Front cover image for You are your own best teacher! : sparking the curiosity, imagination and intellect of tweens

You are your own best teacher! : sparking the curiosity, imagination and intellect of tweens

Claire Nader (Author)
"You Are Your Own Best Teacher! provides a remarkable variety of teachable antidotes to the punishing forces bearing down on youngsters from harmful marketing, the insidious grip of "virtual reality" and the tyranny of peer groups. Apprehensive parents and burdened teachers will delight in the lessons of this book for Tweens (nine to twelve year olds). It will spark their innate curiosity, imagination and idealism. Tweens, who are whipsawed by relentless distractions, profit-driven manipulations and oncoming addictions, are guided toward elevating their own sense of significance, protection and realizable achievements. Through this process of discovery, they explore wider frames of reference with roles inside and outside the family environment. Many motivating stories from history to the present make Claire Nader's gentle nudges toward self-educational experiences exciting. She takes children on a tour of the print dictionary, highlighting concepts such as justice, freedom, peace, wisdom and gratitude. She introduces the young to Benjamin Franklin, Frederick Douglass and Helen Keller to illustrate their profound awareness and discipline. By addressing Tween self-consciousness, the book takes youngsters on new explorations about being "smart" to learn about their own bodies, pressing for physical activity, eating smartly, controlling their time and avoiding hours glued to hypnotic screens. By explaining the importance of learning to unlearn and ask questions such as "what if?" and "why?" she encourages Tweens to teach themselves to distinguish fact from fiction, thinking from believing, respect from disrespect, all of which will prepare them for the realities they will face as they grow older. This book doesn't talk down to Tweens. The author shows they are capable of understanding the perils of "click on" contracts and their rights under tort law. Self-teaching to build their confidence is also heartening for parents who feel deeply the loss of parental upbringing to the stupefying seductions of video-driven hucksters. The book offers suggestions to encourage communing more with nature, enriching family discussions, retrieving the wisdom of the ancients, using proverbs and extending the ability of children to concentrate. Teachers understand the benefits of self-education that enhance the vitality of their classrooms. Nader speaks to Tweens about their future as active young citizens, skeptical shoppers and life-long learners. Her suggestions will equip Tweens to better handle their turbulent adolescent years and later apply their skills to further the common good and protect posterity. With a calming sense of humor, Nader's You Are Your Own Best Teacher! will bring out the best from our inherently eager youngsters"-- Provided by publisher
Print Book, English, 2022
First edition
Essential Books, Washington, DC, 2022
Anecdotes
Ages 9-12 Grades 4-6
xii, 237 pages ; 24 cm
9781893520066, 9781893520004, 9781893520042, 9781893520059, 1893520064, 1893520005, 1893520048, 1893520056
1341247463
A beautiful spark
The truth about kids
The truth about school
Let's talk about screens
Time out for gratitude
Playing different roles expands the mind
Concentration, imagination, and curiosity
What if?
Social action: an urge to improve the world
Fifth-grade firebrands
Peer groups and other outside pressures
Order in the classroom versus critical thinking
Company ads and deceptions
The dark side
Maturity at an early age
The dictionary: a door to meaning, understanding, and enchantment
Being smart
Solitude
History infused with myths
Unlearning to learn
Learning by doing
Self-education can be the best medicine
Addictions
Who's raising you anyway?
Talking back: controlling what we the people already own
Young inventors and tween talk shows
The importance of a questioning mind
Family stories
Family discussions
Beyond family discussions
Discovering how you're controlled by companies
Good companies
Three historic Americans: beating the odds through self-education
Frames of reference revisited
Moving from knowledge to action: developing healthy habits
Becoming an informed consumer
Your own body
Becoming a good ancestor
Becoming a smart voter
Becoming alert to propaganda
What happened to physical education in schools?
The beauty business
The two great pillars of our civil justice system
Taboos and the classroom
Smoking: a case study in confronting power
Citizen action / community action: what is it?
The discipline of discovery
A side note on Proverbs
Holidays: what we celebrate
"War is a racket"
Waging peace, not war
Colman McCarthy and peace studies
Animal welfare and respecting nature
A fond farewell