Week 5 Theory to Practice

If students are cared about and that care is nurtured and attended to, and students return the relatedness of care to their teachers, then readiness to learn and higher understanding can take place because a pedagogy of care breaks down barriers to learning. Ok, so this is all well and good in the ideal, but what does it look like in the classroom? As an educator I believe in the power of the pedagogy of care and I will attempt to develop caring, nurturing relationships with each of my students. To begin the year, I will first learn their names as soon as possible and address then by name in a greeting as they enter the room.
Secondly, the first homework assignment that I give will be a survey for the students to fill out about favorites, some “would you rathers” and other questions that will help me ascertain some of their interests, maybe some passions and hopefully provide some insight into who they are.
Thirdly, I will have the students work on an “About Me” poem that delves into aspects of Me-ness like ethnicity, culture, background, musical interests, hobbies, sports, and anything else that makes me, me.
More generally, I will be open about myself, I will create an About Me poem to allow students a glimpse of who I am. I have a bio page on my website and I will direct students to that. I will make myself available for help when I have free periods and at scheduled times after school. I will attend their sporting, music, drama and other extra-curricular events. I will teach with humor, humility and the realization that the students are also teachers. I will scaffold the learning by providing tolls for reading and writing, like grammar rules, rubrics, checklists and graphic organizers. I will also scaffold understanding from knowledge to understanding, synthesis, empathy and analysis. This can be accomplished by working through Bloom’s Taxonomy, beginning with knowledge questions about a text and loving upward, encouraging the students to stretch.
I will begin each week with a Philosopher’s Café where the discussion, starting with an inquiry about the text under consideration, can go any where that the students want to take it.
Further, that this care is not passive in the giving or the taking means that both sides assume a responsibility to the ongoing attention of the relationship, which makes each accountable to the other and allows for the individualized understanding of the student. This means, I will offer real, constructive feedback, not just final grades. I will encourage revision and rewriting until the final product is excellent. I will tell the students if I do not know he answer, then I will find out the answer and get back to the students
Finally, I will embrace teachable moments that may appear disguised as interruptions. These “opportunities” for unplanned instruction are invaluable as they allow students to see your flexibility and ability to teach on the fly.