Teaching Children To Care - Charney
I just finished Teaching Children to Care - Management in the Responsive Classroom by Ruth Sidney Charney. It offered some perspectives I hadn't heard before (and having not yet set foot in a classroom, may find I need badly).
The point that stayed with me the most came from a chapter on "Teachers as Mirrors". Charney writes "When teachers notice and urge children to notice, they teach the discipline of self-awareness, and self-esteem". She goes on to talk about the connections children make with adults, and the importance of having adults in their lives they know them outside of academic subject areas. In writing, she tells us, children who feel their teachers have an interest in hearing their voice become more confident and stronger writers. When I think about the teachers who I learned the most from, the subjects I felt the most confident and passionate about, I think about teachers who I had a connection with.