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The way we view the educational process and what education should look like today is very important, but it’s even more important we are supporting both the whole child and whole teacher. Students and teachers are happier and more productive in and outside of the classroom, they will feel supported and are less stressed. Therefore, student will be able to focus more on learning and teachers will be able to teach more efficiently. We can achieve success all around when we focus on the whole child and the whole teacher.
The whole child approach means to me that I get to participate in helping of my students become well-rounded individuals, not only their academics. We also need to make sure that each student is healthy, safe, engaged, and feel supported. Supporting the whole child to also means making sure their basic needs such as nourishment, social and emotional needs are met before focusing on the academics.
The whole teacher approach means to me that as educator I need to focus on my own self-care before I can help my students. As an educator we must remember not to sweat the small stuff and don’t let little things get the best of you. Education today is more focused on test scores and student academic achievement that it is taking a toll on teachers, and now we are seeing more teachers make the decision to leave the field.
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When teachers are supported and feel that their needs are being met alongside the needs of our students, only then can true learning begin. The last school I worked in was a prime example of this approach. The principal was outstanding, she made sure that the entire staff took care of their mental and physical well-being. We will able to get more done and be more effective teaching our students when we are relaxed and not so stressed.
Short-term Goal
My short-term goal for the next one to three months is to build a community in which I can get to know my students on a more personal level and understand what their life is like outside of the classroom (Alber, 2018). The first strategy I plan on implementing to reach this goal is to spend time with my students during honors time, interacting and playing games with them.
In our class we have to honors periods during the day, were the students who have earned their points and have completed their work are able to spend 30 mins on an activity of their choice before we transition to our next activity. I feel this would a great time to learn about them, what their interest are and have meaningful conversations that aren’t centered around learning activities in the classroom.
My other plan is to send home “All About Me Bags” as homework, my kids have done this in the past and the students will get to share some fun facts about themselves. The directions for the bag will include: bring in five things that tell us a little about you, examples are a family picture, a favorite toy, or a crayon representing your favorite color.
By giving students an opportunity to share their bag with the class we all will be able to learn a little about each other, while instilling in them a sense of pride, and building a sense of community in the classroom by learning about each other and our similarities and differences.
This goal aligns with my vision of both teaching to the whole student and whole teacher because we get to learn about each other and use what we have learned to gain trust and build a sense of community in the classroom. When we don’t have a strong relationship with our students or can’t be empathetic and compassionate to their needs, we won’t be able to help them succeed.
Mid-term Goal
My mid-term for the next three to six months is to focus on my students social and emotional development in my classroom. I plan on using Second Step as the social emotional curriculum to successfully implement this strategy (Committee for Children, 2018).
The Committee for Children curriculum developers, for the Second Step program stated, that upon completion of the program, students will gain confidence, be able to set goals, make better decisions, as well as collaborate with others in work, play, and navigate the world more effectively (2018).
Our students social and emotional development is an important part of their learning process and we need to make sure we take care of that first. Students are like sponges they learn so much from the us, their peers and their environment. When students lack good social emotional skills these lessons cannot be learned or retained.
When it comes to supporting the whole teacher, I feel this program does an excellent job not only by supporting the students social-emotional growth, it also supports teachers. By including posters, songs, pre -made lesson plans, and other implementation tools to make the integration less work for teachers. There is never enough time in the school day to get all the materials needed for a lesson sometimes, especially if a student is escalated and this program includes it all.
Long-term Goal
My long-term goal over the next six to twelve months is to build a more family involved classroom and school community. When it comes to looking at the whole child, we as educators must not forget that school represents only part of their social emotional learning and development.
Our students spend more time outside of the walls of our classrooms, which can have a larger impact on. I remember when I was in school parents and teachers had more of a cohesive relationship and if there was a concern our parents and teachers were on the same page.
We must rebuild a strong relationship between parents and teachers, when students see that their parents are interested in their education they will also feel good and be successful about learning. Morse & Allensworth (2015) highlighted that “Family engagement is important when talking about the whole child approach to learning”.
I feel this is goal will take more time to implement but all great ideas begin small. My goal for next school year is to have things set in place completely so that we will be up and running. Because our class is self-contained my plan is to collaborate with my colleagues to see how they are currently implementing this in their class and what ideas they have for building stronger school/family relationships within their individual classrooms.
Our Families, especially those with students in our self-contained behavior classrooms, often feel alone and don’t know where to go for support. By implementing this plan families will have an opportunity to lean on each other, and us as we set them up for success.
Having a strong support system for the family is an excellent way to help the support the whole child both in and out of the classroom. This will not only will it help our student’s, but it will also help me as their teacher. When students and their families feel supported they will be willing and more comfortable to come to the teacher for help or share information. From the teacher’s perspective getting to know my student and their families and gaining their trust is a great way to keep stress levels down.
When a new student comes into the class this can be a traumatic experience. They will be entering a classroom where the rules and routines are already put in place and that can be scary for both the teacher and the student. Also, we do not know the circumstances for why they moved when they did. We have new student who will be starting in our class on Monday, that we know nothing about.
My first plan of action is to, let him get comfortable in the classroom community, but also letting him know he is safe and if he needs anything it’s ok to ask. There will be a transition period for him, but I also feel that his peers will be able to help model the rules and expectations of the class for him, and he will see how our classroom community runs which can also help him transition smoothly.
I’ve been working in my current classroom for 3 weeks prior to Christmas break and it was chaos in there which is why I was asked to come back. There wasn’t any consistency or structure in the class, staff were being shuffled and transferred, therefore the students were acting out and eloping from the school grounds. Now that we have more structure our students are showing us they feel safe, comfortable and are ready to learn, we can now begin to build an awesome classroom community.
References
- Alber, R. (2018, March 12) Embracing the whole child. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/embracing-whole-child
- Committee for Children. (2018). Second Step. Retrieved from http://www.secondstep.org
- Morse, L. & Allensworth, D. (2015). Placing Students at the Center: The Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Model. Journal of School Health, 85(11), 785-794.
