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CLEANING UP A TRASHY SPOT: AN EXPERIENCE IN CARING
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Children who have learned how to care are empowered to be able to
think through any situation that comes their way in which they need
to meet the needs of another. These students gain a sense of competence;
they can reach out to another. They also have a sense of joy as
they see another happy and excited.
As taught in an lesson presented in an earlier edition of this newsletter,
students, who have learned how to care, know how to go about doing
so. In that lesson if asked to read to a younger child who loves
stories but has no one to read to him, students learned that they
had many choices, choices about when to read and where to, choices
of books to read and ways of doing so. They also learned that if
they were going to make good choices that would make the reading
experience really fun they needed some information and some skills.
Knowing the child's age and interests would increase the possibility
of choosing a book that would catch the imagination of the child.
Knowing how to read the book with expression and/or time to look
and enjoy the pictures would help the children listen and become
involved in the story. They learned that caring is not just doing
something for another. It is taking into consideration the needs
of the other and figuring out how to meet those needs. The results
are pleasure for both, warm friendliness and for the caregiver a
sense of assuredness, I can.
LESSON INTRODUCTION
This process can be applied to situations in which the need does
not apply to caring for others but may be meeting the needs of animals
and even inanimate objects such as the environment. The following
lesson takes children through the process of caring for their environment.
They have felt disgust at the messiness of their neighborhood. Knowing
the caring process they felt confident in their ability to accept
the challenge. They knew how to gather the relevant information
and skills to make their neighborhood more presentable. And when
their task was complete they could enjoy their neater, cleaner neighborhood.
OBJECTIVES:
Students will plan for and implement caring as they clean up a trashy
area
of their neighborhood.
PREPARATION
Teacher should be aware of an appropriate spot on which trash has
been
thrown.
Students may also be aware of the spot.
Unit can easily be integrated into a science project.
LESSON
Make a Plan
Describe the situation:
This may include a walk to the site as well as a discussion of how
it looks
and what students think about it.
What are all the things we want to do about this site?
(List on blackboard or newsprint as quickly as you can as students
give
ideas. Encourage students to think of as many ways as possible,
workable
ways and atrocious ones. Students should mention:
Cleaning up the trash.
Protecting themselves while doing so.
Possibly landscaping activities such as new plants.
(If writing is easy for the students, have them write the ideas
… two
students writing can keep the process moving which is good for the
flow of
ideas.)
We have many ideas, now which ones should we implement?
First, what are our goals?
(Look for students to talk about wanting area to be clean and tidy.
They should also mention safety factors for students such as wearing
gloves
and heavy soled shoes depending on the kind of trash involved.)
Which of your ideas will be more apt to achieve your goals?
(Students at this point may see the need for more information about
the kind
of trash involved and possible health hazards. Make a plan as to
how they
will acquire it. For example, they could divide into teams who would
research different sources of information about the trash such as
highway
control or sanitation departments of local government.)
Students report back.
Make a plan.
(Using the information from their reports make a plan for cleaning
up the
area and possibly doing some landscaping. Plan should include what
is to be
done, who will be responsible and a time plan.
Implement the plan
Reflect
(After a period of a week or two review the plan and discuss:
How does the area look?
(Note the students are apt to find that trash is beginning to collect
again.
This could lead to another initiation of caring requiring the search
for new
information about who is leaving the trash and making a plan for
changing
people's patterns of behavior.)
COMMENTS
This lesson plan is part of a curriculum, Learning How to Caring:
Education
for Parenting, teaching caring by teaching parenting. The focus
of the
curriculum is the parent/infant monthly visits. Students, planning
for those
visit use the caring paradigm. They observe and hear about caring
by
watching the parents nurture their children and by asking questions
about
what it means to be a parent.
The Caring Process taught in The E for P: LHTC Curriculum
easily integrates
into traditional academic subjects as well as classroom management.
Planning
for and reflecting on the parent-infant visit, as well as the actual
visit,
incorporate problem-solving skills. The observations of parents
and their
children and the reflections of students about their own childhood
experiences makes rich content for written work. Reading assignments
can
include books that have caring as a theme. (lists of such books
are
available.) Work in science on preserving the environment can integrate
the
caring process. Teachers encourage students to apply the caring
process in
their social relationships. The program also involves helping teachers
use
the caring process in relating to parents, teachers, students, etc.
Adaptations of the curriculum meet specific needs of specific groups
of
students, schools and programs such as after school programs, religious
settings and mentoring programs where older children care for younger
ones.
Recognizing that if children were to learn to care they needed more
opportunities than once a month parent/infant visits, important
as these
were, Dr. Heath, Dr McDermott with several other Quaker educators
organized
The Caring Project, which expanded the program to encompass caring
in all
components of school life.
Dr. Harriet Heath
The Caring Project
(Email address) Harriet_Heath@hotmail.com
Dr. Dana McDermott
The Caring Project
(Email) mcdermot@rcnchicago.com
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2. Have You Tried Class Meetings?
Have You Tried Class Meetings?
With the current emphasis on academic achievement and teacher
accountability, it's important to remember that the fundamental
mission of
schools is to turn out not only competent test-takers, but contributing
citizens. In addition to teaching academics, schools must help students
develop the fundamental social and emotional skills which will help
them live
successful and productive lives. These are the personal and interpersonal
skills which Daniel Goleman has called "emotional intelligence:"
self-awareness and impulse control, persistence, empathy, the ability
to
communicate feelings constructively and resolve problems in ways
that produce
growth and learning.
The good news is that emotional intelligence can be developed, social
and
emotional skills can be taught, and constructive problem-solving
can be
learned--and it's not that difficult! Class meetings provide a simple
and
effective way to meet the need that all children have to belong
to a group,
to feel accepted as the people they are, and to have their feelings
validated. They provide a forum in which students discuss issues
and concerns
of importance to them, and help each other find solutions to their
own
problems. In the process they learn communication skills, the class
develops
cohesiveness and students gain the confidence they need to face
and resolve
life's challenges. As Dr. William Glasser wrote: "When children
learn to
express themselves thoughtfully and without fear, when they learn
to listen
and to take an interest in what others have to say, they have developed
a
skill that probably correlates with success in life more than anything
else
taught in school" (Schools Without Failure, Harper & Row,
1969, p. 165).
In a class meeting, students and their teachers sit in a circle
on the floor
or in chairs. A "talking object" is passed around the
circle and each
student and teacher in turn has an opportunity to give a compliment
or
positive "stroke" to someone else in the group, or choose
to pass. (There are
many variations of this process. For example, students can compliment
themselves, or ask to be complimented, or a student can sit in the
center of
the circle and receive compliments from everyone else. See Jane
Nelsen's
Positive Discipline in the Classroom for a discussion of compliments
and
appreciations and the eight "building blocks" of class
meetings).
A class meeting agenda is kept in which students write issues and
concerns they
wish to take up at the meeting. Agenda items are read sequentially
by the meeting
leader (usually the teacher, but other students may take this role),
and the
student who put the problem on the agenda is asked to describe the
situation
and what they have done to try to resolve it. Sometimes the situation
is
role-played so that everyone can see it first hand. Then there is
class
discussion, ideas for solutions are brainstormed, and the student
is asked to
select a solution to try until the next meeting. If a problem involves
two or
more students, they move to the center of the circle and discuss
it using "I
messages" and observing the rule that only one person speaks
at a time. If
they cannot find a solution themselves, the aid of the class is
enlisted and
ideas are brainstormed. The meeting concludes on a positive note
with a group
cheer or some other form of closure which is agreed upon by the
class.
Meetings vary in length from about 15-30 minutes, depending on the
age level
and attention span of the group.
The teacher's role as facilitator is to give encouragement and support,
to be sure everyone has a fair chance to be heard, to guard against
inappropriate remarks, put-downs and interruptions, and to help
the students
work constructively toward positive solutions. It is NOT the teacher's
role
to solve the students' problems for them! For many teachers who
are
accustomed to being the sole judge and jury in the classroom, this
may feel
like loss of control. But putting the responsibility for solving
a problem
back into the hands of the students does more than relieve the teacher
of
this burden. More important, it gives students a chance to learn
from their
experiences and develop the problem-solving skills that will benefit
them
throughout their lives.
I recently completed a research project which demonstrated that
class
meetings significantly improved class climate and individual student
behavior
when conducted regularly over a 15-week period.
The Winner's Circle
Developing Emotional Intelligence in the Classroom
MarkBroder@cs.com
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Morning Meetings ... Planting Flowers of Peace (reissue
March 2001)
From the January 9, 2000 newsletter ... issue #5
inspired by the works of Ruth Charney and Jean Gibbs
I have found that classroom meetings - ones in which the
teacher and all the students come together are usually for one of
two purposes ... to build community at a relatively peaceful time
or to resolve a conflict that is occurring. I refer to the former
as
“planting flowers” and the latter as “putting out
fires (of course -
when fires are put out, the earth becomes ever more ready for
renewal).” In the discussion that follows I will share more
on the
ways of planting flowers. Dealing with brewing conflicts will be
shared more in the months to come. If you wish to read more on
conflict solving meetings at this time you can refer to “Schools
without Failure,” by William Glasser, “Positive Discipline,”
by
Jane Nelson. and “Educating for Character: How Our Schools
Can
Teach Respect and Responsibility” by Thomas Lickona.
Planting flowers ... There is a concept of a morning meeting,
a community circle in which children come together in the classroom
and sit in a circle (sometimes on the floor, sometimes on chairs)
and
do activities together that help build caring within the group,
and
individual caring between students. This daily routine may have
elements that occur each time, and become rituals that the students
look forward to. They may also have certain activities that
are done from time to time.
The morning meeting provides a common ground where the
children come to understand the truest meaning of "finding
common
ground." Through endeavors such as interactive games or sharing
for example, children begin to build relationships.. They come to
see, tolerate and appreciate the ways of each other. The most basic
element of caring which aids this process is the genuine willingness
to attentively listen. When this occurs, the students cannot help
but
learn something about each other that is likable.
The meeting - anywhere from twenty to forty minutes in
length may include each student greeting the student next to him
or
her in an agreed upon manner. It may also include going around the
circle and answering a single question put forth by the teacher
or
designated leader. By answering the question, "How are you
today?"
a good indicator of the emotional state which the children bring
with
them is expressed (students have the right to ‘pass’ and
may respond
when their turn comes the second time). All this gives opportunities
for bonding, empathic growth and alternative perspective taking.
Another activity can be for students to pay complements to
one another ... and the receiver of the complement to show appre-
ciation. Sharing is also often done. Two or three students can sign
up to share each day (in words or show and tell). There is then
a
proscribed way that other students are called on to make comments
or ask questions. Usually the number of comments / questions is
set
at about three. Also they are supposed to be directed toward the
presenter and not be a reference back to themselves (Oh, I have
a
Pokeman toy too!).
Teachers usually have guidelines created for the smooth
functioning of meetings ... anywhere from how students transition
to and from the meeting to .... and most importantly ... how
students are encouraged to listen to one another. I like to say,
if we
are attentive - listening with our eyes, our minds, and our bodies
-
then, our hearts will follow.”
Another element often used is activities and games that are
fun and cooperative. Two examples are telephone (whispering a
message around the room to see see if it gets back as it started)
and
muck - using pantomime to get another student to laugh.
Lest you think that the morning meeting is all social, all
meaning, all play and .. “no academics! -- there are ways that
curriculum content are interweaved within the framework of the
meeting. The teacher can do this either in words, activities or
with
posted written materials that the students can refer to as well.”
I will mention two leading resources in this area that I am aware
of ... The Northeast Foundation for Children
<http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/>
and Tribes <http://www.tribes.com/program.html.>
The Northeast
Foundation for Children provides many books and workshops that
include as a pivotal element of their work - “the Morning Meeting”
Their basic work “The Responsive Classroom , Teaching Children
to
Care” by a co-founder of the foundation - Ruth Charney is an
excellent
work. “Tribes” by Jean Gibbs, is used by many teachers
to help
them start the day by building community within a community circle.
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4. Heartmath ... is about the heart and learning (new
March 2001)
This heartfelt approach to teaching comes recommended to
me by a number of teachers. I have done some study of their works.
Here is a letter I received from one teacher regarding Heart Math
Marty,
The best way for me to describe how I use HeartMath in my Jr. and
Sr. High Resource classes is this way. I take the first two weeks
of the school year and do lessons and activities from "Teaching
children to Love" the main goal being to teach them the basic
tools, called Freeze-Frame and Heart Lock-in.
Then throughout; the year I integrate more into the content..........it's
all about teaching them about themselves and how to manage their
emotional and mental capabilities through using their Heart Intelligence.
But First ...I had to become proficient with the tools and use them
each day with myself so that I could be heart present for them.
Kids FEEL when you are saying one thing and doing another....even
the use of your subtle energy.
There is a wonderful software program that is instrumental in making
it real for the kids. It's called The Freeze-Framer....check out
their website for more details....
dianagovan@hotmail.com
The following is on the Heartmath homepage
The Institute of Heartmath® (IHM) is a 501c(3) research
and education organization. IHM has developed simple, user-friendly
tools that can be used to relieve stress, enhance health, modify
behavior and improve performance in children and adults.
IHM'S MISSION
Through innovative research and public education, we aim to facilitate
more balance and health in people's lives by:
* Researching the effects of positive emotions on physiology, quality
of life, and performance.* Helping individuals engage their hearts
to transform stress and rejuvenate their health.* Providing prevention
and intervention strategies for improved emotional health, decision
-making, learning skills and violence reduction in families, and
schools and communities.
OBJECTIVES 2001
EDUCATION
We are dedicated to promoting stability for all students in our
nation's schools and communities. Based on our successful 3 year
pilot program with "at risk" children, we will continue
to develop and field test new K-12 curricula that will teach emotional
resiliency, promote conflict resolution, increase academic performance
and facilitate violence prevention through emotional management
skills.
RESEARCH
Our goal is to conduct research on the human heart and its role
in establishing mental, physiological and emotional coherence. We
will continue to provide effective interventions to improve health
and quality of life and pursue the development of progressive tools
and technologies for reversing disease progression and restoring
well being.
IHM builds bridges between people and organizations, between traditional
and leading-edge research and between people and their deeper core
values.
http://www.heartmath.org/
The following is taken from another section of their site ...
regarding working with teens.
The How To Book of Teen Self-Discovery
Reader Comments "Excellent job of introducing teenagers to their
feelings - and to healthy self-esteem. An excellent tool for teenagers,
adults and teachers. I recommend it highly." Emmett E. Miller, M.D.,
California Task Force to Promote Self Esteem and Personal and Social
Responsibility
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Every teacher should have this information under their belt prior
to entering the classroom." Sue Niles, Crisis Intervention Counselor,
Dade County Public Schools, Miami ------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A powerful, easy to understand process for building and maintaining
positive, effective interpersonal relationships. The applications
with the school system are limitless." Dean Vogel, counselor, Local
Teacher's Association President, Vacaville Unified, CA
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I learned how to use the heart and brain together to become a better
person, and to understand what the other person is talking about-to
communicate more instead of having all the anger inside you. It
is good!" Rudolpho H., Age 16
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Superior!!! This workshop gave me permission to pause and learn
positive lessons from those pauses. Where were you when I started
my career? Make sure the entire human race has one of these sessions."
Lenora Cambridge, Crisis Counselor
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"It helped me to face if I don't get perfect, it's not the end of
the world." Athena L., Age 11
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The response to your training for our 45 gang intervention specialists,
and its relevance to the needs of the entire community, indicates
that your program is indispensable in helping children, families,
educators and community leaders acquire critical skills for healthy
life choices." William Ybarra, Los Angeles County Office of Ed.,
Gang Risk Intervention Programs
http://www.heartmath.com/product/TeenBook/comments.html
Excerpts from an article - Early Childhood Development and Learning:
What new research on the heart and brain tells us about our youngest
children - by Karl Pribram, M.D., Ph.D. and Deborah Rozman, Ph.D.
This article describes research on the role of the heart and brain
in early childhood development and learning. The full paper was
delivered by Dr. Rozman at the White House Conference on Early Childhood
Development and Learning - San Francisco, April 1997. The article
was included in a earlier version of the Hearthmath website. Before
we can bring harmony to a child, it is helpful for us to find our
own harmony. I believe the following are good concepts for teachers
to be aware of and explore further.
"A peaceful heart helps you think not only more clearly but
more creatively. “When you focus you heart on love and appreciation,
you increase the likelihood that all kinds of cells within your
body, including the brain, become synchronized around the heart’s
electrical signal,” says Dr.. Gary Schwartz, professor or psychology,
medicine, neurology and psychiatry at the University of Arizona.
“In that way, we gain power - not just physical power, but
also emotional and potentially spiritual power."
"Experiments at the University of Arizona’s Heart Energy
Systems Laboratory have demonstrated that one persons’s heart
signal can entrain another’s electrical brain patterns and
alter the recipients moods. Another person’s moods and attitudes
can entrain our own bioelectrical rhythms and make us tense or tranquil.
The effect leads some researchers to speculate that taking an instant
dislike to a person is the result of clashing hearth rhythms, while
love is literally a matter of two hearts beating in harmony."
"To soothe a case of jangled nerves, for example, concentrate
attention on your heart. (pretend you’re breathing with your
heart, not your lungs.) Then imagine something that evokes feeling
of love or sincere appreciations. (Beer and chocolate don’t
qualify.) Recall a kindness from a passing stranger; think about
your baby, your puppy, someone you love unconditionally. Then hold
these memories in your heart for at least 10 seconds. The heart’s
rhythm quickly becomes coherent, sending your body electro-chemical
messages of tranquility - and calms your mind."
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5. Ripple effects ... helping teens build social skills
(new March 2001)
Ripple Effects is a way to safer schools, healthier students, higher
performance
I learned about this product hearing Alice Ray speak at a conference
on emotional intelligence. She had developed the "Second Step
Program," which I am very familiar with, http://www.cfchildren.org/violence.htm
having used it in elementary school. That fine program consists
of pictures, props, tapes and more - all designed to help elementary
school children build, empathy, reduce impulsivity and deal with
anger. This new program appear to have similar goals however with
two main differences. First it is aimed more for adolescents and
secondly, it's primary vehicle of delivery is through interaction
with a computer program. I would imagine that that is just part
of it, with more support by teachers and beyond as well.
Below I share with you directly (with a few paraphrases) from
the website of Ripple Effects.
Schools today are in a serious bind, forced to meet stronger academic
standards with the most diverse group of students in human history,
while also dealing with a wide range of social issues most teachers
have never been trained in, and facing problematic social behavior
that interferes with learning and threatens the safety of both students
and their teachers.
Ripple Effects provides and supports software tools to help solve
this dilemma. If you’re looking for effective ways to reduce
aggressive behavior, transform school climate, and improve academic
outcomes, Ripple Effects software can help. It enables you to create
an environment that is at once warmer and more disciplined, where
no one is a victim and everyone can succeed - both academically
and socially.
Ripple Effects scalable, flexible Social Learning software is proven
to work.
In a recent study, the teen version resulted in 77% more prosocial
behavior, 32% less antisocial behavior, and a 62% decrease in remedial
summer school referrals. The potential savings in reduced summer
school costs alone is $150,000 annually on a $5,000 investment,
for just one school.
What this software program which is designed to be easy to use
does ...
Decreases aggressive and anti-social behavior, transforming playground
bullies into potential best friends, turning troublemakers into
problem solvers.
Empowers students with special needs to deal with teasing, threats
and stereotypes, and enables victims to become their own advocates.
Increases respect for all and appreciation for diversity.
Reduces involvement in risky and unhealthy behavior.
Improves academic performance and reduces the need for remedial
services, including summer school.
How does it do all this?
By combining proven effective strategies for changing behavior with
a media rich, engaging presentation that can reach learners of all
levels and from all backgrounds.
This software:
Develops proficiency in key social-emotional abilities that are
more connected to school and life success than IQ and technical
ability combined.
Provides proven strategies for dealing with pressure to cheat, steal,
smoke, drink, fight, have sex, or do drugs.
Gives students a source of immediate, confidential, and reliable
help with personal problems, a way to find a language for what is
bothering them, and the skills to get the further help they need.
Leverages educators’ ability to address critical social issues,
without adding to their already overburdened workload.
Enables teachers to effectively reach more students, and students
to learn more easily, through accommodation for learning style differences.
http://www.rippleeffects.com/education.html
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6. Regarding sports and sportspersonship
(new March 2001)
We have been hearing much about "jocks" and
some of their unkind ways. We also realize that there are many persons
who take part in sports - jocks and others - who have many caring
ways. Here are two organizations who encourage ways for students
to compete and be decent on and off the playing fields.
The CHARACTER COUNTS! Sports project
The following excerpt is from the sports project home page.
Athletics provides opportunities to develop and demonstrate
the basics of good character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility,
fairness, caring and citizenship. These are the values the nonprofit,
nonpartisan Character Counts! Coalition calls the “Six Pillars
of Character” and they form the basis of its programs, including
those designed to reach young people through sports.
The CHARACTER COUNTS! Sports project aims to help restore the ennobling
tradition of amateur athletic competition with specific programs
for players, officials and coaches. All programs are designed
to:
* encourage athletes to exhibit good character — on and
off the field.
* help coaches and other responsible adults instill and reinforce
in young people a commitment to develop and exhibit good sportsmanship.
http://www.charactercounts.org/sports/sports.htm
Regarding "Athletes for a Better World"
I learned about this following endeavor from Kendra Jones. She
is the Resource Coordinator for this organization.
I am writing to you via your web page to let you know about our
non-profit organization, Athletes for a Better World - http://www.AforBW.org
Athletes for a Better World grew out of a need for positive mentoring
for young persons today in sport. Unfortunately, stories about greed,
scandal, and inappropriate behavior have become prevalent in our
sporting society. Regrettably, young people are picking up this
type of negative behavior despite great efforts being made by many
in our communities to combat this growing trend.
By joining, as part of the ABW team and following the Code for Living,
athletes and others involved in sport will be able to do two things:
They will stand together for the values they already live out as
individuals, and they will encourage others to join the ABW movement.
ABW envisions a world where athletes, teams, and others involved
in sport provide public leadership that makes an identifiable and
measurable difference in the transformation of society by a commitment
to such positive values as non-violence, education, and support
for all charities and organizations which serve the common good.
As this happens, together we can change the perception and the reality
of sports and sports leadership at all levels.
I hope you will visit our website and join the others who are becoming
involved with ABW everyday - people like Peyton Manning, Tom Glavine,
Reggie Jackson, Niesa Johnson, Chris Chandler, Nate McMillan, Nicole
Sheets and John Smoltz. If you have any questions or would like
more information, please let me know. I hope you will add us a resource
at your website - we have numerous free resources for everyone involved
in athletics.
Kendra Jones
Resource Coordinator Athletes for a Better World
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7. “Boy and Girls - Getting Along” from newsletter
January 2000
by Karen Davis Brown regarding the works of Riane Eisler
Karen Davis-Brown M.S., a consultant, has worked closely with
Riane Eisler - a champion of building equity and caring between
genders. Dr. Eisler, author of “The Chalice and the Blade,”
and “The
Partnership Way,” has a new book coming out - “Tomorrow’s
Children.” Karen Davis Brown shares with us on the works of
Dr. Eisler as well as her bringing us her own perspectives ...
The middle school years are a time of transition for young
people, when the challenges of puberty and a new level of identity
development contribute to a profusion of short-term social traumas
and long-term damage to self-concept. Issues of body image, academic
performance, and peer relationships are central to the concerns
of
young people, and seem to be the arenas where the most social
and emotional harm occurs. It is important to recognize that these
issues are not just “girls’ problems”-- both males
and females pay
the price when unhealthy attitudes toward body image, academic
performance, and peer relationships are portrayed in adolescent-
oriented music and other media. For adolescents of color, and for
those who grow up in low-income families, these issues are
exacerbated.
Rather than focusing on how to “fix” young people from
an
adult position of power and authority, we need to be able to
understand the developmental needs of adolescents. With this
empathetic foundation, adults can individually and collectively
partner
with adolescents in critically thinking about the reality represented
in their environment.We can hold up the mirror for them in caring,
respectful, challenging ways as they explore their true selves and
gain
an understanding of the society in which they live.
One useful tool in structuring exploration of the effects of
culture on self-concept, interpersonal relationships, and world
view,
is the Partnership/Dominator Continuum as described by Dr. Riane
Eisler in her forthcoming book “Tomorrow’s Children.”
Dr. Eisler’s
Cultural Transformation Theory, which was first laid out in the
ground-breaking book “The Chalice and the Blade,” posits
that human
relationships at all levels – from the interpersonal to the
cosmic –
range on a continuum with “dominator” at one extreme and
“partnership” at the other. At the dominator end of the
continuum
competitive self-centeredness is portrayed as the norm, and violence
and oppression of those weaker or different than oneself (including
other creatures and the environment) are accepted tools. At the
partnership end of the continuum cooperation and caring are valued,
and peaceful and respectful treatment of others and the natural
environment are honored.
The goal of Dr. Eisler, and The Center for Partnership
Studies of which she is President, is to support the development
and institutionalization of partnership perceptions, values,
behaviors and skills, so that our culture can be shifted from its
current place at the dominator end of the continuum toward the
partnership end. The use of the continuum as an analytical tool
by
adults and young people in critically examining our current cultural
narratives in science, literature, politics, and the media –
which
often comprise the “hidden curriculum” of many classrooms
and
schools – can support this transformation of our culture.
The continuum also provides a valuable framework for
creating ways young people themselves can make their media
more healthy, humane, and gender-balanced. As young people
discover their own stories and begin to respect the stories of others,
confidence, critical thinking, and creativity develop.
If our goal is to support young people in becoming their
best selves, then the vehicle for accomplishing that goal is truly
respectful, empathetic, developmentally aware partnership with them.
As they learn from us what it can mean to be a caring, thinking,
empowered person in the world, they can join us in weaving their
own future.
For more information about the Center for Partnership Studies,
their web site address is <http://www.partnershipway.org>
Ms. Davis-Brown can be reached at <karendav@worldnet.att.net>
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8. Older kids helping younger kids - (Reissue January 2000)
Creating an intense caring community by Ray Hartjen
Ray Hartjen, Ph.D., shares ways that we can foster caring between
children. He is an educator who has spent more than three decades
as a teacher, consultant, lecturer, headmaster, entrepreneur and
researcher. Page references in the article refer to his book ...
“Empowering the Child, Nurturing the Hungry Mind,”
"The threads that hold social fabric together" may be
the
same threads that underlie the culture of the school based on
self-initiated learning. Such a learning environment teaches academic
skills while including the broadest array of life-coping skills.
The fully-functional O/PE (Open/progressive education)
environment is a micro-model of a caring community: an extended
family in which children, practicing good social skills on a daily
basis, are removed of their sharp edges and honed to a high degree
of
habitual and compassionate behavior. Children learn to cooperate
with each other on projects of mutual interest. Older students help
the younger ones learn to share resources and work out their dif-
ferences. The school begins to fill a void in the lives of many
children who, living in single-parent or two-earner households,
are left without adult guidance for a good part of the day. The
variety of people in this community becomes a resource in itself.
When children are given a safe place to practice self-expression
and
try out ideas, shyness gives way to self-confidence. All are
encouraged to find their own ways to excel (P.54).
The objective is to create a community in which it is safe for
students to explore what it means to be a human being. A safe place
to learn, where others actively try to understand you, where there
is
little threat or coercion, where the lines of communication remain
open in all directions. The caring community provides a place for
debates and disagreements, with sufficient controls to ensure that
they
don't get out of hand. A place where students learn about compromise
and tolerance. A place where these skills can be practiced as they
naturally evolve, moment to moment, day to day (P.56).
Ray Hartjen can be reached at <rhartjen@hamptons.com> He lives
in the New York area.
Return to top
"STAND-UP COMEDY TECHNIQUES THAT CAN BE USED FOR TEACHING"
by comedian Dana Snow supersnow@hotmail.com
Who am I to write about this topic? I'm a stand-up comic (and
creator of funny CDs, the latest of which is called "Be My
Valentine -- or Else!") and I've also done some teaching, both
of
aspiring stand-up comics (and poets, story-tellers and
screenwriters) and of kids. I taught kids as part of the Boy
Scouts' Learning for Life program about values.
There are many ways that humor and comedy can help teachers. There
is a difference between the two. Humor is an attitude and comedy
is result-oriented: laughter. Humor is a way of looking at the
world --- of not taking it too seriously, of being silly, of
recognizing irony, of forgiving mistakes and sometimes making
mistakes on purpose. Humor can help you tolerate and rise above
difficulties. Comedy is when you seek actual laughing out loud.
Laughing releases endorphins that help your health. Real laughter
is a surrender to joy and being forced to admit you can't control
everything.
You can also discuss what you liked and didn't like about a given
piece of comedy and help them start learning about opinion and how
to socialize, including sensitivity to the feelings of others.
Sometimes it can get out of hand, going too far without achieving
the educational objective. When I was teaching kids, I had to be
careful about letting them know I could do cartoon voices or they
just wanted that to fill the whole hour. Make sure you tie it in
with a specific educational objective.
A lot of comedy performance comes from attitude. It often has to
seem harmless or unreal. Usually you have to seem like you're
having fun. When you're teaching, you have to make sure that they
know when a fact is inaccurate just to make a joke.
1. YOU CAN USE VIDEO OF ENTERTAINMENT AND NEWS TO START
DISCUSSIONS. It's best to have the use of entertainment be
complete as an in-class experience not dependent on homework. HOW:
Because comedy has to detour from the facts, often with
anachronisms, the first topic might be guessing what parts were
accurate and what weren't. You can also discuss why something was
popular.
a. You might videotape "The Bullwinkle Show" from the
Cartoon
Network or rent the tapes based on the show (NOT the feature or
the
Boris & Natasha feature). "Bullwinkle's Corner" parodies
poetry,
"Mr. Peabody" parodies history. Other cartoons parody
other works
of literature. "The 3 Musketeers" has been parodied by
many
including Tom & Jerry ("The Three Mouseketeers"),
"Yippee Yappy and
Yahooey" by Hanna-Barbera and in Bullwinkle the story of Applesauce
Lorraine which also parodies "Man in the Iron Mask."
b. There is much comedy on LPs and CDs that relates to history:
Stan Freberg's "United States of America" Volumes 1 &
2 are
available on CD. There are historical characters in the
"2,000-Year-Old Man" routines by Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks
which
are also available on CD. Care must be taken to be age-appropriate
and not arouse the ire of parents especially when the kids quote
the material later. (So Reiner & Brooks' "Cannes Film Festival"
is
NOT suitable due to a sexual topic that comes up.) Tom Lehrer
songs may be disturbing, but Allan Sherman songs (some of which
are
available on Rhino Records' "The Best of Allan Sherman")
are ---
and can be combined with playing the originals first before his
parodies.
c. Some comedy movies deal with history and are often available
for
video rental. There's Woody Allen's "Love & Death"
(set in
Napoleon's time) and there's and Mel Brooks' "History of the
World,
Part One" & "Blazing Saddles." "Bill and
Ted's Excellent
Adventure" uses historical characters in modern settings.
d. For a current events class, you could photocopy the "USA
Today"
States page and assign them to try making up their own jokes. That
page has brief stories that are little examples of societal trends,
such as our litigious times, which can lead you to holding a mock-
trial. Then you and the class can watch a video tape of "The
Daily
Show" (Comedy Channel), "Politically Incorrect" (ABC)
and the
monologues on the talk shows of Conan O'Brien, Craig Kilborne,
David Letterman and/or Jay Leno, pre-screening them for taste.
(Mostly the kids won't be offended, but the parents might.) HOW:
Writing news monologues like those of Letterman and O'Brien, you
start with a sentence that might be from a radio news bulletin.
Then your punchline might be something silly that you're claiming
happened afterward.
2. You can USE HUMOR TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH YOUR STUDENTS!
Here the ability to ad-lib is helpful.
a. ASK "WHAT'S NEW WITH YOU?" Everyone has a ready answer
to that.
In the course of answering, they will reveal facts about the family
and friends, hobbies and goals and so on. This might include
having a new baby brother or a new toy or game. Remember or write
down facts you feel you can use. Different comics have different
specialties so they ask questions to get to what they can use.
Some use jobs or cities or favorite sports teams. You might ask
their favorite TV shows. Then you can tie your topics in to their
interests or worries.
TEACHER: What's new with you?
STUDENT: Well, I'm gonna get a new baby brother.
TEACHER: Well, try to get them to give your brother a different
first name. That'll help tell you apart.
b. LEARN YOUR STYLE. Learn what you're good at and/or what this
individual group likes of what you can do. Do they like when you
sing? When you draw? When you do funny voices? When you tell
true stories about yourself? When you admit mistakes you have
made? When you exaggerate or are naughty? Are you good at rhymes?
Are you better at writing jokes than thinking them up with an
audience there? (Aim for being good at both.)
Each of these styles has their own limits and rules, but each of
them are styles you can try. On "The Muppet Show," they
said that
some jokes were too stupid to do just once, but they were funny
if
you kept doing them. (On the other hand, you need to pay attention
to the response to know when to stop.)
Digression: Remember to LISTEN to their response. Comedians often
have to audiotape to get an objective, true idea of what worked
and
what didn't because of their expectations and preferences. KEEP
JOKES THAT WORKED AND REPEAT THEM. With adult audiences,
you would wait until you had a new audience before repeating a joke,
but
some jokes bear repeating. Professional comedians (ranging from
Johnny
Carson to Robin Williams) often do lines (scripted and ad-libbed)
about the fact that the previous joke didn't get a laugh. Carson
called those jokes "savers." Early in a comedian's work,
those
savers might be the only parts that get laughs because it's the
one
part that is conversational, honest and has the right attitude that
combines courage and humility and the right mix of fantasy and
reality for that particular performer. Sometimes one's comedy
style can be figured out backwards from what kinds of ad-libs
actually got laughs.
c. In most comedy there is a "normal" part and an "abnormal"
part.
Sometimes it's sane and insane (like the Marx Brothers or "Mork
and
Mindy" or "The Addams Family"), sometimes it's polite
and rude, and
so on. Steve Allen used to interview audience members and he said
that if the audience member said something odd, it was his job to
be normal.
STEVE: What do you do?
AUDIENCE MEMBER: I'm a Moose.
STEVE: Do you have a friend who's a flying squirrel? Did you have
your antlers surgically removed? If they were normal, it was his
job to be silly:
STEVE: What do you do?
AUDIENCE MEMBER: I raise money for charities.
STEVE: That's odd. I am a charity. Would you raise money for ME?
3. You can CREATE AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION routines.
a. I did this by playing Mad-libs (a series of books published by
Price/Stern/Sloan). I even wrote several, some based on the kids'
interests. I wrote a fairy tale and an "X-men" Mad-lib
(about the
Marvel comic book and TV series and movie based on it). I think
the X-men went roughly like this:
Professor X, the [ADJECTIVE] ________________ leader of the X-men,
had just found a NEW mutant named [NAME OF ONE OF THE STUDENTS:]
___________________, whose code-name was [NOUN:]
_____________________. [His/Her] super-power was to be able to
[ACTION VERB:] ____________________ [PLURAL NOUN:]
___________________(s). Joining the X-men, [he/she] helped them
battle and defeat [NOUN:] ______________________, a giant mutant
who was trying to destroy the [NAME OF A BUILDING:]
__________________________. Instead that mutant ended up locked
in
a prison cell in [NAME OF A PLACE:] _____________________.
The exercise taught ME the various terms for grammatical parts of
speech years ago. Putting in blanks of people they know adds an
excitement. As with stand-up comics, you will find that some
blanks always get laughs and some never do and you can rewrite so
most of them do. Oddly enough, they may laugh thunderously at
their own punchlines where there will be almost NO laughs reading
one audience's version to another audience. It's also good for
getting shy students to participate and teaching raising hands to
talk or taking your turn. Sometimes it's a good idea to write one
that has 30 blanks if you have 30 students so everyone can take
a
turn.
b. YOU CAN CREATE A PROJECT --- A PLAY OR VIDEO, for example, I
also guided many classes in writing videos that were parodies of
The Power Rangers. Using that realistic project (with forgiving
standards on quality), I taught how to divide a big task into
several littler ones, how to work as a group (creating titles with
a few rules about not embarrassing me in front of their parents)
voting on the possibilities by raising hands and being allowed to
vote for as many as they liked to cut down on it being based on
the
popularity of the student), drawing monster masks, names for the
monsters, the monsters' powers. Monsters allow for extra
flexibility about accuracy. I wrote the actual scripts based on
their ideas, because at that stage, too many writers causes endless
problems.
c. YOU COULD WRITE JOKES OR TRADITIONAL MONOLOGUES. You can start
with the old "What I Did On My Summer Vacation" but it
becomes
"What I Wish Had Happened on my Summer Vacation" or "What
I'm Glad
DIDN'T Happen on my Summer Vacation" or "What I'm Glad
Didn't
Happen This Weekend." You can write book reports of imaginary
sequels to assigned reading, putting them together like "Tom
Sawyer
in Wonderland."
d. You can bring photos and one-box cartoons and encourage the kids
to make their own captions. The picture can be put on the bulletin
board and all the punchlines can be pinned beneath it.
4. IMPROVISATION is like playing Cops and Robbers or Playing
House.
If someone is shy, giving them a character name to play can take
the pressure off them to be "nice" by being quiet, for
example.
You can do a scene about a business. Maybe a crime scene, but if
so, it's important to include the message that crime hurts innocent
people and makes them sad. You can have them do a commercial or
info-mercial, as a salesman or an announcer on a commercial or a
talk show guest plugging their book or movie can fit in very well
with a classroom situation. You can create scenes around props you
already have or buy or create props as needed for scenes. You can
"write" by improvisation as long as you have a director
suggesting
additional approaches and editing the material.
There are two kinds of improvisation and they both have rules, many
of which are the same. One is character or situation driven and
you simply live out a truthful set of reactions, but you need to
establish facts (who, what, when and where) and have something
dynamic at the idea stage: a goal, an activity, a relationship and
maybe a character trait or a style. You also need to understand
how to start the scene ("Show don't tell" means that you
say "May
I have a glass of orange juice?" rather than "Here we
are in the
restaurant. Where's a waiter?") and how to end it (another
character enters and says something, for example). Most sitcoms
and the cartoon shows "Rugrats," "Peanuts" and
"Winnie the Pooh"
use this approach, believing the characters and story. This kind
of comedy is good for teaching normal behavior, good and bad. You
could do improv scenes of a bad student and a good student --- in
a classroom, in a library or interviewing someone famous as
research.
The other approach is joke-oriented improv. Characters act stupid
or insane, but in consistent ways. Wit, imagination, slapstick and
exaggerated funny faces (but not at the same time) are the order
of
the day. In cartoons, you can see that in the old Warner Brothers
cartoons as well as "Tiny Toon Adventures" and "Animaniacs"
and
"Bullwinkle" and "Dudley Do-Right." In live
action, "The Addams
Family" (TV and movies; poorly done on the recent syndicated
show
and the animated version) and the Marx Brothers films (especially
"Horse Feathers" about schools, "A Day at the Races,"
"A Night at
the Opera," "Monkey Business" and "Duck Soup").
This kind of
comedy is good for teaching by deliberate bad example, but that
aspect should be spelled out with the less socialized kids.
IN CONCLUSION: WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF HUMOR AND COMEDY?
* Making people laugh (comedy) causes people to drop their guard
and consider the possibility of caring friendships. It makes
listening fun and interesting. The physical pleasure of laughter
can create positive emotional associations with school.
* Humor relieves stress, allowing people to keep trying at
activities where they don't experience success right away.
* Joking is often about making mistakes or stating the obvious and
so there's more of a chance of success, so it helps shy people get
over their shyness. Whimsy and other imaginative forms stimulate
imagination, which improves problem-solving and making connections
between ideas. It also helps entertain the teacher and thus
improve his or her stamina, enthusiasm and motivates their
creativity.
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