Life skills play a very important in an Adolescence life ( age 12 - 18 ). These skills play a very vital role in the child’s life; in fact 80% of the future is dependent on these life skills and 20% on text books.
The list below includes the psychosocial and interpersonal skills generally considered important. The choice of, and emphasis on, different skills will vary according to the topic and local conditions (e.g., decision-making may feature strongly in HIV/AIDS prevention whereas conflict management may be more prominent in a peace education program). Though the list suggests these categories are distinct from each other, many skills are used simultaneously in practice. For example, decision-making often involves critical thinking ("what are my options?") and values clarification ("what is important to me?"). Ultimately, the interplay between the skills is what produces powerful behavioural outcomes, especially where this approach is supported by other strategies such as media, policies and health services.
Communication and Interpersonal Skills
Interpersonal communication skills
• Verbal/Nonverbal communication
• Active listening
• Expressing feelings; giving feedback (without blaming) and receiving feedback
Negotiation/refusal skills
• Negotiation and conflict management
• Assertiveness skills
• Refusal skills
Empathy
• Ability to listen and understand another's needs and circumstances and express that understanding
Cooperation and Teamwork
• Expressing respect for others' contributions and different styles
• Assessing one's own abilities and contributing to the group
Advocacy Skills
• Influencing skills & persuasion
• Networking and motivation skills
Decision-Making and Critical Thinking Skills
Decision making / problem solving skills
• Information gathering skills
• Evaluating future consequences of present actions for self and others
• Determining alternative solutions to problems
• Analysis skills regarding the influence of values and attitudes of self and others on motivation
Critical thinking skills
• Analyzing peer and media influences
• Analyzing attitudes, values, social norms and beliefs and factors affecting these
• Identifying relevant information and information sources
Coping and Self-Management Skills
Skills for increasing internal locus of control
• Self esteem/confidence building skills
• Self awareness skills including awareness of rights, influences, values, attitudes, rights, strengths and weaknesses
• Goal setting skills
• Self evaluation / Self assessment / Self-monitoring skills
Skills for managing feelings
• Anger management
• Dealing with grief and anxiety
• Coping skills for dealing with loss, abuse, trauma
Skills for managing stress
• Time management
• Positive thinking
• Relaxation techniques
06 September, 2009
Tips for Reinforcing Good Problem Solving Skills
A big part of the job as an educator is to discover effective ways to help children make it through the difficult times of their academic lives. Students must have the ability to problem solve effectively is very important in helping them learn self-respect and self-esteem, overcome feelings of helplessness, and promote a generalized sense of capability. Equipping students with the right problem solving skills will promote resiliency and solution-focused problem solving shifts away from emphasizing problems and toward helping students discover the considerable power and possibilities they have in themselves.
The solution-focused problem-solving perspective emphasizes that children can become stuck by focusing on their past and current "bad" behavior and failures versus focusing on future solutions. It is important that educators will increase student performance by removing obstacles to student learning. Children accomplish more when they concentrate on their successes and strengths rather than their failures and deficits. There are so many advantages for students who know how constructively problems solve. Students should be looked at as being good and capable of rational thought but without any influence from teachers or significant adults a student will likely focus more on their own negative side.
Once educators begin to shift to the positives of the good things that are going on in a student's life, the student's usually will switch to that, open up and talk about it too. Students do have the capacity to act on common sense if given the opportunity to identify common sense problem-solving strategies. Solution-focused problem solving is based on the theory that small changes in behavior lead to bigger changes in behavior. Solution-focused problem solving emphasizes a role shift for students. Small shifts in role by a student will cause shifts in other places. The best advice that can be given to an educator in regards to teaching problem solving skills to a student is to develop an alliance with the student and work together to determine the problem and the cause. Identify the student's strength, everyone has at least one, and then they can build strengths and foundations which will lead to positive changes. When the plan does not seem to be working and the student seems to be repeating the same pattern or does not have the ability to control compulsive behaviors then the educator has to watch for a pattern and reinforce with positive.
Solution-focused problem solving pursues the positive and students are more likely to find a solution to a problem when they concentrate on their successes rather than their failures. Students must realize that they play a huge part in the success of their problem solving process and that change will occur. Once the changes begin to happen then the student will realize that their lives can be very different. Then it is time to have the students set goals and then monitors their progress. Good problem solvers use a variety of processes and strategies as they read and represent the problem before they make a plan to solve it. They then use comprehension strategies to translate the linguistic and numerical information in the problem and come up with a solution. For example, good problem solvers may read the problem more than once and may reread parts of the problem as they progress and think through the problem. They identify the important information and even underline parts of the problem.
A systematic, research-based problem-solving program makes problem solving easy to teach. Students are provided with the processes and strategies that make problem solving easy to learn, and they become successful and efficient problem solvers. They also gain a better attitude toward problem solving when they are successful and develop the confidence to persevere.
The solution-focused problem-solving perspective emphasizes that children can become stuck by focusing on their past and current "bad" behavior and failures versus focusing on future solutions. It is important that educators will increase student performance by removing obstacles to student learning. Children accomplish more when they concentrate on their successes and strengths rather than their failures and deficits. There are so many advantages for students who know how constructively problems solve. Students should be looked at as being good and capable of rational thought but without any influence from teachers or significant adults a student will likely focus more on their own negative side.
Once educators begin to shift to the positives of the good things that are going on in a student's life, the student's usually will switch to that, open up and talk about it too. Students do have the capacity to act on common sense if given the opportunity to identify common sense problem-solving strategies. Solution-focused problem solving is based on the theory that small changes in behavior lead to bigger changes in behavior. Solution-focused problem solving emphasizes a role shift for students. Small shifts in role by a student will cause shifts in other places. The best advice that can be given to an educator in regards to teaching problem solving skills to a student is to develop an alliance with the student and work together to determine the problem and the cause. Identify the student's strength, everyone has at least one, and then they can build strengths and foundations which will lead to positive changes. When the plan does not seem to be working and the student seems to be repeating the same pattern or does not have the ability to control compulsive behaviors then the educator has to watch for a pattern and reinforce with positive.
Solution-focused problem solving pursues the positive and students are more likely to find a solution to a problem when they concentrate on their successes rather than their failures. Students must realize that they play a huge part in the success of their problem solving process and that change will occur. Once the changes begin to happen then the student will realize that their lives can be very different. Then it is time to have the students set goals and then monitors their progress. Good problem solvers use a variety of processes and strategies as they read and represent the problem before they make a plan to solve it. They then use comprehension strategies to translate the linguistic and numerical information in the problem and come up with a solution. For example, good problem solvers may read the problem more than once and may reread parts of the problem as they progress and think through the problem. They identify the important information and even underline parts of the problem.
A systematic, research-based problem-solving program makes problem solving easy to teach. Students are provided with the processes and strategies that make problem solving easy to learn, and they become successful and efficient problem solvers. They also gain a better attitude toward problem solving when they are successful and develop the confidence to persevere.
04 September, 2009
THE JOY OF TEACHING - Laughing like we were still children
by, Janice Fletcher Ed.D
Remembering small encounters such as the 6 year old that called me Dr. Mrs. Fletcher after I became a doctor. Or the 12 year old girl that came to me with her business card in hand wanting an appointment with the principal to discuss strategies of how to market her babysitting skills at our school. There was the second grader that explained to the rest of the class that her fellow Spanish speaking classmate was talking in “cursive”. It was always fun to be introduced as “the president “of the school by the first graders. Some moments are cute, some are poignant, some are just plain funny. If they bring a faint smile or a belly whopping laugh, they are moments of joy.
Each year teachers are faced with the challenge of creating an atmosphere, environment, circumstances and lessons that will allow students to succeed. Most teachers find this endeavor exciting, fun and fulfilling, with laughter, smiles and humor the natural ingredients. Finding and capturing that joy is the essence of a long fulfilling career as a teacher.
Joy, according to Webster, is a very glad feeling; happiness; delight. A “very glad feeling” is a good indicator of the joy of teaching. There are so many of these moments during teaching, making this the most rewarding of professions. Every teacher could write a book about the funny things students say or do. Schools should share those experiences everyday; it’s a nice way to spread the joy.
There were the three cub scouts that donated their homemade birdhouse to the school for their environmental project. They explained that they weren’t strong enough to make a hole for the birds to enter so the birds would have to live on the outside.
James Barrie says, “Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.” Most teachers teach because that is what they’d “rather” be doing.. A teacher not teaching is a like a fish out of water. Teachers find themselves teaching wherever they are. Sometimes they are painstakingly teaching their spouse how to… or on vacations, it is the teacher in the group of tourists that will have the most questions and be taking notes. It is the really great teachers that use those notes in their lesson plans. I remember my teacher mother never answering questions like all the other moms. She would say “What do YOU think the answer is Janice?” There is great joy in it for generations of teachers have been drawn to it, are natural at it and find such fulfillment in it.
It is the laughter and joy in the profession that keeps teachers teaching year after year. When one experiences extreme joy they have a reaction called laughter. It is the result of overflowing joy and is defined by The American Heritage dictionary as, “Laughter: the act of laughing, the sound produced by laughing. The sounds and facial movement to express mirth”. Some people do it more than others. Some create laughter for others. Unfortunately, some people fail to experience the profound feeling of expressing mirth through laughter.
I recall the “class clown”, an eighth grader, who when I ordered him to sit down, he followed my direction, literally, and sat down exactly where he was standing, on the floor, across the room from his desk and chair. We had to laugh.
It is helpful for us to remember a moment, situation, an experience when we laughed the hardest. Recall the hurting stomach and cheek muscles as well as the overflowing laughter tears. How often is that happening in our lives? Do we have these moments in our classrooms? We know that the more FUN we make learning the more learning takes place.
We could chart these moments. Diets, finances, bad behavior, grades and weather are charted. What about our laughter quotient? Why? Because laughter is an essential part of life that is usually treated as an aside or an extra. Because when it slips from life, often times, sadly, it is not missed Because laughter is the manifestation of joy and if a teacher is not laughing, it is doubtful that the joy of teaching is being experienced and that students are learning as much as they are able.
A teacher that has captured the spirit of joy and laughter and expresses it through teaching will naturally create a joy of learning within his/her classroom. Humor and laughter greatly create many benefits in a classroom.
Historically, schools were not considered appropriate places for laughter. Remember the old adage of “Don’t smile at the students before Christmas?’ No laughter, not even smiles were permitted in classrooms. How unnatural that was. Laughter is not only a welcome addition to the classroom but a necessary one as well.
Laughter is instinctual. Fear, danger, surprise, stupidity, absurdity, disrespect, frustration, and even suspense, are all some of the causes of laughter, which are all natural emotions and things that are deeply rooted within our minds, just like instincts. Greville states: “Man is the only creature endowed with the power of laughter.”
Laughter occurs when energy is built-up, tension rises, then the situation changes, and there is no longer a need for the tension and finally laughter results as a release of the pent-up energy. I recall, as a child, during my piano recital I froze and couldn’t remember the next note. After two agonizingly long minutes I began to laugh and laugh and laugh.
Teachers deal with all the other emotions as they work with students. When a child comes into our classrooms fearful or in tears, they get attention. We react differently when faced with the emotion of laughter. Classrooms have been conducted with “a fear of laughter” attitude. Great literary works will cause us to laugh. It is a part of life that we have ignored in education. Laughter has always been a great barometer to measure the amount of joy in life.
Nietzsche suggests: “You must laugh ten times during the day, and be cheerful; otherwise your stomach, the fretter of affliction, will disturb you in the night.” My first year teaching, in a rural area we had pet day. Students were allowed to bring their pets to school for a visit. I walked into work to see that George and his “pet” horse were standing in the school lobby.
The Magazine Reader’s Digest has for decades had a section called “Laughter is the Best Medicine”. Looking at life’s situations with a sense of humor and laughter provides perspective and helps keep things in balance when life seems unfair. We have many of those moments teaching, don’t we? Life seems unfair? Humor and laughter are a source of power, healing and survival. We often forget this when we are caught up in the troubles and trauma of life in the classroom. The actor/ comedian Bill Cosby said,” If you can find humor in anything, you can survive it.” When one feels like losing control, allow a little “humor time”. By finding what’s funny in a situation, upsets won’t seem as important as they once did.
“Humor time” can be added to lesson plans. It follows the concept of show and tell, a historical activity for the very young students. Students have an opportunity to share, show and tell about their life. But teachers cease this practice in the later grades. It is one of things that people do very often as an adult. Listen to the conversations at parties. They contained elements of show and tell! “The other day I was on my new boat or… The funniest thing happened to me when I was… Lesson plans can include appropriate times to share funny moments. Students are just like adults, only smaller. If they have some news or funny story they will share it whether there is an appropriate time or not. Be an effective teacher, and reap the benefits of the joy and laughter it produces.
Humor also gives a sense of power. There are many things in life that we have no control over and can’t change. One can either let that fact become a frustration or use a sense of humor to minimize any difficult situation. Humor has the power to turn any situation around.
Students and teachers alike will find needs for coping skills. Laughter is one of the best coping skills.
As a principal, I was faced with a parent outraged that their child had been mistreated at the bus stop. As the parent screamed the tension rose. My coping skills and patience were reaching their limit. I invited the “mistreated” student in to “tell the story”. Shannon explained that she wasn’t mad at her friend for hitting her with her bookbag and bruising her arm, that she had done the same to her the week before. Our laughter over the explanation ended the animosity.
Gail Sheehy notes in her best seller, Pathfinders , “that the ability to see humor in a situation was one of the four coping devices that, people who overcame life’s crises, used as a protection against change and uncertainty.” When you are dealing with a difficult, student, parent or fellow employee, using humor in difficult times can be one of the smartest ways of coping. No, this does not give you permission to make fun of your principal next time you have a difference of opinion.
Humor can be used to establish rapport, an essential tool for successful teaching. Humor knows no cultural boundaries. It is true that one doesn’t have to speak the same language to laugh together. Laughter also helps “break the ice” in a group. It is one of the forms of communication that everyone can relate to. It’s not necessary to be a stand-up comedian in the classroom. But, the sharing of laughter will increase the level of communication.
During an ESOL class the students were learning the concept of silverware. After ten frustrating minutes of showing the students knives and forks and the Indian student responding by sticking her hand in the teacher’s face, it was discovered that the student’s culture used their fingers as silverware. The class laughed in understanding.
Educators need to remember that, humor relieves tension. Humor dispels anger and aggression in ourselves and others. Think about the number of squabbles and fights in schools! It helps to use humor when dealing with an angry child. Teachers have found lower scores on aggression for students viewing a humorous videotape.
Humor also increases learning and retention. Because laughter stimulates both sides of the brain, people get the message quicker and remember it longer. Humor can also be used as a “diagnostic tool”. If teachers pay attention to when and at what students joke around about, what is bothering them becomes apparent. Humor is an important and overlooked tool in education.
George Burns said “you can’t help getting older, but you can help getting old. Chronologically, the clock is going to keep on ticking for all of us, but if we take a lick of humor, we can prevent a hardening of the attitudes. If we savor humor, humor can be a lifesaver.” Teachers and their careers, ultimately students, can be “saved” by embracing the attitude of humor as a necessary, logical and easy addition for successful learning experiences.
There are a group of executives in India that have started a laughing club. After learning all the benefits of laughter from physical, to emotional they began gathering a few at a time outside during lunch. They began to “ha ha and he he” to one another until the laughter overtook them and they stood around belly laughing for about ten minutes as laughing is a contagious condition. They then walk back into work refreshed and tension free. The group is growing.
The individual teacher has the ability to create a joyful teaching experience. The attitudes and laughter are within a person, not an article, curriculum guide or textbook. Teacher and students alike will benefit from the addition of smiles, chuckles, giggles and big whopping belly laughs.
Wilfreed T. Grenfell says: “Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of men, but from doing something worthwhile.”
Teachers don’t have an easy job and certainly don’t get rich. The praise is far and few between. Real joy is realized by knowing the worth of the teaching profession is unparalleled in its importance for the future.
It is important that to find joy in work. Teachers are some of the most blessed souls on earth to be given the joy of teaching children. If one could relearn from children how to be happy and free in our attitudes and laughter, it would be a lesson well learned and a career worthy of praise.
Someone recently suggested a way to approach life that sounds quite joyful. It is: “Dance like no one is looking; work like you don’t need the money; love as though you’ve never been hurt.” One could conclude that we should add, laugh as though we were still children.
Source Courtesy: Queensland Teaching Magazine, Australia 1999
Remembering small encounters such as the 6 year old that called me Dr. Mrs. Fletcher after I became a doctor. Or the 12 year old girl that came to me with her business card in hand wanting an appointment with the principal to discuss strategies of how to market her babysitting skills at our school. There was the second grader that explained to the rest of the class that her fellow Spanish speaking classmate was talking in “cursive”. It was always fun to be introduced as “the president “of the school by the first graders. Some moments are cute, some are poignant, some are just plain funny. If they bring a faint smile or a belly whopping laugh, they are moments of joy.
Each year teachers are faced with the challenge of creating an atmosphere, environment, circumstances and lessons that will allow students to succeed. Most teachers find this endeavor exciting, fun and fulfilling, with laughter, smiles and humor the natural ingredients. Finding and capturing that joy is the essence of a long fulfilling career as a teacher.
Joy, according to Webster, is a very glad feeling; happiness; delight. A “very glad feeling” is a good indicator of the joy of teaching. There are so many of these moments during teaching, making this the most rewarding of professions. Every teacher could write a book about the funny things students say or do. Schools should share those experiences everyday; it’s a nice way to spread the joy.
There were the three cub scouts that donated their homemade birdhouse to the school for their environmental project. They explained that they weren’t strong enough to make a hole for the birds to enter so the birds would have to live on the outside.
James Barrie says, “Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.” Most teachers teach because that is what they’d “rather” be doing.. A teacher not teaching is a like a fish out of water. Teachers find themselves teaching wherever they are. Sometimes they are painstakingly teaching their spouse how to… or on vacations, it is the teacher in the group of tourists that will have the most questions and be taking notes. It is the really great teachers that use those notes in their lesson plans. I remember my teacher mother never answering questions like all the other moms. She would say “What do YOU think the answer is Janice?” There is great joy in it for generations of teachers have been drawn to it, are natural at it and find such fulfillment in it.
It is the laughter and joy in the profession that keeps teachers teaching year after year. When one experiences extreme joy they have a reaction called laughter. It is the result of overflowing joy and is defined by The American Heritage dictionary as, “Laughter: the act of laughing, the sound produced by laughing. The sounds and facial movement to express mirth”. Some people do it more than others. Some create laughter for others. Unfortunately, some people fail to experience the profound feeling of expressing mirth through laughter.
I recall the “class clown”, an eighth grader, who when I ordered him to sit down, he followed my direction, literally, and sat down exactly where he was standing, on the floor, across the room from his desk and chair. We had to laugh.
It is helpful for us to remember a moment, situation, an experience when we laughed the hardest. Recall the hurting stomach and cheek muscles as well as the overflowing laughter tears. How often is that happening in our lives? Do we have these moments in our classrooms? We know that the more FUN we make learning the more learning takes place.
We could chart these moments. Diets, finances, bad behavior, grades and weather are charted. What about our laughter quotient? Why? Because laughter is an essential part of life that is usually treated as an aside or an extra. Because when it slips from life, often times, sadly, it is not missed Because laughter is the manifestation of joy and if a teacher is not laughing, it is doubtful that the joy of teaching is being experienced and that students are learning as much as they are able.
A teacher that has captured the spirit of joy and laughter and expresses it through teaching will naturally create a joy of learning within his/her classroom. Humor and laughter greatly create many benefits in a classroom.
Historically, schools were not considered appropriate places for laughter. Remember the old adage of “Don’t smile at the students before Christmas?’ No laughter, not even smiles were permitted in classrooms. How unnatural that was. Laughter is not only a welcome addition to the classroom but a necessary one as well.
Laughter is instinctual. Fear, danger, surprise, stupidity, absurdity, disrespect, frustration, and even suspense, are all some of the causes of laughter, which are all natural emotions and things that are deeply rooted within our minds, just like instincts. Greville states: “Man is the only creature endowed with the power of laughter.”
Laughter occurs when energy is built-up, tension rises, then the situation changes, and there is no longer a need for the tension and finally laughter results as a release of the pent-up energy. I recall, as a child, during my piano recital I froze and couldn’t remember the next note. After two agonizingly long minutes I began to laugh and laugh and laugh.
Teachers deal with all the other emotions as they work with students. When a child comes into our classrooms fearful or in tears, they get attention. We react differently when faced with the emotion of laughter. Classrooms have been conducted with “a fear of laughter” attitude. Great literary works will cause us to laugh. It is a part of life that we have ignored in education. Laughter has always been a great barometer to measure the amount of joy in life.
Nietzsche suggests: “You must laugh ten times during the day, and be cheerful; otherwise your stomach, the fretter of affliction, will disturb you in the night.” My first year teaching, in a rural area we had pet day. Students were allowed to bring their pets to school for a visit. I walked into work to see that George and his “pet” horse were standing in the school lobby.
The Magazine Reader’s Digest has for decades had a section called “Laughter is the Best Medicine”. Looking at life’s situations with a sense of humor and laughter provides perspective and helps keep things in balance when life seems unfair. We have many of those moments teaching, don’t we? Life seems unfair? Humor and laughter are a source of power, healing and survival. We often forget this when we are caught up in the troubles and trauma of life in the classroom. The actor/ comedian Bill Cosby said,” If you can find humor in anything, you can survive it.” When one feels like losing control, allow a little “humor time”. By finding what’s funny in a situation, upsets won’t seem as important as they once did.
“Humor time” can be added to lesson plans. It follows the concept of show and tell, a historical activity for the very young students. Students have an opportunity to share, show and tell about their life. But teachers cease this practice in the later grades. It is one of things that people do very often as an adult. Listen to the conversations at parties. They contained elements of show and tell! “The other day I was on my new boat or… The funniest thing happened to me when I was… Lesson plans can include appropriate times to share funny moments. Students are just like adults, only smaller. If they have some news or funny story they will share it whether there is an appropriate time or not. Be an effective teacher, and reap the benefits of the joy and laughter it produces.
Humor also gives a sense of power. There are many things in life that we have no control over and can’t change. One can either let that fact become a frustration or use a sense of humor to minimize any difficult situation. Humor has the power to turn any situation around.
Students and teachers alike will find needs for coping skills. Laughter is one of the best coping skills.
As a principal, I was faced with a parent outraged that their child had been mistreated at the bus stop. As the parent screamed the tension rose. My coping skills and patience were reaching their limit. I invited the “mistreated” student in to “tell the story”. Shannon explained that she wasn’t mad at her friend for hitting her with her bookbag and bruising her arm, that she had done the same to her the week before. Our laughter over the explanation ended the animosity.
Gail Sheehy notes in her best seller, Pathfinders , “that the ability to see humor in a situation was one of the four coping devices that, people who overcame life’s crises, used as a protection against change and uncertainty.” When you are dealing with a difficult, student, parent or fellow employee, using humor in difficult times can be one of the smartest ways of coping. No, this does not give you permission to make fun of your principal next time you have a difference of opinion.
Humor can be used to establish rapport, an essential tool for successful teaching. Humor knows no cultural boundaries. It is true that one doesn’t have to speak the same language to laugh together. Laughter also helps “break the ice” in a group. It is one of the forms of communication that everyone can relate to. It’s not necessary to be a stand-up comedian in the classroom. But, the sharing of laughter will increase the level of communication.
During an ESOL class the students were learning the concept of silverware. After ten frustrating minutes of showing the students knives and forks and the Indian student responding by sticking her hand in the teacher’s face, it was discovered that the student’s culture used their fingers as silverware. The class laughed in understanding.
Educators need to remember that, humor relieves tension. Humor dispels anger and aggression in ourselves and others. Think about the number of squabbles and fights in schools! It helps to use humor when dealing with an angry child. Teachers have found lower scores on aggression for students viewing a humorous videotape.
Humor also increases learning and retention. Because laughter stimulates both sides of the brain, people get the message quicker and remember it longer. Humor can also be used as a “diagnostic tool”. If teachers pay attention to when and at what students joke around about, what is bothering them becomes apparent. Humor is an important and overlooked tool in education.
George Burns said “you can’t help getting older, but you can help getting old. Chronologically, the clock is going to keep on ticking for all of us, but if we take a lick of humor, we can prevent a hardening of the attitudes. If we savor humor, humor can be a lifesaver.” Teachers and their careers, ultimately students, can be “saved” by embracing the attitude of humor as a necessary, logical and easy addition for successful learning experiences.
There are a group of executives in India that have started a laughing club. After learning all the benefits of laughter from physical, to emotional they began gathering a few at a time outside during lunch. They began to “ha ha and he he” to one another until the laughter overtook them and they stood around belly laughing for about ten minutes as laughing is a contagious condition. They then walk back into work refreshed and tension free. The group is growing.
The individual teacher has the ability to create a joyful teaching experience. The attitudes and laughter are within a person, not an article, curriculum guide or textbook. Teacher and students alike will benefit from the addition of smiles, chuckles, giggles and big whopping belly laughs.
Wilfreed T. Grenfell says: “Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of men, but from doing something worthwhile.”
Teachers don’t have an easy job and certainly don’t get rich. The praise is far and few between. Real joy is realized by knowing the worth of the teaching profession is unparalleled in its importance for the future.
It is important that to find joy in work. Teachers are some of the most blessed souls on earth to be given the joy of teaching children. If one could relearn from children how to be happy and free in our attitudes and laughter, it would be a lesson well learned and a career worthy of praise.
Someone recently suggested a way to approach life that sounds quite joyful. It is: “Dance like no one is looking; work like you don’t need the money; love as though you’ve never been hurt.” One could conclude that we should add, laugh as though we were still children.
Source Courtesy: Queensland Teaching Magazine, Australia 1999
02 September, 2009
Happy Teacher's Day
Hi,
Wish you all a very happy teacher’s day!
I believe, teachers are the most responsible and important members of society because their professional efforts affect the fate of the earth. We are the people who decide the destiny of future generation. We are really the mother of every thing we have today. So our responsibility to the world is huge. Do we really coping to the expectation of the present society? Each one of us must introspect. ‘Change’ should be the guiding word for educators all over the world. For that we have to change our mindset. Adapt and accept the fast changing global conditions. If we fail in that how can we train and prepare the future generation? What will be the future of children under our care today? Dear friends we have to ponder into these questions.
We are expected to reach unattainable goals with inadequate tools. The miracle is that at times many of us accomplish this impossible task.
Below are few wonderful quotes on our noble profession. Read and cherish.
The art of teaching is the art of assisting in discovery.
Behind every successful student is an exhausted teacher!
Blessed are the teachers, for they open minds, touch hearts and share the future.
Children are a great deal more apt to follow your lead than the way you point.
Children love to learn, but hate to be taught.
Discover wildlife: be a teacher!
Example isn't another way to teach, it is the only way to teach. (Albert Einstein)
For every person wishing to teach there are thirty not wanting to be taught.
A good teacher deserves an apple. You deserve the whole tree!
A great teacher loves teaching others to love learning.
He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.
He who dares to teach must never cease to learn.
History Teachers are our link with the past!
Home, Sweet Classroom!
I am not a teacher, but an awakener. (Robert Frost)
I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think. (Socrates)
I touch the future. I teach.
I will not yell in class.
I will not throw things.
I will not get mad. I will be good...because I am the teacher.
If you can count your blessings, thank a teacher!
If you can read this, thank a teacher!
If you have knowledge, let others light their candle by it. (Margaret Fuller)
I'm as lucky as can be 'cause the world's greatest teacher is teaching me!
It's sad but true...teachers have homework, too!
Leading a child to learning's treasures,gives a teacher untold pleasures.
Like all great teachers, you let me learn from my own mistakes.
Math Teachers make your life add up!
Math Teachers really count!
The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. (William Arthur Ward)
A million computers can't replace one outstanding teacher.
No written word nor spoken plea Can teach our youth what they should be Nor all the books on all the shelves,
It's what the teachers are themselves.
The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without his teacher. (Elbert Hubbard)
One good teacher outweighs a ton of books. (Chinese Proverb)
One of the most important things a teacher can do is to send the pupil home in the afternoon liking himself just a little better than when he came in that morning. (Ernest Melby)
Only the educated are free. (Epictetus)
Preschool teachers enjoy the little things in life!
Real learning begins with one good teacher.
Science Teachers have the right chemistry!
Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.
A special teacher is remembered forever!
Summer vacation is the time when parents realize that teachers are grossly underpaid.
Teach from the Heart!.
A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. (Henry Brooks Adams)
A teacher takes a hand, opens a mind, and touches a heart
Teacher's Aide: A welcome addition!
Teachers are angels in training.
Teacher cannot live by apples alone...she needs 'kisses' too! (to go with a gift or Hershey's Kisses)
Teachers change the world one child at a time.
Teachers don't impact for a year, but for a lifetime.
Teachers help students blossom.
Teachers help us to learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
Teachers make the little things count.
Teachers plant seeds of knowledge that will grow forever.
A teacher's purpose is not to create students in his own image, but to develop students who can create their own image.
A teacher's task it so take a lot of live wires and make sure they are well-grounded.
Teachers that love to teach, create kids that love to learn.
Teachers work in classy places.
Teaching kids to count is fine, but teaching them what counts is best. (Bob Talbert)
Thank you for the encourage-'mint' you gave my child. (with a gift of mints)
Thank you for your commit-'mint' to my child's education. (with a gift of mints)
There's no one quite like a special teacher,and no teacher quite as special as you.
Three good reasons to be a teacher: June, July and August!
Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I may not remember. Involve me and I'll understand. (Native American proverb)
Time spent teaching is never lost.
To learn is a blessing. To teach and do it well, it is a gift.
To teach is to learn again.
To waken interest and kindle enthusiasm is the sure way to teach easily and successfully. (Tyron Edwards)
A truly special teacher is very wise,she sees tomorrow in every child's eyes!
We teach what we live.
What a teacher writes on the blackboard of life can never be erased!
When all else fails, ask a teacher!
The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards. (Anatole France)
A wise teacher makes learning fun.
A wise teacher teaches by example.
The world need's more teachers like you.
You can't scare me - I teach school!
You can't teach every child to be a leader, but you can help children to know which leader to follow.
Wish you all a very happy teacher’s day!
I believe, teachers are the most responsible and important members of society because their professional efforts affect the fate of the earth. We are the people who decide the destiny of future generation. We are really the mother of every thing we have today. So our responsibility to the world is huge. Do we really coping to the expectation of the present society? Each one of us must introspect. ‘Change’ should be the guiding word for educators all over the world. For that we have to change our mindset. Adapt and accept the fast changing global conditions. If we fail in that how can we train and prepare the future generation? What will be the future of children under our care today? Dear friends we have to ponder into these questions.We are expected to reach unattainable goals with inadequate tools. The miracle is that at times many of us accomplish this impossible task.
Below are few wonderful quotes on our noble profession. Read and cherish.
The art of teaching is the art of assisting in discovery.
Behind every successful student is an exhausted teacher!
Blessed are the teachers, for they open minds, touch hearts and share the future.
Children are a great deal more apt to follow your lead than the way you point.
Children love to learn, but hate to be taught.
Discover wildlife: be a teacher!
Example isn't another way to teach, it is the only way to teach. (Albert Einstein)
For every person wishing to teach there are thirty not wanting to be taught.
A good teacher deserves an apple. You deserve the whole tree!
A great teacher loves teaching others to love learning.
He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.
He who dares to teach must never cease to learn.
History Teachers are our link with the past!
Home, Sweet Classroom!
I am not a teacher, but an awakener. (Robert Frost)
I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think. (Socrates)
I touch the future. I teach.
I will not yell in class.
I will not throw things.
I will not get mad. I will be good...because I am the teacher.
If you can count your blessings, thank a teacher!
If you can read this, thank a teacher!
If you have knowledge, let others light their candle by it. (Margaret Fuller)
I'm as lucky as can be 'cause the world's greatest teacher is teaching me!
It's sad but true...teachers have homework, too!
Leading a child to learning's treasures,gives a teacher untold pleasures.
Like all great teachers, you let me learn from my own mistakes.
Math Teachers make your life add up!
Math Teachers really count!
The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. (William Arthur Ward)
A million computers can't replace one outstanding teacher.
No written word nor spoken plea Can teach our youth what they should be Nor all the books on all the shelves,
It's what the teachers are themselves.
The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without his teacher. (Elbert Hubbard)
One good teacher outweighs a ton of books. (Chinese Proverb)
One of the most important things a teacher can do is to send the pupil home in the afternoon liking himself just a little better than when he came in that morning. (Ernest Melby)
Only the educated are free. (Epictetus)
Preschool teachers enjoy the little things in life!
Real learning begins with one good teacher.
Science Teachers have the right chemistry!
Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.
A special teacher is remembered forever!
Summer vacation is the time when parents realize that teachers are grossly underpaid.
Teach from the Heart!.
A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. (Henry Brooks Adams)
A teacher takes a hand, opens a mind, and touches a heart
Teacher's Aide: A welcome addition!
Teachers are angels in training.
Teacher cannot live by apples alone...she needs 'kisses' too! (to go with a gift or Hershey's Kisses)
Teachers change the world one child at a time.
Teachers don't impact for a year, but for a lifetime.
Teachers help students blossom.
Teachers help us to learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
Teachers make the little things count.
Teachers plant seeds of knowledge that will grow forever.
A teacher's purpose is not to create students in his own image, but to develop students who can create their own image.
A teacher's task it so take a lot of live wires and make sure they are well-grounded.
Teachers that love to teach, create kids that love to learn.
Teachers work in classy places.
Teaching kids to count is fine, but teaching them what counts is best. (Bob Talbert)
Thank you for the encourage-'mint' you gave my child. (with a gift of mints)
Thank you for your commit-'mint' to my child's education. (with a gift of mints)
There's no one quite like a special teacher,and no teacher quite as special as you.
Three good reasons to be a teacher: June, July and August!
Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I may not remember. Involve me and I'll understand. (Native American proverb)
Time spent teaching is never lost.
To learn is a blessing. To teach and do it well, it is a gift.
To teach is to learn again.
To waken interest and kindle enthusiasm is the sure way to teach easily and successfully. (Tyron Edwards)
A truly special teacher is very wise,she sees tomorrow in every child's eyes!
We teach what we live.
What a teacher writes on the blackboard of life can never be erased!
When all else fails, ask a teacher!
The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards. (Anatole France)
A wise teacher makes learning fun.
A wise teacher teaches by example.
The world need's more teachers like you.
You can't scare me - I teach school!
You can't teach every child to be a leader, but you can help children to know which leader to follow.
15 August, 2009
Illuminating Thoughts
Each of the following quotes either exemplifies critical thought, or illuminates a problem in human thought which critical thinking addresses.
But if thought is to become the possession of many, not the privilege of the few, we must have done with fear. It is fear that holds men back — fear lest their cherished beliefs should prove delusions, fear lest the institutions by which they live should prove harmful, fear lest they themselves should prove less worthy of respect than they have supposed themselves to be.
~ Bertrand Russell (Principles of Social Reconstruction)
You assist an evil system most effectively by obeying its orders and decrees. An evil system never deserves such allegiance. Allegiance to it means partaking of the evil. A good person will resist an evil system with his or her whole soul.
~ Mahatma Gandhi
During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.
~ George Orwell
Big Government and Big Business ... will try to impose social and cultural uniformity upon adults and their children. To achieve this they will (unless prevented) make use of all the mind-manipulating techniques at their disposal and will not hesitate to reinforce these methods of non-rational persuasion by economic coercion and threats of physical violence. If this kind of tyranny is to be avoided, we must begin without delay to educate ourselves and our children for freedom and self-government. Such an education for freedom should be ... first of all in facts and in values — the facts of individual diversity and genetic uniqueness and the values of freedom, tolerance and mutual charity, which are the ethical corollaries of these facts.
~ Aldous Huxley: (Brave New World Revisited)
The voice of protest, of warning, of appeal is never more needed than when the clamor of fife and drum, echoed by the press and too often by the pulpit, is bidding all men fall in and keep step and obey in silence the tyrannous word of command. Then, more than ever, it is the duty of the good citizen not to be silent.
~ Charles Eliot Norton
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.
~ Bertrand Russell
The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.
~ Aldous Huxley
The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and his own are the same.
~ Stendhal
The great masses of the people…will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one.
~ Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, 1933
Any formal attack on ignorance is bound to fail because the masses are always ready to defend their most precious possession – their ignorance.
~ Hendrik Van Loon
The trouble with most folks isn’t so much their ignorance, as knowing so many things that ain’t so.
~ Josh Billings
I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.
~ Thomas Jefferson
I am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too.
~ Thomas Jefferson
Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind.
~ General William Westmoreland
So long as a man rides his hobbyhorse peaceably and quietly along the King’s highway, and neither compels you or me to get up behind him – pray, Sir, what have either you or I to do with it?
~ Laurence Sterne, 1759
Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in their readiness to doubt.
~ H. L. Mencken
The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.
~ Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, 1801
It is not only vain, but wicked, in a legislator to frame laws in opposition to the laws of nature, and to arm them with the terrors of death. This is truly creating crimes in order to punish them.
~ Thomas Jefferson, 1779
We are all tolerant enough of those who do not agree with us, provided only they are sufficiently miserable.
~ David Grayson
We learn from history that we do not learn from history.
~ George Wilhelm Hegel
Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.
~ George Bernard Shaw
There is no slavery but ignorance. Liberty is the child of intelligence.
~ Robert G. Ingersoll
The highest result of education is tolerance.
~ Helen Keller
Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
~ Malcolm S. Forbes
Hastiness and superficiality are the psychic diseases of the twentieth century, and more than anywhere else this disease is reflected in the press.
~ Alexander Solzhenitsyn
The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression.
~ Thomas Paine, 1795
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
~ Edmund Burke, 1770
The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain their neutrality.
~ Dante
We think so because other people all think so; or because – or because – after all we do think so; or because we were told so, and think we must think so; or because we once thought so, and think we still think so; or because, having thought so, we think we will think so…
~ Henry Sidgwick
To every complex question there is a simple answer and it is wrong…
~ H.L. Mencken
These quotes have been pulled from a number of resources, and many can be found in any good book on famous quotations.
But if thought is to become the possession of many, not the privilege of the few, we must have done with fear. It is fear that holds men back — fear lest their cherished beliefs should prove delusions, fear lest the institutions by which they live should prove harmful, fear lest they themselves should prove less worthy of respect than they have supposed themselves to be.
~ Bertrand Russell (Principles of Social Reconstruction)
You assist an evil system most effectively by obeying its orders and decrees. An evil system never deserves such allegiance. Allegiance to it means partaking of the evil. A good person will resist an evil system with his or her whole soul.
~ Mahatma Gandhi
During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.
~ George Orwell
Big Government and Big Business ... will try to impose social and cultural uniformity upon adults and their children. To achieve this they will (unless prevented) make use of all the mind-manipulating techniques at their disposal and will not hesitate to reinforce these methods of non-rational persuasion by economic coercion and threats of physical violence. If this kind of tyranny is to be avoided, we must begin without delay to educate ourselves and our children for freedom and self-government. Such an education for freedom should be ... first of all in facts and in values — the facts of individual diversity and genetic uniqueness and the values of freedom, tolerance and mutual charity, which are the ethical corollaries of these facts.
~ Aldous Huxley: (Brave New World Revisited)
The voice of protest, of warning, of appeal is never more needed than when the clamor of fife and drum, echoed by the press and too often by the pulpit, is bidding all men fall in and keep step and obey in silence the tyrannous word of command. Then, more than ever, it is the duty of the good citizen not to be silent.
~ Charles Eliot Norton
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.
~ Bertrand Russell
The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.
~ Aldous Huxley
The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and his own are the same.
~ Stendhal
The great masses of the people…will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one.
~ Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, 1933
Any formal attack on ignorance is bound to fail because the masses are always ready to defend their most precious possession – their ignorance.
~ Hendrik Van Loon
The trouble with most folks isn’t so much their ignorance, as knowing so many things that ain’t so.
~ Josh Billings
I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.
~ Thomas Jefferson
I am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too.
~ Thomas Jefferson
Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind.
~ General William Westmoreland
So long as a man rides his hobbyhorse peaceably and quietly along the King’s highway, and neither compels you or me to get up behind him – pray, Sir, what have either you or I to do with it?
~ Laurence Sterne, 1759
Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in their readiness to doubt.
~ H. L. Mencken
The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.
~ Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, 1801
It is not only vain, but wicked, in a legislator to frame laws in opposition to the laws of nature, and to arm them with the terrors of death. This is truly creating crimes in order to punish them.
~ Thomas Jefferson, 1779
We are all tolerant enough of those who do not agree with us, provided only they are sufficiently miserable.
~ David Grayson
We learn from history that we do not learn from history.
~ George Wilhelm Hegel
Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.
~ George Bernard Shaw
There is no slavery but ignorance. Liberty is the child of intelligence.
~ Robert G. Ingersoll
The highest result of education is tolerance.
~ Helen Keller
Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
~ Malcolm S. Forbes
Hastiness and superficiality are the psychic diseases of the twentieth century, and more than anywhere else this disease is reflected in the press.
~ Alexander Solzhenitsyn
The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression.
~ Thomas Paine, 1795
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
~ Edmund Burke, 1770
The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain their neutrality.
~ Dante
We think so because other people all think so; or because – or because – after all we do think so; or because we were told so, and think we must think so; or because we once thought so, and think we still think so; or because, having thought so, we think we will think so…
~ Henry Sidgwick
To every complex question there is a simple answer and it is wrong…
~ H.L. Mencken
These quotes have been pulled from a number of resources, and many can be found in any good book on famous quotations.
I think critically, therefore I am
Courtesy: www.criticalthinking.org/
Teaching students to read and understand a text properly is essential to their intellectual survival in a complex world, says Linda Elder
About 15 years ago, while teaching psychology, I happened upon an article on critical thinking. I had long been interested in the workings of the human mind, but I lacked the broader perspective on the mind that a rich conception of critical thinking can offer. What I knew for certain was that I was dissatisfied with my teaching. I felt I had a reasonably sound grasp of psychology, but no clear path for reaching my students. I knew that the art of questioning was an important instructional approach, and that written assignments should be an integral part of teaching. I just didn’t have the tools to serve the purpose.
Once introduced to critical thinking, my perspective broadened dramatically, as tools for developing the mind became much more vivid, accessible and concrete. By studying the theory of critical thinking and tenaciously applying it to classroom practice, I began to see more clearly how to approach content as a mode of thought, rather than as fragmented bits of information. I began to see the intimate connection between thinking and learning, to see how to intervene in thinking deliberately and constructively to deepen one’s understanding, and to interface the content of my subject with the values and motivations of students.
I also began to appreciate the difficulties in cultivating the intellect – both my own and that of students. When deeply understood, critical thinking offers a network of concepts and principles for developing the mind. There are copious effective strategies for fostering critical thinking, but developing the human intellect is a messy process. It is often confusing, both for teacher and student. It isn’t procedural. It can’t be taught through formulas. It isn’t neat and tidy. But it is deeply rewarding when we grasp its significance and begin to work it out for ourselves.
In 1980, Richard Paul, a pre-eminent authority on critical thinking, established the Center for Critical Thinking, and the same year it hosted its first international conference. Since then, the centre has worked towards the cultivation of critical societies through the reform of education. In 1990, in an open letter to educators, Paul summed up the problem that a robust conception of critical thinking addresses.
“Many college and university professors say they have little time to focus on the students’ thinking because of the need to cover content. These professors fail to see that thinking is the only means by which the mind digests content. They fail to see that undigested content is content unlearnt or mislearnt. They fail to see that all content is embedded in ideas, that ideas have logical connections, that logical connections must be thought through to be grasped… Furthermore, though this problem is ancient, the negative consequences are daily becoming more and more significant. The nature of professional and everyday life increasingly demands critical thinking. Indeed the cost of generating a growing mass of uncritical thinkers as workers and citizens is staggering… Intellectually undisciplined, narrow-minded thinking will not solve increasingly complex, multidimensional problems, let alone provide the basis for democratic decision-making.”
Critical thinking forms the heart and soul of every subject because its concepts and principles are presupposed in, and give rise to, the logic of every subject. Accordingly, teachers use critical thinking concepts in approaching their disciplines (albeit often implicitly and subconsciously). If we are to effectively address the challenges facing us as a species, and if we are ever to create truly critical societies, we need to take thinking more seriously in every part of human life, and certainly in teaching. When all is said and done, however highly we may rate our educational programmes, schools, colleges, universities and, yes, even our own classes, students are not developing the intellectual skills and character traits they need to survive in an increasingly complex world.
Thankfully, critical thinking is accessible, to some degree, to all who would enter its doors. From the beginning, the most basic principles are fairly easy to grasp. What is more, the process of translating principles into strategies is reasonably accessible. At the Center and Foundation for Critical Thinking we have developed many resources for incorporating critical thinking into instruction, tested over many years with students and faculty. Of course, teaching for critical thinking is an art, not a science; there are an unlimited number of ways to cultivate the intellect.
Let me offer, by way of example, one set of instructional activities I have found to be highly effective in fostering critical thinking. These activities are most powerful when repeatedly used within a term, focusing on the core content of the course. Collectively, these structures develop students’ abilities to read closely, write substantively and reason analytically. They enable students to empathise with a broad range of views, even (perhaps most importantly) with those views contrary to their own. These activities illuminate for students the fact that articles, chapters, essays and other written works should be viewed as products of reasoning that, in most cases, can be intellectually analysed and assessed.
There are four parts to this instructional process. As you read through this series of activities, remember that any of the details can and should be contextualised to fit the situation, student group, and so forth.
Part one: reading closely
Students are often asked to read, but they generally do not understand what it means to read closely. They do not understand that to do so presupposes disciplined reasoning. Students seldom use reading to improve their thinking or thinking to improve their reading. They don’t see the connection between thoughtful reading and living the life of a reasonable person. I introduce close reading to students by first explaining that to read for deep understanding, they must learn to actively engage in a silent dialogue with the author. I emphasise that, if they are to become educated people, it is essential that they develop their ability to read for deep understanding and that they consistently do so throughout the course of their lives.
In this activity, then, the purpose is to teach students how to read a text closely. The basic design entails students working together in groups, focusing on an assigned text. Students take turns reading the text aloud, interpreting it, and then getting feedback from the other group members on their interpretation. Here is the structure I suggest:
Students working in groups of three are assigned a text to read together. Student A reads one paragraph aloud, periodically stopping and stating in her own words what she understands each sentence to be saying. After each act of interpretation, students B and C either agree with the interpretation or offer a different one. Then student B takes the next paragraph, and the same process continues (with A and C giving feedback on each interpretation). Student C takes the next paragraph, and on it goes with one student reading, interpreting and receiving feedback from the other two students on the original interpretation until you (the teacher) end the activity or the reading is completed.
Before beginning this assignment, I remind students that the process should entail mutual participation and support, rather than passivity or conflict. The idea is to work together toward the most reasonable interpretation of the text. I may, as I often do, model the kind of feedback I am looking for from students. For instance, I may say something like “I am interpreting this a little differently than you seem to be doing. I agree with this part of your interpretation, but in this sentence, I think the author means X rather than Y. Do you agree, or are you still seeing it another way?”
Part two: analysing the text
Once students are able to carefully read a text, they are in a position to analyse it. It is important for them to understand that any essay, article or chapter in a text can be explicitly analysed as a product of reasoning. Here are the primary questions I ask students to answer in analysing the text (in a written assignment):
• What is the author’s fundamental purpose?
• What is the author’s point of view with respect to the issue?
• What assumptions is the author making in his or her reasoning?
• What are the implications of the author’s reasoning?
• What information does the author use in reasoning through this issue?
• What are the most fundamental inferences or conclusions in the article?
• What are the most basic concepts used by the author?
• What is the key question the author is trying to answer?
Part three: sharing papers and giving feedback to one another
After students have completed part two as an out-of-class assignment, they are ready to give and receive feedback on their papers. Working in groups of three, students take turns reading their papers aloud, periodically stopping to allow other students to give feedback. It is essential that, in giving feedback, students use intellectual standards – for example, clarity, accuracy, relevance, depth and breadth. In this activity, the students are focused on helping one another become clearer in their writing, more accurately represent what the author is saying, more deeply understand the author’s argument, more logically present the author’s reasoning, and so forth.
When students are working in groups, I monitor and encourage the accurate assessment of thought. Thus, I will periodically stop the feedback process and again model the thinking I would like to see. I may say, for example: “Nina commented on the lack of clarity in Josh’s purpose. This is what I am looking for – the explicit use of intellectual standards.” Or, “Seth pointed out that some of the information mentioned by Susan wasn’t actually in the text. This was a good intellectual move. I suggest that the group now look at the original text for information that Susan can include.”
Part four: speaking in the voice of the author
Having closely read and analysed the text and compared written analyses with those of other students, students are now in a position to role-play the thinking of the author. Roleplaying an author is, in one way, the ultimate test of understanding, by saying in essence:
“I will enter the mind of the author and speak as if I were the author. I will try to answer any questions you may have about the text by adopting the voice of the author and will answer your questions as I think the author would. I will speak in the first person singular. I will try to be the author fully and truly for the purpose of this exercise, even if, and most especially if, I disagree with the author.”
To role-play an author, students need a partner who has read the text and is willing to ask important questions about it. Responding to questions forces students to think within the author’s logic. Practising speaking within the voice of an author is a good way to get a sense of whether students have absorbed the core meanings of a text.
In this activity, one student takes the role of the author, speaking in the first person. The other student asks probing questions, using the questions in part two as guidelines. The student who is questioning will lead the discussion, perhaps beginning with the first question, “What was your purpose in writing this article about people who live in absolute poverty?” This question might be followed up by any of the following questions: “What were you assuming about this issue when you wrote this article?”, “What information did you use in coming to your main conclusions?”, “Was there any essential information relevant to the issue that you might have excluded, either intentionally or not?”, “What are some important implications of people taking your line of reasoning seriously?”, “What are some important implications of people failing to take your line of reasoning seriously?”
When we approach teaching with activities like these, using critical-thinking principles to process academic content, we honour and develop the intellects of students. We engage them in the thinking we want them to do. We help them recognise that the only way to learn any important set of ideas is to think those ideas into their thinking using their thinking, and to do so critically. With such an approach, we do a lot of modelling; but we place the responsibility for learning on students’ shoulders. Most importantly, we help them develop the intellectual skills, ability and character they need to reason through virtually any problem or issue, in any subject or discipline. We help them gain the intellectual tools they need to survive successfully and fair-mindedly in the complex and unpredictable world they face.
References:
Linda Elder is an educational psychologist, and president and fellow of the Foundation for Critical Thinking, a non-profit organisation that seeks to foster critical societies through education and social reform.
Teaching students to read and understand a text properly is essential to their intellectual survival in a complex world, says Linda Elder
About 15 years ago, while teaching psychology, I happened upon an article on critical thinking. I had long been interested in the workings of the human mind, but I lacked the broader perspective on the mind that a rich conception of critical thinking can offer. What I knew for certain was that I was dissatisfied with my teaching. I felt I had a reasonably sound grasp of psychology, but no clear path for reaching my students. I knew that the art of questioning was an important instructional approach, and that written assignments should be an integral part of teaching. I just didn’t have the tools to serve the purpose.
Once introduced to critical thinking, my perspective broadened dramatically, as tools for developing the mind became much more vivid, accessible and concrete. By studying the theory of critical thinking and tenaciously applying it to classroom practice, I began to see more clearly how to approach content as a mode of thought, rather than as fragmented bits of information. I began to see the intimate connection between thinking and learning, to see how to intervene in thinking deliberately and constructively to deepen one’s understanding, and to interface the content of my subject with the values and motivations of students.
I also began to appreciate the difficulties in cultivating the intellect – both my own and that of students. When deeply understood, critical thinking offers a network of concepts and principles for developing the mind. There are copious effective strategies for fostering critical thinking, but developing the human intellect is a messy process. It is often confusing, both for teacher and student. It isn’t procedural. It can’t be taught through formulas. It isn’t neat and tidy. But it is deeply rewarding when we grasp its significance and begin to work it out for ourselves.
In 1980, Richard Paul, a pre-eminent authority on critical thinking, established the Center for Critical Thinking, and the same year it hosted its first international conference. Since then, the centre has worked towards the cultivation of critical societies through the reform of education. In 1990, in an open letter to educators, Paul summed up the problem that a robust conception of critical thinking addresses.
“Many college and university professors say they have little time to focus on the students’ thinking because of the need to cover content. These professors fail to see that thinking is the only means by which the mind digests content. They fail to see that undigested content is content unlearnt or mislearnt. They fail to see that all content is embedded in ideas, that ideas have logical connections, that logical connections must be thought through to be grasped… Furthermore, though this problem is ancient, the negative consequences are daily becoming more and more significant. The nature of professional and everyday life increasingly demands critical thinking. Indeed the cost of generating a growing mass of uncritical thinkers as workers and citizens is staggering… Intellectually undisciplined, narrow-minded thinking will not solve increasingly complex, multidimensional problems, let alone provide the basis for democratic decision-making.”
Critical thinking forms the heart and soul of every subject because its concepts and principles are presupposed in, and give rise to, the logic of every subject. Accordingly, teachers use critical thinking concepts in approaching their disciplines (albeit often implicitly and subconsciously). If we are to effectively address the challenges facing us as a species, and if we are ever to create truly critical societies, we need to take thinking more seriously in every part of human life, and certainly in teaching. When all is said and done, however highly we may rate our educational programmes, schools, colleges, universities and, yes, even our own classes, students are not developing the intellectual skills and character traits they need to survive in an increasingly complex world.
Thankfully, critical thinking is accessible, to some degree, to all who would enter its doors. From the beginning, the most basic principles are fairly easy to grasp. What is more, the process of translating principles into strategies is reasonably accessible. At the Center and Foundation for Critical Thinking we have developed many resources for incorporating critical thinking into instruction, tested over many years with students and faculty. Of course, teaching for critical thinking is an art, not a science; there are an unlimited number of ways to cultivate the intellect.
Let me offer, by way of example, one set of instructional activities I have found to be highly effective in fostering critical thinking. These activities are most powerful when repeatedly used within a term, focusing on the core content of the course. Collectively, these structures develop students’ abilities to read closely, write substantively and reason analytically. They enable students to empathise with a broad range of views, even (perhaps most importantly) with those views contrary to their own. These activities illuminate for students the fact that articles, chapters, essays and other written works should be viewed as products of reasoning that, in most cases, can be intellectually analysed and assessed.
There are four parts to this instructional process. As you read through this series of activities, remember that any of the details can and should be contextualised to fit the situation, student group, and so forth.
Part one: reading closely
Students are often asked to read, but they generally do not understand what it means to read closely. They do not understand that to do so presupposes disciplined reasoning. Students seldom use reading to improve their thinking or thinking to improve their reading. They don’t see the connection between thoughtful reading and living the life of a reasonable person. I introduce close reading to students by first explaining that to read for deep understanding, they must learn to actively engage in a silent dialogue with the author. I emphasise that, if they are to become educated people, it is essential that they develop their ability to read for deep understanding and that they consistently do so throughout the course of their lives.
In this activity, then, the purpose is to teach students how to read a text closely. The basic design entails students working together in groups, focusing on an assigned text. Students take turns reading the text aloud, interpreting it, and then getting feedback from the other group members on their interpretation. Here is the structure I suggest:
Students working in groups of three are assigned a text to read together. Student A reads one paragraph aloud, periodically stopping and stating in her own words what she understands each sentence to be saying. After each act of interpretation, students B and C either agree with the interpretation or offer a different one. Then student B takes the next paragraph, and the same process continues (with A and C giving feedback on each interpretation). Student C takes the next paragraph, and on it goes with one student reading, interpreting and receiving feedback from the other two students on the original interpretation until you (the teacher) end the activity or the reading is completed.
Before beginning this assignment, I remind students that the process should entail mutual participation and support, rather than passivity or conflict. The idea is to work together toward the most reasonable interpretation of the text. I may, as I often do, model the kind of feedback I am looking for from students. For instance, I may say something like “I am interpreting this a little differently than you seem to be doing. I agree with this part of your interpretation, but in this sentence, I think the author means X rather than Y. Do you agree, or are you still seeing it another way?”
Part two: analysing the text
Once students are able to carefully read a text, they are in a position to analyse it. It is important for them to understand that any essay, article or chapter in a text can be explicitly analysed as a product of reasoning. Here are the primary questions I ask students to answer in analysing the text (in a written assignment):
• What is the author’s fundamental purpose?
• What is the author’s point of view with respect to the issue?
• What assumptions is the author making in his or her reasoning?
• What are the implications of the author’s reasoning?
• What information does the author use in reasoning through this issue?
• What are the most fundamental inferences or conclusions in the article?
• What are the most basic concepts used by the author?
• What is the key question the author is trying to answer?
Part three: sharing papers and giving feedback to one another
After students have completed part two as an out-of-class assignment, they are ready to give and receive feedback on their papers. Working in groups of three, students take turns reading their papers aloud, periodically stopping to allow other students to give feedback. It is essential that, in giving feedback, students use intellectual standards – for example, clarity, accuracy, relevance, depth and breadth. In this activity, the students are focused on helping one another become clearer in their writing, more accurately represent what the author is saying, more deeply understand the author’s argument, more logically present the author’s reasoning, and so forth.
When students are working in groups, I monitor and encourage the accurate assessment of thought. Thus, I will periodically stop the feedback process and again model the thinking I would like to see. I may say, for example: “Nina commented on the lack of clarity in Josh’s purpose. This is what I am looking for – the explicit use of intellectual standards.” Or, “Seth pointed out that some of the information mentioned by Susan wasn’t actually in the text. This was a good intellectual move. I suggest that the group now look at the original text for information that Susan can include.”
Part four: speaking in the voice of the author
Having closely read and analysed the text and compared written analyses with those of other students, students are now in a position to role-play the thinking of the author. Roleplaying an author is, in one way, the ultimate test of understanding, by saying in essence:
“I will enter the mind of the author and speak as if I were the author. I will try to answer any questions you may have about the text by adopting the voice of the author and will answer your questions as I think the author would. I will speak in the first person singular. I will try to be the author fully and truly for the purpose of this exercise, even if, and most especially if, I disagree with the author.”
To role-play an author, students need a partner who has read the text and is willing to ask important questions about it. Responding to questions forces students to think within the author’s logic. Practising speaking within the voice of an author is a good way to get a sense of whether students have absorbed the core meanings of a text.
In this activity, one student takes the role of the author, speaking in the first person. The other student asks probing questions, using the questions in part two as guidelines. The student who is questioning will lead the discussion, perhaps beginning with the first question, “What was your purpose in writing this article about people who live in absolute poverty?” This question might be followed up by any of the following questions: “What were you assuming about this issue when you wrote this article?”, “What information did you use in coming to your main conclusions?”, “Was there any essential information relevant to the issue that you might have excluded, either intentionally or not?”, “What are some important implications of people taking your line of reasoning seriously?”, “What are some important implications of people failing to take your line of reasoning seriously?”
When we approach teaching with activities like these, using critical-thinking principles to process academic content, we honour and develop the intellects of students. We engage them in the thinking we want them to do. We help them recognise that the only way to learn any important set of ideas is to think those ideas into their thinking using their thinking, and to do so critically. With such an approach, we do a lot of modelling; but we place the responsibility for learning on students’ shoulders. Most importantly, we help them develop the intellectual skills, ability and character they need to reason through virtually any problem or issue, in any subject or discipline. We help them gain the intellectual tools they need to survive successfully and fair-mindedly in the complex and unpredictable world they face.
References:
Linda Elder is an educational psychologist, and president and fellow of the Foundation for Critical Thinking, a non-profit organisation that seeks to foster critical societies through education and social reform.
14 August, 2009
'Winning' By Jack Welch with Suzy Welch
Reviewed by C. Radhakrishnan
Jack Welch, famous for being a respected business manager and former CEO of the American General Electric (GE) conglomerate and for his popular book called "Jack: Straight from the Gut". It's not frequently that an executive of Jack Welch's calibre shares his insight into management and management philosophy.
The book, ‘Winning’ has evolved from thousands of questions asked of Welch when speaking to audiences around the world. When he speaks, anyone who wants to learn to run an institution more effectively should pay attention. I have come to know about him from Dhruv Academy Library. This is the first book I have borrowed from the amazing collection of books in our library.
I was fascinated to learn that Jack Welch's education background wasn't in business. He has a doctorate in physics. He is the outstanding example of General Electric's management development program. His honest, be-the-best style of management became the gold standard in business, with his relentless focus on people, teamwork and profits.
Welch starts out ‘Winning’ by explaining what a mission statement is. Instead of platitudes about quality and service, Welch believes an effective mission statement should answer one question, "How do we intend to win in this business?" For example, the mission statement at GE from 1981 through 1995 said it was going to be "the most competitive enterprise in the world" by being No. 1 or No. 2 in every market. The mission statement guided the corporation's management to fix, sell or close every underperforming business that didn't meet the corporate requirements.
Once the mission is established, a company should define its values. The corporate values are behaviours, how the mission is to be carried out to win. Values, he says, “people must be able to use them as marching orders because they are the ‘how’ of the mission, the means to the end – winning.”
In the first part, he stresses the significance of candor - open communication - to business success. When an institution has a high degree of candor, everything operates faster and better. In some companies, people are afraid to communicate straightforwardly or put forth ideas that stimulate real debate. Presenting new ideas or criticism of practices with candor brings issues to the forefront so they can be dealt with much more quickly. I feel it’s applicable to educational institutions too.
In people management he says, “You’ve got the right players on the field – that’s great start. Now they need to work together, steadily improve their performance, be motivated, stay with the company, and grow as leaders.” For this to happen we have to place the right people at the right position in the field but many times people go wrong here and the whole setup collapses even after having talented people.
The more controversial comments in ‘Winning’ may relate to differentiation and managing people. According to Welch, managers should assess their employees and separate them into three categories of performance: the top 20%, middle 70% and bottom 10%, then act on the distinction. The top 20% should be treated as stars, rewarded and nurtured. Management of the middle 70% should focus on training, positive feedback and thoughtful goal setting, including identifying people with potential to move up and cultivating them. The bottom 10% has to go. Welch sees terminating these people as a humane action that may free these employees to pursue successful careers at companies and in pursuits where they truly belong and at which they excel. I wish, this must happen in our schools, then the life of many ‘so called teachers’ could be saved and students learning experience would become more enjoyable and purposeful.
This is just a sample of Welch's corporate wisdom. The book is meant to big organisations, but there is information here that can be translated and adapted by entrepreneurs, smaller companies and edupreneurs. I really feel many of the management strategies of this book are very much applicable to educational institutions like schools in our country. At the end in ‘Here, There and Everywhere’, Welch includes questions of his philosophy with responses. If you are concerned with running an organisation/school/college more effectively, you will want to read and study Winning.
Book Courtesy: Dhruv Academy Library, Sangamner
To buy this book online: Winning
Jack Welch, famous for being a respected business manager and former CEO of the American General Electric (GE) conglomerate and for his popular book called "Jack: Straight from the Gut". It's not frequently that an executive of Jack Welch's calibre shares his insight into management and management philosophy. The book, ‘Winning’ has evolved from thousands of questions asked of Welch when speaking to audiences around the world. When he speaks, anyone who wants to learn to run an institution more effectively should pay attention. I have come to know about him from Dhruv Academy Library. This is the first book I have borrowed from the amazing collection of books in our library.
I was fascinated to learn that Jack Welch's education background wasn't in business. He has a doctorate in physics. He is the outstanding example of General Electric's management development program. His honest, be-the-best style of management became the gold standard in business, with his relentless focus on people, teamwork and profits.
Welch starts out ‘Winning’ by explaining what a mission statement is. Instead of platitudes about quality and service, Welch believes an effective mission statement should answer one question, "How do we intend to win in this business?" For example, the mission statement at GE from 1981 through 1995 said it was going to be "the most competitive enterprise in the world" by being No. 1 or No. 2 in every market. The mission statement guided the corporation's management to fix, sell or close every underperforming business that didn't meet the corporate requirements.
Once the mission is established, a company should define its values. The corporate values are behaviours, how the mission is to be carried out to win. Values, he says, “people must be able to use them as marching orders because they are the ‘how’ of the mission, the means to the end – winning.”
In the first part, he stresses the significance of candor - open communication - to business success. When an institution has a high degree of candor, everything operates faster and better. In some companies, people are afraid to communicate straightforwardly or put forth ideas that stimulate real debate. Presenting new ideas or criticism of practices with candor brings issues to the forefront so they can be dealt with much more quickly. I feel it’s applicable to educational institutions too.
In people management he says, “You’ve got the right players on the field – that’s great start. Now they need to work together, steadily improve their performance, be motivated, stay with the company, and grow as leaders.” For this to happen we have to place the right people at the right position in the field but many times people go wrong here and the whole setup collapses even after having talented people.
The more controversial comments in ‘Winning’ may relate to differentiation and managing people. According to Welch, managers should assess their employees and separate them into three categories of performance: the top 20%, middle 70% and bottom 10%, then act on the distinction. The top 20% should be treated as stars, rewarded and nurtured. Management of the middle 70% should focus on training, positive feedback and thoughtful goal setting, including identifying people with potential to move up and cultivating them. The bottom 10% has to go. Welch sees terminating these people as a humane action that may free these employees to pursue successful careers at companies and in pursuits where they truly belong and at which they excel. I wish, this must happen in our schools, then the life of many ‘so called teachers’ could be saved and students learning experience would become more enjoyable and purposeful.
This is just a sample of Welch's corporate wisdom. The book is meant to big organisations, but there is information here that can be translated and adapted by entrepreneurs, smaller companies and edupreneurs. I really feel many of the management strategies of this book are very much applicable to educational institutions like schools in our country. At the end in ‘Here, There and Everywhere’, Welch includes questions of his philosophy with responses. If you are concerned with running an organisation/school/college more effectively, you will want to read and study Winning.
Book Courtesy: Dhruv Academy Library, Sangamner
To buy this book online: Winning
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