Heart4kidsadvocacyforum's Blog

Ingredient #2:

You must have been “called” into the service of children to care, guide, nurture, protect, and provide opportunities for them that will allow them to discover themselves and their world.  This sets the stage for them to develop in the 4 Domains of their being: Cognitively, Physically, Social-Emotionally and Spiritually.

The Chat:

We really have to come to an understanding and commitment that when we are engaging with children whether we are parents advocating or our children, teachers, coaches, or extended family, children have in their design developmental stages that evolve at different times for each child.  We must also understand that it is our responsibility as parents, and as teachers that have pledged to be parents and teachers, that it is our responsibility to support our children in discovering not just the many wonders of the world, but that we support them in discovering who they are and to love themselves, respect themselves, and value the “divine gifts that make them who they are and what they have the possibility of contributing to humanity.  Their education and the modalities that we utilize in our classrooms and at home need to be in alignment so that there is continuity in the practices and approaches we use with each child. 

We know that it is not just unrealistic, but inappropriate to think that the same modalities work with each child, which is why we acknowledge that it is our responsibility to observe, record, and analysis the character, interest, and the modalities by which that child learns, dissects, and absorbs knowledge.  We need to experiment with different kinds of teaching tools that work with all the children to ascertain if there is a commonality, and at the same time implement tools that works with each child as an individual.  Teaching is not a one approach to learning fits every child!

Our children’s teachers make a lifetime impression on our children.  They remember the nature of every teacher that they engage with.  They remember if that teacher saw them for who they were.  They remember if a teacher was invested in what they learned and how they learned.  We have as teachers, the responsibility to make sure we are working with and nurturing the “whole child”.  Teaching children is so much more than addressing their academic development.  We have to be aware, sensitive to and responsive to all 4 domains that constitute who they are as human beings.  We are responsible, as are their parents are, responsible for the development and enrichment of their cognition, physicality, social-emotional, and spiritual well-being.  Don’t let the spiritual well-being frighten you or feel that is not your responsibility! The spiritual well-being is the soul essence of who that child is!  If you do not tap into this aspect of a child, there is no way for you to be in relationship with that child.  This is the divinity of who that child is.  It is the most sacred and important aspect of who that child is and how they respond to life and the world around them.

You feel like this is a lot?  You feel like this is not what you signed up for when you decided to become a teacher?  You feel that you don’t want to delve this deeply into this profession and don’t think you really want to invest that much of who you are into children?  You feel that what you are being compensated for financially does not warrant you making this kind of commitment to a “JOB”?  If you feel any of these emotions, then you honestly do not belong in the teaching profession, and parents need to assess whether they want to allow you to teach their child. As a professor who taught teachers how to teach children, I never had a problem assessing if a student should or should not become a teacher.  I taught the classes that took the student teacher through the entire program, which gave me a lot of opportunities to develop relationships with my students. I was always open and honest with them I had no problem taking them aside in a one-on-one conference and counseling them out of the field of Child Development, and at the same time supporting them in discovering what their gifts were that would direct them to their “divine destiny calling”.

Parents have a huge responsibility and challenge to carefully and methodically invest time and energy into assessing who their child’s teacher is.  Parents must critique if their child’s teacher is invested in teaching and even more specifically “Sees”, who their child is.  Observe the interactions with the children in your child’s class.  Is the teacher open, warming, and inviting to the children when she greets them in the morning?  Does the teacher prepare the classroom so that it is child centered, set up for discovery and engagement?  Does the teacher make the children feel that the classroom belongs to them and that it is a sacred and safe place for them? Does the teacher provide “hands on experiences”, that allows the children to internalize what they are learning?  Is the teacher prepared each day for the unexpected and flexible enough to create substitute activities that although different form the routine schedule of the day, the children feel safe and are able to adapt? Does your child come home happy and ready to return to school the next day? If your observations provide a yes to these questions, your child has a teacher and an environment where they will not survive, but will thrive.