Saturday Sayings - Martin Luther King Jr.

 

     Today I'm joining Tammy from Forever in First for Saturday Sayings. If you're interested in doing a Saturday Saying, visit her post here.

 

     In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day this past week, I chose a quote about education from him. This quote is taken from an article he wrote for The Maroon Tiger, which was the Morehouse College Student Paper. He wrote this article, titled The Purpose of Education, when he was a junior at Morehouse, which I find interesting since I am still in college. You can read the full article, and learn more about it here or here.

 

     While this was written with the audience being his professors and classmates, I believe it is true for any age. Critical thinking and character are important things that our students need to learn. If they do not learn these skills, then they will not be able to use the knowledge they have well.

 

     How do we teach critical thinking and character? I've seen schools do many different things to teach these. Some that I have been in use a curriculum to teach character or even have it as a special. However, I think character is best taught by example, mini-lessons that are relatable to the students, and real life situations. Critical thinking is a skill that can be learned in all areas. It includes teaching students to think about the how and why questions, reasoning, and much more. Martin Luther King Jr. was correct in thinking that knowledge does not mean much without character and critical thinking.

 

So, what do you think? What is your opinion of this quote? How do you teach character and critical thinking?

Saturday Sayings - John Holt

     Today I'm joining Tammy from Forever in First for Saturday Sayings. If you're interested in doing a Saturday Saying, visit her post here.

     This week, I went to my college library to look for what books there were on bullying for a group presentation. While I was there, I saw the book What Do I Do Monday? by John Holt. I remembered hearing his name from some information I looked up back in high school about different types of schooling. John Holt is tied with unschooling, even though he spent many years teaching in a classroom. You can read more about him here. I decided to read parts of his book to look at it with the knowledge and experience that I have gained during my college years and student teaching. One quote that sums it up very well is:

 

 

     Many unschoolers, which are children in a type of homeschooling that is student-led, use this to support their method of following the child's interests. I do agree with John Holt's idea of self-directed learning to an extent. In my own life, I can think of certain things that I learned and worked on more intently while I have been in school than the things I was forced to learn. For example, as I mentioned, I was very interested in educational theories during my senior year of high school. I could spend hours procrastinating on my homework by looking up different ideas of education. That seems really dorky, but I actually had no intention of being an education major at that time (why I didn't get the hint, I don't know). However, I also learned many things at school where I was taught things that I did not think would interest me until a teacher forced me to learn about it. Still, I think John Holt has a very valid point. Children do learn best when they want to and have say in the matter. Creating the conditions listed may be easy for a homeschooler, but it is more challenging when applied to a classroom of students, for whom John Holt also intended the book.

 

     What can we do as teachers to help students learn best by self-directed learning? Throughout this week, I have thought about that question, and I came up with a few ideas that are not all brand-new:

•  Having a discovery time each day where students could choose what they wanted to work on. They may want to read, work on a project, draw, or look into an interest of theirs. The teacher would be the facilitator, encouraging students in their interests.
• Encouraging student interests they mention. If they ask questions, help them find the answer. If they love horses, help them learn more about horses. When using a KWL chart, be sure to respond to all of the wonderings.
• Allowing projects to be open-ended with students choosing their topics and how to respond. I can recall some of my favorite book reports where the only requirements were a book and project that was okayed by the teacher.

What are you doing to help students learn

by allowing them to led their learning?