"...reverence is central to the kind of teaching and leadership we need in today’s schools and that listening is one of the prime activities of reverence." (Rud and Garrison)
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The word cloud above was created by the text associated with Rud and Garrison's article Reverence and Listening in Teaching and Leading. This was done in effort to summarize what the article attempts to explain, which is that successful classrooms and schools are those who have students and teachers who respect one another and their opinions. I've included this quote in order to describe how successful teachers practice reverence, which is done through listening. Notice that of the most used words in the article displayed on the word cloud are teachers, students, and listening. In Rud and Garrison's attempt to bring reverence back to society and the culture of schools, I felt it important to assist this mission by focusing on the need for teachers to listen to their students as much (if not more) than they expect their students to listen to them.
The article continues to describe reverence listening as noticing the need of help by others for the good of the group. Reverence listening is practiced by teachers who are culturally responsive. In order to be a culturally responsive educator it is required that reverence listening is practiced because it helps to eliminate cultural deficit perspectives and enrich a cultural difference perspective. This is true because reverence listening causes teachers to address the needs of students in their classroom without forcing students into believing that there is one correct way of living life, which includes which language a person speaks and how that person speaks it.
The authors continue by saying, "Reverent listening is not to be confused with humiliation and domination by others who force us to listen, and even less so, with the kind of incompetence that wants to be told what to do." Unfortunately, I've experienced this type of practice in my own high school experience as a student. I remember when a history teacher of mine had forced students to participate in discussion topics, some of which I had little or no background knowledge and it was generally true for all the students in my class. Upon this forced participation students would often times reply with "I don't know" in effort to resist the humiliation of what seemed to be an incorrect answer. Whether an educated guess or an "I don't know" was given by intimidated students, the students were unable to avoid humiliating remarks. Some public remarks included students' grade points averages. Looking back on the situation now, I realize that the history teacher had failed in being a reverent listener. If the teacher had only listened to the fact that students weren't confident enough to participate in a discussion topics (religion at times), then students could have received thought out lesson instruction as well as gained confidence to participate in critical thinking discussions.
The authors of this article also state that character education assumes that a small set or "laundry list" of virtues as ethical Reverence combines virtues existing as cultural differences. For this reason, character education, which only recognizes a small list of virtues instead of acknowledging various virtues from cultural differences, is non-culturally responsive.
Many of the instructors I've had for more than one class of mine at FSU have displayed reverent listening ability by simply accepting who I am as a person. These teachers realized I wouldn't understand some topics as quickly as I would others simply due to my lack of experiences in the world. They provided me with the chance to learn from the people around me whether it be about their religion, cultural practices, or sexual orientation. Due to the acceptance of different perspectives and opinions, I felt as comfortable as a human could feel in a community of people. I definitely felt safe to be me.
I also observed in this article that poor leadership due to the lack of reverent listening can cause a toxic school culture. One provided example of this is that leaders who are searching for a specific goal, which generally is a morally good goal, often ignore the good intentions of other members of the community. Reverence is not displayed here as the importance of members and their purposes in the school's community were being overlooked in order to obtain a single person's goal. This is toxic because healthy schools accept differences among the interests of the people in the school and cultivate learning with their cultural capital and funds of knowledge rather than ignoring their interest and forcing a specific type of instruction. The example in the article pertaining to the superintendents' and principals' goal in achieving higher student scores for high stakes math tests is one that has potentially deviated from the path of a healthy school due to their method of providing math instruction.
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"Beyond all other considerations, reverent teaching understands the need to listen and respect students, parents, custodial staff, secretaries, and principals."
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I like how the article includes this statement and wish to use it to enhance my reverence. I recognize that I am a different person that everyone in the world. This quote helps me to remember that everyone has a special way of dealing with specific problems, way of living, and even way of communicating. In order for me to successfully teach what I think is important, then I also must accept and acknowledge the concerns and values of those who are a part of my life. It's the only way for both sides of the coin to have a beneficial experience and a balanced lifestyle.
The respect that I just described also is important for school members to take out of the school and into out of school settings. Teaching students that they can make a difference in the quality of life is essential to providing the world with peace and the ability to accept cultural differences. The following video displays a school's effort to teach students to respect the environment and the creatures inhabiting it. I feel that this is justifiably placed in this blog of reverence listening for teachers because it is a lesson that teachers can use to help students become more mindful of how their existence and behavior in the world can shape it.
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