This is more a note for my own benefit, than a regular blog post, but basically, I keep coming across some key ideas that I just feel it's incredibly important to teach. For example, critical thinking. I think everyone agrees that critical thinking should be taught--it's frequently referenced during discussions of the importance of education--but it seems to be strangely absent from any official curriculum. I don't know if this is an oversight, or due to some misguided idea that it can't be taught explicitly, but instead must be simply absorbed through enough exposure to "education," but in fact, critical thinking can be taught explicitly, and I am in fact doing so in my classroom right now.
To my dismay, my students are not taking well to it. I'm not sure if this is my failure to design and execute an effective curriculum, or whether it's due to a depressing lack of prior knowledge on the subject, but they are taking to my lessons on logic and critical thinking like a fish takes to air. Which is to say, not at all. These are probably the most difficult and least successful lessons of any I've taught so far.
Nevertheless, it's important enough that I keep plowing ahead, hoping that I will make an impression on their less-than-receptive brains. If there's one thing I want them to leave their year with me with, it's an awareness that you can't always take the world at face value, and some basic knowledge of how to tell truth from fiction.
I do think my curriculum needs work, but that's only natural given that this is not only my first year teaching this content, but in fact my first year teaching at all. I'll keep working at it, and hopefully getting better.
The point of this article is that critical thinking is not alone: it's one of several absolutely fundamental ideas that I want to bring to my students. I'm sure there's more on this list that I'm leaving off, but here are four that I have right now...
* Critical Thinking: As discussed above, I want to introduce my students to concepts of formal logic, logical fallacies, how to construct an effective argument, and how to recognize flaws in an argument. I want them to be able to recognize manipulative forces in the world around them, and have some intelligent suspicion toward information they are exposed to.
* Reading: In an ideal world, all of my students would leave my classes having developed a passion for reading, prepared to be lifelong readers and learners. Readers are better people. Science says so. So inculcating them into this passion is not only a service to them, but a service to everyone their lives will touch in the future. In fact, this is one of the reasons I'm considering switching to middle school next year: more impressionable students. Younger minds will be easier to indoctrinate into a love of reading ;)
* Writing: Writing is many things, but easy ain't one. While there are many, many tips and tricks for learning writing, I'm of the opinion that the cornerstone of any development as a writer has to be practice. Other techniques can supplement practice, but without practice, any other technique is limited. The best method I've heard of is writing an essay every single week. In my class now, with only 45 minute periods and no homework, I haven't really found it practical, but I hope to bring this sort of routine writing into my future practice.
* Grammar: Much of what is taught and learned in English class has a frustrating intangibility. Good writing is easy to point to, but hard to explain, hard to teach, and hard to measure progress of. Same with good reading. It's not impossible to measure, but progress is often slow and imprecise, especially compared to, say, mathematics, where every question has a clear right answer. Grammer is one of those tangible skills that can be taught, can be learned, and can be measured, and I would be neglectful to let my students out the door without a solid foundation in grammar.
* Shakespearean Language: I'm adding this one on last minute, mostly because (as stated above) I'm thinking of transferring to middle school next year, and while Shakespearean Language is a huge challenge, I think (like other new languages!) the earlier students are exposed to it, the easier it will come to them. If they can get a handle on it at 7th or 8th grade, they will be well-equipped for years of upcoming future English classes in high school and college--not to mention equipped to enjoy his rich works for their own sake.
The reason I'm making this list is to remind myself what I want my middle school students to walk out the door with after I get a year, or preferably two, with them. When I'm teaching next year, starting up in a new placement with younger students, I want to have this list as a reminder, a touchstone that I can come back to to guide my decisions in the classroom.
Are my standards high in expecting that 12 year-olds can learn Shakespeare and Critical Thinking? Yes, absolutely. But recollections of my own childhood, as well as observations of youth today, lead me to believe that with younger students, the "big idea" often comes easier to them than the details, which take time to memorize and solidify. Genuine understanding means getting the big idea behind it all, and young kids are better at that than we give them credit for. I think having high expectations, and imprinting these big ideas at a young age will leave them especially well-equipped going forward. At least, that's my hope!
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