Alcoa
Elementary School
The
Right Thing
When I began teaching, my mother gave me a framed copy of Dorothy Law Nolte’s ...
Children Learn What They
Live
If a child lives with criticism,
He learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility,
He learns to fight.
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship,
He learns to find love in the world.
This
poem compels good moral citizenship through reinforcing love.
I had often read those lines as I sat in my own elementary school
classes. I had dreamed of the world
rid of criticism, hostility, ridicule, and shame.
Now, I was going to be the one challenged to help my students become
responsible, educated, moral citizens. As
a result I wanted to be a good role model who demonstrates integrity,
dependability, respect, responsibility, humility and compassion. And now I wonder “What are the reasons why the adults are
not being good role models?” and “What can we do?”
Even though parents have the greatest impact on a child’s growth, I
know my role as a teacher is a significant one.
During the years when I taught in a multiage setting with kindergarten
through fifth grade in the same space, I felt I had the most impact.
The children rose through those grades with the same set of teachers, so
we were a big “family.” We became connected with the parents. The children knew who their teacher would be each year, and
we were able to see the children progress all along the way.
I even felt more comfortable starting each year because I knew my
students and their parents trusted and supported me.
Our school has a couple of programs where retired members in the
community and high school students help fill the void. The programs with retired
workers are especially successful because retirees usually have more flexible
time on their hands, are very committed and dependable, have a wealth of
experience and are not threatening to children. I hear testimony from our Camp
Grandbuddies, a week long summer program, that the adults gain as much
personally from working with the children.
Some Grandbuddies even join their buddy during the school year for lunch.
High school students receive credit for helping at our school.
Elementary students look up to the high school students, but it seems to
be difficult to keep a regular schedule. Consistency
is vital to building these mentor relationships.
Another aspect of tackling the problem is to integrate the issues of
moral behavior into the curriculum. Children
must be given choices and learn that consequences come from the decisions they
make. Parent conferences are
necessary to involve parents in the process of establishing and demonstrating
moral standards. During the
conference, children could set goals and later be given support in achieving
them. Where resources and education
are needed, schools could offer parenting classes.
Within the academic curriculum students could make gifts for the mentors
to encourage their dedicated service. For
instance, children could use measuring skills to bake goods, write letters
during language arts, design works of art, and (especially at our school with
the technology resources, studio, and our cable channel) could provide a service
to help publish or videotape a few special life stories of their adult mentor.
How exciting and beneficial it would be for the community to hear their
stories! Furthermore, children need
time to discuss moral standards in school.
Children need to be given phrases to use to help them communicate and
resolve conflicts peacefully.
Environment contributes to what one will be like and his chance of
survival. In fact, many
psychologists believe that approximately 50% of personality is genetic,
established prior to birth (nature), while the other 50% is “caught” through
experiences with one’s environment (nurture).
Since it is harder to alter a child’s thinking beyond nine years old, a
key to making a difference is to begin teaching appropriate behaviors in the
early grades. We can not leave out
the component of one’s will, or what a person chooses to create for
themselves. So, children could be
challenged to consider “What do I want to become?”
Children need to be taught at a young age to respect and care for people
and possessions. They need to
develop a sense of purpose, where attention is taken off of themselves and onto
helping others. In fact, most
children would benefit from caring for a pet.
To keep students from becoming destructive, they need to be shown tools
to use to help them stop and think before they act out in anger. In generations past, guns were probably more accessible, but
past generations established in their children the proper use of and respect for
guns. If guns were not so easy to
get to today, there would be a reduction in violence, but it would not resolve
the core problem of a society that glamorizes violence and establishes role
models in popular media acting violently with guns.
Responses
to Required Readings
Question
1-
Children’s thoughts are so clear, honest, and unconcerned with being
“politically correct.” During
a puppetry program about the dangers of smoking and using tobacco products, a
Hispanic child new to our school kept asking “So why do they keep making
tobacco products if they are so harmful?”
His questioning continued because he never got a convincing answer.
I thought wow, that’s a loaded question.
Question
2 -
I am not surprised that young children may be ethically introspective citizens.
My daughter is four years old. She
evaluates her own actions often, recognizes misbehaviors and will offer
apologies or rationales. She tries
to sort out why people do what they do. She
asks many questions, and usually repeats my responses to herself twice.
I am surprised by how much she hears and can repeat when I don’t even
know she is listening.
Furthermore, once when I was covering a primary teacher’s class, I read
Max Lucado’s You Are Special. Wooden people all carved by the same
craftsman give each other stars for good qualities and dots for imperfections. After the story, these first and second graders honestly
offered vivid examples of how they give each other stars and dots.
Question
3 - Yes,
morality can be taught in all kinds of classes.
I teach principles of right and wrong in behavior all day long because a
basic set of rules have to be followed for our class to run smoothly.
General examples include encouraging children to do their best work, not
cheat on a test, complete homework assignments on time as instructed, follow
teacher directions, pay attention, show respect to teachers and to other
children, and to be safe. One
student in my class made an observation the other day.
He said “children usually know that a behavior is wrong if they try to
hide doing it.”
Question
4 - Every
person can testify or give evidence of the right and wrong behaviors of others
and of themselves. We find out what
really matters as we look inward and as we pay close attention to the world
around us. Each year I share
stories from my childhood as they relate to topics we are studying.
For example, I took matches to school in second grade to prove that I
knew the political person on the cover and got in trouble.
Today I would be suspended. Yikes!
I am forced to examine my own behaviors more now that I have children of
my own watching, imitating, and questioning my moves.
For example, my daughter can recognize and read speed limit signs now.
She checks to see whether I am driving over the speed limit.
I am proud that she knows her numbers, but it holds me more accountable. Driving more slowly had never been a priority, now it is.
Question
5 - Courage
is selflessly doing what does not come naturally and is not pleasant, but it
must be done. I noticed that
courage is the root word of encouragement, so I think it
is related to “cheer.” When
you need to have courage yourself, even though you are panicky, shaking,
sweating, and nervous, you still push yourself to do what must be done.
You cheer yourself on.
The
time about ten years ago when Nathan wanted to share his Jewish beliefs and
traditions with the class at Christmas time sticks out in my memory as a time
when a youngster stood up for his beliefs.
He initiated the experience because he felt children were making fun of
him. He brought a menorah to school and explained the significance
of the candles, he brought dreidels to school to play a game with, and he led a
presentation about Hanukkah. We
learned so much! Children became
more caring toward him, and instead of referring to the season as Christmas,
students began calling it the Holiday Season.
Question
6 - My
class had a very similar discussion that took place during a reading/language
arts lesson while discussing Lois Lowery’s story Number the Stars. The
main character is a ten year old girl who shows courage. Even though Annemarie was very frightened, she did what she
had to do and risked her life to help protect Jewish families in Denmark who
were being relocated. I remember
some of the exact same dialogue being said, “If you’re in danger you are not
thinking about being in danger. You
think ‘this is the right thing, it is what is important,’ so you do it.”
Question
7 - A
good person keeps looking inward, is honest about their mistakes and
shortcomings, and isn’t afraid to change.
I wish goodness was as easy as just acknowledging a character flaw and it
going away, but it is an ongoing struggle.
It is a struggle that we also share with those around us, so that we can
learn and grow from each others’ experiences.
There is a need for trust, tolerance, forgiveness, and unconditional
love.
Question
8 - I
usually pull the misbehaving child aside to find out what is really going on.
Do they have an unmet need? Next,
I have them communicate what they did wrong and ask what they can do next time
to do the right thing. I end the
conversation by pointing out the child’s strengths that he or she can use to
help our classroom.
Question
9 - In
light of Shannon Brownlee’s article regarding the teen brain, the foundation
is not giving teens too much credit. They have tremendous potential to make a positive difference
in our society! Adults need
understanding in regard to teenage actions, ideas, and motives.
Nevertheless, television, music, video and computers play a huge role in
shaping their thoughts. Also,
teenagers rarely plan to get into trouble, they fail to plan to stay out of
trouble.
Question 10 - I agree with the premise that students have the capacity to act responsibly, interact with adults in the community and make mature decisions, but I need more information about the pilot project to make a definite commitment to participate.