Www prim ed com3/30/2023 ![]() ![]() Master teachers like Ron Berger (author of An Ethic of Excellence) argue that spending long periods of time on complex projects is much better education than jumping from factoid to factoid as the current mania over standardized state testing seems to demand. Most of what we teach in the K-12 years is really about teaching students how to learn and fostering a thirst for learning it is not about what they specifically learn. My point is not that we should stop teaching facts, but that we need to keep them in proper perspective. Certainly learning to read, write, and engage in basic math skills are critical life skills. Knowing where Appomattox is and why it is important has had little impact on my life and likely on yours (if you remember learning about it at all). We could easily teach about a different battle or a different artist or a different genre of poetry and serve the same ends. ![]() I would argue that much of the specific content we teach students is not of intrinsic value. Once again this job of knowledge transfer needs to be kept in perspective. Teachers spend countless hours trying to figure out the best way to get students to understand how magnets work or what a preposition is or how to carry over remainders in long division. The factoids of the curriculum tend to get over-emphasized by teachers because so much of their energy is necessarily spent on writing lesson plans about them, attempting to pass them on to students, and assessing them. The second part of this issue is even more controversial. Teachers, quite understandably, lose perspective about the concrete knowledge that they purvey. Not only is it the job of educators to foster the development of positive character in students, it is arguably the most important aspect of their job. Teachers, in particular, and the nation in general, cannot afford to pass the buck and claim that fostering the development of positive character in youth is not their job. This particularly applies to those institutions with the greatest impact on youth development i.e., the family, the school, and now the media. We have still not returned to the full understanding that the moral character of our youth is everyone’s responsibility. Particularly when the Soviet Union successfully sent up the Sputnik rocket, we, as a nation, panicked and focused public education monomaniacally on the task of catching up to the Soviets in scientific technological capacity. After World War II in the U.S., we lost our way concerning the purpose of education. Certainly literal literacy and cultural literacy (along with other academic skills) are part of civic competence, but it is the civic and moral socialization that truly justifies education. ![]() Education was foremost intended to prepare students to be democratic citizens, which includes the formation of virtuous character. Academic learning was never intended to be the sole or even the prime purpose of public education. The first part concerns the true purposes of education. Putting Academics in Perspective. There are two related parts to this and both are seen as sacrilegious by some educators. It must be a top priority. “If character does not stand authentically at the core of a school’s mission, then it will have little chance of being effective.” Schools first and foremost must make a choice to teach character. Coupling that with both the research literature on teacher effectiveness (which is admittedly skewed toward academic success and rarely considers the development of the whole child) and asking many educators what they consider an excellent teacher, I have zeroed in on six broad characteristics. I probably wouldn’t have had a good answer back then, but after a decade of pre-service and in-service teacher training and mentoring hundreds of principals, I think I have a better handle on what makes a truly great teacher. When he was an elementary school student, I dreaded the day, especially in elementary school, when he would be assigned to a teacher who I felt simply did not “get it.” Fortunately, he went to an excellent school and my nightmare never became a reality.īut in ruminating about this I had to consider what my criteria were for a good teacher and a bad teacher. DISCUSSES THE PRIMED ℠ MODELĪs I work with thousands of educators, trying to help them understand how to improve their practice toward both academic achievement and the positive psychological development of their students, I frequently think about my son. THE MODEL PRIMED FOR CHARACTER EDUCATION Marvin W. ![]()
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