1. Floating Topic
2. Integral Ed
   1. 4 types of awareness
      1. construct-awareness
      2. ego-awareness
      3. relational-awareness
      4. system- awareness
   2. with progressive schools
      1. not only compatible with them but offers a generous and welcoming meta-container
      2. situates progressive educational ideas within a larger transdisciplinary web of ideas
      3. cleans up some shortcomings
   3. points to 4 things
      1. a (meta-) model or framework
         1. a system of concepts for interpreting the world
      2. a methodology
         1. a set of injunctions or principles for inquiring about the world
      3. a community
         1. the embodied group or groups of people using integral models and methods
      4. a set of skills or capacities
         1. a developmental stage that points past modern and post-modern cultural perspectives, and past formal operational modes of thinking
   4. things the integral approach adds to progressive
      1. modern theories of dynamic systems
      2. adult development
      3. cultural evolution
   5. methodological pluralism
   6. epistemic sophistication
   7. polarity mapping
      1. coordinate the system of pedagogical principles
   8. integral consciousness as a state or way of being in the classroom
   9. cultural and meme evolution
   10. ways of perceiving the world
       1. postformal
       2. dialectical
       3. metasystematic
       4. non-dual
   11. AQAL
       1. zones 'tetra-emerge'
       2. Wilber's eight zones or primordial perspectives
       3. distinct lines and levels of development
       4. types of intelligence
       5. states of mind (or consciousness)
       6. intuitions articulated in theories of multiple intelligences
       7. holistic approaches to mind, body, emotion, and spirit
       8. helps the educator avoid over-emphasizing any particular learning modality or pedagogical theory
   12. states vs. stages
       1. helps teachers in thinking about how to design experiences that induce states of mind that support learning
   13. evolutionary, developmental, and systems-theory approaches
   14. like all models, it is one interpretation of reality
       1. not to "confuse the map for the territory,"
       2. an ingrained human tendency difficult to avoid
   15. not so much what is true about the world but how people can work together to discover what is most true, just, and useful in a particular context
   16. learning of more general ("higher order") skills and knowledge
       1. in addition to "content," i.e. information and specific skills
       2. learning how to learn
       3. epistemic" (or meta-) knowledge
       4. understanding of how knowledge is arrived at and the limitations of knowledge
       5. meta-level perspective on knowledge, method, learning, and doing
   17. being an integral teacher
       1. being "with the flow" of life in which one can be consistently committed to concepts, values, and relationships
       2. also be able to gently and cleanly let go, listen deeply, and adapt when reality does not meet one's expectations or desires
       3. as much about a teacher's state while in the classroom as her stage of development
   18. classroom and institutional logistics of new liberating instructional approaches can be complex and can meet with resistance from peers, parents, and administrators
   19. many can benefit while not explicitly learning about in integral approach
   20. skills and capacities of second tier begin to show up much sooner, and can be modeled and nurtured
   21. It may be difficult to advance a person's developmental level per- se, but it may be much easier to create contexts that allow learners' existing integral skills to flourish and expand
   22. Integral consciousness is even more susceptible to being passed on informally through witnessing of and participation in contexts that embody it
   23. when it becomes connected with deep inner listening and cognitive empathy in the classroom, creates horizontal development and directly supports some aspects of the vertical development into integral consciousness
   24. metasystematic understanding of many pedagogies or of the multiple systems one is embedded in
   25. more systemic and flexible understanding of classroom and institutional dynamics
   26. deeper more flexible understanding of thinking, learning, communication, and knowledge in general
   27. greater ability to coordinate and utilize a range of progressive pedagogies
   28. addresses how belief and value systems become stabilized and resistant to change through communicative processes and social structures
   29. an over-simplified grasp of these human systems, which can occur when progressive methods do not include integral level insights, can lead to solutions that cause more harm than good
   30. apply the attention and effort required to take good care of yourself—body, mind, and spirit. Balance high expectations that energize, with sufficient doses of compassion and acceptance for what is—with your students and yourself. Keep learning to deepen and broaden your understanding of yourself and your professional work.
   31. build in community and peer support for your efforts
   32. explicitly value whole-self (mind/body/emotions/spirit; interior-I, exterior-it, relational-we, and systems-its) approaches to personal and professional development
   33. Integral Life Practice
       1. Wilber
   34. the integral approach points not so much to a new set of methods, but to a way (or ways) of coordinating, integrating, practicing, and embodying already existing specific methods
   35. looks and feels like progressive methods applied with wisdom and "adequatio," with an ego-aware and construct-aware consciousness
3. Progressive Background
   1. articles
      1. "Integrative Learning and Action: A Call to Wholeness"
      2. "Integral Education: Exploring Multiple Perspectives in the Classroom"
      3. "Integral Education in Action"
   2. thinkers
      1. John Dewy
      2. Jean Piaget
      3. Lev Vygotsky
      4. Rudolf Steiner
      5. Paulo Freire
      6. John Holt
      7. Ivan Illich
      8. Parker Palmer
      9. Maria Montessori
      10. Jerome Bruner
      11. Jack Mezirow
      12. Howard Gardner
   3. theories & models
      1. constructivism
      2. Montessori schools
      3. Reggio-Emilio schools
      4. Waldorf education
      5. transformative learning
      6. un/de-schooling
      7. situated learning
   4. pedagogical methods
      1. Holism
      2. Multiple intelligences
      3. Creativity
      4. Individuality
      5. Constructivism
      6. Developmentalism
      7. Zone of proximal development
      8. Meta-learning
      9. Adaptivity/differentiation
      10. Learning by doing
      11. Empowerment and liberation
      12. Situated learning
      13. The ethical classroom
      14. Transformative education
      15. Community/service-based learning
      16. Life long learning and emergence
      17. Teacher presence and embodiment
      18. Participatory curriculum development and research
4. progressive methods or approaches echoed in integral
   1. Addressing the many aspects of being human
      1. body/mind/emotion/spirit
   2. Including multiple holonic orders
      1. the individual, aspects/parts of the individual
      2. the classroom
      3. the wider community and society
   3. Allowing for multiple ways of knowing
      1. in terms of "quadrants"– subjective, objective, intersubjective
      2. and types – multiple intelligences, and so-called masculine and feminine modalities
   4. Giving full attention to both
      1. internal realities
         1. values, visions, feeling, motivations, relationships
      2. external realities
         1. measurement, action, physical health, educational infrastructure
   5. Seeing knowledge in terms of the coordination of perspectives
      1. critical approaches to knowledge and power
      2. epistemic or meta-knowledge
      3. dialogic approaches
5. relevant modern (or postmodern) insights about knowledge
   1. Complexity
      1. concepts from systems theory
         1. co-evolution
         2. chaos
         3. non-linearity
         4. self-organization
      2. to understand:
         1. the world in general
         2. educational and learning processes in particular
   2. Meta-perspectives
      1. develop higher level skills
         1. meta-cognition (thinking about thinking)
         2. meta-knowledge (knowledge about the nature and limitations of knowledge),
         3. meta-learning (learning how to learn)
         4. meta-dialog (dialog about how we engage in dialog)
   3. Knowledge as personal
      1. constrained by the world view, experiences, biases, perspective, developmental level, etc. of the speaker and listener
   4. Multi-methdology
      1. Different methods of observing (or inquiry or experimentation) lead to different conclusions or claims.
      2. Different disciplines tend to use different methodologies, leading to different conclusions about a phenomena.
      3. Each of these conclusions can be seen as valid perspectives on a complex reality, as opposed to opposing camps battling for the truth
   5. Indeterminism
      1. Terms, concepts, rules, models and theories all have a certain degree of "indeterminacy"
      2. fuzziness, uncertainty, or ambiguity in their meaning
      3. pay attention to the grey areas at the boundaries of seemingly precise categories or rules
   6. Negotiation, ethics, and power
      1. Knowledge is constructed, or "negotiated," via communicative processes situated in authentic contexts
      2. Truth-finding is an evolutionary process requiring dialog
      3. Knowledge also has important moral/ethical aspects
      4. The quality of knowledge building outcomes can depend on how carefully the knowledge building process pays attention to elements such as freedom, equality, empathy, sincerity, inclusivity, reciprocity, integrity and mutual regard.
6. Shift to tier-II
   1. Progressive tier-I
      1. involves identifying and describing the problems with traditional modes, leading to a critical attitude that is suspect of all claims and perspectives
      2. discerning analysis about the nature of the problem(s), but for dealing productively with the problem it gives only vague advice or ends with acceptance or despair
      3. things are so complex, unknowable, subjective, etc
   2. Integral tier-II
      1. does more to understand the nature of complexity itself, the nature of indeterminacy itself, and the nature of subjectivity itself
      2. is able to use this higher level of understanding to improve upon the situation
      3. we can correct for these distortions to the extent that we understand something about the lens or filter itself
      4. adopting a critical (and "appreciative") meta- perspective on those pedagogies
      5. noticing how one's self (including one's values and assumptions) fits into the system of teacher-applying-pedagogy-within-an-educational-system
   3. many who advocate progressive (or post-modern) principles seem to be at war with the developmentally prior mind-sets called traditional/conventional and modern
   4. Green has a problem with Blue and Orange
   5. mapping the polarities of progressive educational principles implies that traditional/conservative (and "modern") values are as important as progressive and integral ones – it is a matter of maintaining the right dynamic balance
   6. help more people (especially people in leadership roles including teachers) transition from a progressive ("green meme" or Kegan's Fourth Order) stage into an integral (or Fifth Order) one
   7. hrive at their current level and, when that level is not meeting their needs, transition to a higher one
   8. "learning to reflect on and alter one's perspectives and behaviors can arouse feeling of fear, loss, guilt, anxiety, and anger. These emotions, if sufficiently strong, can elicit counterproductive defenses that block further learning. [Educators] lack strategies to help people mange the emotional distress when the old order is shaken..."
   9. a form of human understanding and skillfulness that takes the insights about the human condition, the critiques of existing systems and mores, and the experiential openings in human capacity that we associate with the progressive and New Age movements, and adds new levels of rigor, reflective self-and-system understanding, and hope to the possibilities of improving the human condition
   10. not a theory to be taught but a pointer to a naturally occurring next wave of human capacities
7. Integral-Level methods
   1. Methodological Pluralism
      1. getting a usable handle on something requires looking at it from multiple angles
         1. 8 Primordial Perpectives
      2. more precise understanding of the appropriate application of a range of methodologies
         1. objective scientific methods
         2. subjective phenomenological methods
         3. intersubjective hermeneutic methods
      3. types of knowledge claims that each method can and can't make
      4. the relationships and synergies between them for mixed-method approaches
   2. Indeterminacy analysis
      1. analyze how theories/models degrade at their fuzzy boundaries
      2. how the claim changes under different possible interpretations of the central categories
      3. mentioning examples far from the central meanings
   3. Polarity mapping
      1. dealing with the polarities, paradoxes, and dynamic nonlinearities found in everyday decision making
      2. "Tools for Dealing with Uncertainty, Ambiguity, and Paradox."
         1. Murray
      3. Polarity Management, Johnson
      4. Self-determination vs. helpful hierarchy
         1. student empowerment and discovery vs. the need for teachers to skillfully employ guidance
      5. Individual freedom vs. group needs
         1. methods that focus on the individual student vs. methods that emphasize the group
      6. Equality vs. special treatment
         1. desire to treat all students equally vs. the fact that students have a range of capacities and motivations
      7. Support vs. challenge
         1. acknowledging the wonderfulness of every impulse and creative product vs. the benefits of challenging him by providing cognitive or emotional disequilibrium
      8. Creativity vs. rigor
         1. supporting creativity, play, and intuition, vs. teaching logic, critical thinking, rigor, and discernment
      9. Process vs. product
         1. learning to learn, higher order thinking skills vs, some amount of "facts" and memorized procedures
      10. Change vs. stability
          1. adaptation, dynamic flow, and customization vs. clear stable constraints, rules, and/or boundaries
      11. Cognitive (mind) vs. social and affective (heart)
          1. content and cognitive skills vs. social/emotional skills
      12. real life decisions will often unavoidably benefit one side of the equation at the cost of the other
      13. practical application involves balance and compromise, and a forswearing of ideology and dogmas, even progressive dogmas
      14. opposing poles of some situations are interdependent and mutually defining, rather than either/or choices or opposite ends of a spectrum
      15. real systems are dynamic, so that a working solution at one point it time may not apply later
      16. the appropriate balance point will shift
      17. The solution is the development of a "dialectical intelligence" that is capable of constant (or frequent) assessment and awareness of the situation and flexible adaptation
      18. understanding of the dynamic tensions between the polarities and a perception of the whole as a dynamic system
      19. "integral consciousness" or "second tier capacity."
   4. Methods related to ethical factors
      1. incorporate and value the inclusion of multiple voices and perspective
      2. balancing critical thinking ("the doubting game") with systematic or methodological believing ("the believing game")
      3. earn the right to doubt only after making an effort to enter into the other's world view
         1. cognitive empathy
      4. Gaining a distance on one's strongly held beliefs is an exercise (exorcise?) involving ego
      5. dealing with shadow elements
         1. contemplative practices
         2. 3-2-1 Shadow Process
   5. methods should value and systematically incorporate multiple subjective, objective, and intersubjective perspectives
   6. Can begin at early levels
      1. knowledge is complex and perspectival
      2. knowledge has subjective (what I think), objective (what Wikipedia says), and intersubjective (what we all agree upon) facets
      3. words and rules may not have one single meaning and can be interpreted differently in different contexts
      4. biases and assumptions are hidden in beliefs and preferences
      5. it takes a triangulation of different perspectives and inquiry methods to arrive at an adequate understanding or solution
   7. 3 Ways to use integral (or progressive) methods
      1. teach them explicitly
         1. "the AQAL model"
         2. "systems theory"
         3. "the Believing Game."
      2. use them implicitly
         1. designing and running educational activities without explicitly mentioning these models or methods to students
      3. teacher educators would be facilitating teachers in learning these methods and models
         1. design the materials or environment that teachers work within
   8. methods and models can have a strong impact even if the student, or teacher, is not aware that they are being used
   9. is as much a type of consciousness or awareness as it is a set of models or methods
   10. Adopting integral pedagogies involves not just the application of methods, but new ways of thinking (and meaning-making and being) that we are calling integral consciousness
8. Integral Consciousness
   1. Progressive pedagogy & Human Potential Movement
      1. value multiple "lines" of human capacities and needs
      2. acknowledge how each person has a unique set of them
      3. speak to the possibility of more fully realizing these capacities and needs
   2. unlike most of the progressive pedagogies, the integral approach draws heavily from both
      1. developmental theories
         1. abilities and limitations of students according to their developmental profiles
         2. developmental requirements that the integral approach places upon teachers
      2. transpersonal psychology
         1. humanist and spiritualist threads
         2. transformational learning
         3. valuing of the psychological and spiritual wholeness and adeptness of the individual teacher
   3. closely related to Kegan's Fifth Order Consciousness
      1. "traditionalism" (conventional, Third Order)
      2. "modernism" (post-conventional, Forth Order)
      3. "post-modernism" (post-post conventional, Fifth Order)
      4. progressive/alternative/reform/holistic pedagogies mentioned in this article are associated with Kegan's Forth Order (and reach into his Fifth Order)
      5. Forth Order are "self- directed" (or self-authoring, co-creative) learners who can examine themselves and their culture, develop critical thinking and individual initiative, and take responsibility for their learning and productivity
      6. likely to become advocates of such skills and be identified with them, believing that this level of skill is superior to others (4th)
      7. Fifth Order individuals begin to reflect upon whole belief systems, even their own Forth Order beliefs, as limited and indeterminate systems
      8. begin to dis-identify with any particular belief system
      9. experience themselves as embodying a variety of evolving belief systems, surfacing in different contexts
      10. Questions of "who am I" "what do I believe" "what is true" and "what is right" cease to have one best or optimal answer ("it depends!")
      11. see themselves as co-evolving constituents of each situation, and expect a problem situation or dilemma to transform them
      12. each developmental level transcends and includes prior ones
      13. develop a working understanding of the developmental process itself
      14. see the value of all developmental levels (all world-view systems) as coexisting within themselves (and others)
   4. the most complete or appropriate application of the integral models and methods described above requires a certain developmental capacity
   5. usually a lack of appreciation for the importance of (and limitations imposed by) adult development
   6. lines" and "levels
      1. approximate constructs that only roughly point to the complex phenomena that is human capacity and development
      2. these categories are fuzzy
      3. lines
         1. dialectical, emotional, epistemological, social, ego, and moral developmental "lines,"
         2. have significant overlap
            1. necessary evils to facilitate collective inquiry
      4. levels
         1. development tends to progress in waves (rather than linear progressions)
         2. involve sub-stages of horizontal differentiation or accommodation followed by sub-stages of synthesis, generalization, or integration
         3. these are observed rigorously only in tracking specific skills
   7. skills develop (both genetically/phylogenetically and developmentally/ontogenetically) in response to the demands of real life task situations
      1. Kurt Fischer
   8. model
      1. Construct aware
         1. cognitive; "It" dimension
         2. cognitive skill spectrum is that it comprises a movement further and further away from linear black-and-white thinking
         3. toward more sophisticated and nuanced modes of reasoning
         4. deeper understanding or wider perspective on the function of language and thought itself
         5. flexible approach to the uncertainties, ambiguities, and paradoxes of concepts, language, and knowledge
         6. dialectical intelligence
         7. epistemic wisdom
         8. polarity mapping
         9. becoming aware of the profound splits and paradoxes inherent in rational though [in which] good and evil, life and death, beauty and ugliness may now appear as two sides of the same coin
         10. Metasystematic reasoning
             1. ability to flexibly coordinate multiple whole systems of ideas
         11. being able to move among and perceive reality through (or by coordinating) multiple systems of ideas
         12. Vision logic
             1. ability to use forms of reasoning that are beyond formal logic and systematic thought
             2. reasoning about logic and its limitations
             3. flexibly and intentionally tapping into more intuitive, unconscious, or "gestalt" ways of thinking
             4. "negative capability"
             5. Keat
      2. Systems aware
         1. "Its" dimension
            1. also a cognitive capacity, but reflecting on systems and networks of relationships as opposed to mental constructs
         2. Being systems-aware is not strictly about Wilber's 4th quadrant, it is about perceiving systemic and meta-systemic relationships within and between all aspects (and all quadrants) of a situation
      3. Ego aware
         1. self/ego/will and being/spirit/essence; "I" dimension
         2. ego becomes transparent to itself
         3. Final knowledge about the self or anything else is seen as illusive and unattainable through effort and reason
         4. all conscious thought, all cognition is recognized as constructed and, therefore, split off from the underlying, cohesive, non-dual truth
         5. Social/emotional "intelligence"
      4. Relationally aware
         1. emotional/social/ethical/interpersonal intelligence; "We" dimension
      5. really just ways of describing a type of wisdom—a wisdom just as likely to be observed in people who speak simply, don't display scholarly linguistic skills, and have no taste for abstract models
   9. each developmental line influences the others at all levels, it would seem that at higher levels they become more blended or merged
   10. coming to grips with the limitations of one's mind and opening to wider circles of compassion work to moderate the overactive ego.
   11. calls one to become "post-metaphysical" and avoid the "myth of the given"
   12. loosening the grip that concepts, ideals, and models hold over one when one oversimplifies and distorts one's perception of reality to make it fit those concepts, ideals, or models
   13. coming to understand how one's own mind works
   14. perceiving one's thought patterns, beliefs, and shadow material as objects of awareness and inquiry
   15. increased depth of being (related to ego-awareness)
   16. being in touch with deep sources of self-knowing, intuition, empathy, compassion, and presence that is associated with wisdom and transpersonal modes of awareness
   17. releases one's cognitive preconceptions and emotional attachments and settles into a state of open awareness and presence
   18. increasing ability to step outside of oneself and one's emotions, biases, and attachments
   19. states/stages of higher wisdom imply a certain ease, generosity, and humility that is usually developed in the course of life's challenges
   20. Regular Old Consciousness
       1. there is much to be gained by noting what keeps us from being "normally" aware, alive, and intelligent
       2. not clouded by emotional reactions, exhaustion, distractions, or worries
       3. achieving a more sustained and sustainable degree of this "normal for a good day" (NFAGD) consciousness
       4. sustaining NFAGD consciousness is both a prerequisite for developing higher level capacities
       5. sustained NFAGD consciousness is in many ways being on the exact same path as developing integral or second-tier capacities
       6. Development can not be rushed
       7. requires adequate support
       8. minimizing the stuff that gets in the way of NFAGD
       9. requires sufficient challenge
       10. in part about horizontal development, leaning more deeply and consistently into existing skills
       11. in part about the work of healing, remediating, or tuning prior developmental levels
   21. a complex but dynamically flexibly and intuitively presenced process of engaging self, others, artifacts, bodies, and socio-cultural systems
   22. the seeds of integral consciousness and methodology can be planted and nurtured in many ways
9. Cultural Evolution and Individual Development
   1. evolution of human capacities, values, and world-views (or cultural memes) through history
   2. evolutionary or developmental history adds significantly to an understanding of the human condition
   3. three general threads of development
      1. cognitive
         1. capacity to understand increasingly complex situations
         2. perceiving more subtle patterns
         3. more diverse alternatives
         4. more abstract concepts
         5. at some point understanding becomes limited to how well one understands the instrument of understanding, the mind itself,
         6. the fallible nature of concepts and generalities and the many ways that reason is unavoidably biased
         7. At first this leads to a profound dissonance
         8. acceptance and appreciation of the limitations of one's knowing
         9. develops the skills in uncertainty, ambiguity, and paradox
      2. ego (/self/will)
         1. from impulsivity through compliance with social conventions
         2. into self-authoring where one increasingly becomes the master of one's beliefs, values, goals, body, and relationships
         3. a dissonance is reached
            1. One can only exercise so much control over one's life, one's body, and even one's thought processes and beliefs
         4. becomes awake to the profound levels of chaos and vulnerability in life
         5. a will that comes from a deeper place of "knowing without knowing."
         6. place that is more like listening than thinking or planning (though thinking and planning also happen)
         7. taps or feels into a deep intuitive source
      3. relational (emotional/social/ethical/interpersonal)
         1. increasing awareness of one's emotional state and how it affects one's thinking
         2. deeper skill in empathy (and the imaginative capacity to put ourselves in another's shoes)
         3. widening understanding of the vulnerability-imbued interdependencies of social interactions
      4. all pass through egocentric/pre-conventional and ethnocentric/conventional/traditional phases to a more mature phase
      5. if development continues, must pass through an uncomfortable disequilibrium before emerging on the other side with an integral or second-tier type of flexibility
      6. the transition out of the dissonance phase has an aspect of humility
      7. a way of perceiving and coming to peace with one's limitations (and with life's inscrutabilities, paradoxes, and mysteries)
      8. allow teachers and teacher educators to shepherd learners through the difficult transitions on the way to second tier skillfulness
      9. there are sub-stages of disequilibrium that mark the transitions from any level to the next
      10. Skills vs. Values
          1. parallels between how individuals develop and how cultures or societies seem to develop
          2. individual development as recapitulating cultural evolution
          3. seems to be definite relationships between the capacities and skills that individuals have (along cognitive, relational, self, and other lines) and the values and world views that they adopt
          4. Traditional, Modern, Postmodern, and Integral
          5. preconventional, conventional, and post-conventional
          6. ego-centric, ethnocentric, and world- centric
10. Caveats
    1. if one encounters a student, colleague, or parent whose value system is predominantly progressive, one cannot use that fact to make a reliable estimate of their developmental level
    2. suggest not using the Spiral Dynamics model (or similar ones) to judge developmental level or capacity (or be extremely cautious in doing so)
    3. best to think of individuals as having some degree of capacity in a range of developmental levels
    4. more difficult to access higher levels of development in situations that are more novel, complex, or emotionally challenging. The same individual can display a wide variety of developmental levels
    5. the seeds of integral consciousness can be planted and nurtured much earlier than might be thought
    6. applying and deepening these skills is often more limited by emotional and social factors than cognitive ones