Number one - they don't attend LRCA. The heart for school among our students at LRCA is unusually healthy.
I credit this positive phenomenon to four realities:
- our students' maturity
- parental support and presence
- the vibrancy of over 80 churches feeding our students AND
- the love of our teachers for our students
Number two - they may be telling us something.
There is a new book that I recommend for every educator and, perhaps, even the parent who is curious about some basic presuppositions of our learner services stance at LRCA. Dr. Turner, Mr. Neff and Mrs. Chami have read the book and we are excited about many of the observations that will help our teachers empower their practice "by revealing the importance of story, emotion, memory, context and routine in building knowledge and creating lasting learning experiences."
The book is entitled, you may have guessed, Why Don't Students Like School by Daniel Willingham (Jossey-Bass, 2009).
From the book cover: "Kids are naturally curious, but when it comes to school it seems like their minds are turned off. Why is it that they can remember the smallest details from their favorite TV show, yet miss the most obvious questions on their history test?"
Using his acclaimed research in cognitive science and brain biology, Willingham (University of Virginia) constructs a set of nine guiding principles for teachers that have clear application for the classroom - yes, even the LRCA classroom.
For example, "learning styles" per se don't exist. Or, should we say, children are more similar than different.
Here's another: intelligence is malleable. Children are different but intelligence can be increased through hard work.
You'll love this one: you cannot develop "thinking skills" in the absence of facts.
Got you curious? It's aimed at teachers but check it out and see if helps us all better understand the complexity (and simplicity) of learning.
Gary B. Arnold
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