What's Love Got to Do with It? Everything.

Format

Individual Presentation

First Presenter's Institution

University of Georgia

Second Presenter's Institution

na

Third Presenter's Institution

na

Fourth Presenter's Institution

na

Fifth Presenter's Institution

na

Strand #1

Social & Emotional Skills

Strand #2

Academic Achievement & School Leadership

Relevance

This presentation will emphasize the ways school professionals, working with youth, can support students via caring and love. By implementing caring curriculum, robust community, and advocacy skills to create an emotionally rich and loving environment where students at risk of academic isolation build community and connection, teachers and school counselors can use their dedication and commitment to students’ achievement to implement a culture of caring, belonging, and love. In doing so, students at risk of attrition have an opportunity to engage with individuals, groups, and the curriculum. By using our hearts, we can create environments where students are able to use their heads to be successful.

Brief Program Description

This presentation, for school administrators, counselors, and teachers, emphasizes the ways P-12 education can be supported by an ethic of care and love. Pulling from educational and feminist theorists , this presentation will consider the unique needs of youth at risk of attrition and the ways love supports our practice.

Summary

This presentation will outline the unique needs of students at risk of attrition, including their overwhelming needs (Noddings, 1994) (i.e., abuse, neglect, low SES) and the ways school administrators, counselors, and teachers can counteract the barriers to academic success by implementing practices to build community and trust.

In this presentation, I will discuss ways school administrators can work with parents and social services via team meetings; faculty via focused professional development; and students via positive behavior support.

Further, this presentation will include information regarding ways school counselors can advocate for students at risk of attrition, while supporting teachers who struggle to connect with students who would benefit from additional care and love. For example, school counselors can model effective active listening skills and offer teachers support by supporting students most in need of intervention.

Finally, classroom teachers can learn strategies such as classroom meetings, current event discussions, and behavior modification techniques that emphasize love and caring during the presentation.

Evidence

Though much research regarding caring curriculum and care for others in professional settings stems from the nursing field, educational theorists such as hooks (2000), Freire (2000), Gilligan (1992) and Noddings (2007) allow teachers and school counselors space to explore ways they can increase their capacity to care for others, including students. Noddings (1984), for example, asks us to consider the inferred, expressed, basic, and overwhelming needs of students so that educators can enrich the whole child and create equitable educational opportunities for students at risk of attrition, who typically face significant barriers to academic success. By creating critically conscious educators, schools can create a culture of caring in which students have choices, are able to share their lived experiences, and see a connection between their home and school environments.

Biographical Sketch

Before beginning doctoral studies at the University of Georgia, Sarah Jones was a classroom teacher in North Carolina public schools for ten years. After K-12 teaching, Sarah moved to higher education where she worked with youth at risk of attrition, as they transitioned to college. This work, as well as her role as foster parent in West Georgia inform her research interests which include the educational experiences of youth in foster care.

Keyword Descriptors

Love, Caring, K-12, Schools, Community

Presentation Year

2018

Start Date

3-6-2018 4:00 PM

End Date

3-6-2018 5:30 PM

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Mar 6th, 4:00 PM Mar 6th, 5:30 PM

What's Love Got to Do with It? Everything.

This presentation, for school administrators, counselors, and teachers, emphasizes the ways P-12 education can be supported by an ethic of care and love. Pulling from educational and feminist theorists , this presentation will consider the unique needs of youth at risk of attrition and the ways love supports our practice.