Wellbeing in the Classroom: The Woman Who Was a Mountain

An inspirational text by Nancy King

After a year of teaching, I became a resource teacher for about thirty elementary schools, helping teachers design classroom programs in physical education and drama. Conducting lessons with an aim to give teachers ideas, I noticed how often teachers lost control, screaming and threatening students to make them behave. I also couldn’t help observing how miserable many children looked, so I designed drama activities to pique the children’s interest and to help them express their ideas and feelings. Most of the teachers were not receptive. I was discouraged and depressed.

Then I met Miss H., a huge mountain of a woman, teaching first graders in a school which served very poor urban children. Walking into her classroom was like being in an oasis of calm and quiet. The room, painted off-white and unlike the other classrooms which were bilious green, was spare. On a back shelf was a vase with a single flower. Lots of books were neatly arranged on specially designed shelves, so children could easily reach them. On one side was a bulletin board with one notice. The blackboard was clean. When I entered the classroom I was amazed. The children, working in groups, quickly returned to their desks and sat quietly while their teacher introduced me. I explained what we would be doing and that is what we did. I had never worked with such a responsive group.

At first I thought these first-grade youngsters were specially chosen but this was not so; students were assigned randomly. And, it was no fluke. Week after week, her students were quietly responsive, unlike the other first graders from the same neighborhood, who kicked and screamed and made me use every disciplinary trick I ever knew or thought up.

What was her secret? She told me that her first order of business was to teach the children to enjoy being still. This took about two months. In the process she helped them learn to focus, to pay attention to each other, and to enjoy listening to stories. Only after they could sit and listen comfortably did she begin to teach traditional subject matter though she never taught it traditionally. When a student caused a problem, she was likely to gather the child up in her arms and take him outside to “have a little chat.” She helped the children to love learning for its own sake and to enjoy asking questions. Although she took a lot of grief from her principal because her students did not score well on tests in the middle of the year, by the end of the year their grades always improved considerably, and every second-grade teacher wanted her students. Unbelievably calm and focused, her students were always a joy to teach. I began to understand and appreciate the power of simplicity, serenity, and clear focus. Even today, when I enter a room where chaos reigns, I think of her standing quiet and calm. I take a deep breath and begin.

Excerpt from:
King, N. (1996). Playing Their Part: Language and Learning in the Classroom. Heinemann.