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This place
hurts my spirit.
(Poplin & Weeres, 1994, p. 11)
Human relationships are the heart of schooling. The interactions
that take place between students and teachers and among students
are more central to student success than any method of teaching
literacy, or science, or math. When powerful relationships are established
between teachers and students, these relationships frequently can
transcend the economic and social disadvantages that afflict communities
and schools alike in inner city and rural areas. (Cummins,1996,
p. 1)
I Care, You Care, We All Care - But How Do Students Know?
One of the important lessons we learn as high school teachers and principals
is that the majority of students work hard for teachers they like and
respect and from whom they feel respect, and they do not work hard for
teachers when the student does not feel respected; and students decide
very quickly if a teacher is “worth working for.” Thus,
the heart of teaching is really about establishing bonds and relationships
with students. Norm Lezin, the former CEO of Salz Tannery in Santa Cruz,
CA, says that a good school is one at which “adults are wrapped
around students” because “only relationships change people.”
What would a school look like whose culture is centered on caring?
Henderson and Milstein (1996) list five categories for caring under
the profile of a resiliency-building school:
• Members have a sense of belonging
• Cooperation is promoted
• Celebration of successes are practiced
• Leaders spend lots of positive time with members
• Resources are obtained with a minimum of effort
Whereas, I do believe that each and every school must set its own path
towards fostering resiliency, and that there is no formula for making
this happen, I also believe that certain beliefs and practices are characteristic
of schools making a sincere effort to be caring communities. These practices
are clearly reflected in daily practice and in school culture; they
are not something people do for five minutes a day to display caring.
When I wrote the first draft of this chapter, I began to write long
lists under each category. I realized that I was practicing what I preach
against. I was writing the standards. Therefore, I have chosen to list
only four items in each category. These are things I look for when I
visit a school.
1. Sense of belonging
• Students talk freely about feeling respected, supported
and known by teachers, administrators and peers.
• Teachers and classified staff talk easily about feeling
respected, supported and known by administrators, peers, students
and parents. (Ask the custodian.)
• Office staff are friendly and courteous to students,
staff, parents, community and visitors.
• Body language in the halls is unanxious - students are
not afraid of other students; student body language does not change
when adults approach.
2. Cooperation is promoted.
• Cross-age tutoring programs are in place to support student
learning.
• Cooperative learning is taught and practiced in all classes.
• Conflict resolution skills are taught and practiced throughout
the school.
• Students are seen mixing easily across race, ethnicity
and gender.
3. Celebration of successes are practiced.
• Lots of students, teachers, staff, parents and community
members are recognized for their contributions in a wide variety
of ways.
• People use the word “we” when talking about
the school.
• Positive communications go home from teachers and administrators
regularly.
• People talk openly about what didn’t work and what
was learned.
4. Leaders spend lots of positive time with members
• Administrators are seen interacting with students in
positive ways.
• Administrators know and use the names of all/most students.
• Teachers, students, parents and staff talk about the
principal seeming to be everywhere.
• Class does not stop when the principal walks in.
5. Resources are obtained with a minimum of effort
• The campus is clean and orderly.
• There are lots of books in classrooms.
• Teachers report that the office staff are supportive
of their teaching.
• The supply closet is open and copy machines are readily
available. |
What would curriculum, instruction and assessment be like
in a school that is centered on caring?
Some people might argue that “caring” and “respect”
are not the business of schools, that what we need to focus on is high
academic standards that all students are held accountable to meet so
that students will be prepared for the work force of the 21st Century.
One response to this is threefold:
1. Being caring and respectful means guaranteeing as much as we can
that every child can read, write and compute;
2. Being caring and respectful means holding high expectations for
every child regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, economic status,
sexual preference, or learning handicap;
3. If we want children to be caring and compassionate, then we must
provide schools that model caring and compassion.
Debbie Meier argues that:
Caring and compassion are not soft, mushy goals. They are part of
the hard core of subjects we are responsible for teaching. Informed
and skillful care is learned. Caring is as much cognitive as affective.
The capacity to see the world as others might is central to unsentimental
compassion and at the root of both intellectual skepticism and empathy.
... There is no tolerance without respect - and no respect without
knowledge. (1995, p. 63)
What does it look like? Again, I kept my list short
to reflect the key things I look for when I visit schools.
Curriculum
• The work is meaningful to the students; students can
tell you why they are doing what they are doing.
• Curriculum is integrated and thematic.
• Curriculum respects and acknowledges the ethnography
and community of the students, using this as a departure point
for curriculum that explores diversity of culture and opinion
within and without the community .
• Students have choices in what they learn (curriculum),
how they learn (instruction), and how they present what they have
learned (assessment).
Instruction
• Students are working, and teachers are coaching; that
is students are actively engaged in work.
• Teachers are talking with individual students or with
small groups of students.
• Students spend extended periods with the same teacher
and with the same students.
• Time is provided for teachers to work together on developing
instructional strategies, including peer coaching.
Assessment
• Student work is displayed throughout the school.
• Students know and can articulate expectations teachers
have for student learning. Most often rubrics are assessable and
have been developed with student input.
• Students can be seen presenting what they have learned
to others.
• Students have opportunities to demonstrate what they
learn in meaningful ways, including self-reflection and participation
in their own performance review.
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Do Small Group Activity 4.3. Compare your list to the list below.
How would teacher and administrator roles change in a school
focused on caring?
1. Decision-making
• Important decisions are made in a collaborative manner,
involving all stakeholders in the decisions; one seldom hears,
“We can’t,” “We aren’t allowed,”
“I wasn’t told.”
• Meetings designed to make decisions set aside adequate
time for reflection, discussion, consensus building, and planning
for action.
• Ground rules for decision making are agreed upon, known,
followed, and regularly reassessed.
• Conflict resolution strategies have been agreed upon,
are taught, and are practiced.
2. Student discipline
• Expectations for student behavior are reasonable, positive,
public, known and enforced with consistency.
• Classroom discipline is dealt with primarily by the classroom
teacher; there are very few referrals to the office for disrespect.
• The school “disciplinarian” does not spend
the majority of her/his time disciplining students; rather she/he
spends considerable time working positively with teachers, students,
parents and community.
• Student discipline is done privately, in a problem solving
mode.
3. Teacher as advisor
• No secondary school teacher is responsible for more than
90 students.
• A strong student advisory system is in place. Advisories
will not work in schools where teachers are responsible for large
numbers of students.
• Teachers maintain regular contact with parents regarding
student progress, including positive feedback.
• Teachers, parents and students collaborate to develop
an individual learning plan for each student.
4. Teacher as collaborator
• Teachers can be seen working in a collegial school culture
- adults talk with one another, observe one another, help one
another, laugh together, and celebrate together.
• Conversations in the faulty room are lively, with teachers
talking positively about students, student work, their own work,
and the work of colleagues.
• Faculty and staff are not seen brooding in the faculty
room or in the parking lot or segregated by sex, race, department
or age.
• Time and resources are provided for teachers to collaborate.
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