Marva N. Collins

Educational Program and Philosophy

My educational program and methodology is based on the Socratic Method. Socrates, an Athenian philosopher and teacher, lived from about 470 - 399 BC. The Socratic method teaches by using a series of questions and answers by which the logical soundness of a definition, or a point of view, or the meaning of a concept, is tested. The Socratic method is based on logical analysis, consequently, it develops superb reasoning skills in students.

I select reading materials that contain ideas that are abstract. These ideas may, and will, mean different things to different students. There may not be one correct answer, but several interpretations are possible. Socrates asks, in Plato's Republic, what is 'justice?' As Socrates' queries of his students reveal, 'justice' as a concept has several definitions. The purpose of teaching, I believe, is not just to master factual material, but also to teach the student how to think, and to encourage him/her to think, indeed. The ability to reason, to analyze logically, will survive long after the student's retention of memorized fact is lost.

Before beginning any reading selection, I first pre-read the selection (it is folly to attempt to teach what one does not know) and I extract all of the difficult words. These 'words-to-watch' become the vocabulary words for the class to learn. Every student must be able to pronounce, spell, and know the meaning of each of these words prior to starting the reading in class. It makes no sense to delve into the selection if the students do not understand the words in the material to be read. Otherwise, the reading will both tedious and meaningless.

Then, I refer to the title of the reading, and ask, "What do you think this selection is going to be about?" This process is gathering information from the title. Other questions that may be asked, before the reading actually begins, include, "Is this story going to be about pain?" "A good conscience?"  "How do you know?" Next, identify the purpose for reading the selection. As the reading progresses, readings must be done aloud, never silently, ask pertinent questions, such as "What do you think will happen?" Predictions must use logic, reason, evidence, in order to develop meta-cognitive skills.

Students are taught to examine their line of reasoning. What information from the reading supports your response? This teaches the student the importance of factual responses as compared to interpretative answers. Certainly, students will score higher on standardized tests when they know how to think critically and analytically. Tests do not want to know what we think; they measure the correctness of our factual responses. Thus students are taught to refrain from making wild conjectures. Inquiry becomes a disciplined process in which students use prior acquired knowledge and evidence to arrive at new insights and understanding.

In the Socratic method the teacher controls the rate and flow of information. Understanding takes place during the reading, at each important juncture, not at the end of the selection. This method encourages participation by all students, thus it alleviates discipline problems, and eventually eliminates them entirely. When students misbehave, it indicates that they have not developed the habit of 'right' reasoning. My methodology is designed to teach that choices have consequences. I use discipline, self-discipline, not punishment to engage the students in 'right' thinking. Ultimately, the teacher should increase reading longer amounts of text between stopping points. This will increase the students' ability to gain meaning from extended reading. Always stop at points in the reading to ask questions, such as, "Why did you (the student) give the answer you did?" And, "Can you point to the sentence, or paragraph, in the reading that supports your conclusion?"

Stop-points in oral reading should occur at logical places such as where the story changes and especially at highly abstract passages. The master teacher never shies away from difficult reading selections or passages therein. The class is only as good as its leader! Stopping at abstractions allows for oral discussion, the refinement of ideas, and the use of vocabulary, and for guidance by the teacher. Stop points also provide discussion time, increased verbal and writing skills, and the development of critical thinking.

My educational program does not allow the inane use of independent seat work, busy work sheets, and workbooks. These so-called education tools do not connect ideas into a logical thought process. They do not, and cannot, teach children how to read, or how to write. They presuppose that the participant is already an independent reader, and is already imbued with critical and analytical thinking skills, or that the student is able to grasp, without supervision or guidance, the relevant points being made by the author. There are more reasons why I do not use work sheets in my classes, and I do not permit their use by any teacher in my school.

Upon completion of a reading selection, students should write daily letters to the characters in the selection, or to the author of the material. Students should write a critical review of the selection. Which character did they identify with the most? Why? What did this character teach them? What life-lesson, if any, did they learn from the reading? Why is this life-lesson important to them? Again, workbooks and worksheets can never accomplish this. There is a difference between 'busy work' and 'thought work.'

The direct teaching method reinforces skills learned in every reading selection. The child is taught to refer to what has been learned previously to support an opinion. References come from many different sources, from poetry, newspaper editorials, magazines, great speeches, novels, or any other written material. Everything everywhere provides potentially excellent material for developing reasoning skills. To illustrate, a piece of paper represents trees, because wood is processed into paper. A piece of paper also represents the water that nourishes the tree, the woodsman who cuts down the tree, or the trucks that take the felled tree to the processing plant. Direct teaching expands the mind beyond the two covers of a book and the four walls of the classroom. Textbook word-for-word, lock-step methods never make good critical thinkers. There is a difference between word reading and word understanding. And, there is a difference between knowing how to read, and loving to read.

My methodology of teaching has the advantage of establishing an intellectual environment that promotes the gaining of textual information, conversational information, vocabulary building, idea building, idea sharing and expansion, and it demands the attention of all participants. It alleviates guessing. It teaches abstract thinking. Critical thinking involves a general attitude of questioning and suspended judgment, the habit of examining before accepting. The teacher and the student now have a common goal, which is the gaining of knowledge and information sharing. Direct teaching does require new behavior by both the teacher and the students, therefore it does require some degree of behavior modification. In my long teaching career, I have learned that the benefits are worth the effort. Once teachers try the Socratic Method, or direct method, of teaching, they will never again return to anything that cannot produce the 'magic.'

Marva Collins Math Program

Very often students do not understand the lectures for reasons that can be overcome by the teacher. Sensitivity to language difficulties, and the lack of an adequate foundation, can be addressed without causing a substantial departure from the established time-line schedules required by the school district. How can the teacher create an atmosphere in which the student will actually look forward to math lessons? How can the teaching of mathematics help improve reading comprehension skills, as well as other language arts functioning? How can a strong foundation replace the existing weak one without departing from the curriculum? These, and more, are addressed by our consultation services that are custom made to the specific difficulties your students are having.