Wow! What a speaker!!
Rita Pierson's speech makes me appreciate even more teaching at and having my child attend Rowe School even more. I believe that we, as a school, work hard to build and maintain relationships with all children and try to find and focus on the positives in even the most difficult few. At Rowe School we use the Responsive Classroom approach to learning, which holds social learning at the same level as academic learning. We spend time fostering relationships and social skills between children and between adults. The result, from my vantage point, is a community that celebrates with each other the good and supports each other through the not so good.
At our inservice day in March we hosted Andy Dousis, an educational consultant who has done years of work with the Responsive Classroom method. He talked a lot about working with the "dynamic dozen" and how we, as teachers, need to focus on what we can change about our lessons, behavior, words, etc., to make school a successful place for those tricky children. He had us read an article he wrote, called "What Teaching Matthew Taught Me" and that little article has been rolling around in my head during every difficult moment since. The article is linked below:
http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/responsiveclassroom/responsiveclassroom015.shtml
It is true that all learning, academic or otherwise, is about understanding and navigating relationships. It is important to remember, especially with children whom my relationship may be fragile.
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