The title of this article may indicate that I am about to gripe about my 8th graders, however this is not the case. In fact, according to the stages of moral development theory by Lawrence Kohlberg, 8th graders are supposed to be self-centered. Developmentally, very few 8th graders can see beyond themselves and apply moral reasoning based on universal principles. Actually, Kohlberg tells us that most adults never reach a point where they can do things just based on ethical principles.

Kohlberg identifies five stages of moral development. Many adolescents and some adults can be in the pre-conventional level which means that their reasoning is defined by ego-centrism. As a follower of Kohlberg’s theory, I often create my lessons based on the fact that 8th graders by nature are self centered. The more they can think about themselves and the way they live the more inclined they are to remember what they’ve learned because the lesson is directly related to the self.

For example, the unit I am currently teaching is about Thomas Hobbes’s and John Locke’s political theories. You may remember this unit from reading my last post. Being a historian and political scientist- or at least that’s what my degrees say I am- I am incredibly interested in this topic. I can also see where learning about social contract theory and an all powerful sovereign can be a bit dry for most folks, especially my 13 year olds who would rather be at the mall than at school. So what do I do? I make it all about them.

I begin each piece of the philosophy I am teaching by having them write or draw the answers to questions based on their own beliefs. What would your world look like without any rules? and Why do you join groups of friends? are two of my questions. Then, we have a group share of each other’s answers. When studying the big ideas of society, government, and even state of nature I take Locke’s and Hobbes’s ideas down to the level of the lunch table. We talk about what happens if someone at the lunch table breaks a rule of the lunch table society. We talk about what happens if someone who is part of their friend group does something unacceptable to the rest of the group. We talk about everything in the context of THEM. And they listen and participate. One student even said that philosophy is fun!

After getting into the nitty gritty of what Hobbes and Locke believed, its their turn. They have to choose a philosophy on a continuum (if you’d like to see the worksheet it is in the post from December 1) and then explain why they chose a particular spot on the continuum for their mark. Again, this makes the lesson about them. Not only do we care about what Hobbes and Locke think, but we care about what they think about Hobbes’s and Locke’s thoughts.

When you’re writing your lessons, no matter what you’re teaching, try to make it so that the student can connect to it in some way. They are more likely to remember the fundamental ideas that you are teaching if the lessons are connected to their own lives.