Teachable Moments at School

Posted by Douglas Parker Dec 25, 2007

Teachers should be encouraged to bring social issues into the curriculum to help their students make sense of the world. In many cases, the classroom is one of the leading sources for the information gifted children have about the world, and it would be regrettable if teachable moments were lost following important world or local events because a test-driven curriculum could not be interrupted.

Teaching about social issues is a form of values education that can be embedded within the curriculum itself. For example, if teachers discuss value systems such as utilitarianism, Maslowian hierarchies, and micro/macrocosm views of life, students can learn how characters (and eventually, the students) make decisions based on complex value foundations. To make this work, proactive teachers should attempt to make sure that the classroom is a place where students feel comfortable and non-threatened, and where their opinions and ideas can be evaluated on their own merit.

One activity to introduce the ‘social laboratory’ is introducing “parallel projects” into the lesson plans. For example, when the students are reading a book on one level, they can also be actively involved in an activity on another level that helps personalize, focus, and give meaning to the issues they are reading. For example, discussing themes surrounding bravery and prejudice in modern Europe while reading Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is an example of a parallel project that can help the students have a deeper appreciation for the literature while helping them learn about social issues overseas. These kinds of interdisciplinary opportunities exist within almost any classroom topic. If you have the time.