Peter A. Edwards, PhD
For KOTESOL International Conference, 2017
Because the so-called “developing world” often confronts us with our own ignorance, navigating those wide gaps in our knowledge can benefit our careers in English. While tackling this concept of development at worldwide and personal levels, consider your entire career in education as a story. Professional development progresses over time, and resembles a narrative that needs both context and motivational force to keep it moving. Settings, and more specifically changes in setting, impact stories from William Shakespeare, to Patty Jenkins, to your career. This presentation argues that if your career-story has at least one “cornerstone setting” in the developing world, that setting will give your story a particularly potent force: singularity.
Developing your Singularity
Don’t aim to be the best at what you do. Instead aim at being the only one doing what you do. –Jerry Garcia (possibly an apocryphal paraphrase)
Regardless of the authenticity of the above quote, the essence of it points to making yourself uniquely memorable to students, colleagues, and employers. Singularity does not mean dominating your career with just one element, but rather lightly seasoning it with something unexpected. Unusual setting changes can do the trick!
Often I’ve said: “This activity worked when I tried it in Rwanda/ Egypt/ Colombia/ Kenya…” The overwhelmingly common response from people has been startled attention. “You were there? What’s it like?” The attention differs from if I had mentioned France or Russia or Japan; those settings may evoke interest but rarely do they startle. Of course I must follow through with something of value, but that initial startled attention hooks the audience.
While we may disagree about the term “developing world” and its implications, there seem to be regions of the planet that at least mildly stun listeners when they hear of it. Perhaps because many of us recognize the name of the place when we hear it, but then quickly realize that we can’t recall any substantive details about it. Having knowledge and experience from such settings sets you apart quickly, and if you build upon such a unique cornerstone you will achieve singularity. Yes, yes. I could preach about making a positive impact on humankind. And it’s possible! But you’ve heard that all before. This presentation is about your personal professional development. Now, where to start?
The KO-7 Challenge
Think of your favorite type of movies or meals or music. I bet that in under one minute you can name seven examples that you know of from that category. Try it! You did this because you have a pretty good familiarity with your favorite things. If you asked me, I could quickly list seven Cohen Brothers movies or Prince songs that I know of, but I couldn’t name more than a couple Game of a Thrones characters. This “Know of seven… (KO-7) challenge” measures how well people know, or even recognize examples within a category. If you ever want to challenge how much someone (including yourself!) knows what they are talking about, just ask: “Do you know of seven examples…?”
The KO-7 challenge also works in reverse! If you start by selecting seven examples from any category, then learn a little about the similarities and differences among them, you can quickly gain some understanding of that category. Previous ignorance, when embraced, acts as an exceptional launchpad.
Celebrating and Navigating Ignorance
In the past two years I have worked on educational projects in Nairobi, Kenya; Cali, Colombia; and Kigali, Rwanda. These ventures demanded that I face wave after wave of my own ignorance about so many people and places on this earth. Around the time of these travels I read a couple of fascinating authors and conducted an enlightening interview with a former employer. Each of these people admirably spotlighted ignorance in various ways. Kathryn Schulz’s Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error (2010) sketches with humor and wisdom the human tribulations of not being right, about previous ignorance. Yuval Noah Harari’s two books Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2014) and Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (2016) map out the past 70,000 years of our species, and his predictions for our future. Both authors note how experiencing, and even celebrating one’s ignorance can be a valuable social and individual renaissance. Similarly, my veteran-educator boss remarked how teaching students the skill of navigating their own ignorance may possibly eclipse any other skills or information we can impart. He also added the most successful teachers balance being liked with being tough; making errors into adventures.
Fresh Pools for Researching
Along with unique settings, the developing world offers a rich assortment of potential research participants that have not been represented countless times in the literature. In fact language learners from different regions display motivations quite unlike their counterparts in countries with contrasting economies. Depending on where you are in the storyline of your career, you may see research as a daunting unknown, a do-or-die necessity, or a casual interest. In new settings, experienced researchers can find many new twists and turns, as well as surprising similarities. From my own work on willingness to communicate among Korean learners of English, I later discovered many correlates with students in the Andes mountains of Colombia (however the classroom dynamics were polar opposites). Novice researchers can make important first steps by replicating past studies; a vital and often neglected part of developing our field. Regardless of where you are in your career-story, I challenge you now to explore your own ignorance.
Your KO-7 Challenge!
Do you know of seven books by different authors, of different genders, from different eras and areas of prominence, from these three parts of the world: South America, Africa, and Central Asia? Find just a total of seven authors, at least two from each region. (Sorry, but… no Marquez, no Mandela, and no Malala! Nobel laureates beginning with “M” are too easy!)
This is a “know of” challenge, so you needn’t read any books. Just spend a few minutes online to find book topics that pique your personal interest. That’s it! The diligent among you will know the geographic location of the authors’ countries and which other countries colonized them in the past.
Check it out at the link below. You may need a Google account:
https://goo.gl/forms/ReTZQYimv9ETSy7i2
How was your previous ignorance before this challenge? Before the conference I will compile all your lists, then I will present some statistics during my presentation time, and have a short quiz for you! I guarantee that if you put 20 minutes or so into this challenge, you will become the “developing world expert” in many conversations you have in the next weeks. This could lay a cornerstone for a new setting in your career-story, boosting the singularity of your professional development.
