Classroom proof that
getting students inside what they need to succeed
makes a good school system.
§
The Journey of Marva Collins
Ms Collins was gifted with the ability to recognize children’s growing ability to self-direct their own lives;
Used literature and what she called “sermons” to exercise students’ budding independence.
Marva Collins wanted
students to succeed in school & life.
The problem:
too many students had given up on themselves – had lost hope.
The guides:
Emerson, Thoreau, Tolstoy, Shakespeare and others.
For example,
from MARVA COLLINS’ WAY by Marva Collins and Civia Tamarkin:
At the start of the school year Ms Collins hands out excerpts from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay on Self-Reliance, saying:
The first thing we are going to do in here, children, is a whole lot of believing in ourselves.
Later saying:
Now self-reliance means to believe in yourself.
After discussing Self-Reliance and the life of Emerson, when Ms Collins asks Tanya “What does Emerson tell us to do?” Tanya answers:
Trust ourselves.
“James, what does Emerson tell us to do?” James answers:
Trust ourselves.
And Ms Collins trusted — knew — her ability to elicit student success, saying at the start of the school year:
None of you has ever failed.
School may have failed you.
Well, goodbye to failure, children. Welcome to success.
You will read hard books in here and understand what you read.
You will write every day so that writing becomes second nature to you.
You will memorize a poem every week so that you can train your mind to remember things.
“But you must help me to help you”
If you don’t give anything don’t expect anything.
Success is not coming to you, you must come to it.