Values And Beliefs

If you can swing it, lessons challenging and sharing student beliefs and values are fantastic and filled with learning and growth.

Linkedin | Videos | Blog | Printables | ELT News | TpTs | Youtube SUBSCRIBE

Many people protest that the classroom isn’t a place for “beliefs” of any kind. Often quoting the separation of church and state and arguing for education to be about facts, valid knowledge, skills etc …

However, any teacher who’s spent a little time in a classroom knows that this is practically impossible. The classroom is a human interface and all lesson topics come with values and beliefs. We don’t just teach subjects, knowledge, we all teach human beings, souls and characters. Teachers are engineers of human souls in a way, and strongly participate in their students’ concept of self, like it or not. It can’t be avoided.

I think, if handled sensitively, teachers can really profit from lessons that focus on values and beliefs, helping student interpersonal growth and development. The classroom is a great place for this kind of open learning and inquiry. A space for “thinking for yourself”. Critical pedagogy in action.

I got to thinking about this topic after a weekend of writing letters to some former young men who I was a mentor for, a big brother. I got to thinking of my own values and beliefs. I listed my own 10 Commandments for a Modern World. See them and download the PDF on my personal blog.

However, this would be a great activity with students. Challenge students to come up with their own set of “10 Rules For Modern Life”. Use this free template I designed for the topic.

Lessons focused on beliefs and values are often open-ended and start first with brainstorming and students critically thinking about the issue. It’s kind of a materials creation philosophy for many of the lessons in our lesson library. So many focus on templates for student brainstorming.

There are some other strong topics, suitable for the subject of beliefs and values. Here’s a short list to inspire you, off the top of my head.

  1. How people learn best. Challenge students to list and share ideas for learning something well. Learning about learning. See the activity. Or this one about what students believe a classroom should be like.

  2. Moral dilemmas. Confront students with a scenario and ask them how they would react, what action they would take. See our pre-made cards.

  3. What Would You Do? Show the video series and then discuss if you were the character, what you’d do in that situation. See the video series and materials.

  4. What Makes Life Meaningful? Brainstorm what gives purpose and value to a life. Then maybe watch and discuss Viktor Frankl’s - Man’s Search For Meaning.

  5. What Do We Need In Life? Besides food, water, shelter, clothes - what else do we need. Brainstorm and share.

  6. Values. Acrostic Poem. Fill out the poem with sentences starting with the first letters of MY VALUES and I BELIEVE.

  7. Gratitude. What are your students thankful for? List (one for each finger on your hand) and discuss. Share messages of gratitude for the things we have in our lives.

  8. Philosophy of Life. Students might write a statement about their own philosophy of life. See this discussion, vocabulary sheet.

  9. Make a manifesto. Last but not least, this idea rocks! Students design a poster to express themselves, their beliefs. Show some examples first to inspire them. See our pre-made manifesto lesson materials.

Teachers - it is a great idea to discuss with colleagues your own beliefs about teaching and learning. See this handy activity I’ve used with teachers across the years.

What lesson ideas can you add for the topic of beliefs and values? Let us know in the comments and I hope with your artful hand, your lessons on this topic will lifelong enrich your students.

0 Comments
Authors
David Deubelbeiss