The Active Learning Foundation Update

Tom Jackson, Director Summer 2000

Life Skills 

If We Can’t Test It, Why Teach It?

We have all heard the battle cry, "We need to get back to basics. Let’s just teach the three R’s!" Well first of all, I have a tendency to worry about any movement which claims the three R’s as their call to arms. You do realize that reading, writing and arithmetic don’t all start with "R" don’t you? Secondly, I must question the wisdom of such a simplistic approach. If national demographics and economic circumstances were the same today as they were fifty years ago, then this "back to basics" mantra might work. However, today we live in an increasingly complex society which requires us to address areas that have been called by many the "fourth R". This stands for responsibility and I find some comfort in the fact that at least it really does start with the letter "R". In my work with children and youth, I have included life skills such as decision making, communication, goal setting, conflict resolution, understanding others, substance abuse prevention, violence issues, problem solving, respect, working together, etc., as part of the fourth R.Along with this back-to-basics movement, we are being bombarded with a demand for testing. Society wants to hold students accountable for their learning by measuring them against standards that have been set by a local school district or state office of education. Let me state for the record that as a former school teacher, a parent, a grand parent and one who has been working in the educational system since 1973, I am one hundred percent behind teaching kids to read, write and do arithmetic. Without these skills, all other efforts to help kids will fall short. These building blocks are definitely the cornerstone of education. I am not even against testing students to see where they stand in relation to where we expect them to be. Where I draw the line is in regards to reducing education to the point where we limit ourselves to teaching only the basics and then relying solely on standardized testing to measure our success. We cannot limit education to such a degree that we neglect giving our children and youth all of the tools they need to succeed in today’s society. We must be watchful that educational reform does not result in such a single-minded obsession with testing that we forget the necessity of teaching the child in addition to teaching the lesson. We are not running factories, but schools. Students are not products which can easily be normed, meaned and averaged. They are people with individualized needs, strengths and aspirations who need to be taught a number of life skills in order to realize their dreams.

I feel that the acquisition of life skills is a basic requirement for all children. It is true that we don’t have a multiple choice test to measure someone’s decision making skills or their ability to set goals, but that doesn’t make these skills any less important when we measure success. True success is measured by an individual’s ability to assume their place in society and become a functioning, contributing member. This is the ultimate test of whether our schools have done their job or not. Any less of a standard must be counted as failure, whether students have passed a mandated test or not. An individual’s acquisition of life skills has been shown to increase the odds of becoming a respected, contributing member of society. Without the fourth R, the first three R’s will leave people living as a mere shadow of what they could become. Life skills must be included in every person’s toolbox for them to have a chance to reach their full potential. Rather than continuing the polarizing debate between teaching only the basics or presenting an enriching curriculum that includes the fourth R, I would submit that we need to find a balance that mixes the two approaches and provides students with all of the necessary tools to succeed and contribute in today’s fast paced and ever changing society.

New Book Is Coming!!!

This summer when Still More Activities That Teach becomes available, everyone who has signed up for the e-mail update will be notified. The book has 55 new activities. Additional topics include conflict resolution, respect, responsibility, school to careers and team building along with activities covering your favorite topics from my first two books, Activities That Teach and More Activities That Teach.

A New Activity

This activity will be part of the new book, Still More Activities That Teach, which is coming out this summer. With all of the unstructured time kids will have while school is not in session, this activity would be a good one to remind them that fun can turn into trouble very quickly!  Let me share a story that was e-mailed to me by one of the people who helped test this activity.  "In a one-on-one session with myself and a student who has gotten in some trouble around drugs and alcohol this was an activity that seemed to really make a point with the 7th grade student I used it with.  Once we got through the discussion questions, I gave her the penny to keep in her pocket to help remind her about her responsibility in staying away from situations that are going to get her in trouble.  She says it helps and she still lets me know she has her penny.  This activity make a real difference in her life."  Shirlie Freytag, Middle School Guidance Counselor, Colorado

Title: Crossing The Line

Topic Area: Decision Making

Concept: I saw a church sign that said "Too often trouble starts out as fun!" As we look at the trouble our kids can get into, we can see how true this statement is. We want them to have fun and experience life to its fullest. What we don’t want is their quest for fun to cross over the line and become illegal, dangerous or risky. Kids don’t always plan to get into trouble, sometimes it just happens. Take skiing for example. You can have a lot of fun on the slopes, but what about the area that is off limits to skiers? It looks so inviting. So you just go for it! Bad decision. Sure it may look like fun, but there was a reason for it to be marked off limits. Now there may be consequences such as legal problems or injuries to deal with. Other examples could include how a trip to the mall results in shoplifting or joking around leads to a fist fight. We don’t want to discourage our kids from having fun, but we do want them to know that their decisions have consequences. Children and youth should be aware of the problems associated with various behaviors and don’t get so close to the line that divides fun and trouble that they can easily cross over it. The message needs to be "Have fun but don’t cross the line."

Method: Classroom activity

Time Needed: 8 minutes plus discussion time

Materials Needed:

A penny for each team of twoA ruler for each team of twoA piece of paper for each team of twoA pen or a pencil for each team of two

A desk or a table space for each team of two (More than one team can be seated at a table)

Activity: Have everyone get a partner and have them stand or sit opposite each other at a desk or table. The distance from one side of the desk or table to the other should be at least eighteen inches. Give each pair a penny. The object is to use your finger to flick or fling the penny so it slides across the top of the table and see how close you can come to the opposite edge without going off of the table. The purpose of having a partner on the opposite side of the table is simply to allow the penny to be shot back and forth and to help retrieve the penny if it goes over the edge. Give the participants about three minutes to practice sliding their penny across the table top. This will give them a chance to get a feel for how the penny slides and which propulsion method works best for them.

After allowing them time to practice explain that they will have five tries to get as close to the opposite edge of the table as possible. One person will take a turn and then the other person will take a turn until each person has had their five tries. They will use a ruler to measure each try Have them measure from the edge of the table they are shooting towards to the closest edge of the penny. After each of the five attempts, have them record the distance. The winner will be the person who gets the closest to the edge without falling off of the table. If they get it to stop with part of the penny hanging over the edge without falling off, they measure how much of the penny is hanging over. They will only report out their closest distance, not all five. Once everyone has taken their five tries, have them report out their best effort.

Discussion Ideas:

"What" Questions

What methods did you experiment with during the practice rounds to shoot the penny?What method worked best for you to shoot the penny?How close did you come to the edge of the table?

How many times did you shoot the penny off the table?

"So What"QuestionsHow well could you control where the penny would stop?How much control did you have over the penny once it started moving?Do we always have control over exactly what happens in our lives?What areas in our lives do we control by the decisions we make?How are our actions affected by the decisions we make?How can our decisions get us into trouble?How can our decisions keep us out of trouble?It was hard to stop the penny right next to the edge. How hard is it to make a good decision when you are in the middle of having fun?How easy is it for fun to cross the line and turn into trouble?Describe situations where fun crosses the line and turns into trouble.What role do consequences play in decision making?

Who pays the consequences for a person’s good decisions? Poor decisions?

"Now What" Questions

How can we keep from crossing the line from fun to trouble?How do our actions reflect the decisions we make?

Variation: If the measuring part is too time consuming, you can award points. An example of this would be, one point if the penny touches the edge, two points if part of the penny hangs over the edge and minus three points if the penny goes off of the table.

If You Like Tom Jackson’s Books 
You’ll Love Hearing Him In Person!

That’s right, wouldn’t it be great to have Tom come to your school, community or conference and share with you his creative, yet practical hands-on activities? Tom’s activities have been described by teachers and others who work with children and youth as "Simply the best life skill activities I have ever used! They teach life skills in such a way that kids not only learn, but love doing them." PTA, parent and community groups can also benefit from activities that help build family values and successful kids.Reading about the activities is exciting, but there is no substitute for actually doing them. Tom uses his "learn by doing" approach to walk you through a number of activities from his two books Activities That Teach and More Activities That Teach. Here is a chance to ask questions, get insider tips and learn first hand how to process and discuss the activities with your kids. Hundreds of teachers, counselors and youth workers have participated in Tom’s workshops and one of the most common remarks is "I wish we had more time. This is the most useful workshop I have ever attended."

Tom is available for keynote presentations, conference breakouts, workshops, teacher in-services, peer helper trainings, youth leadership programs and community or parenting conferences. Funding sources that have been used successfully by other organizations are staff development, Safe and Drug Free Schools, Title I, At-Risk and High Risk, as well as special grants and community resources. Join up with a neighboring school, school district or organization and save money by sharing travel costs when Tom stays more than one day in your part of the country. We will try to book another workshop in your area to help you save money on travel if you will give us other likely people to contact.

Give Janet Jackson a call at (888) 588-7078 and ask for Tom’s speaker packet. This will give you more information concerning cost, travel and references. Or, just give Janet a call and suggest to her a person in your district or organization who would be interested in hearing more about Tom and she’ll contact them directly.

For more information go to the Speaking Information page on this website.