The school”s “new year” begins with new opportunities and goals. It”s a time to co-create, with the students, new teamwork. To share in the creating of a class, from the personality of the students and their needs, is a unique and inspiring experience for both young and old, seasoned and new teachers.
As this unfolds in the classrooms and schools, I”d like to tell a couple of inspiring stories.
This summer I accompanied a family member to Redbud Community Hospital Emergency room. We spent the day there as tests were taken for the final diagnosis. This particular day began slow but became so busy I could hear employees discuss calling in a second doctor to help. The Fire department brought in many needy people. One woman was “later in years” and suffered dementia. She had to be strapped down until X rays were taken because she had suffered a fall. There was concern that her neck might have been injured. This woman lay there confused. She sang one old western song, asked Jesus to help her, and then declared “Help! I can”t move!”
A nurse would calmly talk to her. She would calm down and co-operate, sometimes for a short moment, sometimes for a while. I was behind the curtain near her. This went on for what seemed quite a while. Never did the medical team that spoke with her waver from their calm manner of comfort. This impressed me. I also realized they were indirectly calming everyone within hearing of the lady. Then I realized how this was the same in the classroom! Students that are disturbing the class need to be handled calmly for two reasons: so the child can calm themselves down and it calms the students also in the class! Wow! Thank you Redbud Hospital ER staff for this powerful lesson!
My next big lesson was when I taught summer school last month. A boy was standing outside tugging on a tree. I was walking in his direction. I explained that the tree, with a trunk smaller than the boy”s arm, was only about 10 years old. The boy replied, “I”m older, I”m 11!” Well, my goal was to help the student make the choice to leave the tree in peace; this tact didn”t work. He had stopped tugging, but hadn”t let go of it. Next, I asked if what he was doing was respectful to the tree. He didn”t respond. Just then, another teacher walked behind me and told the boy to leave the tree alone. He did.
Later that day I spoke to the boy. I explained how I”d first tried to use information to encourage him to leave the tree alone. Then I tried to help him think what respectful behavior would be for the tree. Finally, someone had to tell him to let go. I then explained how I was hoping he would make the best choice on his own. After explaining my thoughts, I asked him what he thought. His reply was, “It would have been better to do it without being told.” I was glad I had the chance to talk later; the student could see the difference. It reinforced, that of course students want to make their own choices, they do know what is right, and they need time and encouragement to do this.
In applying Monty Roberts”s principles 9 which at their core are stay calm, and the student learns how to make choices based on knowing the positive and negative consequences 9 the student needs to have time to process before acting. That is supportive to their learning. These are two of my lessons that I plan to focus on this coming school year!
Editor”s Note: Pamela Bening-Hale coordinates the Konocti And Monty Roberts Educational Exchange (KARE) program at Konocti district schools. This article was reprinted at Bening-Hale”s request from a recent KARE newsletter.
