What’s Inside
Article — The Mechanics of Starting
Note on Educational Phraseology — (It is more interesting than you are thinking it will be right now:)
Developing Better Thinkers Through Writing
Discussion Forum
Poetry
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The Mechanics of Starting
After discussing informative Classical Christian phraseology for a few weeks, I want to get back to the mechanics of getting started in the first year of teaching. The first two points I want to emphasize are being comfortable in your own shoes as a teacher and setting up an orderly management system that reflects your personality. I have been a teacher for nearly twenty years and one thing I have learned conclusively is that each teacher brings their own personality to the class, and each teacher’s personality can be used as a strength if applied well. Students learn to adjust to different teachers’ personalities, different approaches to learning, and different approaches to classroom management so that they learn to get along with a variety of adults, which helps them develop as young people. The teacher they like and the one they do not understand are integral in their academic and social development.
Anyone who has been around a school for any length of time can identify the different personality traits of the teachers and see that different students learn from each teacher in different ways that benefit each student individually. How wonderful! I have worked in schools where students described the different things they learned from each teacher and the amazing aspect of their descriptions was the distinct personalities and teaching approaches of each teacher. What a delight to hear students describe what they appreciated about each teacher and how each teacher helped them to learn something about their subject and about life -- even the teachers they might not have liked as well as others. Be your best self in your teaching and allow the Lord to use your personality to influence the lives of your students in your unique manner.
As far as my second point goes, there is an important relationship between classroom management and a teacher’s personality. There is no exactly correct way to set up the procedures for a classroom to run in an orderly manner, but a system must be established to produce order. In addition, the teacher must put together a system of order that reflects their personality so that they can implement the system consistently. There is more than one way to skin a cat, so read and learn from others regarding good classroom management and make the lessons your own. I find that the older books written on teaching tend to provide beneficial information, because they are teacher and not student focused, which is in line with Classical Christian education. Keep in mind that you will have to do things that are uncomfortable and/or that you do not like but which are necessary to maintain order. Not everything we have to do as teachers fits with our personalities, which is good for us, because we are also in the process of training our character.
When setting up guidelines of order, also called a classroom management system, make sure you develop guidelines that work for you to maintain order. Feel free to alter them if you find they do not work well for you but notice that I did not say “get rid of.” By all means, every classroom must have a management plan that maintains order. For example, what procedure will you use in class for students to turn in their homework? Where will they turn it in and when? Will you have guidelines on allowing students to do their homework in class instead of listening to you? If you do not want that, then you have to be very clear when homework is due and how you will collect it. You have to be clear on when homework is considered late and when it can no longer be turned in. In addition, I implemented a plan for using paperclips with the rough edges to place on all homework turned in on time. It helped me in two ways: first, if students turned in work after I put the paper clip on the homework, I knew it was late. Secondly, if students claimed that I lost their homework, I could assure them that it was not possible, because paper has to get pried out of those types of paperclips. If you are thinking, “Oh my gosh! I have to be that specific in my management plan?” No, you do not have to be, but having a specific plan in crucial areas precludes a lot of problems that will develop if you do not. Trust me, when you place an additional twenty-five personalities in that room, and even if it is just one or two additional personalities in a homeschool situation, you will find out how quickly things can become chaotic without a specific plan of classroom management.
A word of warning in case you might be doubting my exhortation regarding classroom management. A classroom beset by inefficiency and disorder encourages poor behavior, because it enables the worst parts of human nature to surface. Students will lie and deceive if they see a loophole in the management plan and then you have to deal with the dishonesty on top of the expectations not being met. The teacher might think poorly of a student for using a loophole instead of respecting the “intended” expectation and a conflict might result. I believe in precluding as many problems as possible by cutting out loopholes that encourage poor behavior and setting standards that encourage good behavior so that the classroom atmosphere is peaceful and my relationship with the students is as positive as possible. Children lie and deceive just as adults do, so in training them to be good, try to prevent them from slipping into poor behavior because of your lack of organization. When you see problems arise, try to figure out how to preclude them with expectations and procedures explained clearly so that they do not become discipline issues. It may seem like you are being stuffy to have rules and/or expectations and/or procedures, but a well-ordered classroom allows students to learn in peace, safety, honesty, and trust.
One final point regarding classroom management -- order in a classroom creates a relationship of trust between the students and the teacher that is crucial to learning. When students see that things are organized and that the teacher is consistent in managing the class, they trust the teacher not only to be fair, but to teach them the truth. I had a baffling situation one year when a class came to me for history and the history teacher the previous year had been completely disorganized in every aspect of teaching and classroom management. (It was a known fact throughout the school.) The students I had did not trust me to tell them the truth about history and they would literally comment in class that the facts I was telling them were not believable. I was shocked that twelve year olds with no knowledge of World War I would tell me that what I was teaching them was untrue. When they brazenly accused me of cheating in the first test review game, I was shocked further. We had to quit playing because their behavior was so obnoxious. I realized they did not trust me as their history teacher, but I could not understand their reasoning at first. I came to understand that because they had not trusted the teacher the year before they did not trust me. His disorganization had damaged his relationship with his students to the point that they could not trust him to be fair or to tell them the truth. It took time and a lot of patience, but before the end of the first semester things were on the right track. What a mess I inherited! I learned something crucial regarding teaching from that experience: students base their trust in a teacher on his/her consistency in implementing the classroom management plan. Once the students trust the teacher to be honest and fair, then they can trust him/her to teach them what is true, good, and beautiful.
One final note that I will touch on later when discussing classroom discipline, all teachers want to have good relationships with their students so that they can minister to them as Christian teachers. I have seen teachers make the mistake of trying to be too friendly with their students too early and they do not implement a strong classroom management plan. Children do not need adults to be their friends, they already have friends. Children need adults to lead them. The relationship that develops when the adult leads and the child follows is deeper and healthier and in the long run, more fruitful.
A Note on Classical Educational Phraseology
Being in an exclusive industry such as ours, it makes sense that catch phrases and words would be exchanged and discussed frequently. Some phrases are better suited to an explanation of Classical Christian education than others. The phrases meaningfully explain important ideas, so I think it is good that they have been developed to help explain Classical Christian education. When I was first trained in the Classical Christian model, there was no such phraseology and I found it difficult to explain the difference between regular Christian education and the Classical Christian model. The model I learned added a layer of civics to it, I learned a uniquely American version, so the complexity made it all the more difficult to explain what I was trying to do as a teacher. The parents and students in my classes knew that my methods and style of teaching were different than my fellow Christian school teachers, but I could not really explain why they were different in a meaningful manner. In writing a newsletter for a beginning teacher, I wanted to include a brief explanation of the common phraseology used to explain the Classical Christian model so that he/she could have an easier time discussing the ideas and explaining them to others.
In recent weeks, I wrote about the catch phrases that are used regularly nowadays when discussing Classical Christian education: “Truth, Goodness, and Beauty,” “The Great Conversation,” and the “Western Tradition.” Other words that are frequently bandied about in discussing Classical Christian education are the “Trivium” and the “Quadrivium” with an emphasis on the “Trivium.” Dorothy Sayers explained well her understanding of the Trivium in her essay “The Lost Tools of Learning,” so there is no need to discuss it at length. Many Classical Christian schools explain the child development phase of the Trivium as the Classical model. Their incomplete explanation is in error, because Classical Christian education is so much more than the Trivium and the simple explanation leaves out the most important aspects of Classical education. I am not criticizing the schools, but pointing out that you can tell how far along people are in their understanding of the Classical Christian model by the thoroughness of their explanations of it. So, I would encourage any Classical Christian teacher to keep reading, keep discussing, and keep thinking about it:)
Other words have emerged in recent years such as “wonder” and “whimsy” as important aspects of Classical education. I heard a terrific lecture a few years ago on the purpose of “wonder.” The essence of the lecture was that the more we study, we cannot become so “intelligent” that we cease to wonder. Thinking that wonder is beneath us as intellectuals or well-read people will deprive us of the enjoyment of wondering, will disable us from teaching our children/students to wonder, and our inner desire to ponder that which cannot be known will be quenched. We will cease to be the human beings God created us to be and we will become objects of knowledge without the hearts of humanity. C.S. Lewis makes a similar point in The Abolition of Man, although he did not reference wonder in his lecture as a focal point. A man cannot live a fully human life unless he allows himself to feel emotions regarding the amazing wonders of the world around him. Developing only an intellectual understanding of the wonders of the world makes man an object and the human aspect of man ceases to exist.
I am not convinced that the word “whimsy” defined as “playfully quaint or fanciful behavior or humor” is helpful in a discussion on teaching, because while a nice thought, it is not practical for a classroom teacher to focus on using it in their daily practice. The idea behind it is that Classical teachers are too serious and they need to lighten up a bit. I agree that academics who enter K-12 education unwilling to adjust to the humor of an 8th grader definitely need to lighten up a bit, but teachers who enjoy children do not need to try to alter their personalities in order to incorporate whimsy, because their natural sense of humor will emerge on a daily basis as it is. I do not know any teachers who do not stop and laugh when something is funny or tell funny stories in their classes to let their students get to know them as human beings better, to take a break, or to make a point. So, while telling teachers that they need to be more whimsical in their teaching style may seem like a reasonable suggestion, I think there is already plenty of happiness and humor naturally occurring in classrooms across the country. You can walk in and see that the students are happy even when they are working on difficult assignments or in the middle of serious discussions.
Developing Better Thinkers Through Writing
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people just exist.”
Oscar Wilde
Look up the following words in Webster’s Online Dictionary
Live — To pass life or time in a particular manner, with regard to habits or condition; To live emphatically
emphatically — a particular stress of utterance, or force of voice, given to the words or parts of a discourse, whose signification the speaker intends to impress specially upon his audience — adapt to the quote?
Rare — Uncommon; Unusually excellent
Exist — To be; to have an essence or real being; To remain; to endure
Questions:
1. What if your only option is to live a life of endurance? Can you still live a life with emphasis? For example, prisoners of war, Nazi concentration camp prisoners, slaves, people with severe illnesses, poverty, etc.
2.Are there seasons for living and seasons for existing?
Discussion Forum
What do YOU think?
About anything discussed so far in this newsletter?
About anything not discussed in this newsletter?
If the Dallas Cowboys have a real shot to win the Super Bowl this year?
About anything regarding Classical education or Christian education?
About how wrong you think I am about something?
Footprints in the Sand
by Carolyn Carty
One night a man had a dream.
He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.
For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand:
one belonging to him, and the other to the Lord.
When the last scene of his life flashed before him,
he looked back at the footprints in the sand.
He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints.
He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life.
This really bothered him and he questioned the Lord about it.
"Lord, You said that once I decided to follow you,
You'd walk with me all the way.
But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life,
there is only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why, when I needed you most, you would leave me."
The Lord replied,
"My son, My precious child, I love you and I would
never leave you. During your times of trial and
suffering, when you see only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you."
(I’m not sure if this is really a poem, but it is a story about trust between a father and a child that is written like a poem. I never tire of reading it:)
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