The know, the do, and the be are also known as
knowledge, action and spiritual wellbeing.
After reading Drake, Reid, and Kolohon's "Know your curriculum documents and know your students" chapter, it becomes evident that all three of these umbrella terms are vital for all teaching lessons. According to Drake et. al. (2014) the Know consists of factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive knowledge that is gained throughout a child's educational journey. The Do component of the KDB Umbrella consists of various skills that are learned in the classroom. Such skills may include: dancing, shooting, running, kicking, jumping, adjusting a microscope lens, etc. This area of the umbrella seems to be more physical in comparison to the Know and Be. The Be strongly relates to a student's inner spirit. While observing one's Be portion of the KDB, an educator may begin to see unique characteristics (such as patience, kindness, thoughtfulness, ambition) and genuine personalities shine through their students (Drake et. al., 2014).
The Know:
Teachers should be positively fostering
student knowledge through questioning, presenting, and assessments of learning. By asking students questions, teachers will
be able to discover if their students are grasping and understanding classroom
topics. Providing students with
opportunities to research and present topics of interest to their classmates
will also enhance student knowledge; both the researching student and the
listening student will learn and attain new knowledge during
presentations. Assessments of learning such as final examinations
will also provide teachers with quantitative data that will portray student
curriculum knowledge.
In order to enhance action (the do) in one’s classroom, teachers can make stronger efforts to incorporate
physical activity into their lessons.
For science classes, perhaps students can take nature walks outside. During French classes, students could walk to
a local French café. Even math questions
can be demonstrated and solved through movement! Adding and subtracting students to and from
small groups around the classroom can teach them important mathematical rules
regarding addition and subtraction.
Students need to be active in their classrooms in order to remain
engaged and interested in the topic that they are learning.
The Be:
After analyzing my personal elementary and secondary school
experiences, it becomes evident that the value of student wellbeing (the be) was not held in a high regard. Many of my previous teachers did not make
efforts to assess or positively enhance their student’s spiritual health; many
assessments were designed to measure knowledge, thinking/inquiry, comprehension
and application. In order to foster
wellbeing, students need to be presented with both creativity and choice. Students should be offered opportunities to
portray their inner-self and unique personality through assignments that do not
need to be marked. Perhaps such
spiritual assignments could be used to enhance a student’s overall class
grade. For every spiritual assignment
submitted (maximum 5 assignments throughout the term), students could receive
an automatic 100%. I feel that we cannot
grade such spiritual assignments as student perspectives, ideas, and beliefs
cannot be titled or labeled as “wrong”. By
writing music, creating personalized emotional poems, and participating in new
activities or hobbies such as yoga or ti-chi (spiritual fitness activities),
student wellbeing can be positively nurtured through the classroom.
(Drake, October 2nd lecture, 2014)
References
Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L., Kolohon, W. (2013). Interweaving curriculum and classroom
assessment. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press
