THE KEY IDEAS BEHIND OUR ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM
These are the central concepts used to design our Elementary Curriculum:
YOUNG STUDENTS CAN LEARN - We make the same assumption most parents make; that their student can learn . We assume they can learn, even if they can't currently read or write well. We assume that the student's innate ability to learn, to understand, and to explore can be expanded upon and used to the student's benefit.
EXPERIENTIAL - "Elementary" curriculum (like all the courses which Mr. Horwich's authors) is largely based on the concept that students need more than to be told (or to read) that something is so; they actually need to experience it as so. Elementary curriculum is built so the student is up, on his feet and moving and doing things in many of the lessons, actions which will help make vital concepts fun and understandable. This level of curricula is also used to start the student writing essays about what he's learned, but these are kept simple. The student is also required to do increasingly more and difficult reading, in order to develop literacy.
SEMI TUTOR-BASED - Elementary curriculum is semi-tutor-intensive. What this means is that a student aged 7 and 8 will work closely with a tutor, who will need to supervise and assist, but that the student is also being prepared to increasingly take responsibility for their school work. Our Starter Curricula is entirely tutor based. Elementary starts the process of weaning the student off of a tutor as the source of learning, and establishing the tutor (parent/teacher) rather as more of a facilitator than the source of a child's education.
MINIMAL TESTS - There are tests built into the four streams of courses for this age group. These are generally found at the end of each course, and there's not generally more than one test per course. As is the case with curriculum for older students authored by Mr. Horwich, the tests in Elementary exist solely for the purpose of determining what a student has and has not learned, so that he or she can be sent back to areas of study they're unsure of. We are NOT interested in scores or grades, as these are almost always used to compare the progress of students, which is demeaning. At this age, all we should be interested in is the fact that the student is learning.
NO CRITIQUE - Elementary Curriculum is also "non-critique based". In line with our "test to review, not to grade" concept, we ask that tutors and others please allow students to experience their own ideas and insights without outside "help", "acceptance", "rejection", "guidance" or "qualification". Possibly one of the best and most desired results of education would be a self-assured child who feels that his own creativity and insight is valuable and deserves to be explored and expressed. This result becomes impossible to achieve when a child's education is darkened by other people's opinions of his work and of his opinions.
Unless a student is unusually thick-skinned, most children's
image of themselves and their abilities are profoundly
colored by the "commentary" and "aid"
offered by parents, teachers, and other adults they look up
to. A single critique of a child's creative effort can push
the child out of an entire area of the arts for life, and we
at 1st Step have seen this to be precisely the case on many
occasions.
As an adult, you may be able to recall being
interested at one time in something, and being persuaded not
to follow up on it for any one of many silly reasons. These
might have included (you can fill in the blanks) "____
is a rough and competitive field, too competitive for
you"; "You're not ____ enough to succeed at
____"; and "You seem to be struggling at ______.
Perhaps we should try something easier?" And yet,
history is bursting with long lines of stellar acheivers who
overcame such objections, followed their interests, and
added immeasurably to our world.
Critique is deadly at any age. At the age Elementary Curriculum is intended for, ages 7 and 8, it can be fatal to the student's future interests and efforts. We avoid it at all costs, and ask that you to do the same as you work with these courses and your student(s).
ONE STUDENT, OR A GROUP - We understand that you may have a lone student who needs to work without other children. We also know that you may have two or more students in this age range to work with. Every lesson plan is designed so that it can be done by a single student, or by a group of two or more, even up to classroom-sized groups. When specific actions need to be done to make an exercise work for a single student or a group, these are specified.
FULLY AUTHORED LESSON PLANS - We do not ask that you, the parent or teacher or tutor, write curriculum. We assume that's why you came to us. Accordingly, every step in every lesson plan is fully written, providing student and tutor a clear, step-by-step list of things to be done in sequence, to achieve a desired result. We also often provide "prompts" that the tutor can use if the student is struggling with a specific exercise. These prompts are built directly into the exercise, in Elementary Curriculum.
FAMILIES AND TEACHERS COUNT - At this young and formative age, we believe that the student should be able to count on those closest to him for assistance and guidance. One can never have enough people to love and support their efforts, and this is obviously never truer than during our youngest and most vulnerable years. As we mentioned, the young student looks up to those adults around him, and these have a profound effect on his or her future. 1st Step Elementary Curriculum is designed to be done by a trusted adult in close and good communication with the student. The three hours per day, five days a week needed to do the curriculum successfully, should be seen as "quality time" with the student. It is.
