Making School Meaningful Conference

Making School Meaningful

The Institute for Global Ethics
www.ethical-literacy.org
November 14, 2012
pmirk@globalethics.org

Copyright © 2012 by the Institute for Global Ethics. Certain materials and methodologies described in these pages are
the proprietary intellectual property of the Institute for Global Ethics. They are provided expressly for use within this
workshop offered by the Institute on the indicated date, and may not be further copied, excerpted, used, or distributed
outside the participant group at the workshop without the express written permission of the Institute for Global Ethics.

Copyright © Institute for Global
Ethics, 2012. Please do not copy or
redistribute www.globalethics.org

Thanks, Catherine Cook School!

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Introductions:
The Institute for Global Ethics
Ethical Literacy Learning
Community
www.ethical-literacy.org

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Today’s Goals
Explore concepts, frameworks and research to
build or add to a school wide ethics focus

Explore ways to strengthen/support the
common core through ethical decision making

Examine classroom practice for building trust
and positive relationships

Learn from experience here
at Catherine Cook
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redistribute www.globalethics.org Our Broad Agenda
9 – 10:15 Schools of Integrity
Balancing Academics and Ethics
15 min. Break
10:30 – Noon The Common Core
Using ethics to build skills
45 min. Lunch
12:45 pm – 2 pm Relevance and Relationship
Using ethics to increase relevance
2pm – 3pm: Catherine Cook’s experience
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Why are we doing this work?
The broadest purpose
of education

IGE Timeline
1990 What concepts does each person need to know
about and appreciate?

1992 Do we share ethical values around the world?

1995 How canwhichperson embrace the complex
world in
each
we live?

How can each person better uphold their 2000
principles?

What conditions need to be in place to
support each person’s ethics? 2006 - 2012
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Copyright © Institute for Global Ethics, 2012. Please do not
copy or redistribute www.globalethics.org

Findings: Consider Your School
Provide examples

1. X Cutting Dimension
2. Driver and connector for classwork
3. Fueling Relationships is key to learning
4.Trustees/alumni keepers of moral compass
5. Tone at the Top
6. Cultures of open feedback: continuous learning
7. Tolerance for ambiguity; comfort w/ thinking
8. Pro D from the Ranks; models for everybody
9. Authentic input from students
10. Growth, not punishment 8


At Your Tables:
• Talk about the strengths and needs at your
school – get and give ideas for “first step
plans” to preserve or initiate the finding.
• Generate examples of your Hidden
Curriculum: what will change, and what
will students notice/experience because of
this first step?

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BREAK

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The Common Core and
Ethical Literacy
What skill areas does the Common Core seek to
increase:
• Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Literacy
What skill areas does our framework address?
• Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Literacy

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It’s not “what”, it’s “how”

How do we increase critical thinking, problem
solving and literacy in our schools?

… Through effective teaching strategies.

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How?
• By DOING: (constructivist)
– We believe most people are interested in the
human struggle to be good
– We believe in promoting how to think (asking)
not what to think (telling)
– We strive to be learners ourselves: we
hypothesize, but hold open possibilities
– We believe our work applies to everyone;
resides toward the top of Bloom
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Six Core Strategies
1. A good “hook”
2. Make the strategy explicit
3. Make the skill – building explicit
4. Use discussion and questions to extend
learning.
5. Ask students to synthesize and transfer
learning.
6. Reflection
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Stories: A good hook
Do you think math is boring and numbers lack
drama? Think again! Listen to this story
about an innocent mathematician who just
wanted an ordinary life … but knew too much
about numbers! Whether you go into high
finance or another line of work, you may be
faced with a similar challenge one day!

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The Guardian, 3/24/2010
In a small Massachusetts town, American fund manager Harry Markopolos lived
in fear of his life. For three years, he carried a Smith & Wesson revolver, checked
under his car for bombs and avoided walking along dark shadowy streets. A self-
confessed maths geek, he had unravelled the secret of Wall Street's biggest
conman.

"Think about it. Here was a man that wiped out thousands of families," says
Markopolos, who was afraid both of Madoff and of the tame "feeder funds" that
fed him customers' money. "If he didn't have a reason to kill me, think about the
feeder funds. What's going to happen to their lifestyles? They're all going to be
ruined financially, they'll all be sued and, hopefully, many of them will go to jail.
What will people do to protect their lifestyles?“

A quantitative financial specialist with an instinct for the numbers behind complex
derivatives, Markopolos smelt a rat about Madoff Investment Securities as far
back as 1999 ….

17
Andrew Clark in New York The Guardian, Wednesday 24 March 2010 08.17 EDT


Markopolos Ethical Dilemma
It was right, on the one hand, to speak up about
the weird numbers Markopolos had noticed.
After all, Ponsy Schemes always end up hurting
someone, and the bigger the scheme, the bigger
the impact. But it was right on the other hand,
to keep quiet. Markopolos feared for his life, he
had three small children, and Madoff had
already “wiped out thousands of families”.

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2. Make the Strategy Explicit
Now that I’ve got your interest, we’re going to
use a decision strategy called “right vs.
right” to think through this math-related
dilemma.

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©2011 Institute for Global Ethics®

Right-versus-Right
Paradigms

• truth vs. loyalty
• individual vs. community
• short-term vs. long-term
• justice vs. mercy


3. Make the Skill-building Explicit
Now we’re going to use the right vs. right
paradigms to think through the Markopolos
dilemma. I’m going to ask you to analyze the
dilemma, to apply the paradigms to the story,
to put your thinking into words and to back up
your thinking if need be.

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4. Use discussion and questions
to extend learning

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(repeat:)
2. Make the Strategy Explicit
Now that we’ve thoroughly analyzed
Markopolos’ dilemma, we’re going to use
three strategies from philosophy to think
about what to do.

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Right-versus-Right
Decision Principles
• ENDS-BASED: The greatest
good for the greatest number
• RULE-BASED: “If everybody
did this” – what’s the standard
• CARE-BASED: Put yourself
in the other person’s position


3. Make the Skill-building Explicit
We’re going to use Ends Based, Rule Based
and Care Based to build our flexibility with
different points of view, and to eventually
solve the Markopolos dilemma.

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4. Use discussion and questions
to extend learning

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5. Ask students to synthesize and
transfer learning
Before we hear from Markopolos about what
he did, I want to know if you can think of
other “right vs. right” dilemmas from your
literature, history or science classes – do any
come to mind?

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What did Markopolos decide to
do, and why?
• A belatedly celebrated whistleblower who was ignored by everybody,
Markopolos tried, umpteen times, to raise the alarm about Bernard Madoff's
$65bn (£43bn) Ponzi scheme which imploded at the end of 2008, leaving
thousands of charities, hedge funds, pensioners and Hollywood stars bereft of
billions of dollars. Dismissed as a misguided obsessive until Madoff's eventual
confession, he became increasingly anxious for his safety.

• I'm a little bit eccentric, of course," concedes Markopolos, who reveals in his
book that at one point he kept an old army gas mask handy in case SEC
investigators burst into his home with teargas. "If you're a whistleblower, you
need to be eccentric. You have to have a firm belief in your core values and
you have to be willing to risk it all to do what's right."
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6. Reflect
The reason I shared this story with you is to
make sure you understand that all the subjects
you study – including math – have an ethics
dimension to them. Along with learning
information and skills, we want you to learn
to think ethically. Why do you think
Markopolos was willing to risk like this? Was
he just born that way or what do you think
made him choose that path?
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The Common Core Emphasis:
oral skills first
• Reading and understanding rigorous texts
• Evaluating evidence and using it to support
positions
• Conducting comparative analysis
• Finding patterns and structures in content
• Mastering academic vocabulary and
integrating it into speech and writing
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The Common Core Emphasis
oral skills first
• Understanding and contributing to
meaningful discussions
• Using writing to advance learning and
clarify thinking
• Writing comfortably in the key Common
Core text types: arguments,
informative/explanatory, narrative
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Let’s Practice

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Tell Your Story
• Stop at the point of the dilemma
• Get the group to analyze
• Move on to the next story
• Return to one and discuss
resolution
…we’ll work on resolving some of these
before lunch.
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LUNCH

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Shared Values Examples
… from around the world

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Shared Values:
“Scholars are fascinated with divergence in
value systems; the men and women who must
keep a society functioning are always seeking
the common ground that will make concerted
action possible. They have no choice.”
--John Gardner


Ethical Values: The Johnny Test

If Johnny isn’t ______ is he
necessarily unethical?
Creative Respectful Outgoing
Smart Caring
Strong Honest Responsible
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Shared Values Worldwide

Educators from
England, Scotland,
Wales and N. Ireland
• Respect
• Responsibility
• Compassion
• Fairness
• Inclusiveness


• Respect
• Responsibility
• Compassion
• Fairness
• Inclusiveness


La Paz, Bolivia
• Solidaridad /Unity
• Responsabilidad
• Libertad / Freedom
• Tolerancia
• Honestidad
• Justicia


Shared Values: Bangladesh
• Truth
• Responsibility
• Respect
• Fairness
• Freedom

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Shared Values: Japan

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Where?


Camden Hills
Regional High School
Camden, Maine
• Respect
• Responsibility
• Integrity
• Honesty
• Loyalty

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Respect,Responsibility,Truth,Freedom,Compassion

Bangladesh
Columbia
Poland
South Africa
USA

Responsibility
Integrity*

Honesty
Truth Trustworthy Respect
Integrity*
Shared Values Inclusiveness
Worldwide

Compassion Fairness
Justice Equality
Love Kindness

Copyright © Institute for Global Ethics, 2012. Please do not copy or
redistribute www.globalethics.org 49


Grade Level Groups
honesty, respect, responsibility, fairness, compassion

• How can we maximize positive
relationships through classroom practice?
Discuss choices you make or should make
to signal that these core values are
important to you.
• What do your students see/experience about
each ethical value?
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The Catherine Cook Experience

51

Making School Meaningful Conference

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