Academic Year :2016-2017

Department :English Language and Literature

Filière :TEFL Master program
Semester : 3, MODULE 10
Course : Teaching Profession
Faculté des Lettres

Paideia

A US EXPERIENCE
 Outline
1. Mortimer J. Alder and the Paideia Poss
2. The Paideia Principles
3. The Paideia Modes of Instruction
4. Paideia and the Common Core

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 Part I

Mortimer J. Alder and the

Paideia Posse

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 What Exactly is “Paideia”?
• Paideia (py-dee-ah) from the Greek “pais, paidos”:
the upbringing of child (related to pedagogy and
pediatrics).
• In an extended sense, the equivalent of the Latin
“humanitas” from which “the humanities” is
derived.
• In short, the learning that should be a possession
of all human beings.

Paper on Paideia
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 The Paideia Group:
• In 1982, Paideia's original
thinker, philosopher
Mortimer Adler, joined with
a diverse cadre of educators
and intellectuals to form the
Paideia Group.

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Paper on Paideia
 Mortimer J. Adler
• Chairman, Director, Institute for
Philosophical Research
• Chairman, Board of Editors,
Encyclopedia Britannica
• Founder, the National Paideia
Center, UNCCH
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Paper on Paideia
 Members of the Paideia Group:
• DONALD COWAN
• JACQUES BARZUN Former President, University of Dallas
Former Provost, Columbia University Fellow, Dallas Institute of Humanities
Literary Adviser, Charles Scribner’s Sons And Cultures
• OTTO BIRD • ALONZO A. CRIM
Former Head, General Program of Liberal Superintendent, Atlanta Public Schools,
Studies, Atlanta, Georgia
University of Notre Dame
• CLIFTON FADIMAN
• LEON BOTSTEIN
President, Bard College Author and critic
President, Simon’s Rock of Bard College • DENNIS GRAY
• ERNEST L. BOYER Deputy Director, Council For Basic
President, The Carnegie Foundation for Education, Washington, D.C.
the Advancement of Teaching, • RICHARD HUNT
Washington, D.C. Senior Lecturer and Director of the
• NICHOLAS L. CAPUTI Andrew W. Mellon Faculty Fellowships
Principal, Skyline High School, Oakland, Program, Harvard University
California • DOUGLASS CATER
Senior Fellow, Aspen Institute for
Humanistic Studies

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Paper on Paideia
The Paideia Proposal: An Educational Manifesto (1982)
• A systemic critique of
American public education.
• Argued that unless they
managed to offer all
American children the same
high quality education, [US]
democracy itself was in
danger.
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Paper on Paideia
In order to maintain the
democratic society they must:
1. Simultaneously institute
much higher academic
standards
2. Render academic rigor
accessible to all students.
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 The Paideia Proposal
Dedicated to three well-known educators:
• Horace Mann
• John Dewey
• Robert Maynard Hutchins.

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Paper on Paideia
 • 1796-1859
Horace Mann • Early American educational reformer
• Articulated the connection between
effective “common” schools and
democratic well-being.
• His 12 reports (1837-48) as the first Mass.
Sec. of Ed. are among the most significant
primary documents in American ed.
history.
• “the best education for the best is the
best education for all…”

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Paper on Paideia
 Robert Maynard Hutchins
• 1899-1977
• Chancellor of the University of Chicago.
• Leader of the group who, post WWII, created
the Great Books program.
• Stressed the need for academic rigor
• Thinking behind the idea of academic
standards
• “Human community as a result of better
communication…”

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Paper on Paideia
 John
• 1859-1952 Dewey
• “Progressivism” provided 20th
Century educators with a
argument for classrooms that
combined relevant curriculum
with active student learning.
• Was the democratic “Yin” to
Hutchins’ “Yang” in Adler’s
thinking.
• His ideas led directly to the
Paideia Coached Project.

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Paper on Paideia
 What Exactly is Paideia?
The influences on Paideia include:
• Socrates and other Greek philosophers
• John Amos Comenius
• Thomas Jefferson

As well as other great humanists, essentialists, and

classical thinkers.

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Paper on Paideia
 Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer, you’re a smart guy…

How to read a book…
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Paper on Paideia
 Part II

The Paideia Principles

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Prof. Afkinich Paper on Paideia
 Academic Year :2016-2017

Paideia Principles:
Department :English Language and Literature
Filière :TEFL Master program
Semester : 3, MODULE 10
Course : Teaching Profession
Faculté des Lettres

We, the members of the Paideia Group, hold these truths

to be the principles of the Paideia Program:
 Paideia Principles:
• that all children can learn;
• that all children deserve the same quality of schooling, not
just the same quantity;
• that the quality of schooling to which children are entitled is
what the wisest parents would wish for their own children,
the best education for the best being the best education for
all;

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Paper on Paideia
 Paideia Principles:
• that schooling at its best is preparation for
becoming generally educated in the course of a
whole lifetime, and that schools should be judged
on how well they provide such preparation;

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 Paideia Principles:
• that the three callings for which schooling should
prepare all Americans are:

(a) to earn a decent livelihood,

(b) to be a good citizen of the nation and the
world, and
(c) to make a good life for one’s self.

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Paper on Paideia
 Paideia Principles:
 that the results of these three types of teaching
should be
 (a) the acquisition of organized knowledge,
 (b) the formation of habits of skill in the use of
language and mathematics, and
 (c) the growth of the mind’s understanding of
basic ideas and issues;

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Paper on Paideia
 Paideia Principles:
• that the primary cause of genuine learning is the activity
of the learner’s own mind, sometimes with the help of a
teacher functioning as a secondary and cooperative
cause;
• that the three types of teaching that should occur in our
schools are didactic teaching of subject matter, coaching
that produces the skills of learning, and Socratic
questioning in seminar discussion;

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Paper on Paideia
 Paideia Principles:
• that each student’s achievement of
these results would be evaluated in
terms if that student’s competencies
and not solely related to the
achievements of other students;

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Paper on Paideia
 Paideia Principles:
• That the principal of the school should never be a
mere administrator, but always a leading teacher
who should be cooperatively engaged with the
school’s teaching staff in planning, reforming, and
reorganizing the school as an educational
community;

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 Paideia Principles:
 that the principal and faculty of a
school should themselves be actively
engaged in learning;
 that the desire to continue their own
learning should be the prime
motivation of those who dedicate their
lives to the profession of teaching.
The Paideia Group

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Paper on Paideia
 Part III

The Paideia Modes of

Instruction

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 Paideia Modes of Instruction
COACHING

Seminar
DIDACTIC

Development of Intellectual Increased Understanding

Skills of Ideas and Values
The Acquisition of Knowledge 60-70% 15-20%
10-15%

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 Paideia Modes of Instruction
DIDACTIC
• An oral presentation that
teaches through “telling.”
• To elicit active listening, the
presentation must attract
and sustain attention.
• A crafted presentation.

The Acquisition of Knowledge

10-15%

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Paper on Paideia
 Didactic Instruction
• The delivery of factual information.
• Lecture, demonstration, videos, and reading
are common forms of Didactic Instruction.
• The goal of is for students to acquire the basic
“must know information” about a subject.

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Paper on Paideia
 Didactic Instruction
• Because Didactic Instruction typically puts
students in a passive role, the National Paideia
Center advocates limiting Didactic Instruction to
10-15% of instructional time.
• Assessment and evaluation of Didactic Instruction
and factual learning is effectively conducted
through traditional short answer and multiple
choice tests.

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 Paideia Modes of Instruction
COACHING
• The development of
intellectual skills.
• Skills learned by reading,
writing, speaking,
listening, calculating, etc.
• Formative assessment and
feedback.
Development of Intellectual Skills
60-70%

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Paper on Paideia
 Intellectual Coaching
• is guidance through modeling and
questioning.
• Intellectual Coaching may begin with a
teacher modeling writing a sentence,
reading a paragraph, solving a problem, or
hypothesizing about a reaction.

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Paper on Paideia
 Intellectual Coaching
• Intellectual Coaching often happens by
questioning as well as both positive or corrective
feedback.
• The goal of Intellectual Coaching is for students to
acquire expertise in skills of learning, such as
reading, writing, calculating, and observing.

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 Intellectual Coaching
• Developing skills in a relevant context occurs in a
Paideia Classroom through teacher’s development and
use of units called Coached Projects.
• Intellectual Coaching ideally occurs 60-70% of
instructional time.

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Paper on Paideia
 Intellectual Coaching
• Assessment and evaluation of Intellectual
Coaching is conducted through formative
assessment, performance tasks, project work
often with the use of checklists and rubrics.

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 The Paideia Coached Project
• The Paideia coach project is a unit of study that
leads to a student product or performance of real
value to an audience outside the classroom.
• The project can be connected to classwork or
provide the students to engage in self-directed
learning activities to pursue personal goals in
conjunction with curricular objectives.

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Prof. on Paideia 35
 Paideia Modes of Instruction
Seminar • Conversations, conducted
in an orderly manner by
the teacher who acts as
the leader or moderator
of the discussion.
• The conversations revolve
around a “text” of some
Increased Understanding sort.
of Ideas and Values
15-20%

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Paper on Paideia
 Paideia Seminar
• is a collaborative, intellectual dialogue facilitated by
open-ended questions about a text.
• The goal of Paideia Seminar is for students to expand
their understanding of ideas, concepts, and values
about the curriculum.

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Paper on Paideia
 Paideia Seminar
• The Paideia Seminar nurtures both intellectual and
social skills.
• Paideia Seminars occur 20-25% of instructional
time.
• Assessment and evaluation of Paideia Seminars
occurs through pre and post seminar tools and
processes including self identified goals,
discussion, and writing.

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 Research
Areas of Paideia results include:
• Student Motivation
• Teacher Development
• Student Achievement
• School Culture

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Paper on Paideia
 Part IV

Paideia and the Common

Core

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 Mortimer J. Adler Wrote the Common Core

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Prof. Afkinich
Paper on Paideia 42
 CC K-12 ELA Instructional Shifts

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 Building Knowledge through Content-Rich Nonfiction and
Informational Text

• Students read a balance of informational and

literary texts.
• Students access the world through texts.
• Teachers embed literacy experiences in
content area instruction.

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Paper on Paideia
 Reading and Writing Grounded in Evidence from Texts

• Students have rigorous conversations that

are dependent on a common text.
• Classroom experiences stay deeply
connected to the text.
• Students use evidence to support arguments
during discussion.
• Writing emphasizes use of evidence to inform or
make an argument.

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Paper on Paideia
 Regular Practice with Complex Texts and Its Academic
Vocabulary
• To be college and career ready, students make a “step”
of growth on the “staircase” of complexity.
• Students read grade appropriate texts around which
instruction is centered.
• Teachers create more time and space for close and
careful reading.
• Teachers constantly build students’ vocabulary so that
they are able to access grade level complex texts.

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Prof. Afkinich Paper on Paideia
 The Revised Bloom’s (RBT) Taxonomy Table
THE COGNITIVE PROCESS DIMENSION
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
REMEMBER UNDERSTAND APPLY ANALYZE EVALUATE CREATE

A.
FACTUAL
Knowledge

B.
CON-
CEPTUAL
Knowledge

C.
PROCE-
DURAL
Knowledge

D.
META-
COGNITIVE
Knowledge

KNOW UNDERSTAND DO
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Prof. Afkinich Paper on Paideia
 Paideia and the Common Core
• R 1. Inferences/evidence
• R 2. Central ideas/themes/summary
• R 3. Individuals/events/ideas
• R 4. Vocabulary/word choice
• R 5. Text structure/organization
• R 6. Point of view/purpose
• R 7. Content in diverse media
• R 8. Arguments/evidence
• R 9. Comparison of texts/authors
• R 10. Complex text

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 Paideia and the Common Core
• W 1. Write arguments
• W 2. Write to inform/explain
• W 3. Write narratives
• W 4. Clear/coherent writing
• W 5. Plan/revise/edit
• W 6. Use technology
• W 7. Conduct research
• W 8. Gather/synthesize information
• W 9. Write to sources (draw evidence)
• W 10. Write routinely

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 Paideia and the Common Core
• S&L 1. Academic
discourse/collaboration
• S&L 2. Content in diverse media
• S&L 3. Point of view
• S&L 4. Present findings
• S&L 5. Use media
• S&L 6. Adapt speech/command
of formal English
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Prof. on Paideia
• L 1. Standard English grammar
• L 2. Standard English mechanics
• L 3. Style/effective language choices
• L 4. Vocabulary strategies
• L 5. Figurative language/word
relationships
• L 6. Academic/domain-specific
vocabulary
Destination Innovation Paideia/Seminar Training, 201350
 General Considerations
• Human beings want and need
the connection of
conversation.
• This concept covers a
continuum from ancient to
contemporary times.
• This feeds our cognitive and
social needs.
• Literacy feeds our mind, heart,
spirit, and body.

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Paper on Paideia
 On Literacy

Remember:
Thinking is a
sophisticated
application

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Paper on Paideia
 On Literacy
• Engaging and sustaining students in real dialogue and
discussion is hard work.
• Dialogue = listening, responding, exchanging, connecting,
agreeing, disagreeing, reflecting…
• Thinking is the core that holds this all together, and it IS
possible to teach thinking.
• Thinking takes time and deliberate practice.
• Writing defines and clarifies thinking.

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 On Literacy
R W S L
E R P I
A I E S
D T A T
I I K E
N N I N
G G N I
G N
G
RWSL
&
THINKING Thinking are
Synergistic

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Paper on Paideia
 On Literacy

• Don’t “referee” ideas.

• Help “give birth” to
ideas.
• Create rigorous
opportunities for
literacy experiences.

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 Research
• Research documenting Paideia's impact dates
from the mid-1980's.
• Early studies, based on schools in Chicago,
Cincinnati, and Chattanooga, suggest that
Paideia reform has an effect on the climate of
the classroom and school, increasing both
student and teacher interest in academic study
and democratic self-governance.
• More recent research efforts have
corroborated these assertions, also adding
new conclusions regarding the program's
influence on academic achievement and social
development.
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Paper on Paideia
 Research
• Speak Up and Listen: Speaking and listening
are vital skills for learning to think, but they are
difficult and time consuming to teach
• Thinking is Literacy, Literacy Thinking: In
Literacy cycles built around Paideia seminars,
students practice thinking as a function of
reading, speaking, listening, and writing.
• Planning, Practice and Assessment in the
Seminar Classroom.
• Annotated Paideia References
• References

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Paper on Paideia
 Research
www.paideia.org
Documents available for download:
• Complete Paideia Reference List
• Partial Annotated Paideia References
• Paideia Stories: Successful Schools in Practice (2002)
• Planning, Practice, and Assessment in the Seminar Classroom (2006)
• The Paideia Seminar: Moving Reading Comprehension from
Transaction to Transformation (2006)
• Socrates in the Classroom: Rationales and Effects of Philosophizing
with Children (2008) -Stockholm University Press Release
• Maieutic Frame Presence and Quantity and Quality of Argumentation
in a Paideia Seminar (2008)
• Evaluation of Academic Achievement at Nine Paideia Schools (2008)
• Profiles of Success: Eight Colorado Schools that are Closing the
Achievement Gap (2008)

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Paper on Paideia
 Paideia is not just an educational
philosophy, it is a way of life.

~ Terry Roberts

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Paper on Paideia
 Sources
• Anderson, Lorin. Presentation 2 for PaTTAN Expository Writing Institute. October
25, 2010.
• ELA Common Core State Standards Self Study LiveBinder, 18 May, 2013.
http://www.livebinders.com/edit?id=262077
• ELA Resources LiveBinder, 18 May, 2013
http://www.livebinders.com/edit?id=297779
• Intellectual Coaching and The Paideia Coached Project. 2nd ed., 2008. The
National Paideia Center.
• The Paideia Seminar: Active Thinking Through Dialogue in the Secondary Grades,
2nd ed., 2008. The National Paideia Center.

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