Character education in many elementary schools bores children. It affects them in the same way that the freshman story affected me and my college friends. We promised that no one could make history more boring than our teacher. On special occasions, however, the professor would switch gears. He employed a teaching method that turned bland to exciting in an instant. That same method can make character education a topic that young children are excited about. In fact, character education teachers can make young children ask for more by regularly using the method our college professor saved for special occasions.
Masters can easily transform today’s blah into tomorrow’s bling.
blah today
Character education lesson plans often begin with the regular and boring teaching method of our college history professor.
the teacher speaks. In this case, the teacher talks about character education. Teachers get free character education lesson plans wherever they can find them and follow directions like these found online:
· Talk about what respect sounds like.
· Talk to students about what respect looks like.
Talk about respectful facial expressions.
· Talk to them about the tone of voice that shows respect.
· Talk to students about respectful body language.
Character education teachers talk, talk, talk. As they talk, young children react as we regularly did in college history class. They assume boring positions, wishing the subject didn’t exist.
Most young children, like many first-year college students, have not yet developed the skills necessary to learn using the talking teacher method. They did not learn to walk by having the Mother talk to them about what it is like to walk. They did not learn to talk by having the parent explain what it sounds like to talk. Talking didn’t potty train them either. However, character education lesson plans encourage the teacher to talk and talk and talk.
“After you have explained,” continue with character education lesson plans like the one above, “discuss respect with your students.”
the teacher argues. Our university professor also tried it. After talking about history, he tried to get us involved in the discussion. Many of us, awakened from talk-induced naps, were neither ready nor able to participate in the discussion.
Children ages three to eight will no longer be ready to discuss character education after their talk with the teacher. Did they learn to walk, talk and eat by discussing it with their parents? No. Despite that, character education lesson plans encourage the teacher to argue, and argue, and argue.
Such an approach is boring for any age. It’s blah, and no one enjoys character education blah.
tomorrow’s bling
Character education lesson plans can be changed overnight if teachers are willing. If you are a character education teacher and truly care about your students, you can make that change happen. I eat?
Introduce our history teacher’s “special occasion” method, and blah transforms into bling. The story catches the light, sparkles and becomes desirable.
What method can work such a transformation? What secret weapon made the story exciting on special occasions?
· Did you show a video? No. I could have, but history videos can be just as tedious as history lectures.
· Did you ask us to represent historical moments? No. We were bored with the historical figures as he had presented them, and we would not have had a heart for role-playing.
Our college professor used a storybook.
Imagine it. Our history teacher read a storybook on special occasions. He did not look for any book and tried to extract the story from it. He used a book that was written for the purpose of expressing an accurate story in an easy to swallow format. The book was ambrosia for students who saw history as a dull and lifeless subject. We loved stories like the one about Columbus that started like this.
“On September 9, 1492, when the last land was hidden on the horizon, Christopher Columbus began keeping two logs. One log, which he kept secret, was a true estimate of his course and distance. The other was a falsified account. of the ship’s navigation. written location so that the crew will not be frightened when sailing so far from land”. Source: Samuel E. Morrison, Christopher Columbus (Boston: Mentor, 1955), p. 36.
We loved the story when it was packaged in a story format, and character education excites young children when it’s packaged into stories written with a purpose.
Tried and true technique
Stories have long been considered a proven technique for presenting information. The technique has proven to be especially good and desirable for use with young children. Stories help them learn and remember valuable information.
Visit a famous Internet bookseller, type the word “potty” and what do you find? Find dozens of books that use stories to teach young children how to potty and potty train. Look up books on “brushing your teeth” and you’ll get similar results. Type “swimming” and a duckling named Stewie will teach them water safety.
Stories written for the express purpose of teaching a specific topic (written with a purpose) employ a method that has been used since ancient times, because it works!
Conclution
The character education that excites young children is based on books. The books allow children to filter the stories through their own imaginations and identify with the characters as they learn high moral values. Books make character education more desirable and memorable than any other vehicle the teacher might use.