F is for Flourish “Flourish: grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, especially as the result of as particularly favourable environment” Wow, could you imagine all of your students flourishing, every student working in a healthy productive and engaged manner? What would that look like?
I love the Encarta English Dictionaries Definition of flourish “to be strong and healthy or grow well” as educators isn’t that what we want for our students? For them to grow well, that will look different for each student, but it is up to us to differentiate for all their needs and provide chances for them to flourish. Creative activities across the academic disciplines can give each student a chance to flourish.
Another image I enjoy for flourish is that of a garden. As gardeners want their plants to flourish, we want our students to flourish. If we provide them with care, kindness and support the way a gardener waters, fertilizes and stakes up plants. When we create an environment that allows our students to flourish, we give them the opportunity to create and learn. In looking at care I have been drawn to the work of Nell Noddings and Barbara Collorosso, both authors have different ways of expressing their ideas, both promote genuine caring, compassion and empathy in the classroom. In a 2004 article from infed Mark Smith writes of Noddings “her argument starts from the position that care is basic in human life – which all people want to be cared for (Noddings 2002:11)”. When we as teachers show our students that we care and are there for them they are more likely to be engaged in the classroom, it goes beyond our words to our actions the students need to feel cared for in our classrooms. “The one-caring (or carer) is first of all attentive. This attention, which I called “engrossment” in Caring (Noddings, 1984), is receptive; it receives what the cared-for is feeling and trying to express. It is not merely diagnostic, measuring the cared-for against some pre-established ideal. Rather, it opens the carer to motivational displacement.”. Students need to feel safe and cared for so that they feel comfortable enough to create; creativity involves taking risks and trying new things. If students do not feel safe and cared for, they may not be as willing to take the risks necessary in order to create. We must create spaces where students feel safe supported and cared for. Over the past few years as I have been learning more about myself; and how I would like to teach I have felt increasingly drawn to the idea of care and the importance of care in helping my student to flourish. The teachers I have the best memories of are those that showed me the most care, they helped me to flourish and become the person I am today. I was lucky to encounter teachers that truly exemplified care at the elementary, secondary and post secondary levels.
The other author that has helped me to create my vision of an environment that will allow students to flourish is Barbara Coloroso, she has six critical life messages that apply to all people at any point in their life and are things that I have grown up hearing. The six critical life messages are “I believe in you, I trust you, I know you can handle it, you are listened to, and you are cared for, you are very important to me” . When we share these messages with our students and show them genuine care, we give them an opportunity to flourish and a chance to create.
I love the Encarta English Dictionaries Definition of flourish “to be strong and healthy or grow well” as educators isn’t that what we want for our students? For them to grow well, that will look different for each student, but it is up to us to differentiate for all their needs and provide chances for them to flourish. Creative activities across the academic disciplines can give each student a chance to flourish.
Another image I enjoy for flourish is that of a garden. As gardeners want their plants to flourish, we want our students to flourish. If we provide them with care, kindness and support the way a gardener waters, fertilizes and stakes up plants. When we create an environment that allows our students to flourish, we give them the opportunity to create and learn. In looking at care I have been drawn to the work of Nell Noddings and Barbara Collorosso, both authors have different ways of expressing their ideas, both promote genuine caring, compassion and empathy in the classroom. In a 2004 article from infed Mark Smith writes of Noddings “her argument starts from the position that care is basic in human life – which all people want to be cared for (Noddings 2002:11)”. When we as teachers show our students that we care and are there for them they are more likely to be engaged in the classroom, it goes beyond our words to our actions the students need to feel cared for in our classrooms. “The one-caring (or carer) is first of all attentive. This attention, which I called “engrossment” in Caring (Noddings, 1984), is receptive; it receives what the cared-for is feeling and trying to express. It is not merely diagnostic, measuring the cared-for against some pre-established ideal. Rather, it opens the carer to motivational displacement.”. Students need to feel safe and cared for so that they feel comfortable enough to create; creativity involves taking risks and trying new things. If students do not feel safe and cared for, they may not be as willing to take the risks necessary in order to create. We must create spaces where students feel safe supported and cared for. Over the past few years as I have been learning more about myself; and how I would like to teach I have felt increasingly drawn to the idea of care and the importance of care in helping my student to flourish. The teachers I have the best memories of are those that showed me the most care, they helped me to flourish and become the person I am today. I was lucky to encounter teachers that truly exemplified care at the elementary, secondary and post secondary levels.
The other author that has helped me to create my vision of an environment that will allow students to flourish is Barbara Coloroso, she has six critical life messages that apply to all people at any point in their life and are things that I have grown up hearing. The six critical life messages are “I believe in you, I trust you, I know you can handle it, you are listened to, and you are cared for, you are very important to me” . When we share these messages with our students and show them genuine care, we give them an opportunity to flourish and a chance to create.