Margaret: That’s why I think your immediate reaction
may just be “Oh, that’s very interesting.” But if you come back
with, “There are a lot of meanings here, and I wonder what you
meant... .”
Liz:It shows you are really interested in their learning.Why is this conversation so important? If teaching and learning are
an interaction, surely the feelings between teacher and student will deter-
mine much about the success of that interaction. Arguably, respect is the
critical feeling for a mutually beneficial relationship. But it cannot be
respect built entirely on role or some other general quality (“authority fig-
ure” or “older person”). The stresses of classroom life are too great to sus-
tain respect built on such an abstract foundation. Respect must rest solidly
on the particulars of the specific people involved. Teacher and student
must come to know, appreciate, and respect the passions, curiosities, expe-
riences, efforts, and accomplishments of each other. This type of respect
doesn’t happen quickly. When it develops, it builds, I suspect, from gen-
uine interest in each other as individuals. That interest has to come from
some interaction that makes one take notice of another.
Ta l k i n g a b o u t r e s p e c t i n g c h i l d r e n a n d t h ei r w o r k s e e m s e a s y. M a n y
of us in education do this kind of talking all the time. I worry, though, that
we often like the idea of respecting children more than we actually expe-
rience the feeling deeply enough to inform and guide our behavior. I
worry because so much of what I’ve seen in schools—from the condition
of buildings and learning materials to many of the daily interactions
between adults and children—seems to disregard and disrespect the very
seriousness of intent and complexity of thought that we saw demonstrated
over and over in the 10 texts we examined. Real respect is not a simple
thing to build. I suspect it rests best on particulars, and it sits poorly on
generalities.
Over three months, these 10 teachers left their classrooms to sit
around a table and read and discuss children’s writing. In our 18 hours
together in the superintendent’s meeting room and the school library, our
examinations of these texts followed the pattern established by the proto-
col. We started by looking, and we dwelled on what we saw. As we looked
256 Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind