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A recent article in THE DAILY NONPAREIL
Black: Make learning a lifelong process
Dennis Friend, Staff Writer
The classroom is not the only place a child learns. Parents can be instrumental in instilling a love of knowledge in their children that will last throughout their lives.
"The parent is the child's first teacher," said Dave Black, school improvement specialist for the Lewis Central Community School District. "The family attitude about learning is very important. We can make a difference in their attitudes."
Black said a good learning environment starts with parental attitudes, good communication between parents and children and a belief that learning is not something that starts and ends in a classroom.
"We're modeling appropriate behavior for our kids, you see," Black said. For instance, at the Black home, "We sit and read as a family every night. We all do crossword puzzles before supper. We engage our minds."
The idea is to demonstrate that learning is a crucial part of an active life. He suggested reading books and magazines, talking to children about things that interest them or you and engaging them in everyday experiences that drive home a message about education.
"We're remodeling at our house right now," Black said. "We're putting in light fixtures, and you have to use math and do measurements. How do you decide where to cut a hole or where to install a light? Involve the kids in the conversation. These conversations can make math real."
He cites landscaping a yard or starting a garden as additional examples that can be used to draw students into real-life learning experiences. If a child is involved in discussions about how tall a plant may grow or when a flower blooms, "you are engaging with kids in positive talk about solving real problems. They will get interested."
Black draws another example from his own life. He has a son who is a Marine in Iraq and another son at home. The resulting conversations teach everything from geography and politics to social studies and government.
The key word is "conversation," said Black, meaning there will be two-way communication, as opposed to one-way lectures or monologues. Parents can talk about learning something interesting, then ask about what the child learned in school. A parent might also ask what a child is interested in or ask how they feel about something.
"The learning process doesn't stop when they graduate from high school," Black said. "It's a lifelong journey. And kids learn a great deal from us when we articulate our feelings."
Other tips to turn learning into a lifelong process include keeping books in the house, turning off the TV once in a while and having children keep a journal or diary. He recommended word games and logic problems. He also suggested letting them help with grocery lists and having them write thank you notes because "it helps their writing and spelling and builds confidence and social skills."
Black warns about pushing too far or too hard, because "it's possible to de-motivate a child by going to extremes. That's true in school or soccer."
Internal motivation is the most powerful, he said, and the ideal is to teach a child over time to take responsibility for his or her own learning. Asking questions and providing learning opportunities and resources will helps, because "you want to help them find the relevance. It's about more than just pleasing a teacher. Otherwise, when school ends, they no longer worry about pleasing the teacher, and learning stops."
It's also important to remember that everyone makes mistakes, mispronounces a word or messes up once in a while, Black said, and expecting perfection does not help. There's also the prospect of scaring a child away from appropriate risk-taking behavior simply because they are afraid to fail.
"Kids need to learn to go for it," Black said. "They should not be afraid of taking a risk, or they won't ever swing the bat for fear of striking out. Fear of failure can diminish the chance of success later in life. It we don't have anyone taking a risk, we won't have new knowledge later on."
"The world wants you to be literate, to solve problems, to make good decisions. When you graduate, you don't have to get an 'A' anymore, but you have to be accountable," Black said.
"And you have to be willing to do the right thing when no one is looking."
©SW Iowa News 2007
