This lesson plan was a part of my final project for Adolescent Psychology. It intentionally incorporates Kohlberg's Moral Reasoning theories (Muuss). By exposing students to moral dilemmas and intentionally having them look at it from different points of views, it encourages them to stretch their thinking (moral judgment). This idea came from the story that Kohlberg used regarding the husband stealing drugs from the pharmacy to save his wife’s life (Muuss). However, by using the newspaper to find local problems or dilemmas, it grounds the students in real-life actions (moral behavior).

 

In addition to using Kohlberg's theories, I also incorporated a human ecological lens to the student's problem-solving process. This includes talking about the pros/cons of looking at problems in an isolated way, then looking at stakeholders in their problem, then encouraging them to broaden their list, and identifying who isn't involved who should be in solving the problem, we will look at the problem from multiple different points of views (from people who have different values). Lastly, the students will use the information they gathered and evaluate the situation and give a recommendation or opinion about the issue. 

 

This lesson plan not only broaden students' problem solving and critical thinking ability but also teaches them about their community's key players and obstacles. My hope is that this assignment will encourage students to see disagreements as a disagreement in values or morals and encourage them to look at problems from multiple points of view (from a human ecological perspective).

 

What I learned:

In making this lesson plan, I came to ask myself, what if the students don't get it? What if they're not developmentally ready? What do I do to my lesson plan to accommodate for a student not being developmentally ready to address some of the moral contemplations and critical thinking I am asking them to perform? Some thoughts I had would be to individualize the lesson or to have one on one meetings to help them though, or my last resort would be to change the lesson plan's content to make it "easier." Finding the balance of challenging all my students without losing some is definitely a place I plan to work on and ask other teachers about for advice. If I were to do this again, I would want to include more about Gilligan's theories to reduce any gender bias. 

The Ancient Greek unit that I did with my freshman World History class included a slideshow about Plato. This slideshow gave an overview of information about Plato and his theories. This lecture took multiple class periods. One lesson that I created out of this focuses on Plato's four big ideas: Think more, Let your lover change you, Reform Society, and Decode the message of beauty. Each of these are lessons that we can still learn from today. Each student picked one of these to reflect on in their own personal lives.  

 

Think more: We just go along with the popular opinion. To avoid this, you have to know yourself. Subject your ideas to examination before acting. Have a Socratic Discussion with yourself or another.

The Question: When has there been a time where you went along with your own opinion rather than the popular one? When have you just gone along with what everyone else said without thinking about it?

Let your lover change you: “True love is admiration.” Be around people who have different qualities than yourself. Their qualities may rub off on you. We should be close to people who love us for not what we are now, but for what we will be in the future.

The Question: Whom do you admire? What qualities do they have that make you admire them and why? What qualities do you try to avoid and why? 

Decode Message of Beauty: Beautiful things are beautiful because they represent things we want in life. Art is therapeutic and helps us to live full lives.

The Question: While you are scrolling through social media, what do you notice? What is beautiful to you? What do you "like" on Facebook, or "♥" on Instagram? What do you think this means about yourself?  

Reform Society: How to create fulfilled people: It matters whom we admire. Bad heroes, give glamor to the flaws of people. Celebrities are role models and therefore should be wise and good people.

The Question: Who is your role model? Which celebrities do you admire? How do you think those people influence you and the choices you make? 

 

The students wrote down which one they want to reflect on on a piece of paper and turned it in as an exit ticket. At the end of the week / a few days, during their individual meetings, the students reported out or wrote down (depending on comfortability) what they discovered in their reflection.

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What I Learned:

I learned that I have a tendency to include reflection in my teaching methods. This is one aspect of the College of the Atlantic Education system that will carry on with me. Every Ed. Studies class I have taken requires journal entries and self-reflection. I found out that this had an impact on me and is now a part of who I am as a teacher.

I am fully committed to including introspection and self-reflection into classroom from my lessons to entry questions that we do at the beginning of class. There is no piece of content where you can't ask a student to reflect the content back onto their own lives. I beleive that by relating the content back onto themselves the students will create a deeper connection and mastery of the content because they have applied a real-world and personal experience or thought to it. 

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The metathinking and introspection that I include in my classroom also help the students learn about themselves and look towards the future. These conversations have also opened up avenues to establish connection with students whom I might not have been able to establish connections with otherwise.