 |
| www.amazon.com |
I recently purchased a book at a school book fair and I have not been able to stop reading or stop thinking about the book. It is written by Rafe Esquith and is titled, Teach Like You Hair's On Fire. I love philosophical discussions and I'm intrigued by Esquith's book because it is based on his philosophical approach to teaching. He hits on so many things that I have thought about when working with children. I find myself mentally struggling with the issues that surface when teaching kids. Behavior is one such issue. Self-esteem is another. I keep wondering what I can do to influence students to care about themselves, their education, and the people around them. Esquith introduces his students to Lawrence Kohlberg's Six Levels of Moral Development. He strives for each student to attain the last level, which he calls: "I have a personal code of behavior and I follow it." It is certainly an interesting approach and it seems to work in his classroom. Personally, I have wondered about how one develops honor and decency. Is it a nature versus nurture thing? Surely, we are not born with or without morals. Yet two people with the same parents, from the same home, can have entirely different moral compasses. How can that be? And as an educator, how can I help students strive to be honorable and decent when they may go home to an environment that supports neither quality. Esquith seems to have discovered something that works with his students and I feel that I need to research his methods more. I believe that education can be positively affected by the attitudes and beliefs of the students. How to instill a sense of honor and decency in every student is the dilemma.
