From the Founder of Heart-Led Teaching
Heart-Led Teaching is exactly what the name communicates; where teaching is led completely from the heart. You may wonder–How is this any different than what I already do in my classroom each and every day? As a veteran teacher who has taught for twenty-three years, I felt the same way. Up until year fifteen, if someone had asked–Are you teaching from the heart?–I would have immediately stated yes, as I absolutely thought that my teaching efforts were completely heart-led. I cared about my students and I planned creative lessons as I strived to offer my students the best learning experiences. However, things just never completely flowed in my classroom. There always seemed to be some type of obstacle or detour as I attempted to reach every student or completely implement a plan for learning.
So…what changed?
At the beginning of year fifteen, my assigned school at the time, added restorative justice to our discipline procedures. This was a completely new approach for our school and it was something that I had only briefly heard about. Restorative justice had been making its way throughout the legal system at the time, and was slowly finding a place in public education, primarily in schools located in the Baltimore, Maryland area. It was a completely new approach that we all were walking into without much to go on. I walked into this plan as if I was carefully treading new territory while blindfolded, while attempting to take the first careful step, along with additional steps to find my way. I was cautiously; yet, excitingly finding my way with this new approach. I ended up researching to learn more about restorative justice and began to develop my own path; one that led me on the most rewarding journey which opened my heart. It became a significant part of years of teaching experience that led me to develop the heart-led way.
This one additional process added a new plan to my classroom management approach and completely changed my view on discipline and teaching young people. It completely changed my overall approach when it came to working with students and helping them to be the absolute best that they can be. I realized that educating students is more than a lesson plan. It became more than the normal procedure to send a child to the office if they were not following THE PLAN. With every step, my heart began to lead the way. A usual referral to an administrator for a student who would not calm down, became a talk at a table. A usual phone call home for two students who were having a disagreement and disrupting the class, became a facilitated talk with apologies that followed. These beginning steps with restorative justice as a backdrop in my classroom, changed everything. It changed everything that I had ever been taught or that I had observed when it came to educating young people—and I could never, ever look back.
Restorative justice, you might think, was the end all, be all; however, it was actually the initial spark that opened my heart, and as my heart continued to lead; I discovered that my new approach included restorative justice, or what I now refer to as restorative opportunities, yet it was only the beginning. It was the beginning of something that I found to be absolutely amazing, that continues to evolve to this day.
In my discovery; I found that restorative justice is not a stand-alone process, or a focus. I also found that as my heart-led classroom continued to develop, it was rarely utilized. In a heart-led classroom, restorative opportunities are always a part of the grand scheme of things. They sit quietly in the background, ready to play a part if and when there is a situation where a student, or group of students, need to restore to calmness and balance; yet, in a well-established heart-led classroom, the need for restoration will be minimal.
Heart-led teaching is about caring–connecting–growing–talking–discovering–building–generating and promoting a feeling of belonging–community building–diversity–inclusion—understanding, guiding, supporting, providing opportunities, and any other actions that stem from the heart. It is about teaching and supporting the whole child, utilizing a wholistic approach, along with school-wide, family, and community connections.
The beauty in heart-led teaching is that it is a completely intuitive approach. Heart-led teaching, of course, complements evidence-based teaching strategies and other instructional skills by cultivating an environment where our ideas, plans, and efforts can take root and thrive.
In the heart-led classroom; the heart is always leading the way. For example, a teacher can have the perfect lesson plan that utilizes every method learned in the college classroom or professional development course; however, what happens when a student is talking loudly and disrupting the class? What happens when half of the class is not focused or two student are having a disagreement? What if the entire class is being playful and not paying attention? This is where the heart steps in with a calming, elevating, and harmonizing detour or rest stop, while guiding students towards focused participation in classroom teaching and learning.
There is no follow-along; step-by-step guide in existence or that could potentially be created, that could provide set-in-stone procedures to rectify or balance each and every scenario that may come up in our classrooms. The scenario may be as simple as a stomachache or as big as an entire class not paying attention and showing a lack of respect. The heart might lead a teacher to sit down at a table and talk to two students who are not getting along, or dim the lights and play soft music to calm an entire class. The teacher may spend five minutes taking to a class about life and then resume learning activities. This is the heart-led way.
Heart-led educators may operate in a very similar manner as parents who support their children throughout life—teaching them right from wrong–helping them stay on the best path–teaching them to avoid or jump over obstacles–providing a pat on the back–sharing wisdom and skills, calming them when they are upset–or sitting them down at the table to speak LIFE. There is no script and the heart leads the way.
The main point is that when there is a wholistic approach to interacting with students, there is also balance. That balance moves towards relationship building, which then builds into comfort, trust, respect, and a sense of belonging. Those factors will then support any teaching and learning effort within the classroom.
Heart-led teaching is something that is simply working and became something that I began to feel, without a doubt, should be shared with other educators. I couldn’t move along through one more school year, without beginning an effort to share what I have discovered since I took my first steps on to the heart-led path. This path has been filled with many discoveries, as well several twists, and turns. The path has had obstacles and wasn’t clear at times. However, I have reached a point where I can look back and clearly see the ideas and planning that led to the current moment. I look forward to using this wisdom towards continuing to clear the path ahead. I have had so much success in my heart-led teaching environment and the benefits are seen in the smiles, the high-fives, the focus, and the accomplishments of the students that I serve.
Heart-Led Teaching has so much to offer and it is my hope that many others will discover the heart-led way. There will information and ideas offered in our blog and throughout the heartledteaching.com website as we work to build a gathering place for others to discover the possibilities and rewards of heart-led education.
Welcome to heart-led teaching!
Amara Nia