Make and Take Title
By Duane Sharrock
Recently, there has been criticism about influencers. Some influencers are published authors and professional speakers, people who are paid for sharing their insights in conferences, workshops, and training. There are others who call themselves influencers for unknown reasons.
Calling yourself an influencer is seen by some as the same thing as giving yourself a nickname or like talking about yourself in the third person. The argument is that this is wrong on the grounds that influencer is like leader; such titles are socially bequeathed, a status validated by others, not a title we give to ourselves.
Yet, being an influencer is not like being a writer. You can write everyday and call yourself a writer even though your work has not been paid for by industry gatekeepers. Influencing though does have a social aspect and needs another person who is influenced before you can legitimately claim that you have the ability to influence others. This is the same for calling yourself a teacher; you need another person to learn from you before you can say you have taught. If there is no student, there is no teacher. Aspiring to be a teacher is not the same thing as being a teacher; so aspiring to be influential is not the same thing as being an influencer.
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/leap_of_faith_1992_poster.jpg
This is similar to a popular trope in stories. In the movie Leap of Faith, Steve Martin plays a conman named Jonas Nightengale. Nightingale travels from town to rural town with a religious act that includes light shows, showmanship, faith healing, and feelgood sentiments mixed in with his sermon. His con makes people feel good, and an argument in the story asks if he is really a conman, because the people are paying for a show, were they really tricked into paying for the experience, much like what lottery tickets can do. There is something of a “get what you pay for” message. But, there is also a sense that the town’s desperate need for rain is answered, and there is room for believing that the rain might have sent by the deity, not just as an answer to the town people’s prayers, but also as an answer to Nightingale's prayers, literally as well as metaphorically. Such a trope--aka “Becoming the Mask” Trope--were previously seen in stories like The Music Man and The Great Imposter later remade into Catch Me If You Can. The encouragement of “faking until making it” is a popular message in a TED Talk Amy Cuddy: “Your body language may shape who you are”, so such messages should not be taken with a grain of salt.
On the other hand, "teacher" can be a job title assigned by employers and certified by organizations. Job titles and certifications support the claim that you are a teacher in that they are social tokens indicating that you possess the skills of being a teacher. This does not get anybody off the hook in terms of obligations though.
It is possible to be employed as a teacher yet not be a very effective teacher. For example, you may reach a small number of students, getting them to learn some skills and to accept some values and aesthetics of a given domain, but the more effective teacher would consistently teach more students to use and apply skills effectively...which introduces the possibility of effectiveness along a spectrum or scale. By analogy, influencer can be acceptable as a description of self just as a person possessing the title "teacher" can demonstrate ineffective, good, or highly effective skills. Until she doesn’t.
Once you are recognized as a teacher or an influencer, the evaluation doesn’t stop there though. Evaluators can also rate an influencer along dimensions and aspects just as teachers are rated within certain domains rather than as an either/or. To better accept this direction, consider parenting.
All parents teach, but they do not all teach skills effectively. Parents also teach attitudes and mindsets, but those attitudes and mindsets may not be very effective. This can also be true about the teaching of self regulation. These differing areas of development and skill sets can be taught, but they may be taught with varying degrees of success, if at all.
The same can be said about being a creative. For example, parents are creative and can address parenting challenges with creativity. They can scroll through Pinterest do-it-yourself projects, try some out, and bring magic to children’s birthdays and seasonal parties. They can keep kids busy on rainy days. They can cook meals in ways that children and adults can both enjoy. They can try discipline strategies and correct behavior. There are uncountable ways to nurture and support children. Parents can also inspire creativity in their children as well as in their fellow parents. Parents can be creative without needing clients. Money doesn’t validate when someone is creative.
Another thing to consider is that parents are teachers even when they don’t teach specific skills or procedures. Sometimes we overlook the implications that some skills aren’t taught directly. Critical thinking skills can benefit from a collection of protocols, but some protocols work better in some domains of knowledge (or what some educators call “content areas”) and not well in others. This is a “theory of knowledge” issue. International Baccalaureate programs deal with this explicitly:
“As a thoughtful and purposeful inquiry into different ways of knowing, and into different kinds of knowledge, TOK is composed almost entirely of questions.
“The most central of these is "How do we know?", while other questions include:
- What counts as evidence for X?
- How do we judge which is the best model of Y?
- What does theory Z mean in the real world?
Through discussions of these and other questions, students gain greater awareness of their personal and ideological assumptions, as well as developing an appreciation of the diversity and richness of cultural perspectives.” https://www.ibo.org/programmes/diploma-programme/curriculum/theory-of-knowledge/what-is-tok/
Critical thinking in the different content areas communicate ethos using conventions that embody aesthetics, values, and foundational beliefs (paradigms), something Vicki Urquhart and Dana Frazee suggest in the book Teaching Reading in the Content Areas. As one book reviewer put it: “To read successfully in different content areas, students must develop discipline-specific skills and strategies along with knowledge of that discipline.” We can see how conventions are honored in the entry-level content areas of English Language Arts, History and Social Studies, Math, and Science.
For example, in the English Language Arts, an argument needs to be supported by evidence from the text. The text is what you are engaging with. In some ways, you are having a talk with the text but you must find quotes and meaning within it, not, for the most part, outside of the test. If you are making a claim about a character’s motivations, you must find actions in the text that the character has taken or you must find quotes made by the character or other characters. You might also establish a kind of chain of causation as events and thoughts are described in the text. Your conclusion would tie together all of this evidence to support your argument claims. The insights you express is limited though to the elements of fiction and how aspects of these elements are contained in the text.
Social studies and historical truths are supported with primary and secondary sources. Although, in some situations, science can be involved--like in pinning down the age of an artifact or exploring the feasibility of certain events happening or how something could be observed--an argument is supported by cited sources. No elements of fiction or nonfiction come into play and the text must be placed in a historical context in relation to other primary and secondary sources.
On another hand, in science, an argument can be expressed as a hypothesis which is then tested in an experiment with a specific approach to how variables are accounted for and ruled out. In the conclusion of the documented study, the final conclusion is presented as supporting the hypothesis or not. If the hypothesis is unsupported, supported, or proven wrong --any of these findings are valuable, but the experiment is also open to review by peers where any part of the experiment may be challenged. (There is a third option that might be noted in the conclusion but usually disqualifies the experiment ever being performed.This is when a hypothesis or a belief cannot be tested using presently known methods or tools. This condition of belief can be labelled as “not even wrong” or untestable.) The argument or conclusions of the experiment are placed in the context of other similar studies and contribute to knowledge about this topic. The science around the given topic is an ongoing discussion though where many challenges and clarifications are met, and revisited, over time.
Critical thinking skills in each of these subjects, domains, or areas of knowledge arrive at different destinations--constructing different kinds of truths--and are supported by different kinds of evidence. As Urquhart and Frazee explain though, appreciation of these differences requires varied exposure, intentional comparisons made among them, and the need to build expertise for reading and writing within these content areas. However, critical thinking skills are not the only skills cultivated in by explicit instruction of conventions, aesthetics, values, and beliefs.
Skills may also be cultivated. This cultivation can result from arranged experiences and activities that inspire creative thinking and creativity and can guide and further develop with expert feedback. In the case of feedback, the product, any point in the process, or the results of services delivered can be evaluated, This instruction is not at the “front end”, where someone is taught procedure. The focus is on the reviewer’s aesthetics and values regarding the artist’s results. The artist might change an approach or try a different technique or make changes in performance to achieve a different result in their art.
Meeting creative role models is another way to inspire creativity. By emulating a role model or finding encouragement in the role model’s success in overcoming certain obstacles or reaching certain epiphanies, the budding creative may rally the motivation to persevere.
Piirto's Pyramid of Talent Development describes even more opportunities, experiences, and approaches, as well as environmental contributions, aptitude, and genetic inheritance that help develop creativity. These may all be considered as aspects of learning or teaching or facilitation or cultivation.
These days, people from many backgrounds can publish, produce, and share work that they hope they can sell or be used to attract clients or simply for public acknowledgement of their skills and accomplishments. They don’t need publishers, publicists, or advertisers to promote them as creatives. This, I imagine, is what the real problem with claiming status for yourself. It is a mindset problem.
People stuck in the mindset that only a handful of rich men can bestow titles and status, may have a hard time accepting when a person both aspires to title and status, and claims to have attained the title and status. The problem is with the lack of recognition from somebody with authority.
Just as every person is creative in some way, every person is an influencer in some way. Even with a narrow definition for influencer, the act of influencing occurs with every social interaction, no matter who you are or who you claim to be.
Ultimately and unfortunately, these attitudes about status and titles must look like entitlement or anarchy. The obligation of vetting is placed firmly on the client, customer, or consumer.
Caveat Emptor.
Resources:
Amy Cuddy: Your body language may shape who you are
https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are
Leap of Faith pic https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/leap_of_faith_1992_poster.jpg
Piirto’s Pyramid Pic https://img.scoop.it/QgIUNsA6tRbLcXvzTnSfOzl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBXEejxNn4ZJNZ2ss5Ku7Cxt
Teacher Roles pic https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M2IHI8EB41A/V_IetIFxp5I/AAAAAAAAAtg/xynv0c-W1pE2ugYJibp4poZ0DZntno4OQCLcB/s1600/5031c403e640e34d55b4c169e78cfd68.jpg
The Music Man pic https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/digital/video/hero/Movies/MiscCategory7/B002M87V0A_TheMusicMan_UXWB1._RI_SX940_.jpg
Urquhart, V., & Frazee, D. (2012). Teaching reading in the content areas: If not me, then who?. Alexandria, Va: ASCD.
The International Baccalaureate? (IB). “What is TOK?” https://www.ibo.org/programmes/diploma-programme/curriculum/theory-of-knowledge/what-is-tok/