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Caring for students by capturing their hearts
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown City Schools CEO Krish Mohip is carrying out his promise to take care of the whole student by not only providing his teachers with instructional tools, but also social-emotional tools.
Through Capturing Kids’ Hearts, a program designed to build relationships between teachers and students, teachers can “effectively and successfully” develop relationships to work together, he said.
The goal of this collaboration with students and teachers improves school performance by lessening discipline referrals, improving attendance, lowering dropout rates and raising teacher satisfaction, according to the Capturing Kids’ Hearts website.
The school district has a $48,600 contract with Capturing Kids’ Hearts for the school year.
“Working with minority kids of color is a difficult thing and social emotional learning is what’s needed for the children,” Mohip said.
Amanda McGinnis, the district’s director of transformation, said the program is “an excellent way to really grab the students.”
“You are greeting them at the door, getting to know them better, and you’re connecting with them emotionally,” she said.
A big part of Capturing Kids’ Hearts is discovering more about students.
“We are trying to find out about them – how they live and how they connect and how we can connect with them,” McGinnis said.
One of her favorite parts of the program is being able to share part of herself with her students, often encouraging students to take part in a more open and engaging environment.
“We bring in something that represents us and say, ‘This is something that is important to me. What’s important to you?’” she said. ”It’s just emotionally a way to connect with them.”
By connecting with students, teachers are able to get a better understanding of their home lives and problems outside the classroom.
“I like the fact that if something happens on Monday with the student and they’re off and what not, before they enter into the classroom the next day on Tuesday we kind of greet them and talk to them because they cannot enter the classroom with a negative attitude or bring it back from the day before,” McGinnis said. “It’s very positive.”
In addition to the talk-it-out method the program enables, both teachers and students get to see one another in a different light than strict teacher-student roles.
It’s a way to get students and teachers and vice versa to see one another as “more human,” McGinnis said.