It is difficult to convey what I have learned this past semester from teaching philosophy to a small eighth grade class. On the first day, I opened up with Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave.” My intent was to show them that while learning may not always be the most enjoyable thing, it can open up a brand new world. After the first few classes, I found that lesson plans were becoming easier to formulate.
One of the greatest struggles I soon discovered was how to make philosophy interesting. The demographics of a philosophy class usually do not include kids in the eighth grade. This was a challenge that I was able to overcome. Specific examples of topics that worked included why we should continue with space exploration, along with questioning our faith and whether or not this is a good thing to be doing. Soon, I began ending class with talking about anything that interests the students. Example: Many of the students play basketball. Being a Political Science major, I know there is a great debate in college basketball on whether or not student athletes should be paid. So the next class, I present both sides of the argument. Side 1: these athletes are students, and many, if not most of them, are receiving large scholarships to great schools, therefore they should not be compensated financially. Side 2: while these athletes are students, many of them come from impoverish lifestyles, living meal-by-meal, while the coaches and NCAA executives are paid millions of dollars. If by the end of presenting these arguments I find that majority of the class is siding with argument, I will take the opposing argument to play devil’s advocate. Mainly, I try to teach that having an argument is vital in life. In addition to this, every argument must be informed by research, and not formulated by an opinion they heard. Therefore, I welcome any one with a different or opposing viewpoint, and I encourage this. My most successful class was on social media and loneliness. There was a video I had seen called, “The Innovation of Loneliness,” and it included an argument that while we may be under the impression we have many friends because of Facebook and other social media websites, social media is actually causing us to feel lonely. So I showed the class this video once all the way through, and then played it again, but stopping each time that key issues were brought up. The students were very interested in how something they partake in everyday can have such a significant effect on them. Overall, I have had a great experience, and I am looking forward to beginning a new semester with the students. As I consistently tell the class, if they were to learn only one thing from me, it would be to always have an argument and a perspective on issues. Jack Holiver |
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