SLIDE 36 Compassionate Communities Compassionate Communities
Students are to be treated with respect, compassion, and empathy…everyone in the class is an important and valued member
- f a community of learners
All members of the community have expectations they are having difficulty meeting, some more than others…students have legitimate concerns about these unmet expectations (so do adults), which must be heard, understood, and addressed. It is understood that students (and adults) exhibit challenging behavior when expectations exceed their skills…the research tells us that lagging skills are the primary contributor to challenging behavior Interventions aimed at helping students should be non-punitive, non-adversarial, collaborative, proactive, and aimed at enhancing skills, communication, and relationships Collaboration is more influential and productive than strategies involving power and control, and is better preparation for The Real World Though it is inevitable that kids and adults will disagree with each other and that kids will have difficulty meeting some expectations, conflict between kids and adults is not inevitable It is understood that teaching, modeling, and practicing certain skills – empathy, appreciating how one’s behavior is affecting
- thers, resolving disagreements without conflict, and honesty – is as important as teaching and practicing academic skills
