Life Skills
Strategies
- Students should get to know themselves as learners (Olson, 2009), including taking a multiple intelligences test. That way, they can make sure to seek out resources and teaching methods that work best for them
- Students can continue to get to know themselves as learners and individuals by taking a personality test
- Have the student identify goals early in the semester that can be utilized as a focal point and motivator throughout the school year
- Have the student keep a profile of themselves as a learner so that they can monitor their own growth and possibly detect patterns
- Involve parents in order to help both the student and the teacher recognize student abilities that may go unnoticed within the classroom (Olson, 2009)
- Focus on developing skills that help students to build a better, more supportive community (Kohn, 2006)
- Have students work on projects that deal with creating solutions to real-world issues (Wesch, 2010)
Philosophical Grounding
In order for students to be engaged in a topic--and preferably remain engaged for years to come--we need to help them make the content relevant to their own lives. I like to do this in two ways: 1) help the student build a better understanding of himself or herself through different surveys and quizzes. These activities can be somewhat self-guided and even train students to seek out a deeper understanding of their own minds on their own. 2) Use the learner's own personal goals to help find and develop meaningful projects that support the community. In this way, the activity can remain student-centered while still having a wide positive impact on many individuals.
In order for students to be engaged in a topic--and preferably remain engaged for years to come--we need to help them make the content relevant to their own lives. I like to do this in two ways: 1) help the student build a better understanding of himself or herself through different surveys and quizzes. These activities can be somewhat self-guided and even train students to seek out a deeper understanding of their own minds on their own. 2) Use the learner's own personal goals to help find and develop meaningful projects that support the community. In this way, the activity can remain student-centered while still having a wide positive impact on many individuals.
Citations
Kohn, Alfie. (1996). Beyond Discipline: From compliance to community. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Olson, Kristen. (2009). Wounded by School: Recapturing the joy in learning and standing up to old school culture. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Wesch, Michael. (2010, October 12). TEDXKC-Michael Wesch- From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-Able [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeaAHv4UTI8
Kohn, Alfie. (1996). Beyond Discipline: From compliance to community. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Olson, Kristen. (2009). Wounded by School: Recapturing the joy in learning and standing up to old school culture. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Wesch, Michael. (2010, October 12). TEDXKC-Michael Wesch- From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-Able [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeaAHv4UTI8