PARTNERING: AN EXPERIENCE IN CARING
A lesson
plan by Harriet Heath, Ph.D. Dr. Heath is Director of the
Contact: Dr. Harriet Heath
Phone: 610-649-7037
Harriet_Heath@hotmail.com
There are many activities
within the school program that provide an opportunity for teaching students how
to care such as when older students read to younger ones, or share an activity
when a student more competent in a field teaches another student or when
students visit the elderly. In these kind of caring
situations the student taking responsibility for the activity is called the
“lead partner” much as a parent is with their child.
OBJECTIVES:
Students
will plan for, implement and reflect on a caring experience.
PREPARATION
To be most effective,
teachers need to plan to coordinate their students for a shared activity such
as more advanced readers reading to students who are less advanced. Students
might be First Graders reading to Kindergarteners or students with a learning
difference reading to younger children or Sixth Graders to First.
(The program offers a
wonderful opportunity for students who have found reading difficult to read
interesting books written for much younger children. The older students would
be embarrassed to pick up these books for themselves but can do so when
preparing to read to younger children.)
The planning must consider
who is going to read to whom, when the activity will occur and how frequently.
A series of three or four sessions provides for more grasping of what is involved
in caring and the learning that comes to the lead partner reflecting on the
process.
LESSON
The teacher of the younger
partners will introduce the program as an opportunity to hear a story and to
get to know an older student.
The teacher of the lead
partners will guide them through the planning process:
Describe the situation:
- Why the children need to be read to.
- The reasons may be that no one reads to them,
that reading is fun, reading is a way of getting
to know other children in the school.
- Who will the children be and when and where will
the reading take place.
Brainstorm:
What are all the ways that we could read to these children?
List on a 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 less
appropriate ones. Students should mention ideas related to where and when the
reading will take place, the tone of voice used by the reader, the speed of
reading, the expression, body movements, how pictures are or are not shown,
kinds of books, who will choose the books.
(If
writing is easy for the lead 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? We need to ask“What are our goals for reading?”
(Look
for students to talk about wanting the reading time to be fun and enjoyable. It
is an opportunity to share one’s gifts and feel needed and effective.)
Choose an Option: Which of your ideas for reading to the children will
be more apt to achieve these goals?
Ideas
should include reading in a comfortable place, having a book that is
interesting to the child being read to, reading with expression, and being
friendly towards the child.
(The students will need to
explore and expand some of these ideas.)
Have a student demonstrate reading with expression by
reading in a monotone and then with expression, reading very slowly or too
fast.
Talk about how you hold a book
so all can see.
Consider what
is a comfy and non-distractible place to read.
Discuss what makes a book
enjoyable?
Pictures; Story; Theme of
interest)
How find out what will appeal to a child?
Students need to get to know
the child, know their age, interests, needs, etc.
· Talk to child or a child’s
teacher
· One might plan for students to
write to their partners asking about their interests. This brings in a writing
activity.
· One might plan a visit to the
library with or without the child to be read to.
Finalize
plans (See
box below)
Implement
the plan
Reflect
(Have the students discuss their experiences).
The following questions may guide the lead partners in
their discussion:
·
Did the children being read to like the book? Did they seem to have fun?
How do you know?
·
What do you feel went well? What will you change next time?
Lead partners at this time may write out their plans for
their next partnering experience.The partners may
want to share their stories, tell about their experiences and maybe write thank
you notes.
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 outlined above. (Harriet
is this what you meant by saying you have another
box?) 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 Learning How to Caring: Education for Parenting can
be easily integrated into traditional academic subjects as well as developing
rules for 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. For more information see www.preparetomorrowsparents.org.
|
The Caring Process Developmental
level Interests,
Information about Samatha's developmental level and
interests. She
used this information to make her plan … the story she chose… |
A Plan |
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