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KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:


Elizabeth Schroeder

Renee Hobbs

The Other Side of Teaching

by Amy Friedman-- MS Counselor--Copenhagen International School


When I first started teaching, I received a card from the parents of a student, Colin, that hangs on my wall to this day as a reminder of who I have become and who I want to be in the classroom. Colin was always hanging out next to my art room door when I arrived each morning.  At first, to be honest, I was annoyed because I‘d secretly hoped for the chance to set up the room alone and to clear my head before the busy day got underway.  Over time, though, Colin became my own personal challenge. He was meek, quiet, didn’t have many friends, and was interested in things that most kids were not.  Ever since Colin came into my life, I try to remind myself that it is my duty and my privilege to welcome Colin and every other student with a smile that says, “I am glad you are here! This is where you belong.”
 
I suppose that at some level Colin is my own personal reminder of what Haim Ginott thoughtfully opined over forty years ago:
 
I’ve come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt, or heal. In all situations it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child is humanized or dehumanized. (Ginott, 1975).
 
As teachers we are asked to focus on assessments and standards, criteria, and exams.  When a student struggles to achieve, we can usually measure it.  But how often do we measure our success on the aspects that go beyond the academics?  If a kid is unkind, has low self-esteem, lacks empathy, and is uncooperative, do they still move on to the next level?  Ask yourself these two questions:
 
1)      How much time do I spend planning and assessing my students on their character, their choices, and the development of who they are as human beings?
 
2)      Do I strive to find the kids that sit unnoticed in the classroom; the annoying ones, the silent ones, the kids that most need adults to care?  
 
As we think about the two sides of the classroom, the academic side and the ‘other’ side, I don’t know whether one is more important than the other.  Research has proven time and again