What does it mean to teach young people philosophy? |
In our classroom, we focus on questioning and the reflection process as tools, or habits of mind, to help us learn and grow as thinkers. Curiosity ignites creative thinking, and I believe curiosity exists in questions like "why?" and "how?" Our classroom is a safe place for young people to confront those questions and imagine, or even reinvent, the answers. How else does innovation happen? Teaching young people to think philosophically is about helping them to think about their own thinking, support conclusions with evidence, to stretch their imaginations, and to think about the learning process itself.
Community is the heart of the classroom design, with collaborative groups built around breakout spaces where we can move, work independently, or dive into books, inquiry questions, or projects that capture the imagination. Collaborative groups are flexible and always changing, but our home groups help us develop a sense of identity and remind us to be good teammates. How else can we learn from one another? Simplicity keeps us calm when we are challenged as learners, and helps us focus in an age of distraction. The walls grow and change over the year as they become filled with unit-specific learning strategies, student creations, and subject-specific vocabulary we have learned. The air is filled with the smell of soil from our classroom plants, gently vibrating to the sound of soft classical music in the background. |