Listening

Listening doesn't just happen with our ears, but also with our eyes and through body language, and movement. I believe educators to inherently be sociologists, always considering the parts of the person and immediate culture and nature of the student.

Lately, I am realizing, really realizing, that the more I observe and listen to patterns of behavior of children/students, that they are telling me/us what they need and often in other ways than words.

Perhaps the more we listen to the translated effects and demonstrations of need for a child/person beyond words, the more we can facilitate students to recognize and name their emotions through this guidance and, in turn, know themselves (their learning and interest affinities) and better support what they need as a person and learner.

The need for this self-awareness with advocacy is especially important in the very vocal-based American classroom (for representation and expression) and societal context, this all-the-more of a needed awareness of teachers, parents and other mentors and the developing persons (aren't we all one of those?) they guide.

I have taught for roughly over a decade and in that past decade, I have observed many instances of children being able to name their feelings and needs that is often guided to be learned and I know was not as strongly guided in the past in comparison with mine and other older generations of those learning differently/with learning disabilities (to be specific).

I am noticing a directional shift and integration of themes such as the following that answer to  contemporary need in teaching and learning  methodology:

-Guiding students to name their feelings--Self-knowledge/awareness, self-advocacy, consent

 -Practice of problem solving, anger management

-Ways of peaceful dialogue, research methods, evidential support

There is a lot within each of the briefly mentioned trends above, but I am noticing these intentional themes addressed and appearing for many contemporary young learners and these are ways of empowering the individual and, in turn, modeling and expanding the possibilities of our communities small and large.

-Also in practice are various experiential (multiple sensory modality) and authentic application teaching and learning methods in education (for instance, with community interaction), which support various kinds of learners that classify with learning styles, affinities and interests.

I look forward to expanding on the mentioned themes over time through my observation, reflection and research.

Stay tuned!