Full Description
Closeness in Student-Teacher Relationships centers children's perspectives on closeness in the classroom while giving teachers questions they can consider toward cultivating more mutually affirming social and emotional dynamics. Despite many educators' best efforts, today's norms around relationship development can be excessively adult-first and inattentive to the wishes, needs, and desires of school-age children. This book looks beyond prescriptive methods for relationship development by modeling accessible practices for internal reflective work and deepened considerations of childhood agency and social power imbalances. Using firsthand observations and interviews in schools, relevant autobiographical perspectives, and a thorough yet accessible evidence base, author Clio Stearns prepares in-service teachers to explore their own vulnerabilities and challenge the prevailing notions of adulthood as a fixed state of knowledge and authority.
Contents
Introduction 1. Can you be close to someone and still be yourself? 2. Can you be close to someone who has power over you? 3. Can you be close to someone and be very different from them? 4. Can you be close to someone who is just the one you're with? 5. Can you be close to someone and want them to change? 6. Can you be close to someone who doesn't want to be close to you? 7. Can you be close to someone when it feels like the world is ending?
