This week Awesome Stories brings you the power of creating connections.
Making a Difference with Compassionate Teaching
This teacher truly understands what is important.
In this Daily Good article, Glennon Doyle Melton talks about discovering a teacher who has been quietly making a difference for her students ever since the mass shooting at Columbine. Rather than raving against guns or violence, she quietly works to create caring kids and a more compassionate world.
Glennon tells an engaging story of going to meet her son’s teacher about learning math. What she ended up learning was entirely different. They talked about teaching young minds and hearts to make a difference. That teaching love and community are more important than reading and math.
Every Friday this teacher has her students write down the names of four kids that they would like to sit with next week. The kids have learned that they may or may not get their wish. Rather than looking for who is popular or not, the teacher is looking for patterns of disconnection. Who never gets requested? Who was requested a lot and not now? Who can’t think of anyone to request?
She is looking for lonely children who may be struggling to connect with their classmates. As Glennon notes, this is a brilliant strategy to mine for nuggets of wisdom about her students. Who needs help and what can she do? This process may even help with bullying. Most kids won’t admit to being bullied, but a change in behavior may signal a problem.
Chase’s teacher has been quietly helping her students for over 18 years! And helping to make the world a better and safer place. She understands that most violence is committed by people who feel disconnected. Similarly, drug addiction has been shown to be driven by isolation, not the drug itself. Therefore the biggest factor in breaking an addiction is creating social connections, not removing the drug!
In case you’d like to learn more about the power of social connections, here is an article from The Mental Health Organization. Social connection is at the core of our mental health. It can help boost the quality of our lives, create better mental and emotional health, help us live longer, and decrease the risk of suicide. That’s a lot of benefit from building social connections!
We need more of our teachers and leaders to understand the power of connection. What a beautiful world we could create with more caring, kindness, and social connections.
Peace out, Brad
Connection is so important. It gets so tricky when you’re dealing with introverts who want to know they matter, but actually going out in the world and connecting with others can seem to be an exhausting task. I love what this teacher is doing: making connections and looking for patterns in kids EARLY before they get entrenched in self-defeating thoughts that they are not enough, or that they don’t matter. I always love the stories you find – truly!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Agreed Cynthia. Connections are critical and tricky with us introverts. 🙂 Maybe more parents and teachers will follow her loving example.
LikeLike
This is a lovely post, Brad. Learning to love and give is very important in our world.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Agreed Robbie. Thanks for caring and being a great role model.
LikeLiked by 1 person
An excellent topic and story, Brad. Connections help keep us alive, and without them, we wither away.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Agreed Cynthia. Well summarized! You and others here help nourish me. Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Brilliant !!! What an amazing, big picture thinker she is!!! Great stuff. I so admire people with the ability to see beyond where they are to be able to see what is needed to become more…Thanks for sharing Brad. VK 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome VK and thanks for caring. I too admire people who can see solutions and work toward making it happen.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A great post Brad, I agree with Glennon about teaching about love and community as priority over standard lessons in schools. Also you’re spot on, isolation is a major catalyst that can lead to addictions. Thanks for sharing this inspiring post.
LikeLiked by 2 people
You’re most welcome Isis. We all need love and connection. ❤
LikeLike
Good Morning Brad. What a fantastic post this is. As I read it, I was reminded of the ‘negative space’ in a painting….something that is often neglected. People try so hard to change what is the obvious without realising that often it’s something that’s not so obvious which changes everything. In an ideal world, all teaching would be of this nature. Thank you and hope you enjoy a lovely autumn week. Janet 🙂
LikeLiked by 3 people
Great analogy to painting and negative space Janet. Yes, in a world I envision. all teachers and parents would focus on building love and connection. Autumn is just starting here! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hope you have a beautiful autumn….our weather has been perfect…and just about to get cold. Enjoy Janet 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Janet.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Another unexpected beautiful inspiring touching story. Thank you Brad. You change the world too. I hope you know that. Your writing lifts us all to a better place. ✍️☀️🧡
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Andrea for the kind words. It’s nice to be acknowledges and appreciated. I hope my writing does make a difference. Hugs!
LikeLiked by 1 person
If only there were more teachers and people in general like her – the world will be a much better place.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Agreed Bel. Thanks for caring and being a good model.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reading this is beautiful and inspiring. It reminds me of my dear friend who is currently bringing mindfulness into schools with a pioneer program she’s been helping to design and implement, starting at her own high school alma mater. It’s exciting how she is a part of this movement. It’s a new career for her, too! She is deriving so much pleasure and meaning from it, and training others to do the same type of mindfulness training with students.
I find this teacher’s strategy, in this awesome story, interesting. I do hope she can find, reach, and support those students who are sadly disconnected and in need of finding a meaningful role among their peers and maybe even at home. It’s refreshing to see when teachers have more Freedom to implement their creative teaching/and learning methods! When I tutored and did informational interviewing at the Navajo reservation over a decade ago, many teachers felt restricted by the administration, and teachers couldn’t teach as they hoped.
When we highlight success stories, it’s very encouraging for us as members of the human community to be aware of these opportunities emerging for all communities on the planet, one day, through innovation and greater awareness.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Ka for understanding the scope and intention of these stories; to light up the fires of possibility and hope. There is much good happening in the world and more if we put more focus on it. I’m inspired by this teacher, your friend and anyone who is working to make the world a better place. Thank you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Brilliant…thank you very much for sharing…very inspiring!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was touched by this story. Thanks for caring Kirt.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wonderful share Brad… It is all about making a difference especially with young minds, that need encouragement and creativity of expression…. Love this article. ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
Agreed Sue. Teaching our kids how to love and creatively express are critical life skills.
LikeLiked by 1 person
So very important Brad..
LikeLike
A wonderful story ❤️
LikeLiked by 1 person
Agreed! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes agreed totally, Brad we so require these kind and gentle teachers who will be able to understand the children and make them better human beings. Superb post and so inspiring.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Jamal. And the children shall lead.
LikeLike