My good friend and new blogger Rob Mancabelli writes about the challenges of schooling in a world of extended, global connections and information in terms not just of the literacies this more complex environment demands but the emotional toll as well. His thoughts come on the heels of a conversation with a principal who was concerned that
students were seeking out and locating more and more emotionally packed information on their own time, often by themselves, causing them to come to our schools each day laden with a plethora of undiscussed feelings, questions and ideas.
It’s an interesting point, and not one that I’ve thought about much in terms of my own practice. In the six years that I’ve been slogging away at this now, I’ve come to a place where the underlying emotional messages of much of what I read get sifted out through a filter, though that’s not always the case, obviously. But to really get empathic and sit in the shoes of a teen-ager (or younger) with all of this, I wonder what types of coping mechanisms he or she might have.
Which brings me, once again, to the larger point: who is teaching them how to cope as self-learners both on an intellectual and emotional level? And can we as educators teach them if we ourselves aren’t coping? I’m in no way belittling the question that principal poses, but if she herself is working to solve these issues in her own practice, would she not better understand the pedagogies for teaching her students how to deal with the stresses? A lot of rhetorical questions, I know (which will once again make Tom Hoffman glad he’s not reading my blog any longer.)
I find it kind of interesting, also, that the one part of that quote above that really jumps out at me is the “often by themselves” part. At first blush, that seems pretty innocuous, but since much of what I read and access is brought to me through my network, as is the case here, it doesn’t feel like I’m doing this by myself as much. Rob has already lent some of his perspective and analysis to this, which in some ways, helps me cope with my own reaction to it. That’s the power of this in my life, and one reason why the whole concept of networked learning resonates so deeply for me. And why we need to teach our kids how to build networks of trusted sources they can turn to themselves for intellectual and emotional support in the process.
But how can we do that if we ourselves don’t?
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I couldn’t stay away long, Will 😉
I was groaning through this post, however. If you already have a framework for engaging students’ emotional lives, use that. If you don’t, it isn’t like you didn’t need one equally as much 10, 20, 30 years ago.
Will,
I get frustrated sometimes(although I do understand) when I hear educators say that they like the human touch, and not technology. To me it misses the whole point of what our students are doing online, which is about humans.
Students(and educators) are talking to other people, not just talking to a machine. They are making connections and forming their own learning networks, just as you write about.
But I do think these questions are very significant ones. Because as educators(or parents) we do want our children to be forming networks that are constructive and valuable and safe.
My personal impression is that elementary schools are very much engaged in this. But that as students move to middle or high schools, our connection with their “outside life” and safety seems to dim. They are less open about it, less receptive to adult involvement at times, and secondary teachers see their roles differently.
All those generalizations aside, I think it’s very important that we consider how we can scaffold and support our students online.
Perhaps an important part of that is giving them constructive and engaging projects that encourage positive and good connections with others on our campuses, around the country and the globe. Model what we want to see in the world, so to speak…
as tom alluded to in his comment, we all have our own ways of working with emotions. i use ‘working’ instead of ‘coping’, because ‘coping’ tends to connote a way of minimizing damage, whereas emotions are a necessary and helpful part of the way we experience the world. i think this is well-evidenced by the fact that students are seeking this stuff out on their own time and becoming involved with the ideas that cause the emotional responses. modelling may be the best way to teach students to work with emotionally-charged experience, yet because we each work with emotions differently (and often privately) we need to remain aware that many students cannot and will never work with emotion the way you or i might.
in many cases, emotions surround experience that teens find difficult to openly discuss with adults, such as politics, sex, relationships, drugs, anger or general unnameable confusion. these are not inherently impossible subjects to breach. in fact, they are some of the most universally-experienced aspects of human life. the problem may lie in our sense of responsibility to create an upstanding citizenry, an admirable goal to say the least, though one that makes us susceptible to spontaneous discursive seizure when addressing touchy subjects with students. our predictable responses advocating abstinence, avoidance of all controlled substances (and anyone associated with these), sublimation of aggressive tendencies through redirection, etc. begin to deafen students to our advice. they know these concepts and any other emotion-awakening experiences cannot be discussed in binary terms of right and wrong, good or bad, smart and dumb. by avoiding complexities of human tendency, we thwart students’ search for greater understanding about these topics. we ask them to seek deeper understanding in academic areas, though we attempt to stem experiential learning about nonacademic ideas because our positions as educators, as role models prevent us from officially entertaining ideas or practices that exist in exile from the culturally-constructed boundaries of desireable society.
is a conscious refusal on our parts to engage in thoughtful and critical discussion about some ideas and emotions with our students an unconscious failure to address the needs of all students?
I think there are some great points here…let’s begin with the quote itself. If the second half of the quote was taken out, the idea of students being curious enough to delve into the unknown…by themselves…is a wonderful thing that I think many people deem negative because as humans we all fear the unknown. Let’s take the quote in a completely different spin: Those same students come to school with those wuestions and discoveries and find ways to relate it to the class discussion. You may ask, when is there time and how will they feel comfortable. I believe that a successful classroom is one that relates the class objectives (topics, books, texts, papers) to what students will experience out of the classroom. After all, we are preparing students to become self-relient individuals. We are teaching them that learning is not a process where a teacher pours ideas into their brain. We are preparing them to understand that there are unknowns, things that are not discussed, ideas that are not recognized, and as people of society it is us as individuals who make all those things matter. If students are exploring, by all means embrace that! A way in which learning happens is being curious. You don’t always have to understand the emotions your students are going through, not every emotion will be discussed, we cannot always understand everything- BUT I believe that if we show them that learning is a continous process, and that your classroom is an open environemtn for that process to take place…I think that there personal search for the unknown is perfectly healthy.
Most individuals’ negative memories from high school were made in their physical education classes. They were chosen last when teams were formed. They weren’t the most skilled player. They didn’t like the way they looked in their uniform.
As a future P.E. teacher, it will be my responsibility to help students cope with their feelings about their experience in P.E. class. I believe this will be an important part of my job. However, I ask myself, “How will you do that with 50 minuets a day, if that?â€
I think the best way to do this is in my lesson planning. I hope to have multiple choices of activities for the students to choose from. They can try new things and focus on what they enjoy the most. I want students to compete against themselves. “You climbed the rock wall in 2 minuets last month; now try to do it in 1.50.†By doing this, students won’t have to worry about impressing others but on improving themselves.
For over 30 years I experienced several life threatening chronic illnesses. Through the Grace of God I was lead to several people and organizations that aided me in understanding, positively dealing with and transforming these illnesses. For the past few years I have devoted my life to sharing what I have learned with others. The two most impactful organizations I was lead to are The Institute of HeartMath – http://www.emotionalmastery.com and Landmark Education – http://www.landmarkeducation.com.
The American Institute of Stress and The Centers for Disease Control have both reported that up to 90% of all illnesses are due to stress. I was lead to The Institute of HeartMath in 1997 and discovered that all of my illnesses were due to stress and emotions I had been experiencing in my life. Through learning and practicing HeartMath’s tools and technologies, I am able to prevent, manage and reverse the effects of stress and unmanaged emotions, in-the-moment, achieve better health, more energy, improved mental and emotional clarity, and improved performance and relationships. HeartMath’s tools and technologies are scientifically substantiated; they literally saved my life.
Landmark Education provided me with the knowledge and tools to identify and put in my past, barriers that were stopping me from living a powerful life and a life I love. Through this Education, I have reached an unshakeable Faith.