Learning to Trust: Attachment Theory and Classroom Management - Paperback

by Marilyn Watson (Author)

Learning to Trust describes a constructivist approach to classroom management and discipline that was developed by the Child Development Project, a multiyear research and development project that applied attachment theory, care, and self-determination theories to the elementary school classroom. In this book, Marilyn Watson provides an overview of the research on attachment theory and a detailed description of its implications for teaching and classroom management, while chronicling one teacher, Laura Ecken, and her second-third grade class in a high poverty school across two years as she implements the Child Development Project and manages the class, guided by attachment theory. Watson documents in detail Laura's day by day and week by week efforts to build caring, trusting relationships with and among her students and describes the many steps Laura takes to guide the class into becoming a caring, learning community while also meeting her students' individual needs for autonomy
and competence.

Of course, not all goes well in this very real classroom and the ways Laura manages the pressures of competition and students' many misbehaviors, ordinary and serious, are clearly and sometimes humorously described. Such teaching is not easy, and is counter to more controlling management approaches common in many schools. The book concludes with a chapter on how teachers might find support in their current schools for this more collaborative approach to classroom management, as well as a chapter that includes reflections from a number of the students seven years after leaving the class.

Front Jacket

Most teachers today are faced with increasing pressure to teach to higher academic standards. At the same time the social climate has become especially challenging, with many children appearing more distressed and difficult than ever. Yet the focus on academic achievement has led some teachers, against their better judgment, to reduce their attention to students' social and ethical growth and to building relationships with and among their students. In Learning to Trust, an educational psychologist and a classroom teacher collaborate on an in-depth case study in an inner-city classroom, told through the teacher's own voice. Using these real-life examples, they demonstrate the power and importance of caring, trusting relationships for fostering not only children's social and ethical development but their academic growth as well.

This book applies attachment theory to the school setting, showing how this perspective can help teachers build collaborative, trusting relationships even with their most challenging students. Marilyn Sheehan Watson explains and describes the ups and downs of Laura Ecken's classroom through the lens of attachment theory, while Laura describes in vivid detail the ongoing life of her classroom, revealing throughout her challenges, thoughts, fears, failures and successes. Together they explore strategies for helping children develop the emotional skills needed to live harmonious and productive lives, the social and communication skills to be a friend and work collaboratively with classmates, the self confidence and curiosity to invest wholeheartedly in learning, and the empathy and personal and moral understanding to be caring and responsible young people.

Learning to Trust will help teachers meet the challenge to care, balance their need for authority with their students' need for autonomy, and support their students' intellectual growth without abandoning their obligation to educate for responsible citizenship and an ethical life.

Back Jacket

Page by page, Watson's riveting documentary teaches us what it truly takes to leave no child behind.
-- Chip Wood, cofounder, Northeast Foundation for Children

"With test scores predicting no human virtue one might name, surely it is past time to bring back the guiding narrative for our schools we apparently have forgotten: the education of the young for responsible citizenship and leading a good life. Not only does Marilyn Watson tell us, particularly teachers, how the necessary education might take place, she focuses on the most neglected young learners and ignored teachers of a democracy that presumably stands for equal educational opportunity and justice for all."
-- John I. Goodlad, president, Institute for Educational Inquiry, Seattle, Washington

"Caring educators who have ever questioned the importance of nurturing a teacher-child relationship will find Laura's journey both insightful and moving. A must read for all educators facing the challenge of teaching children in the twenty-first century."
-- Karen M. Smith, principal, Mark Twain Elementary, Brentwood, Missouri

"In Learning to Trust, Watson, s account of one inner-city teachers experiences highlights the importance of nurturing caring and trusting relationships in the classroom. Her understanding of child development and her recommendations for effectively implementing 'developmental discipline' make the book a practical and powerful tool for all educators."
-- James P. Comer, Maurice Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry, Yale Child Study Center and associate dean, Yale School of Medicine

Author Biography

Marilyn Watson retired in 2001 after 20 years with the Developmental Studies Center (DSC). As director of the center's Child Development Project, she guided the DSC's approach to professional development. Watson is author or coauthor of more than 40 articles and chapters and three books on social, moral or character education. She chaired the Character Education Partnership's teacher education project and served on the Association of Teacher Education's Commission on Character Education in Teacher Education. Prior to her work at DSC, Watson taught preschool, was a faculty member in the education department at Mills College in Oakland, California, and director of the Mills College Children's School.