Module 13: Caring and Kindness  

Understand the concepts within Nodding's care and moral education framework and apply them to your classroom. 

Before we begin this unit, take some time to consider a teacher that you know or who you've had that was good example of showing caring and kindness. Post a text, audio, or video comment to the following Padlet sharing what made the teacher particularly caring and kind. https://georgemasonu.padlet.org/jered_borup/caring-teachers-assoizzzelmzqmb 

Caring overlaps with almost everything that blended and online teachers do. As a result, in this module we will focus entirely on caring. Let's start by watching the video below to hear from Dr. Nel Noddings--the leading thinker on caring in education and the author of the the framework that we will be reading this week. The video and audio are not best. It was also created six years ago during the first Trump administration. As a result, it can be a little political at times. You are free to watch the entire video but you are only required to watch the first 25 minutes. 

You will be reflecting on the concepts learned in this module by applying them to your class and teaching. To guide your reflection you will be completing tasks in this reflection document. I recommend reading through the document now before you start reading this week's materials. 

Dr. Nel Noddings has spent her career examining care in K-12 settings. She argued that caring is not "cuddling, patting, hugging, and drying tears" (Noddings, 2008, p. 166)--although caring may elicit these types of behaviors.  Instead, Noddings focused on relationships. As you read the materials below, pay particular attention to the components of moral education (i.e. modeling, dialogue, practice, and confirmation) and the phases of caring (i.e. engrossment, motivational displacement, and reciprocity).

Please read the following resources.  

1. This week's readings can be a bit philosophical so I actually recommend starting by review this online synopsis describing Nodding's framework on care and moral education. 

2. In my opinion, one of Noddings' best writing was a 1995 book chapter called "Care and Moral Education."   I've shared the PDF version with you. 

3. Using Noddings' framework I wrote the following chapter on caring at a cyber charter high school: Technology-Mediated Caring: Building Relationships Between Students and Instructors in Online K-12 Learning Environments. This is a prepublication draft so ignore the numbers on the sides.