Creating a Home for Learning: The Art & Science of Teaching
A Survival Guide to the Classroom
by
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Creating a Home for Learning: The Art and Science of Teaching is designed to be a survival guide to the classroom. It seeks to address the inner-thought processes involved in teaching as well as the interpersonal and organizational skills that support a heart-centered approach. When you choose to adopt this approach toward your classroom, a myriad of delightful happenings start to manifest in the teaching environment.
The first thing that one notices in the classroom is the warm feelings that start to permeate the environment, replacing feelings of fear and anxiety. Smiles start to replace scowls and eyes start to brighten and make contact where before contact was sadly absent. This heart-centered approach to teaching yields greater productivity because the best outcome derives from what is best for the students, which is what is best for the class/family as a whole. This sense of community in the classroom provides support to each class/family member and can significantly reduce stress, as a sense of well-being and interdependence starts to emerge. Less stress on the group yields bonding. A more bonded group can provide more growth for the individual. This is the goal of all teaching.
What does a classroom and a home have in common? Let’s just think about that for a minute. They both provide a space in which people dwell for a period of time. People derive nourishment from each environment, be it intellectual or physical. Both places can be comforting and a shelter from the disturbances of the world outside. In all cultures, home and hearth are central to our concept of family and community. In today’s modern society, family has undergone immense change. Support that was traditionally being provided by families is now being provided by teachers in educational institutions.
So how do we as educators nurture a heart-centered approach to teaching? The place to start is by taking a long look at how we as teachers impact the lives of our students. A truly heart-centered teacher is fully aware of the effect they have on the lives of those present in their home for learning. This empowerment can only lead to a heart-centered approach and the truly personal rewards gained from working in a home for learning.
Let us next examine the impact of teachers as mentors on our own lives and start to get in touch with our inner feelings about heart-centered teaching.
"Actions speak louder than words; let your words teach and your actions speak."
- Saint Anthony of Padua, Portuguese Franciscan monk
The home for learning is a caring environment. First impressions always leave lasting effects. Start your class on the first day by establishing a caring environment that helps eliminate fear in your students. Students are a lot like people! I know this is shocking, but it is true. They need to know that you care. To care is to create a nurturing environment in which students can grow as individuals. Consider the power of a smile or a word of encouragement placed at just the right moment. Caring which emanates from the heart is the quickest way to develop a nurturing environment in your classroom and to foster student trust. This will go far to help eliminate fear on that very important first day and beyond.
In order to nurture a home for learning, you need to cultivate an educational environment that helps students grow toward attaining their educational goals. By providing guidance through complex class material, structure through directions, and clarity of expectations, students can better focus on absorbing class material. On the other hand, an unorganized educator provides a chaotic environment for students, where students are left to guess what is expected of them, how they will be assessed, and why material is relevant. This guessing on the students’ part can frustrate the student to the point of indifference, apathy, and possibly anger toward the educator or course material. Once a student experiences these negative emotions, a wedge has been driven between the student and educator. This wedge disrupts the home for learning and may eventually lead to a house of horrors for student and educator alike.
To nurture educational growth in the home for learning, teachers should understand the two elements to the Science of Teaching:
- Planning the class session ahead of time;
- Carrying out the class session plan (lesson plan) in class
So, in the early years, children are nurtured by their parents or immediate family. Then around the age of four or five, children begin attending school, and very well could spend the majority of the next fifteen to twenty years of their lives in educational settings. Fifteen to twenty years is a long time, considering that the majority of those years are spent emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, and physically growing toward responsible adulthood. Parents do a wonderful job of raising their children, and educators also do an excellent job of shaping the children, young adults, and college-aged students into responsible adults. An educator’s role in developing students is awesome, and should not be taken lightly.
"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops."
- Henry Brooks Adams, American historian
After reading and practicing the information in this book, you can begin your journey toward teaching effectiveness. You will find that you have had the necessary abilities to achieve success in the classroom all along. Be patient with yourself and your students, and adhere to this heart-centered approach, for in time you will reap the rewards of cultivating a home for learning!
Good luck!!
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Book Details
About the Book
This book is not your usual self-help guide for teachers. It provides teachers with the essential skills necessary to bring a teaching environment to life in a way that is rewarding for both teacher and student. The approach taken by most teaching technique books is to address only the organizational and pedagogical issues of the classroom. This book examines the intent you bring into the classroom and how it can impact your overall effectiveness. By creating a home for learning the teacher creates a warm and caring environment that can nurture everyone including the teacher. Creating a Home for Learning: The Art and Science of Teaching seeks to address both the inner thought processes involved in teaching and the interpersonal and organizational skills that support a heart-centered approach to teaching.
Jim Slouffman and Ryan Hall bring to this book over thirty years of classroom teaching and corporate training experiences. It contains stories and heartfelt realizations based on their past journeys in education. The book is divided into two sections, the Art of Teaching which explores the Inner-thought processes involved in effective teaching and the Science of Teaching which explores the interpersonal and organizational skills that you will need to be successful. It is in the balance of these two areas of expertise that the home for learning yields it’s greatest achievements. When these critical factors are in perfect harmony the classroom can become a space that transforms lives. The possibilities are endless!
About the Author
Jim Slouffman, Educator, Artist and Philosopher Jim is the Director of Education and Department Chairman of Commercial Art at Antonelli College in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has an MFA from The College of DAAP, University of Cincinnati and a BFA from Wright State University. Mr. Slouffman has taught at the college level for thirty years and for twenty-five of those years at Antonelli College. He has also held teaching positions at The Art Academy of Cincinnati, College of Mt. Saint Joseph and Northern Kentucky University. In his current position, he is responsible for faculty and curriculum development as well as teaching full-time. As a former member of both the NATTS (National Association of Trade and Technical Schools) and CCA (Career College Association) Professional Development Committees, he has been involved in many training activities nationwide. These activities included the Competency Based Staff Development Program and Education Managers Workshop. He was also past Chairman of the Editorial Review Board for Classroom Companion a quarterly publication for career college teachers. He received the prestigious national "Teacher of the Year" award in 1993, presented by the Career College Association of Washington DC. Ryan Hall, Educator and Corporate Trainer Ryan is the Professional Development Coordinator and Department Chairman of Academics at Antonelli College in Cincinnati, Ohio. In addition to studying human resource management, he has an M.A. and B.A. in Organizational Communication from Miami University (Ohio). As a graduate student at Miami University, he taught in the Communication Department for two years and served on the Graduate Recruitment Committee. Before arriving at Antonelli College, he worked in the management consulting industry, researching and facilitating management development seminars for clients across the United States. He has facilitated workshops on: conflict management, leadership, change management, coaching skills, team-building, sexual harassment, and participative management. In his current position at Antonelli College, he researches and conducts faculty and staff training workshops, provides orientation for new faculty members, oversees the development of the Academics Department, and teaches full-time in the Academics Department.