by HLA Staff » Wed Nov 01, 2006 9:11 am
OUTLINE FROM TEACHING THE HEART VS. TEACHING THE MIND WORKSHOP with Lani Carey.
I. Introduction
Define teaching the mind - Teaching of facts, concepts, and theories in such a way that the child memorizes the information and is able to spit it back out, either orally or on a test.
Teaching the heart is so intricately woven into the whole concept of loving to learn and learning to love that teaching the heart produces a love of learning, which in turn produces a person who is capable of loving. God wants our hearts, He looks on our hearts to see who we are. We must believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead in order to be saved. We are to hide God's Word in our hearts. Proverbs 3:1 says, "My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments (KJV) So, based on God's Word alone, it just has always made sense to me to teach to my children's' hearts instead of their minds. "A child trained in his mind and not his heart is a menace to society." —Theodore Roosevelt
I'm going to be sharing some ideas about four topics relating to teaching to the heart vs. teaching to the mind. The first of these is teaching for thoughtfulness.
II. Teaching to the heart produces thoughtfulness.
What is thoughtfulness? The term thoughtfulness refers to the union of thought and feeling. It unites the head and the heart, thinking and feeling, Because it integrates thinking and feeling, a union of heart and mind too often overlooked, thoughtfulness is more complex than the teaching of specific "thinking skills."
We want children who know how to think, but we want thoughtful children, too. The Bible says that knowledge without love puffs up and makes one vain and prideful. We don't want our kids to be "so self-directed intellectually that they neglect to consider empathically the ways of thinking and feeling of other people."
Thinking is the essential component of thoughtfulness. However, our thinking not only helps us figure out what to do in our lives but also to empathize with our friends and other members of the community. Thinking can be defined as a search for meaning and understanding.
When we think, we very likely cause some things to be "unthought". To unthink something means to uncover and disclose preconceptions, assumptions, and myths that may no longer hold true. Thinking can be liberating and disturbing to both the thinker and those with whom he or she interacts. Some teachers/parents have a great deal of difficulty with this kind of intellectual behavior when practiced by students who question the teacher's/parent's conclusion and/or patterns of behavior.
There are two notions about thinking that I want you to remember 1) Thinking is liberating and 2) Thinking empowers us to take more personal and shared control of our own destinies.
Remember that thoughtfulness involves both thinking and feeling, the mind and the heart. Many times these feelings are ones of frustration that accompany the difficulties we are experiencing. At any point along the pathway, we might be concerned with the needs and feelings of others - those who would be inconvenienced if we didn't solve the roadblock quickly. Being thoughtful is literally full of thought and feelings about ourselves and for the interests of others.
Characteristics of thoughtful persons:
1. Confidence in problem-solving abilities
2. Persistent (Perseverance)
3. Self-Control (Temperance)
4. Open to others' ideas
5. Cooperate with others
6. Listeners
7. Empathetic
8. Tolerate ambiguity and complexity
9. Ability to approach problems from a variety of perspectives (Can put themselves in someone else's shoes)
10. Research problems thoroughly
11. Relate prior experience to current problems and make multiple connections
12. Open to many different solutions
13. Pose "what if" questions, playing with variables
14. Ability to transfer concepts and skill from one situation to another.
15. They are curious and wonder about the world. They ask good questions.
A way to teach thoughtfulness for kids of all ages is to have your children keep "Thinking Journals". You can use these as part of Eng., History, or Science. Some good starters are "I wonder…", "What puzzles me…What I am curious about…", "This reminds me of (or relates to)…", "What interests me here…", "I feel…", "What would happen if…?"
Give your kids time to think about things - don't demand quick answers
Set good examples. "If you want a kid to be caring and compassionate, what are you showing them?"
Don‘t place too much importance on grades. "If we go to war with our kids over grades and push them too far, it can be a battle won but a war lost." More important than activities and grades are your child's heart, character, relationships, and his or her sense of identity. In the game of parenting, it's not about the length of his hair, it's about his heart," according to Michael J. Bradley, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist from Feasterville, Pa., and the author of several books including Yes, Your Teen is Crazy! Loving Your Kid without Losing Your Mind.
III. Producing Leaders, Not Followers
Erin Gruwell, named Teacher of the Year, answered the question what she wanted her students to know. "These two things: To know that one person can change the world and to know that the person is each of them." In other words, she is teaching future leaders.
(The following is from A Thomas Jefferson Education)
3 major types of schooling:
Conveyor Belt- teaches what to think. Most public schools
Professional Education- teaches when to think. Includes apprenticeship and trade schools and law, medical and MBA programs, which create specialists.
Leadership Education- teaches how to think. Oliver Van DeMille calls this a Thomas Jefferson Education. Prepares students to be leaders in their homes and communities, entrepreneurs in business, and statesmen in government.
The seven key components of the leadership education model are -
Classics, not textbooks
Mentors, not professors
Inspire, not require - Most of us believe that if our students aren't forced to learn, esp. math or science, they won't do it. The truth is that force produces followers, not leaders.
Structure Time, Not Content
Quality, Not Conformity
Simplicity, Not Complexity - Read, Write, do Projects, and Discuss.
You, Not Them - Set the example. Read the classics. Study hard.
"Freedom is the natural teacher of leadership, just as leadership is the perpetuator of freedom. The challenge is that most of us hear the phrase "inspire, not require" and actually translate it more as "ignore, not require. Nothing is further from the truth. Ignoring a child's education won't help him at all, but requiring most of his education is just as damaging. Most of us were conditioned to believe that if we aren't forced to learn, esp. something like math or advanced science, we won't do it. In truth, force does teach lessons, but they are the wrong lessons. The negative lessons of force include:
Do the bare minimum
Learning means pleasing the authority figure
Learning, schooling and studying are no fun
Playing is when I don't have to learn
To be a good student I have to study somebody else's interests
My own interests must be pursued on my own time, and they aren't as valuable as the "accepted" topics of study
If nobody is making me study, I'd rather be entertained than learn
Compare the above list of lessons to the following list of lessons learned by the person who is inspired to get a great education:
There is so much to learn and it is so exciting
Learning is more fun than almost anything
I can learn on my own, in a group, or with help from a teacher or parent
All I need is a book and I can learn
In fact, I can learn even without a book
I love learning!
I am passionately interested in ….Everything!!
If I do more than is assigned, I'll learn more and have more fun. The assignments are just minimums
My thoughts and ideas are as valuable as anybody else's
Inspiring students demands more of the teacher, mentor, or parent because it means finding out what the students need and then creatively encouraging them to engage it on their own - with excitement and interest. It involves not only teaching to the heart of your child, but teaching from your own heart. In Great Expectations, Pip says of his tutor, Mr. Pocket, "He was always so zealous and honorable in fulfilling his compact with me, that he made me zealous and honorable in fulfilling mine with him. If he had shown indifference as a master, I have no doubt I should have returned the compliment as a pupil; he gave me no such excuse, and each of us did the other justice."
Historically, our schools have fostered a vision of very tight adult control. "The first requisite of the school is order: each pupil must be taught first and foremost to conform his behavior to a general standard, just like the running of the trains."(William Torrey Harris, One of the 19th century's foremost educators and superintendent of schools in St. Louis) In many schools today, students still sit in rows, few questions are encouraged, and often there is only one point of view. But outside the classroom walls, we are going to need people who have the strength of heart and mind to confront, analyze, and deal with the "messy, indeterminate situations" of life.
One way to prepare students for this kind of problem-solving ability is by working through a problem-posing curriculum, instead of a multiple-choice one. Put problems before them. Make things difficult for them. Produce things for them to think about and help them to be inventive and original. With younger students, ask, "How would you group these toy animals?" Then ask, "How else could you group them," etc. Or, how did you go to Grandma's house? How else could you have gone? What if there were snow, etc?" With older students, engage them in problematic situations wherein we ask them to identify problems, generate alternatives, be active listeners to others' ways of seeing and solving. This will have the effect of opening their mind's eyes to alternatives and enhance their cognitive development.
How Important is Leadership Education? Consider this:
The current generation of leaders will pass into retirement between 2011 and 2025. Sounding the alarm, pollster George Barna asks, "Who are the successors we are preparing to stand on our shoulders and build on the foundations we have laid.... it's not happening."
The baton is not being passed in business. The Harvard Business Review reports that "The CEO succession process is broken in North America and is no better in many other parts of the world." Taleo, a talent management consultancy, says that the U.S. will have a 10 million worker shortfall by 2010. Five hundred of the largest companies can expect to lose 50 percent of their senior management in that time, and 40% of companies don't have a leadership succession plan.
The baton is not being passed in government. Governing magazine reports that as baby boomers retire, the knowledge and experience necessary to conduct government is going out the door with them. Warns Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, "The looming retirement of so many baby boomers is a seismic event that will affect our workforce in profound ways." As an example, MIT professor David DeLong says that NASA would have to start from scratch to conduct a moon landing because those on the original team have all retired or passed away.
The baton is not being passed in church. The number of adults who do not attend church in America has nearly doubled since 1991, and only 51% of Protestant pastors and just 8% of Protestant parishioners possess a biblical worldview. According to George Barna, "Fewer than one-twentieth of churched households ever worship God outside of a church service or have any type of regular Bible study or devotional time together during a typical week." America is rapidly losing her influence as a beacon of Christian love, economic freedom, and democracy. Can the death of the West be far behind?
We Must Act Now
"The situation is scary. People don't know what to do. But we can't give up just because it looks hard." The next generation is our hope. Imagine Christian young people preparing to become political leaders, college professors, research scientists, and business owners. Think of what could happen if our children grew up to stand for truth and fight against evil and injustice.
IV. Getting Back to a Truly Classical Education - Basically, It's a Leadership Education
What would a school be like where one of the primary responsibilities of students was to learn to ask questions? Socrates based his teachings on his ability to ask good questions, and then to systematically deduce the answer by pursuing various avenues of thought. In the 5th century, the common man would spend days, even weeks discussing one point of one question. In Samson's day, people would entertain themselves with riddles which would take days and weeks to figure out. Now, we don't want to think - it hurts our heads. And we don't have time for it.
But to get back to a truly classical education, we must teach our children how to think, and employ it in their education. But we adults, rather than teaching our children to think, actually stifle it, by making all the decisions about what is to be learned, how, when, where, why, and what grade to put on it after it is over. Lately, many homeschoolers have jumped on the bandwagon of Classical Education, but many times it isn't a real classical education at all, but a conveyor-belt education with the addition of Latin and Logic. This will never equal a truly classical education because the method is still wrong.
The key to a truly classical education is to read the classics! Then add discussion, writing, and application to real life.
A classical education is individualized, where each student has the freedom to pursue his own education.
And the classical education is Goal oriented- help your children realize their own dreams instead of having to live out yours.
IV. Empowering the Highschooler
First, I want to talk about the value of play. Book (out of print now) The Psychology of Play by Catherine Garvey influence me greatly. Now she has a new book, called simply Play
Poll: Most Parents Of Young Children Worry About Academic Performance
Aug. 11, 2006
(WebMD) Today's parents are stressed out about their children's academic success and believe starting early is the key to achievement, according to a new poll. In fact, 54 percent of parents of children aged 2 to 5 said they had anxiety about their child's academic performance and 38 percent felt that their child was in competition with other kids. More than 90 percent of all parents polled said that they believe that starting early to prepare their children for academic success is key.
"Parents need to be very careful about how they pick their priorities in attempting to raise successful kids," warns Michael J. Bradley, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist from Feasterville, Pa., and the author of several books including Yes, Your Teen is Crazy! Loving Your Kid without Losing Your Mind. "Our goal is not to raise an Ivy League student; our goal is to raise the future parents of our grandchildren."
Many parents often feel that structured activities — whether swimming or ballet — are the key to success. But the science says otherwise, Bradley says. The learning that comes from unstructured activities may exceed the type of learning that children get from structured activities. Psychologist Kathy Hirsh-Pasek has some good news for exhausted parents: allowing your kids free time to play may be the best thing you'll ever do for them. With Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, she has written a book called, Einstein Never Used Flash Cards: How our Children REALLY Learn - And Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less. She explains that kids need free time to play so they can discover their own creativity; playing and talking with your children will aid their development more than anything else you can possibly do, as well. Hirsh-Pasek visits The Early Show to offer four simple things you can do to help develop your child's creativity and further their learning.
Eat Dinner Together
Find Unstructured Family Time
Read Aloud
Limit TV And Videos
IT'S NO WONDER that parents and educators are tired and frazzled. We have been caught in a whirlwind of cultural assumptions about how to raise and educate the next generation. We are told that faster is better, that we must push learning along at a rapid pace. We are told that we must make every minute of our children's lives count, that our children are like empty rooms to be filled by the adults who serve as the interior designers of their lives. These assumptions about children and how they learn are at complete odds with the messages coming from the academic halls, where child development experts have researched how children grow and learn. Stocked with "teachable moments" and sections where you can "discover hidden skills" in your children, this book will empower you to resist the temptation to try to create young geniuses and will better equip you to raise happy, healthy, and intelligent children.
From the authors ,Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. A professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Ph.D. from Cornell University - "Even though we never used flash cards with our children, all five of them are toilet trained, know how to read and write, and love learning." This is the fruit of teaching to the heart.
I know what you're thinking - ok, playtime is fine for younger kids, but what about my highschooler?
I don't really like the term "Unschooler" - I never have because it seems to carry the connotation of "not schooling". Actually, it was coined by John Holt in the ‘80's to refer to unlearning the way schooling was done in the public schools. I prefer to avoid the term altogether and use the Leadership Education (i.e. Empowering) model for home schooling the highschooler. In high school, esp., we need to be aware of 2 myths about education -
1) That it is possible for one human being to educate another. It isn't! Everyone learns as much as he chooses to - no more, no less. We can increase opportunity, incentive, motivation, and improve the environment, the materials, and the resources - but, ultimately students must choose to learn or they won't.
2) The job of teachers is to educate. No, the role of teachers is to inspire.
Those who inspire teach; those who don't, don't.
We need to empower our students to take more control of their own education and their lives, which means sharing control (what subj. for electives, schedules, curr., when and where they study, read, etc. You will be amazed at the results.)
Challenge our students to pose and resolve some problems on their own, set goals, and design strategies to reach those goals.
Teach our students something about the nature of thinking, what makes a thoughtful person, and how one can improve one's intellectual performance by learning different ways of figuring things out.
Create an "invitational environment" for our students, inviting students to think, to challenge, to question. We want to reverse the common mindset fostered by the public school system. As one student put it, "I think outside school. Here (in school) I memorize stuff."
Set expectations high. We are all geniuses because that's the way God made us - let your kids know that you expect greatness from them, but don't determine the path that greatness will come by.
Build good memories.
Look at the fruit - Don't copy what someone else is doing because your family and your children are individuals who need an individualized education , but seek out families whose children have become the kind of adults that you want your children to be and find out their philosophy of teaching.
Prov. 3:1 - God did not tell us to memorize His commandments, but to keep them in our hearts. His first commandment is to "Love the Lord thy God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength." We simply cannot continue teaching our kids' minds while neglecting their hearts, which are so important to God.
Resource List:
A Thomas Jefferson Education - Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the Twenty-First Century- Oliver van DeMille
Teaching for Thoughtfulness - John Barell
"Gracefully Passing the Baton" - George Barna
"Random Thoughts" - Louis Schmier, Valdosta Dept. of History
The 55 Essentials: An Award-winning Educator's Rules for Discovering the Successful Student in Every Child - Ron Clark
Yes, Your Teen is Crazy-Loving Your Kid Without Losing Your Mind - Michael J. Bradley, Ph.D
Einstein Never Used Flash Cards: How Our Children Really Learn and Why They Need to Play More - Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Ph.D. and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Ph.D
Play - Catherine Garvey, Ph.D
"Life Prep for Homeschooled Teenagers" - Barbara Frank
*** NEW WORKSHOP DATES BELOW*** 
Making sense of the homeschool laws