Valley Insight: Students Learning Good Character Is A Choice
Posted
Jon Hutton-
I talk to students daily at Tippecanoe Valley High School about the choices they make during the day or in class. The choices they make and the effects they have on their lives are keys to student success in the school setting. At TVHS we are incorporating a method of teaching called Project Based Learning where students are given big questions to consider and they can choose the direction they will pursue to answer the questions. For example, TVHS students traveled to our elementary schools at Akron and Mentone to make presentations to fifth-grade students. Some of their topics included how to make a successful transition to the middle school and how to be organized for success in school. We look at choice as one of the key factors that allow students to be more engaged in their education on a daily basis. Part of the process of choice is being critical and receiving feedback from peers or mentors about the choices one makes. Students receive this type of feedback in different ways in the classroom. I sat through two of Melanie Mason’s English classes as they were in the process of preparing for the presentations to the fifth-graders. I was amazed at how perceptive and responsible the critical friends group was in giving meaningful feedback to other students about their presentations. They asked questions about how a certain concept was going to be visually presented and how a presentation might be improved by pointing out how long the fifth-grade students were going to have to sit and how that would impact them. The ability to give and receive critical input is part of the culture of choice that we are developing at TVHS as part of our move to PBL. Our goal at TVHS is to make sure all students achieve success through leadership, literacy and character education. By having students using choice on a daily basis and asking them to be critical about those choices they will develop the skills that are the foundation to forming strong character and leadership. The experiences students have in leading groups of peers, speaking to committees of teachers, administrators, and other professionals in the field they are researching, allow them to explore and develop new skills not found in a textbook. Students are also using choice as they prepare for life after high school, whether it is going on to college, work, or other experiences. Not too long ago the extent of choice meant picking one’s high school classes. Now it is our hope that as students are more involved in choosing their own path in content areas based on their experiences and interests that they will be better prepared for a successful future in our community.
