Viktor Frankl on the Search for Meaning
Frankl begins with a chalkboard representation of an airplane trying to reach a target location. He talks about over and under compensations. He then relates this to man, and says “If we take man as he is we make him worse, if we take him as he should be we make him what he can be. I believe we do indeed need to challenge our students. Put it out there and let them climb to meet it. Those who can will, and those who can’t, have at least tried and were exposed to it, and we have certainly taken them to a better place. The bar needs to be set high. Do we want to settle for just average, the minimum? I feel students aren’t always challenged enough. They want all the answers and often don’t want to think for themselves, scared to make a mistake. I assign the odd numbered problems for homework so students can check and find their mistakes and come to class the next day with any questions. Last week when I checked homework, more than half of all the classes had incorrect answers for the 1st 3 problems. I was so sad, that they can not even taken the time to see if they were working the problems correctly. Also, not a one had a question!
I think that many teachers do not "set the bar" high enough for our students. Many times, we accept the average grade and do not pursue higher levels of thinking or a higher performance.
ReplyDeleteI feel that this idea also can be applied to teachers as well. We must constantly strive to perform or teach at a higher level of excellence. Our job performance should be in constant reflection in order to ensure improvement.
Just as average is not acceptable from our students, it should not be acceptable from their teachers.
After all, monkey see, monkey do!!!
Yvette,
ReplyDeleteI too believe that we need to challenge our students. Although when I taught 4th grade, I had many problems with "setting the bar too high" in my classroom. My students (& their parents) who were used to getting A's were then getting B's and C's. I spent numerous parent/teacher conferences assuring mom and dad that B's and C's were okay and that their child would rise-up to the challenge. Believe it or not, they did - their parents did as well! All A's weren't as important anymore as long as they tried their best. Students were actually learning the material and not memorizing it. Even now with my 7th and 8th graders, many are challenged at first in my science class as 7th graders because I do not give them study guides or tell them what is on upcoming tests. My students are told from the beginning of the school year that they will learn how to think for themselves. Honestly, it is much easier as teachers to teach to the middle. The ones who at the top will always get it and the ones at the bottom will never "get it". Why not teach to the top and hold everyone accountable?