Teach 'Em How to Fish » NPR http://ewarkentin.edublogs.org Lifelong learning, growing, and empowering others Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:18:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development, and my classroom culture http://ewarkentin.edublogs.org/2008/04/01/kohlbergs-stages-of-moral-development-and-my-classroom-culture/ http://ewarkentin.edublogs.org/2008/04/01/kohlbergs-stages-of-moral-development-and-my-classroom-culture/#comments Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:25:47 +0000 Ed Warkentin http://ewarkentin.edublogs.org/2008/04/01/kohlbergs-stages-of-moral-development-and-my-classroom-culture/ I recently read the book, “Teach Like Your Hair’s On Fire,” by Rafe Esquith, an interesting book about an unconventional teacher who has been able to glean from his experiences several “tried and true” techniques that he has found great success with. Other things that he does, most of us have never had the boldness (or time) to try with our students. He begins with his classroom management technique. He, appropriately, emphasizes his classroom culture, discussing themes such as respect, fear, and trust. This chapter got to a more fundamental level than I had gone with my students before. I talk about respect A LOT with my students. It’s a better fundamental rule than the large lists that many teachers come up with. What was new from Rafe was his reference to Kohlberg’s stages of moral development. These stages encourage us to teach students to not just do (or not do) something because of avoiding punishment, a very low level, but just because it’s right (Level VI, what Rafe calls the “Atticus Finch Level”).My current plan for beginning next school year, and how to form the classroom culture goes something like this: I’ll ask my students list, on separate Post-It’s, rules they think we should have in our classroom. I’ll then have them post them on the board. With some moving around by me, eventually, all their suggested rules will be in two categories: “Treat others the way you want to be treated” and “Always do your very best.” I credit Bob Sprankle with the clarity on these two rules. I heard him mention it once in one of his podcasts, and thought, “Yeah – that makes sense!” I used to have several more, that can basically be included in the first. Then, I’ll spend some time at the beginning of the year directly teaching my students these six levels:

I. I Don’t Want to Get in Trouble

II. I Want a Reward

III. I Want to Please Somebody (The “good boy/girl” attitude)

IV. Follow the Rules

V. I Am Considerate of Other People

VI. I Have a Personal Code of Behavior and I Follow It (The Atticus Finch Level)

Here’s an interesting NPR interview with Rafe.

]]> http://ewarkentin.edublogs.org/2008/04/01/kohlbergs-stages-of-moral-development-and-my-classroom-culture/feed/ 0 Athletic Scholarships – a bad thing for higher education? http://ewarkentin.edublogs.org/2007/01/12/athletic-scholarships-a-bad-thing-for-higher-education/ http://ewarkentin.edublogs.org/2007/01/12/athletic-scholarships-a-bad-thing-for-higher-education/#comments Sat, 13 Jan 2007 00:31:00 +0000 Ed Warkentin http://ewarkentin.edublogs.org/2007/01/12/athletic-scholarships-a-bad-thing-for-higher-education/ According to this NPR piece by Frank Deford, senior writer for Sports Illustrated, Burmingham Southern decided to do “the unthinkable.” The board voted their college out of the business of athletic entertainment. Where students play sports because they want to, not because they’re paid performers. They completely dropped all athletic scholarships. This has had many fascinating results, many contrary to predictions:

More students are actually participating in athletics.
Alumni are more supportive (donations are up).
Freshman applications are up.
Campus diversity has increased.

This reminded me of a conversation that has been on going in my family for decades. My dad and uncles are, or have been, High School coaches. Athletics are important to all of them as athletes, as well. So family gatherings
Just like most family gatherings, I imagine, if there is more than one person from the same industry/field, they end up talking shop a lot at Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. At my family gatherings, discussions about education, sports, and school athletics were very common. This was actually difficult for me at times, because I was not a terribly successful athlete through school.

So, I have heard a lot about the impact of sports on schools in the U.S. I have also heard a bit about how it is done in Germany – one of my uncles lived and worked in Germany for many years (with his family).

In Germany, as I understand it, schools and sports are totally separate. The local recreation centers (city-run or YMCA-esque organizations) take care of a community’s need for athletic activity. This leaves the schools free to concentrate on academics.

It’s amazing how much sports controls our schools. If academic achievement on state standards are really that important, then why do we allow sports (most dramatically football) to severely influence our schools’ ability to focus on those standards? Sports account for an incredibly significant slice of the budget (construction, equipment, personnel, etc.). Rallies, and all the other “rah-rah stuff” meant to encourage the sports teams to be successful and build school spirit really eat away at instructional minutes.

That’s not to say that it’s all bad. It’s just that it seems that this has been way out of control for a long time. It’s kind of refreshing to see a school like Burmingham Southern de-emphasize sports, to the benefit of academics, and surprising to see that it actually had benefits related to sports, as well!

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