My Service Learning with Teacher

Kristen Swanson defines caring as “a nurturing way of relating to a valued other toward whom one feels a personal sense of commitment and responsibility” (Swanson, 1991, p. 165). Swanson (1993) identified five processes involved in care: knowing, being with, doing for, enabling, and maintaining belief. The process of “being with” is further explained by the sub dimensions of being there, conveying ability, sharing feelings, and not-burdening (Swanson, 1993). This process does not necessarily refer to the physical presence of the caregiver to the individual, but the ability of the caregiver to be emotionally present and be open to an individual’s reality (Swanson, 1993).

Working at Selma Deitch with three to five year olds who have Individualized Education Plans and disabilities has given me the opportunity to apply Swanson’s process of “being with”. Following Swanson’s concept of “being with”, my overall goal, through being there, conveying ability, and sharing feelings is to make each child know that their experiences at school matter to me.

Being there, one of the sub-dimensions of “being with”, assures the individual that the caregiver is ready and eager to be supportive of him or her through whatever they are experiencing at the time (Swanson 1993). I was able to integrate being there into my volunteering at Selma Deitch with a young boy who was having a hard time behaving during gym class. After he was yelled at by the gym teacher, I noticed he was upset; shouting and stomping in the corner of the gymnasium. I walked over, sat down with him, and tried to talk to him about why he was upset. I know that some children do not get much attention or care at home and all they do is get yelled at, therefore I knew the gym teacher’s yelling might not be effective. I asked the boy why he was so angry and told him that we were going to sit together until he felt better. While we were sitting, the class began to set up and play a new game. However, I stayed with him for a few more minutes and once he seemed to calm down, I told him that all his friends missed playing with him, therefore he would have to behave in order to keep playing. He was then eager to rejoin and he behaved for the remainder of class. Staying with the boy even while the rest of the class played assured him that I truly cared about his experience in gym class and I wanted him to feel supported while socializing with his classmates. I could have rushed him and told him he was missing the directions to the new game, but I knew my physical and emotional presence was imperative to his ability to calm down.

Another sub dimension I observed during my service learning was conveying ability. One of the teachers applied the concept of conveying ability while working with a child who has severe developmental delays. Although he is almost four years old, he is unable to walk, talk, or make any type of social interaction with others. Not once did he communicate his needs or feelings, however, the teacher was always available to him if he ever made a change in body language. She was frequently talking to him, touching him, helping him move around, making eye contact and repeating things to him during circle time. A majority of the time, it did not seem as if he was retaining any information from her, however, she continued to be available to him. Conveying ability focuses on the emotional ability of the caregiver to show the an individual that he or she is willing to be there for him or her during their experience (Swanson, 1993). The teacher was well invested in this child’s experience and it was noticeable that she cared for his experience at school. Even if the teacher was not always physically present to the child, she would always acknowledge him. Similar to a nurse, teachers are busy with multiple people to attend too, it is important for both nurses and teachers to be available to all his or her patients or students.

Another sub dimension of Swanson’s “being with” is sharing feelings, which involves the caregiver being emotionally open to an individual’s reality and sharing the feelings that they are experiencing in that moment. One of the teachers in the Selma Deitch Program effectively shared feelings with a young boy in her class. This boy had some trouble handling his emotions and would frequently have mental breakdowns. During snack time, he spilled water on his sweatshirt and began screaming and crying. The teacher ran over and said, “Oh no! Is your wet sweatshirt making you upset, don’t worry, I will help you take it off!” Although a wet sweatshirt may not seem like a big deal, the teacher understood his feelings and she seemed concerned for him when she ran over. Once his sweatshirt was off, he started giggling with excitement and she hugged him with a big smile and told him how glad she was that he was happy again. The teacher’s empathy towards her students was clearly present because her emotions changed just as often as the young boys did.

“Being with” is essential to the practice of care and has a great impact on the interactions between the caregiver and an individual. This dimension of caring can be applied to all professions involved in care and it was clearly present in the teacher-student relationships that I observed at Selma Deitch. It was evident that the teacher has adopted the experiences and emotions of her students as her own and was willing to be with them until the situation was resolved. This experience at Selma Deitch has proven to me that Swanson’s theory of caring is easily applied in all aspects of life that involve relationships with other people, while also helping me apply this practice of physically and emotionally caring for children with disabilities.

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