Connected to Learning

Fall 2000

Children come to school with social, emotional, intellectual, and physical needs that are inseparable from one another. As their teacher, I must respond to them in their entirety.

Meet Leslie Skornik

n effect, I was saying, "What matters to you, Jenny, matters to all of us in our classroom." Through their participation, the others understood that, if need be, their turn would come.

By Leslie Skornik
Mason-Rice Elementary School
Newton, Massachusetts

n the first day of school, I ask my third-grade class to name the most important thing we can do in the coming year.

aise our hands. Listen to you." The answers come spilling out, and the earnest look on their faces belies an eagerness to please me. "That we walk instead of run...learn math...read a lot." To each offering, I respond, "Yes. That's important, but not the most important." In a deliberate tone I tell them: "The most important thing to me is that we care about each other."

imagine my critics saying this is typical elementary-school teacher's nonsense, but they are wrong. I do not belittle the importance of curriculum. Teaching skills and content is a school's mission.

Additional Resources

Berman, S. (1997). Children’s Social Consciousness and the Development of Social Responsibility. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Drawing on research from such fields as moral development, citizenship education, and political socialization, the author offers strategies for helping students to become active, caring, and responsible members of society.

Cummings, C. (2000). Winning Strategies for Classroom Management. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. This book offers concrete suggestions for effective classroom management. Topics include creating a community of learners, designing the classroom, diagnosing student behavior, and responding to students’ emotional needs.

Gardner, H. (1999). The Disciplined Mind: What All Students Should Understand. New York: Simon & Schuster. The author argues that an educated citizenry is one that understands the physical world, the biological world, and the social world–in a personal context as well as from a broader social and cultural perspective.

Lickona, T. (1991) Educating for Character: How Our Schools Can Teach Respect and Responsibility: New York: Bantam Books. According to Lickona, the classroom is a moral community in which civility and compassion are part of the curriculum. He reports on dozens of practical programs teaching students the values necessary for moral development.

Sergiovanni, T. (1994). Building Community in Schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc. Using case studies and other school examples, the author shows the importance of shifting the focus away from schools as organizations based on contracts and rewards to schools as communities bound by moral commitment, trust, and a sense of purpose.

owever, it is through our relationship to one another that the mission is best accomplished. When children know that they belong and that they matter, they are freed to make mistakes without fear of being judged inadequate. Disconnected children do not turn their energy toward classroom learning. Like Jenny.

enny's superior writing embodied the dictum "write what you know." Her artwork was bold and full of vitality. She loved building with blocks. But she had a diagnosed behavior disorder, only part of which was an attention deficit. Finding the proper medication and dosage had been a trial of experimentation. She suffered pronounced eye twitching and involuntarily hit her shoulders with her arms. It set her apart in the minds of other children and in her own. Focusing on her work became difficult.

he never complained to me, but I began to overhear the others: "Jenny, why are you hitting yourself?" "What are you doing?" "It's weird." She would shrug her shoulders, her eyes opening wider and mouth turning down in embarrassed silence.

n private, I asked Jenny what she knew about her eye-blinking and arm-hitting. She replied matter-of-factly, "It's because of the medicine I take." I told her that sometimes, children need explanations in order to understand what seems unfamiliar. She agreed, and we called a class meeting.

explained to the children that Jenny had given me permission to talk with them. I gave them information about involuntary side effects of medication, and they shared personal experiences about their special needs and those of family members. Then Jenny and I let them ask questions. As the mystery about her behavior was unraveled, everyone became more comfortable and empathetic. I never heard anyone mention it again, and Jenny began to focus better on her work as well as gain easier entree into social activities.

ut it was not just Jenny who benefited from our discussion. Everyone felt significant, because advocating for one child is advocating for all children. In effect, I was saying, "What matters to you, Jenny, matters to all of us in our classroom." Through their participation, the others understood that, if need be, their turn would come.

nstead of being accidental, creating meaningful connection can be mindful. Just as there are strategies to teach content, there are strategies to teach positive relationship. Children come to school with social, emotional, intellectual, and physical needs that are inseparable from each other. They bring themselves in their entirety.

nd so, at a time when test scores and increased content are being used to define success, I try to keep in mind that children learn best and retain more when their classroom environment embraces this integration of self. It is in this way that children may challenge themselves and bring home all of the lessons they learn.

Is it a teacher's role to promote values and social consciousness?