One outcrop of the Social Cognitive Theory, associated with teaming, is the concept of resilience. Resilience is a person’s ability to adapt to stress and adversity. According to Anderson, Christenson, and Sinclair (2004), there has in recent years been an increase in the interest of fostering resilience of children. One of the findings of their report was that positive supportive relationships with adults is associated with resilience in children, and that the adult supporting the student need not be a parent. The implications for middle-level students are important, as many of these student’s relationships with school staff can be among the most influential and positive they experience. The study also found that for this age group,
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Birch and Ladd (1997) sampled a group of kindergarten children to examine the impact of three distinct features of the teacher-child relationship (closeness, dependency, and conflict) on children’s school adjustment, Dependence was found to be strongly correlated to student’s school adjustment difficulties, including academic performance and attitude towards school. In addition, teacher-child closeness was positively linked with children’s academic performance. Murdock and Miller (2003) studied teachers as a source of eighth grade students’ motivational identify, and found teacher perceived caring accounted for significant amounts of variance in eighth-grade students’ motivation and perceived motivational influences from parents and peers. According to Murdock and Miller (2003), there is little question that the quality of students’ perceived relationship(s) with teachers is an important predictor of their commitment to schooling, and that seeing one’s teacher as supportive and caring will increase the likelihood that the student will value …show more content…
Holistic education cannot be seen as separate from the concepts preceding in this report, but instead as a summary. Holistic education seeks to define a person’s passion for life and learning through a focus on community, the natural world, and humanitarian values. Jackson and Davis (2000) contended that the middle school philosophy far exceeds that of the junior high, and that adolescent development, more than curriculum, should be the guiding principle for school organization. Their basis for such a premise is the nature of middle-school education, and the necessity to focus on concrete rather than abstract thinking, the exploration of many subjects with less depth versus less subjects with more depth, and the development of social development (e.g., self-concept and self-acceptance). Jackson and Davis (2000) argued that teachers responsible for large numbers of students will focus on subject matter instead of focusing on the individual needs of students, and that departmentalization will weaken the student-teacher relationships. Holistic education’s focus on a combination of intellectual and social health is threatened by a ranking philosophy where test scores and mental fortitude are seen as the driving force behind education. Middle-level education focuses on the whole person, and the understanding that students are in many ways unprepared for the rigor of a more academically focused
Birch and Ladd (1997) sampled a group of kindergarten children to examine the impact of three distinct features of the teacher-child relationship (closeness, dependency, and conflict) on children’s school adjustment, Dependence was found to be strongly correlated to student’s school adjustment difficulties, including academic performance and attitude towards school. In addition, teacher-child closeness was positively linked with children’s academic performance. Murdock and Miller (2003) studied teachers as a source of eighth grade students’ motivational identify, and found teacher perceived caring accounted for significant amounts of variance in eighth-grade students’ motivation and perceived motivational influences from parents and peers. According to Murdock and Miller (2003), there is little question that the quality of students’ perceived relationship(s) with teachers is an important predictor of their commitment to schooling, and that seeing one’s teacher as supportive and caring will increase the likelihood that the student will value …show more content…
Holistic education cannot be seen as separate from the concepts preceding in this report, but instead as a summary. Holistic education seeks to define a person’s passion for life and learning through a focus on community, the natural world, and humanitarian values. Jackson and Davis (2000) contended that the middle school philosophy far exceeds that of the junior high, and that adolescent development, more than curriculum, should be the guiding principle for school organization. Their basis for such a premise is the nature of middle-school education, and the necessity to focus on concrete rather than abstract thinking, the exploration of many subjects with less depth versus less subjects with more depth, and the development of social development (e.g., self-concept and self-acceptance). Jackson and Davis (2000) argued that teachers responsible for large numbers of students will focus on subject matter instead of focusing on the individual needs of students, and that departmentalization will weaken the student-teacher relationships. Holistic education’s focus on a combination of intellectual and social health is threatened by a ranking philosophy where test scores and mental fortitude are seen as the driving force behind education. Middle-level education focuses on the whole person, and the understanding that students are in many ways unprepared for the rigor of a more academically focused