethe onesthat aremost
isolatedftom the group.RobertBoice(1990,100),a
resp€ct€dscholarin the psychologyof writing,notes
that "mostwriting is,afterall,a socialact."Hc identifi€d socialskillsdeficitsascontributingto writers
block-He hasfourd that effectivewriters'build
socialn€twork"(102).I explicitlyencourage
social
n€tworksin the capstone€xperience,
CharlesSandersPeirce(1958b)definedclassical
pragmarism
by linlrnSidea5andactiorls
ro rhcir
practicaleff€cts(or us€fulness).
Sotoo I judgemy
teachingassignments,
lectures,rcadings,list serve,
etc.,bythet consequences.The
fustoveffidingpfictical cons€quence
is for the studenlsto write a
paperthat they carisuccessfully
d€f€nd(andther€"
graduate).ln
fore
addition,
I encourage
studenls
to
choos€topicsthattheirag€nci€s
canuse,9Mosl
stlr'
dentsindicatethat thef orgarizationandwriting
skillsimprov€drasticallywhile €ngagedin th€ car}
stoneexperi€nc€.As
a rcsult,many
students
arepfo.
motedor go on to moretuLffIlngjobs.roAsurpdsing
consequ€nc€
ofthe notebookmethodls its applica'
tion outsidethe contextof formalscholarljhip,
Formerstudentshaveusedthe methodto planwed"
dings,m4nag€large-scale
soft*'aredevelopmentprojecrs.planandmanage
proiecrr.
reque\rapproprjalion5.re5rdybcfuretheTexa\y:nate,and
urSanjze
mountiin climbingtrips.
Oneof the fust aniclesI re,rdaboutJohoDewey
hadwhat I considereda mostpeculiartitle"BattlingDualisms.'trIt wasn'tuntil I beganto
bridgcdualismslik€ theory/prrctice;teacher/scholar;
administmtor/teacher
in my role asa teacherthat I
wasableto rulderstandDewey'sinsights.Oneof the
fust examplesis the notebookmefiod (Step&Jr
.ttep).At first th€ notebookwasjust a simpleteaching assignment.
WhenI beganto seeit irsa sourceof
scholarship,lhem€thodevolvedinto a workbook
that is now adoptedoutsideSouthwestTcxas
State
Uni.r'ersiq.
Step+tt-Step
evolvedasI bddgedthe practice (teachingassignment)
andtheory(tool of
inquiry visa-visPmgmatism).
Bddgingthe dualismbetweenadministratorOIIPA
director)andteacheralsoimprcvedthe capstone
cxperience.As
adminisffator,Ihelp to organizemelltoring activitiesfor studentsmd alumni.Recentll4I
addeda m€ntoringcomponentto the capstone
practilione$ haveparlicipat€din
expedenc€.Alumni
oral examinations
andha!'€servedassecofldrcaders.InthiswayI canpairstudents
with e\perienced
practitionersin their field.Thestrdent workswith
the practitionersanddevelopsa relationship.The
inclusionof practitionersalsooffe$ an oppo.tunity
to addsomediversityto th€ onl examconrmitt€e.
ryadley.
Onr example
is Sahrina
anAfri(anAmerican
anda rec€ntgmduate,MarthaCa-\tex'Tatum,
San
Marcos'fhst AfricanAm€ricanCity Councilperson,
wasSabdna's
secondrcadetBoth\romenbenefited
fromthe experienc€
Rec€ntlythe MPAprogramhash€ld s€venlof the
practitioner-filledoral €xamsat theTexasState
settjnggavea symbolicpresence
for the
Capitol.Thjs
SW'TMPAprogramin the seatof stategovernment
pow€r.Cours€innovationinvariablyfollowsa$I
bridgeseeminglyunrelateddualities.
The pragmaticspirii of critical optimismleadsme
to lay muchof my teachingopento tle light of pub'
projccrsarc
lic scrutiny.Firsr.
applicdrcsedrch
boundandcatalog[ed
in thesvT librarystudent
papersimprovedalrnostimmedi^telyafterthis policy wasenacted.Eventhe leastmotivatedstudent
doesnot want to be embaffassed
by vrork $/ith their
nameon it catalogu€din a library.
process
Second,the
is,lso moretdnsparent
becausea list of appliedrcsearchprcjects(since
(since1999)is postedon the
1992)andabstracts
swT MPAveb sit€.12
In addition,the Res€arch
Methodssyllabusard theAppliedResearch
Proiect
rcquifements,
deadlines,
expectations,
etc,,areposted on theWeb.'r
Thfd, SWTfaculfyandadministmtors
outsidethe
MPAprcgramselveon oml exirmcommittees.
Over
years.vice
pre\idenr\.
lhe la\l sev€n
deans.chaiJs.
andfacultyfrom depfftmentsaroundthe campus
haveseffedon oral examcommittees.
Recently,
committeeshaveb€enfurther op€nedup to include
pmctitioners."
Journal af PublicA".faircEduc^tbn 11