We Sing See Me Beautiful—Look for the Best in Me…

Our children must develop literacy while developing belief systems that affirm,
“I can read and write.  I love school!  I belong.  I am responsible…”

How Do We Create an Emotionally Healthy Classroom?

  • Bond with your students.
    “You must bond with her if she’s to learn anything at all…  This is not a choice but a duty and responsibility…”  —Regie Routman, author of Reading Essentials
  • We can create a noncompetitive, emotionally safe, and joyful environment—where children care and share and work together. 
    “The children have got to trust me—that I will never let them look bad in front of their peers.”   —Bobbi Fisher, author of Joyful Learning in Kindergarten
  • We see each child in the best possible light and hold that positive expectation before them.“
    It’s hard to misbehave for someone who really likes and believes in you.” —Jacque Verrall
  • Help children know each other through coactive and cooperative projects.
  • Teach children to respect, affirm, and show kindness—develop the language of empathy, reflection and appreciation.  Model and role-play how that looks in each new classroom scenario.
    “I want the children to respect communication with one another as much as they respect communication with me.”  —Janine Chappell Carr, author of A Child Went Forth: Reflective Teaching with Young Readers and Writers
  • Help children develop a feeling of belonging and responsibility for themselves and their classmates. “
    Belonging is the curriculum in Early Childhood.”   —Bev Bos
  • Engage children in “grand conversations” with quality literature.
    Read Grand Conversations: Literature Groups in Action by Ralph Peterson.
  • Have high expectations for children’s behavior and encourage group problem solving.
    “How can the rest of us help you solve that problem?”
  • Teach children to write about their thoughts, complaints, ideas and feelings.
    “Writing takes fuzzy thinking and makes it clear.”  —Pat Wolfe
  • Make your classroom a celebrative place.
    Read about the basic school model developed by Ernest Boyer in his book The Basic School—A Community for Learning.
  • Build meaning-centered curriculum that connects to the lives of the children.
    “A good deal of the typical curriculum does not connect—not to practical applications, nor to personal insights, nor to much of anything else.”  —David Perkins, Harvard
  • Build learning independence and stamina: Involve children in choice-making, goal-setting, and self-evaluation. 
    Read The Daily Five: Fostering Literacy Independence in the Elementary Grades by
    Gail Boushey and Joan Moser.
  • Support “parents as partners” in honoring and celebrating childhood and building emotional intelligence and literacy. 

What are your goals for creating a classroom filled with SMILEs?

*See Me Beautiful by Red Grammer is recorded on his CD Teaching Peace.

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