A Guidance Approach for the Encouraging Classroom, 6th edition by Dan Gartrell

1. Chapter Twelve
“Liberation Teaching”
©2014 Cengage Learning.
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2. Guiding Questions:
1. How are children in the classroom affected by violence in
society?
2. How is liberation teaching a response to societal
violence?
3. What is the liberation teaching response to bullying?
4. What is the connection between liberation teaching and
other socially responsive education practices?
5. Cultural Responsiveness/Family Partnerships: How does
liberation teaching
apply to relations with parents?
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

3. Effects of Societal
Violence
• Societal violence enters classrooms
through the social and emotional after-
effects it leaves with children.
• There are correlations between exposure to
violence outside school and three levels of
mistaken behavior.
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4. Effects of Societal
Violence
• Level One—experimentation mistaken
behaviors:
– Makes play guns and weapons out of “non-
violent” materials (Legos, blocks)
– Initiates aggressive play such as wrestling,
chase, and “guns”
– “plays rough” with dolls, puppets, figurines
– Draws a picture with violent themes
– Is surprisingly competitive in play situations
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

5. Effects of Societal
Violence
• Level Two—socially influenced mistaken
behaviors:
– Superhero play
– Creation of “in” groups that stigmatize other
children through exclusion, name calling,
bullying
– Demonstrate instrumental agressio
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

6. Effects of Societal
Violence
• Level Three—strong needs mistaken behaviors:
– Violent pictures drawn repeatedly
– Rough-and-tumble play that often becomes aggressive
– Severe and continuing bullying
– Repeatedly lose emotional balance
– Psychologically withdraw or show marked anxiety
• The overlap between Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD) and Level 3 mistaken behavior is complete:
– Difficulty managing emotions
– Avoidance of intimacy
– Provocative behaviors
– Disturbances in the attachment process
– Impairments in cognition and learning
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

7. Liberation Teaching
• Liberation teaching means that the teacher
does not give up on any child, seeing children
beyond the frailties they may show.
• Liberation teaching helps children to find inner
resources for resiliency—to begin the healing
process.
• Stigma, in its many forms, is combated as the
teacher creates a healthy and safe learning
community where mistakes are viewed as
teachable moments.
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

8. Responding to Bullying through
Liberation Teaching
• The liberating teacher works on prevention by talking and
teaching about bullying and the need for friendliness.
• There are a variety of ways that the teacher addresses
bullying and friendliness, such as:
– Children’s books
– Puppet and role play
– Story-pictures
– Experience charts and journals
– Class meetings
• Together, the teacher and children make a short list of
guidelines to define the spirit of encouragement.
• The teacher designs activities to foster cooperation and
relationships instead of competition.
©2014 Cengage Learning.
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9. Connections to Other
Educational Practices
• Liberation teaching matches philosophically with other
socially responsive educational practices.
• Socially responsive educational practices include:
– The encouraging classroom
• Teach social problem solving skills through class meetings and
developmentally appropriate practices.
– Guidance
• Children learn democratic life skills through which they improve their chances
of academic success.
– Anti-bias education
• Children learn to actively challenge prejudice, stereotyping, bias, and the
various “isms.”
– Peace education
• Elevates all members of the classroom community, teaching mutual respect
through peaceful resolution of social problems.
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

10. Family Partnerships
– The teacher encourages the maximum involvement in the
education of the child that is possible for each family.
– Four levels of strategies bring about this involvement:
• 1. Sharing information
– Introduce the family and child to the program
– Use a variety of methods of communication
• 2. Active involvement
– Offer a variety of ways to be involved, both in and outside the classroom
• 3. Program participation
– Invite family members to participate in event committees, advisory councils,
policy boards, etc.
• 4. Personal/professional development
– A family member experiences successful involvement and is motivated to
pursue further education or a career
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.