Archive for: November 2008

W.C. Fields said, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.  Then quit.  There’s no point in being a damn fool about it.”

Children are keenly aware of their pecking order in school.  The structure of school guarantees that competing and comparing are ever present.  Ask any student and they can name the “smart kids” and the “dumb kids.”  Even in play children often choose up teammates based on their abilities to help insure a win.   Being labeled a quitter is a stigma of weakness. 

Ironically psychologists say that individuals who are able to adapt their attitudes about winning and changing or altering a goal are healthier.  These persons have less stress and have stronger immune systems. 

So how can a classroom teacher create an environment that accepts quitting?

First it’s important to re-define what quitting means.  Children must understand that quitting does not mean not trying.   Quitting is also not failure; it is restructuring the final goal.  The joy is in running the race, not trying to win it.  Quitting is knowing when something is not going to happen perhaps that goal is impossible.   Everyone cannot obtain all A’s.   The classroom must also be a quality environment.  

The elements of a quality environment are:

• Relationships are based on trust and respect.  Teachers convey to students that they have the student’s best interest in mind.  Students feel safe.
• As part of all curriculum students learn valuable life skills, speaking, listening, reading, writing, and problem solving
• Students learn how to self assess.  Self-evaluation means constantly working toward improvement.  “If it ain’t broke, work to make it better.”

Self assessment also teaches children how to let go of an unrealistic goal.   Goal reengagement – seeking a meaningful alternative buffers frustration and increases optimism.   If students approach learning with optimism then difficult tasks are not so scary. 

Learning does not have to be a contest.  If students can measure their own progress against themselves and not against the group then they can begin to realize their own potential.

When you enter the Museum of Tolerance In Los Angeles California you will watch a video on the vast variety of prejudices all designed to show you that everyone has a few.   And then you will go into the main part of the museum through one of two doors.   One door is marked prejudiced the other door is marked unprejudiced.  The door marked unprejudiced is locked in case anyone misses the point.   Occasionally a few people will demand to enter through the locked unprejudiced door.   

Each one of us has biases whether we admit it or not.  Our brain is designed with blind spots making it difficult to question our own thinking.  It’s hard to see when we are wrong even when the wrong thinking is made clear like the locked unprejudiced door at the Tolerance Museum.  

Prejudice is a paradox because it’s the greatest thing that divides us and also the greatest thing that connects us because it’s something we all share. National Public Radio did a segment recently in which they examined their coverage of both presidential candidates.   They had received an enormous amount of mail from viewers from both parties criticizing the amount and type of coverage given to the opposition.   So they examined the number of hours given to both parties and type of coverage.  The results were surprising; both candidates had received almost the same amount of airtime. Despite what some viewers thought their coverage seemed to be balanced.  

Teaching tolerance to children might be any teacher’s greatest challenge because before this universal inclusion can begin the teacher must first acknowledge and accept his or her own biases. Teachers must look at their own thinking to begin to expose these blind spots.   One good way to start is next time you are tempted to use a stereotype to explain someone remember to someone else you are a stereotype too. 

This same introspective thinking can be practiced with students.   Create informal games in which students can label and then unlabel the stereotypes they believe about each other.   Allow them to recognize how limited stereotypes are.  Learning tolerance is essentially knowing the importance of appreciating the differences of others and how to treat every individual with the same level of compassion, kindness and respect. 

The Internet is a great resource for teachers wanting to incorporate tolerance lessons into the curriculum

• Education World at www.educationworld.com - has a lesson planning articles on teaching tolerance with five lesson plans
• Scholastic Magazine on Diversity scholastic.com/professional/teachdive/ offers lesson plans and professional resources to help teachers develop a diversity curriculum
• Teaching Tolerance Magazine www.tolerance.org/teach/indes.jsp distributes information to support the efforts of K-12 teachers and other educators to promote respect for differences and appreciation of diversity.

This year’s presidential election was an historical event.  For many Americans this was the first time they felt empowered by the election process.   Unfortunately after the limelight fades many will allow the work of government to continue without interest or input.   The attitude and approach to civic education is an often-neglected one, yet it plays a critical role in determining how children develop, how they will view themselves as citizens and later apply their learning to community involvement. 

How can we teach our children to respect the rule of law if they do not understand the reasons for the rule?  Children must learn the importance of participatory democracy and they can only do that by understanding the history behind the struggle for a representative government and the right to vote.

Civics education does not have a benchmark standard in many of our schools.  Yet teachers can incorporate civic lessons into many parts of the curriculum.  In the movie Mr. Holland’s Opus, Richard Dreyfuss played a band teacher.   He captured the importance of civics in this speech.

He said, “We need to remind our kids and ourselves of the importance of where we come from.  We have to paint a picture of republican democracy that is as romantic and irresistible as it really is.  We have to teach our children our history, our mythology, our culture, with passion, with wit, with rigor; and by doing that, we will create the possibility of that civic virtue that ties thinking individuals to their communities.”

Some simple lessons for teachers are:

1. The Day I Was Born – students practice online research by using their birth date to determine historical and literary figures that share their birthdays.  Student can compare their figure to current day American and imagine how their person would act in today’s current political climate.
2. Why do civilizations fall?  Students can do online research on ancient civilizations and construct timelines for their demise, make compassions to current day problems, and hypothesis solutions.
3. The right to vote.  Students can chronicle the struggles of women gaining the right to vote in American and other countries, and the civil rights movement.
4. Peace Corps project.  Visit Worldwise schools at www.peacecorps.gov/wws/ for lesson plans and information to connect with Peace Corps volunteers.  Students can gain understanding on this global scale community involvement.
5. Arrest.  The purpose of the activity “arrest: is to give students first hand knowledge about an arrest of a classmate and their subsequent trial.  Students become active participants in the legal process as they become witnesses, jurors and defendants in a trial simulation.

Encouraging active citizenship among the young requires more than just election year reminders to study the issues or watch the candidates.   It means teaching students the founding principles and understanding how they should apply today.    Allow students to practice freedom by giving them a real voice in shaping the school culture.  Creating a free student press and encouraging freedom of expression.   Schools are the best place to teach students how to engage in vigorous robust debate while keeping a tone of civility and respect.   And last students must practice tolerance by learning about other world religions and cultures.   Ignorance and hatred are the greatest threats to our democracy. 

Recently I heard Barack Obama talk about his early childhood.  He recalled how his mother would get up at 4:30 in the morning to get ready for work.  His mother got him up as well to review his lessons for the day.  He said as an eight-year-old child he would complain about this early rising and his mother replied that she didn’t like it any more than he did but that it was necessary.  

Barack Obama’s mother was creating a habit for her young son.  She was instilling in him the importance of learning and that the momentary hardship of getting up early was part of becoming a successful person.  His mother had a clear understanding of the destination.  She was beginning with the end in mind. 

In parenting if you want to raise responsible self disciplined children you have to keep the end clearly in mind as you interact with your children on a daily basis.  You can’t behave toward them in ways that undermine their self-discipline or their self-esteem.

Anytime you make a plan in life you are beginning with the end in mind.  Planning a trip you determine the destination and the best way to travel before you leave.  Planting a garden you plan it out before you plant.   The end in mind is the creation of a desired future.  How you get there is taking the responsible steps and living in harmony with the plan. 

Beginning with the end in mind is based on personal leadership.  Unfortunately in many schools directing students to a desired outcome is based on management.   Management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things. 

So how can a school truly direct their students with the end in mind?  One simple way is to have a dedicated program of character education.  It must be consistent and deliberate and everyone from the youngest student to the oldest staff member must be part of it.  

Creative World Connections daily messages are one such program.   It is a simple tool to give students direction and purpose.  Both of these help create self-awareness.  With self-awareness students discover their imagination and conscience.  Their decisions can be in harmony with doing the right things.

You have to be amazed at the profound influence that Barack Obama’s mother had on him.   Her end in mind helped inspire a person who in turn inspires others every single day.  

The potential for greatness lies in all of us.   Oliver Wendell Homes said, “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”