One Caring Adult: The Power of Truly Seeing Every Child
The central premise of this episode revolves around the profound impact of being "that one caring adult" in a child's life. Nicholas Kleve articulates the transformative nature of consistent presence, empathetic listening, and unwavering belief in students, asserting that each child is merely one caring adult away from a success story. He elucidates the critical importance of establishing meaningful connections, particularly for students who may face trauma or neglect, emphasizing the role of teachers as steadfast advocates who can rewrite a child's narrative. Through his personal reflections and professional experiences, Nicholas reinforces the notion that fostering relationships rooted in understanding and support is essential in the educational landscape. Ultimately, the episode serves as a clarion call for educators to recognize their potential influence and to commit to being present for their students, thereby facilitating their growth and development.
The intricate dynamics of student-teacher relationships are elucidated in this insightful episode, where Nicholas Kleve, affectionately known as Mr. Funky Teacher, expounds upon the indispensable role of being a caring adult in the educational landscape. The central thesis posits that all children require at least one adult who sees and values them, a notion that reverberates throughout the narrative. Mr. Kleve reflects on his experiences, illustrating how the mere act of showing up—consistently and authentically—can profoundly impact a child's life, particularly for those who may lack supportive figures outside of school.
The conversation delves into the complexities of trauma-informed teaching, where educators are encouraged to respond with empathy rather than judgment. Mr. Kleve articulates the importance of understanding that students often express their struggles through behavior when they lack the words to articulate their feelings. He advocates for a teaching philosophy grounded in curiosity, suggesting that when educators approach students' challenges from a place of understanding, they foster an environment conducive to healing and growth. This empathetic approach is not merely a pedagogical strategy; it is a moral imperative that recognizes the humanity of each student.
As the episode progresses, the discussion expands to encompass the broader implications of being that one caring adult. Mr. Kleve reflects on how the relationships he has built with students have yielded long-lasting impacts, often beyond what he may ever fully comprehend. He emphasizes that while educational outcomes are significant, the emotional connections forged between educators and students can lead to profound transformations in self-worth and confidence. Ultimately, this episode serves as a poignant reminder of the power of presence and compassion in education, urging listeners to acknowledge their potential to be the caring adult that every child deserves.
Takeaways:
- The profound impact of a single caring adult can transform a child's trajectory toward success.
- Establishing genuine connections with students fosters emotional safety and trust within the classroom environment.
- Teachers must recognize that presence, rather than perfection, is crucial in supporting and believing in their students.
- Consistent empathy and understanding in response to student behavior can facilitate personal growth and development.
- Students who feel seen and valued are more likely to engage and excel academically and socially.
- The enduring influence of a caring adult is often remembered long after specific lessons have faded from memory.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Be a Funky Teacher
- Josh Shipp
Transcript
Yeah, he's Mr. Funky.
Speaker A:He's Mr. Funky Teacher.
Speaker A:Mr. Funky Teacher inspires greatness.
Speaker A:Makes you feel good.
Speaker A:Like your favorite playlist.
Speaker A:Keeping that fresh and funky.
Speaker A:Yes, he does.
Speaker A:He got some funky cool ideas to share for all you teachers.
Speaker A:He can empower others, students and teachers.
Speaker A:It's all about hard work and creativity.
Speaker A:He brings out the kindness in everyone.
Speaker A:He's got the passion to teach.
Speaker A:You hear it when he speaks.
Speaker A:He knows how to build strong relationships.
Speaker A:If you're seeking the best bunkiest, he is it.
Speaker A:He will empower you to improve.
Speaker A:You'll be helping others and loving it too.
Speaker A:He's Mr. Funky Teacher.
Speaker A:Yeah, he's Mr. Funky Teacher.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:This is Mr. Funky Teacher with Be a Funky Teacher dot com.
Speaker B:I'm coming to you with another Be a Funky Teacher podcast.
Speaker B:Welcome back everyone.
Speaker B:Today's episode is one Caring the power of Truly seeing Every child.
Speaker B:Before we get into it, I want to talk about three things I'm thankful for.
Speaker B:First thing, I'm thankful for colorful leaves.
Speaker B:I'm thankful for the beauty of the changing seasons.
Speaker B:Those bright, colorful leaves that remind me that change drop truly can be beautiful.
Speaker B:You know, each season it does bring a new for me, it brings a new rhythm and a new perspective.
Speaker B:Just like the the different stages of life that we encounter and different stages of teaching.
Speaker B:Each season can bring a new rhythm and perspective.
Speaker B:Second thing I'm thankful for is my children's hard work and their growth.
Speaker B:I'm just grateful for the chance to watch my kids kids grow, to watch them learn and to watch their hard work working hard every day in their lives.
Speaker B:Parenting really reminds me every day of how important encouraging them is and how incor.
Speaker B:How important showing patience is.
Speaker B:Encouragement and patience are truly fundamental when working with young people.
Speaker B:I see it when working with my children.
Speaker B:I also see it when working with my students.
Speaker B:But my children's growth gives me perspective on what I need to do, even as a teacher.
Speaker B:And so I'm just so thankful to watch my children's hard work and their growth.
Speaker B:Third thing I'm thankful for is having things to look forward to.
Speaker B:I'm so thankful for having family events and moments on the calendar like, like my son's upcoming football game.
Speaker B:Like, like going out with my wife.
Speaker B:You know, having something to look forward to gives hope and excitement, you know, even in those tough days that we sometimes have.
Speaker B:And it's actually it's those moments with family and friends that refill a person's tank and reminds us what matters the most.
Speaker B:Or at least for me, it's critical.
Speaker B:And so I love and I'm thankful for having things to look forward to.
Speaker B:I don't live, live, look forward to things in the future, but it does.
Speaker B:I do enjoy having things to look forward to.
Speaker B:Even though I try to live in the moment and make the most out of every moment, I do appreciate having those things to look forward to.
Speaker B:All right, let's get into the main event, the main episode, which once again, we're going to look at one caring adult, the power of truly seeing every child.
Speaker B:First off, we have to recognize that every child needs one caring adult.
Speaker B:You know, sometimes all it takes is one person to truly who truly sees you.
Speaker B:That's ultimately teaching in, in.
Speaker B:In one type of mindset, right?
Speaker B:Like takes one adult.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:That can change things for, for, for a young person.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:Kids don't need perfect adults.
Speaker B:They need present ones.
Speaker B:I, I have to remind myself that because I'm kind of a perfectionist, but I don't need to be perfect.
Speaker B:I don't need to be perfect for my family.
Speaker B:I don't need to be perfect for my students.
Speaker B:They just need me to be present more than anything else.
Speaker B:And so I, as I try to be that one caring adult for the young peoples in my lives around me, it.
Speaker B:I just have to remember that I don't have to be perfect now.
Speaker B:For, for some of our students that we work with, school is sometimes the, the one safe space that they have.
Speaker B:It might be their only safe space they have.
Speaker B:And when a teacher con consistently shows up, listens and they believe in the children that they work with, that belief can rewrite a child's story, especially if that child is coming to us with trauma or challenges or neglect or, or just not feeling like that child fits in anywhere into this world.
Speaker B:Man, the teacher is showing up, listening and believing in the child matters.
Speaker B:I have experienced this many times in my career where it might not seem like a big deal to me saying a hello or showing students a smile or greeting them as they come in or checking with them.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:But if I do that consistently and I do that in a genuine approach, I can start seeing students hard exterior walls sometimes soften and start making.
Speaker B:Building that relationship with them, y'.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker B:And I can see that I am that adult for some of the kids I get to work with.
Speaker B:You know, every.
Speaker B:There, there's Josh Ship is a professional speaker out of California and he works with a lot of parents, a lot of teachers, a lot of teenagers.
Speaker B:And he has this quote that says that every child is One caring adult away from a success story.
Speaker B:And that's a Josh Ship quote.
Speaker B:I've.
Speaker B:I've had an opportunity to meet Josh Ship, to learn from Josh Ship at one of his TR out in California and speaking.
Speaker B:And he truly believes this mentality that every child is one caring adult away from a success story.
Speaker B:And that's.
Speaker B:That sticks with me every day.
Speaker B:With everything I do in a classroom.
Speaker B:I try to be that caring adult for my students.
Speaker B:Now, there might be students who might have more than one caring adult in their life who cares about them, and great, then that's even better.
Speaker B:But knowing that there might be some students in my classroom over the years that, that might not have a caring adult except for me, it makes me work even harder then to really connect and build that relationship, to let my students know that I see them and I'm here for them.
Speaker B:Which leads me to the next big idea.
Speaker B:Seeing beyond ba behavior.
Speaker B:See, noticing is love in action, y'.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker B:It is.
Speaker B:Kids often act out what they don't have the words to express because kids don't always have the words.
Speaker B:They can't always put things into words, what, what they want to say and then they act out.
Speaker B:But when we respond with curiosity instead of judgment, we, we tell our, our children, the students we work with, hey, I see you.
Speaker B:And so it's not about just as teachers, we, we got to be really careful.
Speaker B:We just do not respond to children's behaviors or inappropriate behaviors or deregulated behaviors in an, in a, just in an angry type of a way.
Speaker B:Because there's sometimes there's some students we work with, that's all they experience in their life is adults outside of school.
Speaker B:There's some adults or there's some kids who all they have is angry adults responding to them in their life.
Speaker B:And I would argue they don't need to come to school dealing with angry adults.
Speaker B:Also, that's not going to help set a.
Speaker B:Set students up for success when that's all they experience is angry adults in school and outside of school.
Speaker B:And so when we respond with curiosity instead of judgment, we, we.
Speaker B:We tell students we see them, we're here for them.
Speaker B:It's not about fixing everything.
Speaker B:Sometimes it's about sitting with, with students, even in those hard moments.
Speaker B:Let's, let's just say you have a student comes in upset and you ask, hey, rough morning?
Speaker B:Instead of what's wrong with you?
Speaker B:Or, you know, or some sort of version of that, right?
Speaker B:You know, like, hey, rough morning.
Speaker B:What we say and how we say it can make Make a big difference and just letting them know that, hey, we're here for them.
Speaker B:When our, our presence communicates safety to our children and to the students that we work with, Safety builds trust.
Speaker B:Trust builds transformation.
Speaker B:But as we are present, we need to be.
Speaker B:Be hyper aware of what we say and how we say it.
Speaker B:Still hold kids accountable, right?
Speaker B:Like we still need to hold kids accountable.
Speaker B:But what we say and how we say it absolutely matters big time.
Speaker B:Now this, the third thing I want to talk about is the ripple of being seen when, when kids know they're seen, they show up differently.
Speaker B:Their confidence grows, their, their effort increases.
Speaker B:They start to believe in their own worth and their own value.
Speaker B:That one caring adult may never know the full impact and, but the student will remember it forever.
Speaker B:You don't need a crowd, y'.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker B:You don't need a crowd to make a big difference.
Speaker B:One steady heart can truly change a life.
Speaker B:Now, years late, years later, you students might not remember the lesson, but they are absolutely going to remember how you made them feel, y'.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker B:They are going to remember.
Speaker B:And I've had it.
Speaker B:In 23 years of my teaching, I've had many breakthroughs with students where I see the ripple.
Speaker B:Even in the classroom.
Speaker B:There's some students that you might not realize truly the impact.
Speaker B:Or you might get a letter years later down the road with a student writing you saying what an impact you made in your life.
Speaker B:Or you might have them show up back in your classroom years later saying how, how impactful they were or how impacted they were by your teaching and by you being there for them and how thankful they are for you.
Speaker B:You maybe you won't ever hear, but it's just kind of in their mind and their heart.
Speaker B:And that energy is still out there in the world too.
Speaker B:If they, in their mind and heart, that they know that you were there for them, that's still going to touch their heart, touch their lives and transform their lives.
Speaker B:And then we're transforming lives here.
Speaker B:We're, we're impacting young people, transforming lives.
Speaker B:And you might have been that person, unfortunately, might not.
Speaker B:All we ever know.
Speaker B:There's some.
Speaker B:Sometimes we.
Speaker B:We don't know.
Speaker B:And, and that's kind of the, the challenge with education sometimes is sometimes we very much know if we were impactful on a child and sometimes we might not ever know.
Speaker B:And, but that's, we still do good anyways.
Speaker B:We still impact young people.
Speaker B:We still try to do everything we can to, to help set our young people up for success.
Speaker B:We do it whether, whether we're going to get the kudos or the pat in the back, you know, we do it because we love our.
Speaker B:We love the kids that we work with.
Speaker B:We love the opportunity to change lives.
Speaker B:That's what it comes down to.
Speaker B:And it ultimately comes down to changing the world.
Speaker B:We change the world by changing the.
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:The lives of our.
Speaker B:Our young people, by connecting with their.
Speaker B:Their minds and their hearts.
Speaker B:So some reflective takeaways.
Speaker B:Connection is what heals y'.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker B:Presence is what changes lives.
Speaker B:You don't have to fix every problem.
Speaker B:You don't.
Speaker B:You do not have to fix every problem in a child's life.
Speaker B:You just have to show up and see the person in front of you.
Speaker B:So, as Josh Shipp reminds us, every child deserves one adult who believes in them.
Speaker B:And you might be that adult today.
Speaker B:Think about it.
Speaker B:That's some power right there.
Speaker B:Go out there and change the world, y'.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker B:And remember to inspire greatness in young people.
Speaker B:And don't forget to be a funky teacher.
Speaker B:Bye, now.
Speaker A:He's Mr. Funky Teacher, yeah he's Mr. Funky Teacher, yeah, yeah, yeah.
