Teacher shares strategy to stop school shootings

Glennon Doyle Melton recently had a conversation with her sonâs teacher and she was so moved and compelled â she had to share with the world.
Glennon Doyle Melton writes the popular blog momastery.com and is the author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller Selection Love Warrior: A Memoir. So, she clearly has a way with words. And the story she recently shared is absolutely powerful.

Earlier this year, she went into her son Chaseâs tutoring class. She had sent her sonâs teacher an email the previous evening.
ââChase keeps telling me that this stuff youâre sending home is mathâbut Iâm not sure I believe him. Help, please.â She e-mailed right back and said, âNo problem! I can tutor Chase after school anytime.â And I said, âNo, not him. Me. He gets it. Help me,'â she wrote.
Glennon showed up to the classroom and was soon receiving a lesson from the teacher on the ânew way we touch long division.â

Glennon said she didnât have an issue learning this ânew wayâ of math because she never really understood the âoldâ way anyway! So, she was basically starting from scratch.
âIt took me a solid hour to complete one problem, but I could tell that Chaseâs teacher liked me anyway. She used to work with NASA, so obviously we have a whole lot in common,â she jokes.
After Glennon received her math tutoring lesson, she and the teacher sat down and talked â mostly about all the hopes and dreams they had for the children.

The two chatted about hoping they can âshape the heartsâ of these children to become wonderful, stand-up citizens of the world. And thenâŠthatâs when the teacher divulged something to Glennon that completely wowed her.
The teacher explained that every single Friday, she asks her students to write down four names on a piece of paper. They would pick four names of children that theyâd like to sit next to the following week. However, the kids know that the teacher may not always honor the requests.
In addition to picking seatmates, she also asks the students to nominate one student who they thought was an exceptional classroom citizen that week.

All of the âballotsâ are then submitted to the teacher privately and she then takes them home after the school day, lays them out in front of her, and tries to look for or notice and patterns.
Are there any children that arenât being requested?
Are there any children that are having a hard time requesting anyone?
Is there a certain child that is never nominated?
Was there a student that had lots of requests last week but none this week?
The entire point of the exercise isnât really looking for new weekly seating chart ideas â sheâs actually looking for lonely children.

âSheâs looking for children who are struggling to connect with other children. Sheâs identifying the little ones who are falling through the cracks of the classâs social life. She is discovering whose gifts are going unnoticed by their peers. And sheâs pinning downâright awayâwhoâs being bullied and who is doing the bullying,â Glennon shared.
This genius way of connecting with her students is also a great way to deter any bullying. The teacher said that she knows most bullying happens out of her ear and eyeshot and many kids are too scared or intimidated to reach out for help. But these private little sheets of paper help her keep an eye out for any issues.
Glennon asked Chaseâs teacher how long sheâs been using this method â âEver since Columbine,â she replied.

The incredible teacher helplessly watched the events of Columbine unfold and knew that so much outward violence stems and begins from inward loneliness. She wanted to do something to help.
âWhat Chaseâs teacher is doing when she sits in her empty classroom studying those lists written with shaky 11-year-old hands is saving lives. I am convinced of it,â Glennon says.
Itâs simply amazing that this math teacher spends her time looking for patterns in loneliness and love, stepping in when she needs to. Simply beautiful.
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Source: RD