by Daniel Yordy
Project led learning compels reading – the personal pursuit of knowledge. My pumpkins need what fertilizer? I should get which parts for building my own computer? How can I take fantastic pictures? But rather than be handed an assigned textbook with “all the answers,” the child must sift through a range of information, how-to books, websites, manuals, draw out what is useful for the present moment, and ignore the rest.
This is called research and it is how we actually learn.
But what about reading for the sake of reading? What about literature?
The boys and girls who are attracted to project-led learning must be doing something with their hands. They are creative minded and inquisitive. The girls who have obtained project guides from me prefer writing stories (they already read too much.) The boys, on the other hand, have little interest in books. They can’t sit still long enough; they have a world to conquer.
So how do you fit literature into project led learning?
Everyone loves a great story. And every kid loves adventure. The literary category of project-led learning focuses on both.
Robinson Crusoe is one of the most popular books of all time because it inspires the reader to dream of what he would accomplish if he were by himself against the elements. Daniel Defoe tapped into this innate desire in each of us to prove ourselves against the world. But for middle school kids today, Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen, is a more accessible story. One boy against the elements, who struggles and wins and gains a more solid sense of purpose as a result.
Children must have adventure; but adventure, by definition, includes risk and the possibility of failure, or even hurt.
What a project it would be for your child if you provided him (or her) with a limited set of equipment, took him out to a “safe” wilderness place, and left him to spend 24 hours surviving by himself! Then, give him Hatchet to read. Then, give him the chance to spend an additional 48 hours or even longer in the woods by himself.
I was nine when I spent my first night in the woods by myself. The garage door was only fifty feet away, yes, but oh what an experience that was. The night noises! The shadows of the trees!
Do real and personal adventures and reading great stories go together? Has modern society provided such a meaningless and insipid existence for our children that they have little sense of adventure and thus don’t see much point in a book of adventure? I don’t know, I’m just asking the questions. But I think they are important questions.
There are few things more important for the education of your children than you, the parent, reading books out loud to them – with expression and interest. I have forgotten much of my experiences in my primary school years, but I remember so clearly my fifth grade teacher reading the book, Seven Alone, out loud to us. How that story gripped my heart! As an English teacher, I have insisted on reading a book out loud to my students each year, both public school and private. It takes up a lot of class time, yes, but I am convinced that children need to hear great stories read to them. They need to hear the power and cadence of the English language read well. I have the unproven belief that listening to well-read story is more important than all the mind-numbing hours so many children spend not learning grammar.
I have read so many books to my children over the years. That is a large part of why they are very literary and very articulate today. They understand story, and they have a wide range of story experience. Dressing up in Victorian style dress and attending “Dickens on the Strand” in Galveston as part of the “show” is an essential element in project-led literature. Or practicing ballet and taking part in a production of The Nutcracker. Or cooking and serving a Redwall dinner.
In the life of a middle school child, great books and action must go together. Adventure! Danger! Dressing up. Putting on a play. Listening.
But if story is central to literature, then great movies are essential to learning. I personally do not understand why great movies are not part of literature in school. They are the best way to teach story and understanding story is at the heart of reading. I would far rather have my students view Armand Assante’s The Odyssey, than read Homer’s play cut up in a literature book. With the movie, they come away with a deep sense of the impact of one of the most influential stories in history. With the stuff in the textbook, they say, “Stupid.”
Can your child explain why the animated movie, Up, won the Academy Awards? If they can, they will understand story and how powerful it can be.
Reading and enjoying great stories is a matter of the heart. If you want to include great literature in your child’s learning, then the story must win his or her heart. When you learn how to make that happen, you have learned the secret of inspiring your child to learn.
Daniel Yordy has worked with teenagers for over thirty years, both on the job, doing a wide range of activities with young men and women from construction to woodworking to gardening to milking cows, and in school, public, private, and home school. While obtaining his Masters Degree, he pondered the difference between the dictates of “modern education” and the practical reality he already knew produced far superior learning results than anything contrived in the modern (pretend) classroom. The result is Project-Led Learning, a weaving of the objectives of education into the actions of real-life, personal projects that contribute to a young person’s life and family.
Out of the philosophy of Project-Led Learning, Mr. Yordy has devised a series of Project Guides in ten different categories of learning. You can find out more about these exciting Guides at http://www.yguideacademy.com/ProjectLedLearning.html
Project led learning compels reading – the personal pursuit of knowledge. My pumpkins need what fertilizer? I should get which parts for building my own computer? How can I take fantastic pictures? But rather than be handed an assigned textbook with “all the answers,” the child must sift through a range of information, how-to books, websites, manuals, draw out what is useful for the present moment, and ignore the rest.
This is called research and it is how we actually learn.
But what about reading for the sake of reading? What about literature?
The boys and girls who are attracted to project-led learning must be doing something with their hands. They are creative minded and inquisitive. The girls who have obtained project guides from me prefer writing stories (they already read too much.) The boys, on the other hand, have little interest in books. They can’t sit still long enough; they have a world to conquer.
So how do you fit literature into project led learning?
Everyone loves a great story. And every kid loves adventure. The literary category of project-led learning focuses on both.
Robinson Crusoe is one of the most popular books of all time because it inspires the reader to dream of what he would accomplish if he were by himself against the elements. Daniel Defoe tapped into this innate desire in each of us to prove ourselves against the world. But for middle school kids today, Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen, is a more accessible story. One boy against the elements, who struggles and wins and gains a more solid sense of purpose as a result.
Children must have adventure; but adventure, by definition, includes risk and the possibility of failure, or even hurt.
What a project it would be for your child if you provided him (or her) with a limited set of equipment, took him out to a “safe” wilderness place, and left him to spend 24 hours surviving by himself! Then, give him Hatchet to read. Then, give him the chance to spend an additional 48 hours or even longer in the woods by himself.
I was nine when I spent my first night in the woods by myself. The garage door was only fifty feet away, yes, but oh what an experience that was. The night noises! The shadows of the trees!
Do real and personal adventures and reading great stories go together? Has modern society provided such a meaningless and insipid existence for our children that they have little sense of adventure and thus don’t see much point in a book of adventure? I don’t know, I’m just asking the questions. But I think they are important questions.
There are few things more important for the education of your children than you, the parent, reading books out loud to them – with expression and interest. I have forgotten much of my experiences in my primary school years, but I remember so clearly my fifth grade teacher reading the book, Seven Alone, out loud to us. How that story gripped my heart! As an English teacher, I have insisted on reading a book out loud to my students each year, both public school and private. It takes up a lot of class time, yes, but I am convinced that children need to hear great stories read to them. They need to hear the power and cadence of the English language read well. I have the unproven belief that listening to well-read story is more important than all the mind-numbing hours so many children spend not learning grammar.
I have read so many books to my children over the years. That is a large part of why they are very literary and very articulate today. They understand story, and they have a wide range of story experience. Dressing up in Victorian style dress and attending “Dickens on the Strand” in Galveston as part of the “show” is an essential element in project-led literature. Or practicing ballet and taking part in a production of The Nutcracker. Or cooking and serving a Redwall dinner.
In the life of a middle school child, great books and action must go together. Adventure! Danger! Dressing up. Putting on a play. Listening.
But if story is central to literature, then great movies are essential to learning. I personally do not understand why great movies are not part of literature in school. They are the best way to teach story and understanding story is at the heart of reading. I would far rather have my students view Armand Assante’s The Odyssey, than read Homer’s play cut up in a literature book. With the movie, they come away with a deep sense of the impact of one of the most influential stories in history. With the stuff in the textbook, they say, “Stupid.”
Can your child explain why the animated movie, Up, won the Academy Awards? If they can, they will understand story and how powerful it can be.
Reading and enjoying great stories is a matter of the heart. If you want to include great literature in your child’s learning, then the story must win his or her heart. When you learn how to make that happen, you have learned the secret of inspiring your child to learn.
Daniel Yordy has worked with teenagers for over thirty years, both on the job, doing a wide range of activities with young men and women from construction to woodworking to gardening to milking cows, and in school, public, private, and home school. While obtaining his Masters Degree, he pondered the difference between the dictates of “modern education” and the practical reality he already knew produced far superior learning results than anything contrived in the modern (pretend) classroom. The result is Project-Led Learning, a weaving of the objectives of education into the actions of real-life, personal projects that contribute to a young person’s life and family.
Out of the philosophy of Project-Led Learning, Mr. Yordy has devised a series of Project Guides in ten different categories of learning. You can find out more about these exciting Guides at http://www.yguideacademy.com/ProjectLedLearning.html
