Working with Troubled children and Youth- Pathways to Potential

If you or your organization or school is interested in workshops that I am able to provide

feel free to reach out to me.  Mcknightmichael816@gmail.com

Resiliency.... Children and Youth

The central finding of resiliency research is that young people living with in

 “risky systems” can overcome the odds if they are nurtured with-in another

micro system that provides a safe environment and at the very minimum

one adult who is

“ TENACIOUSLY AND CONSISTENTLY CARING”…

 

 

 

Educators and Teachers- it starts here!!

The student is infinitely more important

 than the subject matter. 

~ Nel Noddings 

John Steinbeck on Teaching!

I have come to believe that a great teacher 
is a great artist and that there are as few 
as there are any other great artists. 
Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts 
since the medium is the human mind and spirit. 
~ John Steinbeck

Freire---

How can I be an educator

 if I do not develop in myself

 a caring and loving attitude 

toward the student, 

which is indispensable 

on the part of one who is committed

 to teaching and to the education process itself.

 ~ Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of Freedom

Dignity and Respect from Adults to Children...

Students deserve our care and concern

 on the grounds of principle,

 not personality. 

~ Marshall Gregory, "Pedagogy and the Three Loves"

Connection-Relationship-Relevance

The fact that people can forget these simple truths

 when intellectualizing about children

 shows how far modern doctrines have taken us. 

They make it easy to think of children

 as lumps of putty to be shaped

 instead of partners in a human relationship. 

~ Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate (p. 399)

Sometimes a simple, almost insignificant gesture

 on the part of a teacher 

can have a profound formative effect 

on the life of a student. 

~ Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of Freedom

Relationship and Connections..

I am dealing with people and not with things. 

And, because I am dealing with people,

 I cannot refuse my wholehearted and loving attention,

 even in personal matters,

 where I see that a student

 is in need of such attention. 

~ Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of Freedom

Aliveness!!!

The teacher must pounce upon the most listless child, and wake him up.

The habit of prompt and ready response must be kept up.

Recapitulations, illustrations, examples, novelty of order, and ruptures of routine,-

-all these are means for keeping the attention alive and contributing a little interest to a dull subject.

Above all, the teacher must himself be alive and ready,

and must use the contagion of his own example

~ William James,Talks to Teachers

Good teachers possess a capacity for connectedness.
 ~ Parker Palmer, The Courage to Teach

Engagement- William James

Begin with the line of [a student’s] native interests,

 and offer him objects that have some immediate connection with these. . . . 

Schools in which these methods preponderate

 are schools where discipline is easy, 

and where the voice of the master claiming order 

and attention in threatening tones need never be heard. 

~ William James, Talks to Teachers

Actions / Words

Choose as a guide

 one who you will admire more

 when you see him act 

than when you hear him speak.

 ~ Seneca

Being with Children and Youth

Children need models rather than critics. ~ Joseph Joubert