Our Philosophy

To participate in on-going conversations between all members of the school that are grounded in trust and caring. To develop cultural knowledge and apply that knowledge to all situations and problems. To respect individuality and the opinion of others.

Kindness in the Classroom

Video Link

Dr. Nel Noddings, Kindness in the Classroom Lecture Intro [video file], Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rVDDot3W7k.

The philosophy of the Noddings Center is based on the work by Nel Noddings', The Challenge to Care in Schools: An Alternative Approach to Education.

Here at the Noddings Center:

there are centers of care and concern in which all people share and in which the capacities of all children must be developed.
education should nurture the special cognitive capacities or "intelligences" of all children.
the focus on centers of care and the development capacities must be filtered through and filled out by a consideration of differences that are associated with race, sex, ethnicity, and religion. The various perspectives that arise must be treated respectfully, critically, and regularly.
we respect the various talents of our children and the occupations that they will fill as adults but, if we are doing the work of attentive love, we must care deeply for them. We want to preserve their lives, nurture their growth, and shape them by some ideal of acceptability.

Noddings, N. (2005b). The challenge to care in schools: An alternative approach to education (2nd ed.). New York: Teachers College Press, p. 62

cover_challenge_to_care.jpg

“A school is not just a center for the production of learning. At its best, it is a place with which people identify, a place to which they become attached. It is a place in which educators break down curriculum boundaries to work collaboratively, planning and teaching with creativity and with the steady purpose of producing better adults—caring, competent people who will live deeply satisfying lives and contribute to an evolving democratic society” (Noddings, 2014, p.17).

The Noddings Center

A Center of Care

Our Philosophy

The philosophy of the Noddings Center is based on the work by Nel Noddings', The Challenge to Care in Schools: An Alternative Approach to Education.

Here at the Noddings Center:

there are centers of care and concern in which all people share and in which the capacities of all children must be developed.

education should nurture the special cognitive capacities or "intelligences" of all children.

the focus on centers of care and the development capacities must be filtered through and filled out by a consideration of differences that are associated with race, sex, ethnicity, and religion. The various perspectives that arise must be treated respectfully, critically, and regularly.

we respect the various talents of our children and the occupations that they will fill as adults but, if we are doing the work of attentive love, we must care deeply for them. We want to preserve their lives, nurture their growth, and shape them by some ideal of acceptability.

Noddings, N. (2005b). The challenge to care in schools: An alternative approach to education (2nd ed.). New York: Teachers College Press, p. 62

Graphic Source: http://schoolofartandscience.org/images/cover_challenge_to_care.jpg