Going beyond care, concern, and connection to create a classroom environment of compassionate connectivity.

Abstract

Many scholars show that we are falling back on teaching practices which concentrate on academic matters such as: reading, writing, and arithmetic. These ideals of schooling were crucial in the conception of education in what became the United States. These educative practices were developed when the purpose of education was quite different than that needed by the children who are growing up in the twenty-first century. The bulk of this research is primarily focused on the participants of a book study group reading Jane Roland Martin's (1992), The Schoolhome: Rethinking school for changing families. Her book is intended to address this issue of the teacher's voice and help them critically examine their practices particularly with regard to forming relationships with children who will become participants in a democratic society. The study looks for narratives that explain how these teachers experienced reading and discussing Martin's book.

Oppression of student's and teacher's voices exists on a multitude of levels. It is an international problem which Paulo Freire (1997) brought to our attention. Theorists from the United States have expounded on this oppressive theme through numerous literary works. In spite of those ideals espoused that teachers need a voice in important educational decisions (Dewey, 1916; Noddings, 1992; Fleener, 2002) it is not happening on a regular basis. Teachers have been marginalized and dehumanized by a 'culture of silence' that exists in our present educative system.