MacRichment
It's September still but had to add...

Have you ever read something that just opens your eyes? Yeah, you've been getting along just great but then you get enlightened through a book or another's opinion and it's like a REVELATION! I have had one and I want to share it!

I hope you will remember in my last post I mentioned (strongly!) a couple of books by Rafe Esquith for parents (& teachers!!). In them he mentions Lawrence Kohlberg's Six Levels of Moral Development as one of his tools for teaching for excellence. Kohlberg, a professor at the University of Chicago and later Harvard, subscribed to the ideas of Piaget, especially that development manifests in rigidly defined stages, one after the other, in succession, no variation. One article I read said he went about his research differently than other psychologists of his time - he looked for the process through which his research subjects came to their moral reasoning, not the product of it. When asked a moral question such as is it okay for a man to steal drugs if his wife needs them and he doesn't have enough money to pay for them, he looked at the reasoning behind the answer, not just the answer itself. He also suggests that few of us ever get to the 5th and 6th levels. I must have been distracted if his work was mentioned in any of my classes because I do not remember learning about Kohlberg & his theory before. Synchronicity (things come around when you need them)??

Anyway, the levels are:
Pre=Conventional
1. I don't want to get in trouble. This is beginning stage of knowledge of right and wrong, the stage you learn from the adults around you. Everyone starts here.
2. I want to get a reward. This is doing what is right for a reward, a sort of behavior modification.

Conventional
3. I want to please someone. I want to step outside of myself and please another: my teacher, my boss, my sweetheart. You can see the maturational progression but it still isn't necessarily a moral one.
4. I follow the rules. I believe that the United States is at this stage of development. Which is why we have to have so many laws (rules) to "guide" our behavior. And if we don't follow the rules, we will get in trouble.

Post-Conventional (Kohlberg felt few people actually reach these levels)
5. I am considerate of other people. Wouldn't the world be a great place if we all were at this level? We would have empathy for others, be considerate of other's feelings, possibly not need so many laws to keep us from harming others, maybe even to the point of considering the environment because it affects us all.
6. I have a personal code of behavior and I follow it. This is one's conscience and the need to satisfy one's own universal principals of right and wrong. Esquith likes to use Atticus Finch, a key character from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Phineas, from John Knowles' A Separate Peace as examples of people who exhibit Level VI behavior, but because it IS Level VI behavior, don't need other people's recognition for it.

Okay, so now you know my new soapbox! While trying to calm the students in the gym for carpool the other day, I told them about these 6 levels; that none of us want them to get in trouble, that we give them spots to recognize (Spotted! silently) that they are doing the right thing, that we know they would like to please us (though sometimes by the end of the day it's tough!), that they DO know the rules and that I want them to do what is right just because it is right without anyone being there to watch. They are still just children, so our (yours and mine) work is going to be continuing, an ongoing process!! What we have to do is guide them through all of the stages of moral development and help instill in them is their own concept of empathy for others and the universal right and wrong and their own strength of conviction to satisfy their internal conscience.

Go rest. This was heavy!
XXOO!!
MM

MacRichment September 2009

It's September, I am all graduated (Educational Specialist in Technology degree, yea!!), almost re-rested, and now, getting ready to be raring to go!

I've been reading (A LOT!!), for pleasure for a change, - The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan, Teach Like Your Hair is on Fire & Lighting Their Fires both by Rafe Esquith, among others. I heartily recommend all three, but especially the two Esquith books for parents. Raising a capable EXTRAORDINARY child takes us all, together, and it doesn't come overnight!! Please let me know what you think when you read of any of these books! (I also re-read three Madelyne L'Engle books; A Wrinkle in Time, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, and A Wind in the Door and I'd recommend them, too!)

Please be forewarned that this is the only means of receiving this newsletter from MacRichment - I'm not sending out hard copies unless you specifically request one and then, Il mio piacere (It is my pleasure!) to print one for you! I think that is one of the most mannerly, nicest phrases in the English language so I asked my step-father how it is said in Italian (so it SOUNDS really neat, too!).

Back to MacRichment - I've charged the students (Oh! Didn't they TELL you??) with finding a mess to tackle. Not their room but something outside of themselves. There are several examples of going outside of yourself that I use often - one is of a young fella at Gwin who was concerned about the babies of homeless or displaced people - where would they get diapers? He started a campaign with his Little League team to bring in packages of disposable diapers. But one team can only diaper so much! So he got in touch with the Birmingham Barons who held a "night" just for him and the entry fee was a package of disposable diapers! Just imagine how proud this young man felt!

Another was last year here at RES. A fifth grade student was concerned about the children who had extended stays at Children's Hospital and their morale. She thought about sending little notes, or bears attached to notes or something that might brighten their day. She called and asked if Children's could use something like this (research!!) and, if so, how many beds there were. 270+ beds!! Yes! They would be more than happy to accept them, any and all!! So all year, during various lunch times, she and a group of her friends covered old bottles, jars, & containers with paper mache' and painted them to create vases. They also made a bunch of flip-catch the ball toys out of duct tape for boy patients but the quality was not up to her standards so they remained at home. Finally, she added ribbon flowers to each jar and carried them down to Children's Hospital. They were thrilled! That was a self-less act!

We are currently in the BRAINSTORMING phase of this Mess-Finding and the final idea isn't due until November so that they will have the rest of the year to work on their "mess." As messes become project-ideas the research about what HAS already been done, what NEEDS to be done, how can I get it done will take place. By November the students, as individuals or small groups, should be ready to go. And YES!! we would love any assistance you can offer!! Just email me!

Between the Mess and the Deep Blue Sea my classes are all participating in a Self-Discovery Unit. They have looked at what really interests them (at the moment, 'cause it changes!!), their talents and not-so-talents, their motivations, and their learning styles. They are keeping most of this in a packet that they will bring home in December to share with you. The more they know about themselves, the more they know about others, the better they will be at creating the optimal environment for their learning. We had a great discussion about TV watching today. How much is actual program watching and how much is sitting passively watching commercials? Blech!!

In addition to all of the above, they are also practicing creating with paper - pop-up cards, origami, quilling, stenciling, all sorts of things to do with paper. This is in preparation for making a number of paper models of gears and other machinery. Be patient! YOU'LL SEE!!

Of course, we play 7 Scrabble Scramble every so often. That's where we draw 7 scrabble tiles and, as a class, come up words using the letters over and over to amass the highest score we can. One 5th grade class had a wonderful day and now has to try to beat their 310 point record!! And sometimes we play Farkle or Tribulation (ask your child, I won't go into them here!!) or do math problem solving. Phew!! Quite the varied life we lead, what?

XXOO!!
Mrs. Mac