Madeline Cheek Hunter

Madeline Cheek Hunter (1916-1994) was an influential American educator who developed a model for teaching and learning that was widely adopted by schools during the last quarter of the 20th century.

She was named one of the hundred most influential women of the 20th century and one of the ten most influential in education by the Sierra Research Institute and the National Women's Hall of Fame.

Family

Madeline was one of two daughters born to Alexander Cheek, grandson of a Navajo Indian. He had been orphaned at eight years old and had to drop out of school to work. Eventually he became a barber and, as a result of hard effort and intelligence, owned shops all over the United States and Canada. Madeline's mother, Anna Keis, was the daughter of a Bohemian nobleman and a peasant woman.

Life

Madeline's family originally lived in Canada where she was born. Her father was an avid hunter who liked Canada because "the duck hunting was better there." As Madeline was a "sickly" child, the family ultimately moved to California to avoid the terrible Canadian winters in Saskatchewan. Although they returned to Canada from May to October for many years, most of her schooling was in California.

In junior high she was placed in an experimental school to test some of Stanford University's psychological theories on intelligence. They used her to score intelligence tests. As a result, she became interested in human intelligence; this along with classical ballet became her passions in life. As a 16-year-old she entered the University of California at Los Angeles as a combination pre-medicine and psychology major while continuing her ballet dancing. Two additional events influenced her choice of a career in school psychology. The first occurred in seventh grade while sitting in an auditorium waiting to be assigned a class. She felt hurt when a child was being labeled as last or dumb, these feelings were never forgotten. Because of this experience she felt the need for giving positive reinforcement to students in schools--"Never put a kid down, always build the kid up." A second influence occurred during her first work experiences at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles and at Juvenile Hall.

During World War II she married an engineer, Robert Hunter, who worked at Lockheed Aviation until he retired. They had two children, a daughter and a son. In 1944 their first child was born, Cheryl, who became a film editor later in her career. In 1946 they had their second child, Robin, who became a school principal.

After her children were on their own, she went back to working full time as an educator. She held many positions such as: a school psychologist, principal, director of research, and an assistant superintendent. She was given the opportunity to implement her educational model in a laboratory school setting.

Educational Beliefs

She believed that the foremost job of teachers was decision making, and that each teacher makes thousands of decisions each day. All of the decisions a teacher makes can be put into one of three categories: (1) content category - what you are going to teach; (2) teaching behavior category - what you as the teacher will do to facilitate and escalate that learning; and (3) learning behavior category - what the students are going to learn and how they will let you know that they've learned it.

In response to a question asking her to assess the current educational situation in the 1990s, she said, "I believe the future of education is bright! We are beginning to unlock the mystery of the human brain and how it processes and learns. We, now, can enable teachers to use that knowledge to accelerate that learning process. No longer is teaching a 'laying on of hands.' It has become a profession that combines science with art to create a better and a more productive world for humankind."

Theories on Education

Madeline Hunter developed the Instructional Theory into Practice teaching model. It is a direct instruction program that was implemented in thousands of schools throughout the United States.

Hunter identified seven components for teaching:

(1) knowledge of human growth and development; (2) content; (3) classroom management; (4) materials; (5) planning; (6) human relations; (7) instructional skills.

Madeline also developed a direct instructional model and elements of effective instruction.

The instructional model has seven components: (1) objectives; (2) standards; (3) anticipatory set; (4) teaching (input, modeling, checking for understanding); (5) guided practice/monitoring; (6) closure; and (7) independent practice.

The elements of effective instruction are very similar to those of the instructional model, featuring seven components of teaching and behavioral objectives: (1) objectives; (2) set(hook); (3) standards/expectations; (4) teaching (input, modeling/demo, direction giving, and checking for understanding); (5) guided practice; (6) closure; and (7) independent practice.

External links

* [http://www.bookrags.com/Madeline_Cheek_Hunter Encyclopedia of World Biography© on Madeline Cheek Hunter]
* [http://www.humboldt.edu/~tha1/hunter-eei.html]
*worldcat id|lccn-n79-21744