What’s Inside?
Article — The Great Conversation — Part Three
Discussion Forum — Help!! I’m not a first grade math teacher!
Developing Better Thinkers Through Writing — New exercise and answer to the previous exercise
Poetry — When Great Trees Fall
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“The Great Conversation” — Part Three
When participating in “The Great Conversation” through our studies of the Western Tradition, it becomes evident quickly that a hierarchy exists that distinguishes truth, goodness, and beauty from evil, falsehood, and ugliness. When teaching our students what is true, good, and beautiful, we make a claim that some ideas, thoughts, actions, expressions are good, true, and beautiful and others are less so down to the point that some are evil, false, and hideous. The claim is controversial, because relativism competes with our claim of what is true. For example, human beings do not want to be told what is good, because then we have the responsibility to be good. If we are honest with ourselves, we do not really want to be challenged to be good -- we want to do what we want, which may or may not be good. In fact, we would rather not have to think about it at all and live out our own version of goodness. Relativism frees us from the moral code that truth, goodness, and beauty promulgates.
You may ask, does arguing over what is good really matter? Well, it does actually. Understanding what is good is the basis of the founding of America. The Founding Fathers claimed many times that human beings choosing to do what was right, choosing to be good, was the basis for the freedoms incorporated into the U.S. Constitution. The Founding Fathers were trained classically from a Biblical worldview and they understood what is good, true, and beautiful and they formed a political system around these very ideas. The Constitution was not created for people who believed in relativism. It was created for people who believed that by the Holy Spirit guiding people, the evils of human nature could be kept in check and the people could maintain the maximum amount of political liberty. You may ask, then why are we being controlled ever so more by the government? The answer is simple -- not enough people understand what is good and choose to live out goodness. Only in being good can Americans maintain their liberty. How do we learn and teach our children the type of goodness that will help us maintain our liberty as Americans? By engaging in “The Great Conversation,” by studying the Western Tradition, and by trusting in Christ and reading God’s Word, which is the source of all Truth. Can this really work? It can, but as our children’s and students’ adult leaders, we must be intentional in our training so that what our children learn with their minds seeps down into their hearts.
Even within Christian and Classical schools though, many students learn truth goodness, and beauty in class, and argue convincingly for all three in papers and speeches, but when confronted by evil, falsehood, and ugliness in their friends, families, and society, they say nothing, because they do not want to be considered “judgmental.” Classical Christian education teaches us to judge rightly. How can we as parents and teachers train our students so that the truth they learn in class, at home, and in church sinks into their hearts? We pray for God’s help for our children/students . . . a lot . . . and we ask questions that challenge them on a moral level. As a teacher, I’ve seen many students with good head knowledge, but not all of them developed good heart knowledge. Our children/students have to be challenged to hold themselves accountable to do what is good. We cannot force the knowledge to move from their brains into their hearts, but if we ask the hard questions, the ones no one wants to answer out loud, we can encourage them to train their hearts to follow what they know is right in their minds. I have practiced asking the tough questions as a teacher, sometimes with a pre-planned exercise in class, but more often when teachable moments arise in class or during times of disciplining students. The questions do work, because my students tell me that they work. I had a good teacher who taught me how to ask such questions.
We, me and my sisters, were trained in elementary school to follow The Golden Rule and to be kind and to help others in need, etc. We knew intellectually what was right, but when challenged to act on our beliefs, from the heart, as children, we failed many times in one area in particular. There was a girl in our grade, I have a twin sister, who was universally disliked. She was socially awkward and even the kindest of kids in the class who had tried to befriend her gave up, because she was so difficult to get along with. I was not the kindest of the kids, but I did try to befriend her and gave up myself. She talked loudly and told people’s secrets. She laughed obnoxiously at things that were not funny. She would pull out your chair as you were going to sit in it, which we all did at some point, but usually only once, because we knew it was mean. This girl would never stop pulling out chairs from under people. She generally alienated herself from the rest of the grade throughout our time in elementary school. She did not mature at the same rate as the rest of us either, so as we all grew up, she remained more childish. As you can imagine, she became a target for kids to make fun of.
Everyday when we got home, we would tell our mother how our day went. Every now and then, we would talk about how annoying this girl was and how she had been made fun of or treated badly by other students. My mother did not say that she felt sorry for the girl or lament her poor situation at school. Instead, she asked us a very pointed question: “What did you do about it?” Getting stunned silence, she would declare, “If you see someone being treated badly and you do not step in to help them, then it is the the same thing as you doing it.” She put us on the spot. She did not let us wriggle out of it. She made sure we felt the condemnation that our lack of action warranted. I am humph..er..gag.. years old, and I still remember her saying that to us. What was her point? Action comes from the heart, so good thoughts in the mind are not worth much unless they seep into our hearts and motivate us to do good. My mother did not expect us to be friends with this girl, although she encouraged us to try every year, but she did expect us to stand up for this girl, or any one else, being mistreated by others. I did not learn this lesson very well in elementary school, but as I grew older, I did realize that my mother’s words were true and that I had a responsibility to act in similar situations. Without her challenge, I would not have changed as a person.
Can we do this in a school or a homeschool setting? Certainly we can, and we must! We cannot only teach virtue; we have to challenge our students to practice it in everyday life (and yes, we are all still in training ourselves). Is it awkward having twenty-five 16-year-olds stare at you in stunned silence because you asked a pointed question that made them feel uncomfortable and convicted regarding their behavior? Yes, very. Is it necessary to train not only the minds, but the hearts of our students? Yes, very. Does our political, economic, and religious liberty depend upon it? Yes, very much.
Discussion Forum
Help!! I’m not a first grade math teacher!
I am writing about my new experience as a first grade math teacher and asking for suggestions that could help others in a similar situation.
I recently began tutoring a student online who lives in another state. The student’s school district is paying for unlimited tutoring for any students whose teachers suggested they receive tutoring due to pandemic related lack of learning. From recent experience, I have learned that children in Kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade in 2020, who also lived in states who did online school for 2020-2021 and had interrupted learning for 2021-2022, have accumulated years of lack of learning. What has also been lost in the children is the work ethic for learning and the practice of learning how to learn. In addition, the schools refused to hold any students back due to their lack of learning, so the students went on to higher grades this past year, not knowing what to do in their classes, and sat there bewildered and sometimes getting into trouble. Then, they were promoted to the next grade this fall, even though they have 2-3 years worth of instruction missing in their short academic lives. When you couple this knowledge with the fact that so much learning has moved online without the use of any books, seemingly permanently, the quality of instruction is seriously compromised. Students do in a week online what could be done in two days in class. I guess that teachers know the lack of knowledge is severe, so in order to have lessons, they have spaced them out considerably, which means students are falling even further behind.
One of the children I am working with who has lived out this scenario is supposed to be going into 4th grade, but he is doing Kindergarten-1st grade math. I am currently working with him in math. I am attempting to teach him kindergarten and first grade level math online. We are using Singapore math, because it teaches students to think through math at a deep level. It has taken several weeks, but he is developing a stronger work ethic and I am learning how he best learns.
What I have noticed is that changing methods of teaching confuses him and he has to refocus on learning the topic. I changed the methods being afraid that he would get bored, but I am thinking that was not a good idea. I have worked with him on place value working with the Singapore online math book, writing out problems myself, because you cannot mark on the Singapore math online program, and with manipulatives with the bedrock of the system being a written out number line. Does anyone know if varying up the learning is helpful or unhelpful? I think that learning to think through math in different ways is good, but I do not know if it makes it more difficult for beginners.
Also, I have noticed that when asking deeper questions, such as which number is greater and by how much, the abstract thinking is difficult for him. My strategy is to keep repeating the language in the sentences used in the math book and have him keep counting until he can tell how much the difference is. It does seem though that at the 3rd -4th time of counting, he needs to be told the answer so that he can stop guessing and learn how to identify the correct answer. We are engaging in a lot of trial and error. Also, how many breaks do young children need in an hour to develop the ability to concentrate, but to be able to keep concentrating?
I do think the Singapore was the right way to go, because he is thinking at a deeper level about adding and subtracting and place value.
Any words of instruction or commiseration would be appreciated. I am also seeking help in how to teach reading at the younger levels.
Developing Better Thinkers Through Writing
(Image of a teacher waiting on his/her students to think:)
“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and
the blind can see.”
Mark Twain
A. Words to look up in Webster’s 1828 Online Dictionary:
Kindness —
Language —
B. Rewrite the quote and insert the definitions in a way that makes sense.
C. Questions:
Explain what this quote means. Differentiate between intention and action.
**My answers to the last newsletter’s Developing Better Thinkers Through Writing
Disarm the people-that is the best and most effective way to enslave them.
James Madison
A. Words to look up in Webster’s 1828 Online Dictionary:
Disarm — to deprive of arms as in weapons; to deprive of means of attack or defense; to deprive of force, strength, or means of annoyance
Effective — Efficient; causing to be
Enslave — to deprive of liberty and subject to the will of a master; To reduce to servitude or subjection
B. Rewrite the quote and insert the definitions in a way that makes sense.
Deprive the people of their strength — that is the best and most efficient way to reduce them to subjection to the will of a master.
C. Questions:
Does “disarm” have more than one connotation?
It can mean to literally take away someone’s weapon and his ability to defend himself.
It can also mean to lull someone into thinking they are safe or secure when they are not actually safe.
It can mean to put people at ease.
*It can mean to train someone so ineffectively that they cannot defend themselves against an attack — physical or verbal.
Think about the different ways that people can be disarmed and consequently enslaved. Write down at least one thought that shows the cause and effect relationship between being disarmed and enslaved.
When I read this quote, it made me think that if I do not do my job as a teacher and train my students to think well, especially about those things that are true, and especially the truth of the gospel, then anyone else who would be persuasive with half truths and lies could efficiently reduce them to subjection to any idea they wanted. The only way to train young people to defend their faith and the truth is to push them to think through the ideas we discuss and write about in class in order to make them their own in their hearts and souls and minds. Asking tough and challenging questions that make students question their core beliefs is necessary for them to make their beliefs their own. When is a safer time for students to challenge what they really believe than when they are still home and can call on those they know well to think through universal truths with them?
When Great Trees Fall
By Maya Angelou
When great trees fall,
rocks on distant hills shudder,
lions hunker down
in tall grasses,
and even elephants
lumber after safety.
When great trees fall
in forests,
small things recoil into silence,
their senses
eroded beyond fear.
When great souls die,
the air around us becomes
light, rare, sterile.
We breathe, briefly.
Our eyes, briefly,
see with
a hurtful clarity.
Our memory, suddenly sharpened,
examines,
gnaws on kind words
unsaid,
promised walks
never taken.
Great souls die and
our reality, bound to
them, takes leave of us.
Our souls,
dependent upon their
nurture,
now shrink, wizened.
Our minds, formed
and informed by their
radiance,
fall away.
We are not so much maddened
as reduced to the unutterable ignorance
of dark, cold
caves.
And when great souls die,
after a period peace blooms,
slowly and always
irregularly. Spaces fill
with a kind of
soothing electric vibration.
Our senses, restored, never
to be the same, whisper to us.
They existed. They existed.
We can be. Be and be
better. For they existed.