Transformative Classroom Attributes: Cultivating Growth and Engagement

In the landscape of modern education, marked by the prevalence of Common Core State Standards and curricula shaped by various influences, the concept of the transformative classroom emerges as a beacon of innovation. Transformative teaching transcends the mere delivery of information, aiming for a more profound purpose: to ignite active learning, foster critical thinking, and empower students to become lifelong learners.

What is Transformative Learning?

Transformative learning is defined as learning that changes the way a learner perceives the world, how they inhabit and function in the world, and how they engage the world, to transform it. Transformative learning helps people become more open to new perspectives that can change their entire view of the world itself. Jack Mezirow, who developed the concept of transformative learning, defined it as “The process by which we transform problematic frames of reference (mindsets, habits of mind, meaning perspectives) - sets of assumption and expectation - to make them more inclusive, discriminating, open, reflective and emotionally able to change. Such frames are better because they are more likely to generate beliefs and opinions that will prove more true or justified to guide action”.

The Essence of Transformative Teaching

At its core, transformational teaching revolves around actively engaging students in the learning process. This can be achieved through various methods, including inquiry-based learning, service learning, and project-based learning. These approaches encourage students to take ownership of their learning, fostering a deeper understanding and a sense of purpose.

Active Engagement and Collaboration

Engaging students as active learners is key to transformational learning. Active classrooms sometimes require collaborative or team-based work in order to address some of the case studies or service projects that make transformative teaching most successful. When students leave the classroom, they will be engaged in a work world that frequently requires group work or someone to act as a team leader.

Embracing Struggle and Failure

Another key aspect of transformational teaching is the concept of struggle. To make better learners and thinkers, it is important that students practice “wallowing in complexity,” experience “productive struggle,” and finally embrace failure as an essential step working toward overall success.

Preparation and Analysis

The key to transformational teaching is not reacting, but rather a grinding obsession with analysis and preparation.

Qualities of Expert Teachers

Lee Shulman suggests that expert teachers demonstrate:

Cognitive understanding of how students learn.
Emotional preparation to relate to many students whose varied needs are not always evident.
Content knowledge from which to draw different ways to present a concept.
The ability to make teaching decisions quickly and act on them.

How Transformative Teachers Operate

Creating Constructivist Experiences

Instructors tend to use one of two instructional orientations:

Transmission: Where "the teacher's role is to prepare and transmit information to learners" and "the learners' role is to receive, store, and act upon this information."
Transformational: Where students' active engagement in developing knowledge and skills, critical thinking, higher-order skills, and communication are facilitated by the instructor.

Transformational teaching requires implementing constructivist pedagogy, where students construct meaning through active learning.

Tactics for Constructivist Teaching:

Have students ask questions and solve real-world problems.
Organize students into learning groups.
Make learning segments manageable through modeling and mastery.
Guide, facilitate, challenge, and support.

Constructivist teachers focus on enriching students' perspective on the content by facilitating rich experiences.

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Teaching Like Scientists, Artists, and Essayists

Transformational teachers know that artful teaching without science lacks efficacy, and scientific teaching without aesthetics lacks vision. The art and science of teaching work in harmony. Transformational teachers approach a class like a carefully crafted persuasive essay, with a clear purpose, logical sequence, and contagious passion.

Modeling Symphonic Thinking

To be effective in advancing human potential, teachers need to manifest "symphonic thinking" -- critically appraising and synthesizing new ideas. Someone with symphony thinking skills is able to:

Understand the logical connections between ideas.
Identify, construct, and evaluate arguments.
Detect inconsistencies and common mistakes in reasoning.
Combine different ideas to form a new concept.
Identify the relevance and importance of ideas.
Reflect on the justification of one's own beliefs and values.

Facilitating Productive Struggle

Allowing students to engage in productive struggle is the unpopular and necessary approach to instruction. Transformative learning occurs when an individual experiences a significant structural shift in the way they perceive and understand the world around them.

The 10 Steps of Transformative Learning

Researcher Jack Mezirow identified ten stages involved in transformative learning:

A disorienting dilemma. This is a situation or experience that makes an individual question their beliefs, values, and assumptions.
Conducting self-examination. This step involves reflecting on one’s emotions and feelings in response to the disorienting dilemma.
A critical assessment of present assumptions. In this step, individuals assess their beliefs, values, and assumptions that contributed to the dilemma.
Recognized shared experiences. This step involves realizing that others might be facing similar challenges and that the transformative learning process is not unique to a single individual.
Exploration of options for new roles and actions. This step involves considering different ways of approaching the disorienting dilemma, testing new ideas, and trying out new attitudes and behaviors to help address the dilemma.
Planning a course of action. This involves creating a specific plan of action for addressing the disorienting dilemma.
Acquiring knowledge and skills for implementing one’s plan.
Provisionally trying new roles or behaviors. Individuals at this stage will experiment with new behaviors and attitudes in a provisional manner, allowing them to test their approach before fully commenting on it.
Building competence and self-confidence. Then, individuals develop self-confidence in their attitudes and their newly implemented habits by consistently practicing the new behaviors established in the previous step and receiving feedback from others.
Reintegration into one’s life. This final step entails the integration of newly found perspectives and behaviors into daily life.

The Four Processes of Transformative Learning

According to the Nestrom Transformative Learning Model, the four phases are:

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Having experiences.
Making assumptions.
Challenging perspectives.
Experiencing transformative learning.

Creating a Strengths-Based Classroom Environment

A first step for supporting students’ academic and socio-emotional development is to embrace a strong belief in them and their personal assets and strengths. It is important to move from an empathetic-only approach to an empathetic and asset-based one that appreciates students’ individual strengths.

Here are five elements of a strengths-based classroom environment:

Positive Asset-Based Relationships
Student Voice and Choice
Relevant Lessons
Responsive Physical Environment
Predictable Routines

Transformative Leadership in Education

The core tenets of transformational educational leadership have spread like wildfire through the corporate world. Through the Arkansas State University (A-State) online Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.) in Educational Leadership program, graduates will gain the practical skills they need to empower staff members to succeed. Transformational leaders are defined by their ability to embody four key qualities:

Idealized influence
Intellectually curious
Effectively articulate an organization’s mission
Keenly attuned to each staff member’s needs

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