Pleasantdale 107 Believes Children Learn Best When...#3
Belief #3: Students feel physically, socially, and emotionally safe, their sense of control is high and judgement from others is low. Students are fearless with the right support.
This belief corresponds very well to my own personal beliefs about the schools our children deserve. "All students must feel safe (physically, socially, and emotionally) before they can effectively learn in our schools." These are our basic human needs and without these being met, moving to more advanced skills like learning will not occur easily.
So what does this environment look like in our schools? First and foremost, students need to have a "trusted adult" (or more than one) in their lives at school. I use the term "trusted adult" because this can truly be any adult that interacts with kids at school. This can be, and often times is, one of the student's teachers. It makes sense since the child spends at least 44 minutes per day with each of his/her teachers. The social worker is also a usual trusted person. Students know that when they are having a problem with another student or students or just need to talk with someone about an issue he/she is facing, the social worker is a great listener.
But sometimes, the trusted adult might surprise you. I've seen the this go-to person for kids be the custodian. One student tended to come to school late and each day, as he arrived, the custodian would check in with him and ask him about his previous day. Over time, this student realized that this custodian cared about him and in the end, it was the custodian who listened and shared with me some very important information that no one else at school knew was happening in this young man's life. From there, we were able to connect him with the support he needed.
Sometimes, it is the secretary, the nurse, the principal or the assistant principal. Kids know that we are all advocates for them and will support them through great times and challenges. Regardless of what job this person performs at the school, students need to know they have at least one advocate who will be there for them no matter what when they're in the building.
In terms of being fearless, there are two things that come to mind. Middle schoolers, and adolescents in general, have a brain that is not fully developed and because of this, they are much more willing to take risks (be fearless). But something else is happening in middle school where the students are hyper-sensitive to what others think about them. This sensitivity is so strong that for some kids it is truly paralyzing. What to wear to school, whom to sit with at lunch, and whether or not to tryout for the musical can all be influenced by the students' classmates. These can be very challenging for parents to understand (and remember when we were in middle school because most of us have blocked out many of our experiences) because as often as we tell them to "just be yourself," it's simply not that simple.
However, when the right school environment is created, one in which students' sense of control is high and judgement from others is low, student can fearlessly change the world. This takes a complete team effort from all of the adults inside the school working together for the kids, alongside parents outside of the school supporting the programming and communicating with their child's teachers and other staff members. I know this can be achieved. I've seen it before. I believe this environment must be achieved because of our students and parents children. This is why this is one of the core beliefs about how children learn best here in Pleasantdale School District 107.
This belief corresponds very well to my own personal beliefs about the schools our children deserve. "All students must feel safe (physically, socially, and emotionally) before they can effectively learn in our schools." These are our basic human needs and without these being met, moving to more advanced skills like learning will not occur easily.
So what does this environment look like in our schools? First and foremost, students need to have a "trusted adult" (or more than one) in their lives at school. I use the term "trusted adult" because this can truly be any adult that interacts with kids at school. This can be, and often times is, one of the student's teachers. It makes sense since the child spends at least 44 minutes per day with each of his/her teachers. The social worker is also a usual trusted person. Students know that when they are having a problem with another student or students or just need to talk with someone about an issue he/she is facing, the social worker is a great listener.
But sometimes, the trusted adult might surprise you. I've seen the this go-to person for kids be the custodian. One student tended to come to school late and each day, as he arrived, the custodian would check in with him and ask him about his previous day. Over time, this student realized that this custodian cared about him and in the end, it was the custodian who listened and shared with me some very important information that no one else at school knew was happening in this young man's life. From there, we were able to connect him with the support he needed.
Sometimes, it is the secretary, the nurse, the principal or the assistant principal. Kids know that we are all advocates for them and will support them through great times and challenges. Regardless of what job this person performs at the school, students need to know they have at least one advocate who will be there for them no matter what when they're in the building.
In terms of being fearless, there are two things that come to mind. Middle schoolers, and adolescents in general, have a brain that is not fully developed and because of this, they are much more willing to take risks (be fearless). But something else is happening in middle school where the students are hyper-sensitive to what others think about them. This sensitivity is so strong that for some kids it is truly paralyzing. What to wear to school, whom to sit with at lunch, and whether or not to tryout for the musical can all be influenced by the students' classmates. These can be very challenging for parents to understand (and remember when we were in middle school because most of us have blocked out many of our experiences) because as often as we tell them to "just be yourself," it's simply not that simple.
However, when the right school environment is created, one in which students' sense of control is high and judgement from others is low, student can fearlessly change the world. This takes a complete team effort from all of the adults inside the school working together for the kids, alongside parents outside of the school supporting the programming and communicating with their child's teachers and other staff members. I know this can be achieved. I've seen it before. I believe this environment must be achieved because of our students and parents children. This is why this is one of the core beliefs about how children learn best here in Pleasantdale School District 107.
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