Educators hold the potential to leave lasting impacts on the youth they encounter by supporting underserved students. They are often considered role models for students and through their actions and behaviors, model character for students. While educators cannot solve all the problems with physiological needs students encounter, they can provide emotional security and a safe place. This starts with relationships.
Building strong relationships with students can foster emotional connections and provide security. By learning about students, their lives, their interests and genuinely showing care for them, educators can fill that need. Through such strong connections, educators can focus on student strengths when discussing their character and help them build confidence.). Further, the social stability offered in classrooms and through teacher-student relationships fosters motivation to grow.
Students desire predictability and order, which happens in a classroom with routines. In these approaches, educators have the ability to meet the deficiency needs (levels 1 and 2 on Maslow’s hierarchy) to some degree and provide opportunity for students to focus on the growth levels that follow.
Relationships also cultivate the love and belongingness needs levels being met. Students long for interpersonal relationships and feelings of connectedness. Learning in community builds connectedness. Not only can teachers build relationships with students by knowing them and recognizing their strengths and interests, but they can also foster relationships among students.
In the classroom, there are many opportunities for students to build connections through “get to know you” activities and collaborative work. Allow students time and space to connect and learn about one another, as well as work in the community.
As students work in a community, they should have opportunities to share their ideas, learn from the perspectives of others, and build capacities to respect one another in dialogue. Such activities and experiences can build character and teach students how to contribute to a communal society.
Educators can also consider bringing in examples that students can relate to. When thinking of teaching character through moral exemplars, focus on individuals that students can relate to regarding their life experiences. Perhaps focus on someone in the community itself. Discuss community issues that are in the students’ real life. Discuss the challenges and character development exhibited by individuals that resonate with students’ personal experiences. Provide opportunities for students to demonstrate character in relation to their own life or something in the community.
Empowering students through acknowledging their student strengths, allowing time for reflection and perspective taking, offering opportunities for character development and practice, and fostering virtue literacy not only enhances their self-esteem but also meets their esteem needs. The collaborative work and allowance of sharing ideas and hearing diverse perspectives or experiences also teach students to respect one another, as well as themselves. These practices can build character and meet the needs of students.
Individualized support for underserved students is to consider and think about their needs. Break down walls with strong relationships, get to know them by asking questions and then support them based on their individual needs. Just as students need differentiated instruction with academics due to varying cognitive abilities, they also need individualized character development.
Underserved students might need more support learning about values that relate to their struggles, such as courage, while others who have their basic needs met might need to build empathy. Learn your students’ strengths, their lives and their needs to help build them up.
Students experiencing trauma and life struggles often experience negative modeling of character in other adults around them. Be the moral example. When students have negative behaviors, respond to them with empathy and help them talk through the issues. When students have a hard day and come in without their homework, try to show them grace. Get to know them and try to understand the issue. Then, offer support to break the barriers.
Some underserved children do not have someone at home to support them with their homework; some do not have a quiet place to do work; some do not even sleep or eat at home — thus, homework is not a priority. In cases such as these, demonstrate the concept of perspective-taking and empathy, by sitting with them and assisting in understanding what they might have missed their homework. Always consider the student and their experiences and then be the model for good character.
