Message to School Administrators
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Message to School Administrators |
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Why do we send our children to schools? The answer is to prepare them for life.
Academic knowledge is only a part of what is needed in order to lead a good and successful life. Other lessons of life are (too often) not being taught by family, church, or other organizations.
I want to state up front that I have a lot of respect for schools and for teachers. I am not trying to find scapegoats.
It is clear from the media many schools are not able to adequately teach our children. This problem has causes that stem from many changes in our society. Regardless of the distribution of responsibility for the problem, the bottom line is by raw definition our schools are failing. I am trying to find solutions that schools and teachers can implement.
The main reason I took a job as a computer teacher was to get a seat on the inside of a school. I wanted to learn what the problems are, why they exist, and to figure out how to fix them (if I could!). After teaching for a while, I began to find some answers.
I began writing and delivering motivational talks, with encouraging results. I then started working on what I call the Personhood curriculum. I developed a lot of papers, and thought extensively about the philosophy of learning.
I learned about a nearby school that had been honored because of their work with character education (a public K-5 school). I visited the principal. She had been implementing the Character Counts curriculum for something like 6 years. I liked what I heard. She loaned me a large binder that presented the curriculum, which I reviewed. I liked what I saw, but also recognized that it seemed to have some weaknesses, that my Personhood project would correct.
The principal told me the Character Counts curriculum resulted in improved student performance in all of their subjects. They became more efficient students. This allowed the same material to be covered with less class time. There was actually a total gain in effectiveness in teaching the academics.
She said that when her students moved on to Jr. High, those teachers could tell by observation which students had come from her school! I would consider that a resounding endorsement!
It is this writer's firm belief that the curriculum presented on this web site can produce even better results than that achieved from a character program alone.
Let us assume you are a School Principal or on the board of directors. You think about what is proposed in these web sites. You mull it over in your mind.
I Can Hear it Now!
"I don't see how we could possibly teach Personhood and Motivation! We can't afford to take time from any of our subjects. There is not enough time in the school year now, to cover what we need to cover. I can't give the teachers any more work! They will rebel or quit! "
BUT...
One of the problems the author observed was too many students who lacked global student skills. Take this Quiz on Effort to Teach Global Skills