What is Care?
Care in youth work is one of the most important things to happen within our world today. Care in youth work is defined as so many different things but it all stems from the people who are delivering the care. In Dr. Restler's Article, she works with teachers who have different philosophies and ways that they deliver care to their students. The first teacher that Dr. Restler focuses on is Sarah, who is a queer teacher who is out and completely open with her students. Her care is based on a love of humanity, rather than some kind of maternal instincts. One of the important things that I took away from Sarah's section of the except was when Lynch's work was mentioned. It specifically stated, "The mental work of 'holding the persons (care recipients) and their interests in mind, keeping them present in mental planning and anticipating and prioritizing their needs and interests" This section resonated with me in a lot of ways because this is how I was raised and taught to deliver care. This is very similar to my own ideas towards care. Each person is an individual and has their own individual needs so it is important that we work towards prioritizing the needs of others to pursue a brighter future.
Another teacher's map focuses on care in terms of race, culture, social identity and survival. In Devault's work on family life says that another task for some is helping family members survive a racist society. Much of this work looks straight forward and ordinary, simply a matter of loving attention, but such loving attention acquires special significance when care and respect outside the family can be taken for granted. Lee's care practice can be known as the radical healing pedagogy, which basically means that it seeks to promote well being and builds hope among students while modeling good organization, high standards and affirming their worthiness.
The final teacher that I decided to focus on is Eli. Eli frames his care philosophy as double vision, looking at himself as himself and as his students see him at the same time. This is a mode of seeing and self reflection, which he identifies as a care practice of great teaching. According to Dr. Restler, Eli demonstrated his caring approach to teaching work in his words and visual representation, in the empathetic work of seeing himself "through the eyes of students", in his commitment to breaking through with hard-to-reach youth, in the great care he takes with his own practices and with supporting and mentoring other teachers.
Within my internship, care is being demonstrated within the staff through their interactions with the students. There is one counselor in my internship that will sit with certain children during their "announcement" time and she will help them through it because it can be a loud time and some of them have noise sensitivity, this counselor works very well with if a child is upset she will put a positive spin on it and try to do better no matter what. She is constantly asking the kids how their day was and showing that she genuinely cares because she is using those active listening skills that are so essential to working with youth. There are other counselors that are demonstrating care in many ways but this inparticular person has always stood out to me and she really knows how to demonstrate care to the students that she works with.
Another teacher's map focuses on care in terms of race, culture, social identity and survival. In Devault's work on family life says that another task for some is helping family members survive a racist society. Much of this work looks straight forward and ordinary, simply a matter of loving attention, but such loving attention acquires special significance when care and respect outside the family can be taken for granted. Lee's care practice can be known as the radical healing pedagogy, which basically means that it seeks to promote well being and builds hope among students while modeling good organization, high standards and affirming their worthiness.
The final teacher that I decided to focus on is Eli. Eli frames his care philosophy as double vision, looking at himself as himself and as his students see him at the same time. This is a mode of seeing and self reflection, which he identifies as a care practice of great teaching. According to Dr. Restler, Eli demonstrated his caring approach to teaching work in his words and visual representation, in the empathetic work of seeing himself "through the eyes of students", in his commitment to breaking through with hard-to-reach youth, in the great care he takes with his own practices and with supporting and mentoring other teachers.
Within my internship, care is being demonstrated within the staff through their interactions with the students. There is one counselor in my internship that will sit with certain children during their "announcement" time and she will help them through it because it can be a loud time and some of them have noise sensitivity, this counselor works very well with if a child is upset she will put a positive spin on it and try to do better no matter what. She is constantly asking the kids how their day was and showing that she genuinely cares because she is using those active listening skills that are so essential to working with youth. There are other counselors that are demonstrating care in many ways but this inparticular person has always stood out to me and she really knows how to demonstrate care to the students that she works with.
Your Internship place is so cool! It is important to check-in with each individual student.
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