Title: Sandy Brownscombe, Ed.D. Eastern Mennonite University Health and Physical Activity Institute James M
1 Sandy Brownscombe, Ed.D. Eastern Mennonite
University Health and Physical Activity
InstituteJames Madison UniversityWednesday July
27, 2005
- A Prof Goes to Middle School
2They dont care until they know you know who they
are!!!
- How do we help students develop responsible
behaviors? - How do students know that we care?
- Reminders of things you do everyday that help to
build community and to help students know that
you care and are trustworthy. - Ways to help your students have a good day with
the substitute teacher.
3The Real Questions are
- What can I do to develop a caring and trustworthy
relationship with each of my students? - Will my students that need to develop a healthy
lifestyle trust me enough to risk making a change?
4Does anyone care?In schools todaywe hear many
students complain that "nobody cares." When we
talk with teachers in the same schools, we may be
convinced that these teachers do care and care
deeply in the virtue sense. But something has
gone badly wrong. People who are trying to care
and people who want to care have been unable to
form caring relations. (Noddings, 2002, p. 88)
5Definitions Caring
- "an activity of relationship, of seeing and
responding to need, taking care of the world by
sustaining the web of connection so that no one
is left alone" (Gilligan, 1982, p. 62).
6Definitions Caring Teacher
- "one who regularly establishes caring
relations--not merely as one who possess certain
virtues" (Noddings, 2001, p. 103). - "A caring teacher directs his or her energy to
care for students in the form of taking
action(s)--the actions required to meet the
unfilled needs of the students" (Lisle, 2001, p.
140).
7Definitions Caring Teacher
- Caring teachers view students as more important
than their subject matter but understand that
their task as teachers is to provide an
environment where students can learn specific
content knowledge as they develop as caring
people (Noddings, 1984, 1992).
8Definitions Caring Teacher
- Caring teachers develop relationships with
students, listen to students, create a warm
atmosphere, know students as individuals, show
empathy, and meet the academic and emotional
needs of their students. (Brownscombe, 2004)
9Definitions Caring Pedagogy
- Caring pedagogy involves meaningful and
authentic relationships between teachers and
students that nurture growth and facilitate
learning. In 'being there' together, regarding
the other as present and deserving respect in a
way that transforms both" (Paul and Colucci,
2000, p. 61).
10Definitions Caring Learning Environments
- Caring learning environments allow students to
feel safe, make mistakes, and work
collaboratively with others while the teachers in
these classrooms make connections to students
prior learning, interests, and are culturally
responsive to their students.
11Descriptors of Caring Teachers
- Open-minded
- Flexible
- Supportive
- Understanding
- Available
- Encourager
- Stable
- Sensitive
- Intuitive
- Observant
- Listener
- Empathic
- Sensitive
- Patient
12Behaviors Used by Teachers to Create Caring
Learning Communities
- the ability to reduce anxiety
- the willingness to listen
- the rewarding of appropriate behaviors
- being a friend
- the appropriate use of positive and negative
criticism - (Bulach, Brown, and Potter, 1998)
13Research Says
- Teachers demonstrate an ethic of care in their
classrooms by the way they interact with students
in and outside of the classroom and through their
personal attributes (Bosworth, 1995).
14Classroom Observation Guide Actions
- Actively listens to students
- Makes eye contact with students
- Helps students with homework
- Varies instruction to meet the needs of
individual students - Provides clear explanations of assignments
- Checks for understanding
15Classroom Observation Guide Actions
- Provides students with necessary materials
- Displays students' work
- Adjusts the schedule
- Maintains a safe learning environment
- Applies consistent classroom management
- Spends time outside of class with students
- Collaborates with colleagues
16Classroom Observation Guide Words
- Calls students by name
- Uses a positive communication style
- Expresses high expectations for all students
- Asks students' their opinion
- Recognizes students for individual achievement in
and out of class - Communicates with parents
17Demonstration of Caring
- Instruction--interactions between the teacher and
student(s) and student to student that related
directly to the academic structure and
requirements of the classroom
18Demonstration of Caring
- Classroom Management-the interaction between a
teacher and student(s) that does not relate
directly to the instructional process - Non-classroom Activities-interaction outside of a
student's regularly scheduled instructional time
with the teacher
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22Trusting What You Know The High Stakes of
Classroom Relationships
- Our deepest hope for our children is that they
will construct knowledge in school about
themselves, their community, and the world that
is robust, resilient, and creativeThe theory
continues for children to develop trustworthy
knowledge, they must learn in the context of
trustworthy relationships. - (Raider-Roth, 2005, p. 18)
23Trusting What You Know The High Stakes of
Classroom Relationships
- Sixth graders reveal the complexity and power
inherent in the relationships of school - School is as much a product of what knowledge
feels safe to share as it is a product of what
they know - How trust between and among teachers, students,
and parents in school intersect with the kind of
internal trust that students must construct in
order to learn effectively - (Raider-Roth, 2005, p. 5-6)
24- In constructing this trust in self and others,
they act politically by sharing and suppressing
knowledge based on their understandings of
classroom relationships. They astutely identify
ruptures in relationships that undermine the very
trust they are trying to build. They detect such
breaks in relationship by monitoring behaviors
such as teachers responsiveness. - (Raider-Roth, 2005, p. 6)
25Four central features of a trustworthy
teaching-learning relationship
- the teachers capacity to be connected to the
student - the teachers genuine interest in nurturing
students own ideas - collaborative study on the part of teacher and
student - an environment in which trust can prevail
- (Raider-Roth, 2005, p. 29-30)
26Biggest Surprise of the Study
- Was the repeated return to the ideas of telling
the truth and lying - Students as young as six introduced this idea.
- Telling the truth seems to be an indicator of
relational struggle with the teacher - (Raider-Roth, 2005, p. 123)
27Two Strands Regarding Truth
- Being true to self the effort to adequately
represent what they know about themselves - Disclosure and the selection of truths that will
be honored and received by those around them
students describe telling partial truths or
choosing which truth to tell - (Raider-Roth, 2005, p. 124-125)
28Getting It Right
- In this study, getting it right is a key cue
that suggest that the students are wrestling with
the ways their self-perceptions match up with
their teachers perceptions of their work and
learning. Telling the truth is a necessary next
step in which they decide how much of their
internal reality to share. This decision is
heavily dependent on their understandings of
their teachers expectations and experiences of
them. - (Raider-Roth, 2005, p. 132)
29Challenges for Teachers
- To craft an understanding of children that allows
for multiple truths, that allows them to see
students as students see themselves, as their
parents see them, as their peers see them. - To have classrooms where trusting relationships
are built. - (Raider-Roth, 2005, p. 134, 168)
30So What Does a Physical Educator Say?
- According to Judith Rink (2006)
- Teaching is largely about affect adults who are
caring and concerned professionals have a
responsibility to - help students learn and
- promote students personal growth as individuals
and as responsible, self-directed members of
society.
31- Through the manner in which they interact with
students, teachers can communicate a professional
and supportive relationship with students that
says, I care.
32Rink Suggests the Following Ways to Share Yourself
- Learn students names and use them.
- Be enthusiastic and positive about what your are
doing. - Project a caring attitude toward all students.
- Reinforce basic and shared beliefs of honesty,
tolerance, respect, risk taking, and effort by
modeling these behaviors, as well as reinforcing
them when they occur in the class.
33Rink Suggests the Following Ways to Share Yourself
- Do not reinforce behavior destructive to self or
others by doing nothing about it. - Do not allow yourself to become threatened by
student misbehavior. - Make it a practice to intentionally treat all
students equitably. Develop an awareness of your
patterns of communication to different students. - Learn to be a good listener and observer of
student responses. - Chart your life for personal growth.
34The Real Questions are
- What can I do to develop a caring and trustworthy
relationship with each of my students? - Will my students that need to develop a healthy
lifestyle trust me enough to risk making a change?
35Discussion
- What can we do?
- How can we help each other and our students to
develop responsible behaviors? - ???
36References
- Brownscombe, S. L. (2004). Infusing An Ethic Of
Care In A P-12 Learning Community A Case Study
Of Second And Third-Year Teachers. Unpublished
Dissertation, Argosy University/Sarasota.
Florida. - Raider-Roth, M. B. (2005). Trusting what you
know The high stakes of classroom relationships.
San Francisco Jossey-Bass. - Rink, J. E. (2006). Teaching physical education
for learning (5th ed.). Boston McGraw Hill.
37It Takes a Community to Be a Successful
Substitute!!!
- Have a folder with all of the critical
information in visible location - Details, details and more details--much of what
you do is routine and comfortable. - Let the substitute know when they need to take
charge and when to give way to your colleague. - Individual lesson plans need details and what you
did yesterday would be helpful.
38Leave DETAILED notes
- Attendance policies and procedures for each
class. - Locker room coverage who, what time, what if the
other classes do not return on time--what do I do
with the boys? - Lock down drills, fire drills--is the information
available in the gym?
39- Sandy Brownscombe, Ed. D.
- Eastern Mennonite University
- Professor of Teacher Education and
- Physical Education
- Harrisonburg, VA
- Email brownscs_at_emu.edu
- Phone 540-432-4368