Saturday, October 4, 2008
"Teaching" Our Kids to Grow Up
It seems as though we are gradually treating our students more and more like children rather than encouraging them to make adult decisions. Punishing students for childish behavior is a very different practice than encouraging mature behavior and decision-making. I believe that middle schools need to be teaching with the idea of critical thinking always present in the lesson plan. We need to stop handing out busy work to shut up our students and hammer straight knowledge down their throats. By doing exercises that involve discussion and critical thinking in the classroom, we will produce more independent thinkers that are more confident going into the high school realm.
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2 comments:
I agree that teachers need to set up a curriculum that promotes critical thinking and not just give them busy work to keep them quiet. It's interesting that some teachers have a way of sparking the interest of even the most difficult and down and out kids. Is it the teaching style or the engaging curriculum or both that works for successful teachers? What approach can teachers use to challenge students to think outside of the box...to see themselves and powerful in the intelligent community...to grow their perspectives to reach beyond their next lunch period or the next time they will meet with friends.
I agree but especially with middle school students they need structure. I think students do crave engaging critical material but they are socially and emotional fragile. They are also into very shallow things, I do believe we should attempt to show them the larger picture but this is nothing new to this age. This discussion has been going strong since existence. Stepping up into role of maturity will always be struggle.
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