Is there a Yin and Yang in how we view education?

For a long time, the educational view of learning has focused on cognitive skills OR affective skills.  But can we focus on both, or are they separate?

We understand them as separate hierarchies, and have broken learning down in order to understand each  piece better.  But in the translation, focusing on the two pieces has remained with the focus on one, or the other.  For learning to be meaningful and important to the learner, the two in combination are powerful!

success-895594_1920“How an individual feels about himself, how he feels about those with whom he is associating, and how he feels about the situation in which he finds himself, highly

influences the tasks he is willing to attempt and the commitment he is willing to make to carry them out.”  (Eberle/Hall)

Yes, they fit! And, the question is: How can they be combined successfully in a classroom?  And the magical answer is to combine the two into a powerful curriculum where students have “CHOICE” and “INTEREST”!   Here are some examples:

*Everyone will do a book report. NO CHOICE!  How about, after you have read the book you chose (INTEREST), here is a list of options for sharing what you have learned:

  1.  Write a letter to the main character and the character’s reply.
  2. Write a different ending for the book.
  3. Pretend you are a talk show host and interview the main character.
  4. Create a travel brochure for the setting of the story or scrapbook pages about key characters.
  5. Create a book jacket, including illustrations, an enticing synopsis, author bio, and favorable reviews.
  6. Summarize the book into a comic or story aimed for younger students or your classmates.
  7. Write a news article about an important event from the book.
  8. Write about the decisions you would make if you were the main character in the book.
  9. Dramatize a scene from the story with other students or using puppets.
  10. Post a book review on Share What You’re Reading.
  11. Chose two characters from the story and write a conversation they might have.
  12. Write a letter or email to a close friend recommending the book you have just read.
  13. Make a list of new, unusual, or interesting words or phrases found in your book.
  14. Prepare a television commercial about your book. Act out the commercial for your classmates.
  15. Write ten chat room-style questions that could be used to start an online discussion about the book. Or, write ten questions that test other students’ understanding of the story. (Make sure you provide a list of answers.)

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  16. Explain why you think this book will or will not be read 100 years from now. Support your opinion by stating specific events in the story.
  17. Discuss one particular episode in the story that you remember most. Describe why you think it remains so clear to you.
  18. Write a letter/email to the author of your book. Address it to the publisher and mail it. Or, see if the author has a Web site and email it.
  19. Write a ballad or song about the characters and events in your story. Set the words to the music of a popular song and sing it to the class.
  20. Give a dramatic reading of a scene in the book to your classmates.
  21. Describe in detail three characters from the story. List reasons why you would or wouldn’t want to get to know these people.
  22. Design a poster or new book cover depicting the climax of the story.
  23. Write an acrostic poem about the book using the letters in the title of the book or the name of a character or author.
  24. Draw a classroom mural depicting a major scene(s) from the book.
  25. After reading an informational book, make a scrapbook about the topics.

 

These ideas were adapted from the November! Idea Book by Karen Sevaly, © Teacher Friend, a Scholastic Company, and the Scholastic Teacher Plan Book by Bill Singer and Tonya Ward Singer, © 2005, published by Scholastic.

 

*To complete the task, you may CHOOSE to:  work by yourself, work with another student, or form a small group with whom you wish to work.  Note:  Sometimes the CHOICE is the teacher’s!