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FREEDOM The definition of freedom is the power to act, speak, or think without externally imposed restraints. Living in the land of the free gives opportunity to the people to exercise free choice. Items of education, it means allowing students to learn by intrinsic motivation. I believe that Herbert Kohl, the teacher in 36 Children, gave his students the opportunity to learn through this thing called freedom by allowing them to explore their curiosities, exploit their strengths and weaknesses, and find the confidence that had been buried inside themselves.
Kohls efforts in giving the students this freedom will also better prepare the students for the real world. Herbert Kohl made it clear early in his book that the only way he could be a successful teacher was to have a philosophy up front, even if it meant being criticized, involuntarily being transferred or, the worst yet, fired. His philosophy was simple and up front. Kohls classrooms was one of freedom.
If America is supposed to be the land of the free, why shouldnt the class room be? He states that all students are strong in their own ways and that preconceived notions should be tossed. He also believes that students who fail, whose lives have been miserable, are made that way in and out of school because of some sort of injustice. Students should never be stereotyped, destined to fail, because somewhere inter soul, there is something they are excellent at. They should be given the opportunity to discover things they are good at. However, there are steps that must be completed as a teacher to reach this goal of freedom.
Kohl realized learning from the students would become his biggest asset. To teach you must have idea of who you are teaching. Kohl continued to learn up to his last class with the students. It seems simple yet it is often times over looked.
Kohl discovered that the students wanted to face the tasks with him rather than against him (Kohl 31). By revealing this element in the students, he realized heavy structure was not needed; in fact, it was deliberately avoided. To get the students attention, he needed to discover what was important to them. On the first day he asks the class what they want to learn this year. This question really took the students by suprise because usually they are contained to basic structure. Containment in the land of the free should never happen yet schoolyard run in this fashion.
The students responded to the option and the process of learning, through freedom, began for Kohl and his thirty-six children. Kohl had many moments exemplifying freedom in the classroom but I will only highlight a few. Kohl first attempted to catch the interests of the students through a ten-minute break period. In this period, he brought in games, magazines, books, and music. The class took time each day to work with the items. Soon after the exploration period, students began mastering certain things.
For instance, a boy named Robert was very interested in drawing. He found a book on architecture and his nose never wanted to leave it. Other students experienced this same phenomena. He and the other students were excited and curious to learn more.
Later in the year, students began writing their own books out of their own freewill. They wanted to express what was important to them and Kohl provided them with someone to listen. It seems as though Kohl just sat back and watched but that wasnt the case at all. He began this process by introducing things. The idea snowballed and he! began to help students guide themselves in the direction they wanted to go.
He taught them to learn through intrinsic motivation. It is easy to teach a student 2 + 2 by constant drill but learning 2 + 2 for areas gives a student insight. The summary of Kohls classroom, as he puts it, is as follows. At the beginning of the semester I had tried to use blocks of time in a predetermined, preplanned way first reading, then social studies, arithmetic, and so forth. Then I broke the blocks by allowing free periods.
This became confining and so I allowed the length of periods to vary according to the childrens interest and concentration. Finally we reached amount where the class could pursue things without the burden of a required work amount that had to b passed through every day The children learned to explore and invent, to become obsessed by things that interested them and follow (these ideas) through libraries and books back into life; they believed in their curiosity and value of intellectual and literary, perhaps even in a small way the human, quest without being overly burdened with a premature concern for results (Kohl 62). This summary of Kohl describes in detail this idea of intrinsic motivation. I can not stress enough how important this ideology is in todays classrooms. Another highlight of Kohls teaching approach was his idea of letting the students choose their goals. He often tells the students of the multiple possibilities he / she could choose. (This recurring theme of choice is obvious in Kohls approach. ) This is where the fuse of the idea is created, fuse meaning the staring point of the idea.
It becomes lit when the student has a goal. The fuse keeps on burning as long as he / she keeps moving toward the goal. Goal setting is very important but it cant be misused. Some teachers or parents want to force children to make goals for themselves. The students must choose what they want to do. It is the only way they will be happy in the future.
As Benjamin E. Mays puts it, The tragedy of life does not lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. The ability to compromise is also an aspect of Kohls freedom in the classroom. Compromising with the students develops respect between the teacher and the student.
If compromising is a dead issue then so is the relationship. An atmosphere of turmoil can not exist in the classroom. If it does, nothing is getting accomplished. If compromising takes place intrinsic motivation is invited.
However, if the teacher is perceived as being weak, compromising in the classroom can become one-sided. The atmosphere of in which the children are in control can be very dangerous in the classroom and can lead to complete chaos. I believe that Kohl is preparing people to perform in todays society. In our E-Mail discussion during the week many students had valid points that students wouldnt be able to exercise the freedom inthe workplace. This may be true.
However, most of the students discovered what was important to them while in school. I believe the students would also be willing to make sacrifices as they did in the past through compromising. People can be flexible and when the time comes that someone isnt, then maybe itis time to move on and pursue a different job or field of interest. This may sound a little on the radical side but I believe that if a person is not enjoying his / her job and is not doing it because that what he / she wants to do, then he / she will never be happy or satisfied.
The ideology of intrinsic motivation will also be a key guide in the students future. Compare a student that is from a structured class with one from Kohls class. The structured student would based to the teacher drilling the subject matter and forcing the student to learn things that might not pertain to the students interest; thus turning the student off. On the other hand, Kohls student will driven to discover what he / she wants to find out. The student will ask questions, conduct research, and evaluate the situation.
Again, when intrinsic motivation develops so does a strong drive towards goals. I believe in freedom in the classroom so strongly that it is the philosophy I want to incorporated my teaching philosophy as well. I think my childhood days were not as full because I never really learned through intrinsic motivation until I attended college. I was deprived of something very special. I could have wanted to learn on my own but I was turned off by the teachers of the past just as most ofthe students today. Nitin Rao, a student in our education class, stated that if he did not have toasted school he would not be there.
I believe he speaks for the majority of students out there. I done want other students to share these feelings and later on in life have regrets as others and myself done. I want them to have the opportunity to want to learn and want to discover more. My final thought on Kohl is summed up in this last particular quote by Eugene S.
Wilson. Only the curious will learn and only the resolute overcome the obstacles of learning. The! quest quotient has always excited me more that the intelligence quotient.
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Research essay sample on Land Of The Free Intrinsic Motivation
