Jane Addams (1920s): Ethical Principles (for Gender Equality)
Jane Addams was nicknamed ‘Saint Jane’ for her part in activism, philanthropy, and sociology, but she was best known for her part in reformation. She was born to a wealthy family and her father was a senator, however, she used her privilege to combat social injustices. Upon graduating at the top of her class from Rockford College, Addams toured Europe and discovered Toynbee Hall: a settlement house in the inner city portion of London. Settlement Houses became popular in the 1880’s due to the fact that they provided services in inner cities in Europe to combat poverty and orchestrate social programs. Upon returning to the states, she took the idea of the settlement house and opened a similar facility in Chicago, known as Hull House. Addams looked at education as the foundation for our democracy and understood that teaching in the settlement required distinct methods. She thought it to be that people who have been undeveloped and are lacking clean and stable facilities cannot put their education as a priority (“Jane Addams (1860-1935)”, n.d.) This theory is further replicated in the 1950-60’s with Maslow and his passion that people’s number one basic need in life is to feel safe. When people feel unsafe, they can’t progress into learning anything. Originally, the Hull House filled a need in the community as a nursery school, or elementary school, however, Addams quickly saw a significant need for education of the women who resided in the house. She viewed the Hull House as an educational institution that protested against the restricted view of education (Michals, n.d.) Addams believed education’s role was to provide knowledge to improve the life of all the participants within the learning community. This was unlike formal education provided by public schools at the time, as that education was abstract, where Addams’ philosophy would relate to the needs and interests of the people within the settlement. Although she was not considered a “radical feminist,” she worked to educate women from traditional duties of the household to extend out into the community in order to improve the health of the neighborhood. John Dewey was a trustee of the Hull House and credits Addams as being influential in his philosophy of education.
(Hull House: Chicago, Illinois settlement
house founded by Jane Addams.)
Madeline Hunter (1970s): Direct Instruction
Teaching is an art form and many of us have experienced it from our own educators first hand. Oftentimes, we have thought of our teachers as “intuitive,” however if you asked Madeline Hunter, intuitive teaching is a dirty phrase. Hunter compared intuitive teaching practices to old time medicine men selling snake oils as sound medical devices, sometimes working for ailments, but usually failing. She viewed good teaching as an applied science that when using a researched seven step method makes anyone into a quality educator. Known to many as an educational guru, she assures that when her methods are applied, students will learn more. Hunter’s pedagogy is still a model of lesson planning that shapes many college prep programs today. Her model of instruction consists of the anticipatory set: which gets students focused on the subject by connecting the subject into their own lives. Second, the lesson objective: letting the students know what they are learning and why. Third, input: offering more information to involve students in the lesson. Fourth, modeling: or demonstrating the subject matter. Fifth, checking for understanding: forms of what we now know as formative assessment. Sixth, guided practice: roaming the room to help students. Lastly, independent practice: giving students exercises to reinforce the lesson. Hunter believes combining those seven elements with positive reinforcement is the ideal teaching model. Although some claim that this is a lecture dominated style of teaching, Hunter believes it can be applied anywhere from cooperative learning classrooms clear to a corporate training session. Of her many accomplishments, she is proudest of her hand signaling system that she developed for checks for understanding, otherwise known as a ‘thumbs-up,’ she gave it a clever name called “dipsticking” (Gursky, 1991). Hunter’s lesson plan model is based on learning increases through repetition and “drilling the skill” strengthens the skill. However, she argues if something is mis-learned, the skill must first be eradicated and through her seven step process is designed to minimize mis-learning in the first place (Wilson, 2019).
(Graphic of the Madeline Hunter lesson plan design.)
References:
Gursky, D. (1991, October 1). Madeline. Retrieved May 12, 2020, from http://api.edweek.org/v1/tm/?uuid=6045B3E2-2FB7-11DB-BD55-CC2980C3ACA9
Jane Addams (1860–1935). (n.d.). Retrieved May 12, 2020, from https://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1734/Addams-Jane-1860-1935.html
Michals, D. (n.d.). Jane Addams. Retrieved May 12, 2020, from
Wilson, L. O. (2019, October 16). Madeline Hunter Lesson Plan Model. Retrieved May 12, 2020, from https://thesecondprinciple.com/essential-teaching-skills/models-of- teaching/madeline-hunter-lesson-plan-model/
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