214: Nothing's Going to Change My Mind: How Unconditional Positive Regard Transforms Classrooms

The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast

Jennifer Gonzalez

Education, Teaching, Instruction, Classroommanagement, Educationreform

4.8 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 18 September 2023

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

At a time when student behaviors and attitudes seem more troubling than ever before, we may need to approach their behavior in a different way, too. In this episode, Alex Shevrin Venet returns to talk about unconditional positive regard, a philosophy that offers students care no matter what — they don't have to earn it, and nothing they do can make it go away. This approach can transform some of the most difficult student-teacher relationships, but it's not easy. Venet shows us how it works, why it works, and how teachers can get the support they need to navigate it.

Thanks to Listenwise and EVERFI for sponsoring this episode.

Read the full transcript and find links to Alex's book, Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education at cultofpedagogy.com/unconditional-positive-regard/.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is Jennifer Gonzalez welcoming you to episode 214 of the Cult of Pedagogy Podcast.
0:06.1	In this episode we're going to talk about a philosophy that can transform the relationships
0:10.4	you have with your students.
0:12.5	It's called unconditional positive regard.
0:27.1	Among the many challenges teachers have faced since the onset of the pandemic, one that
0:31.7	persists is this feeling that students have changed, that they are less motivated, more
0:36.7	entitled, and more disrespectful than ever before.
0:40.9	Even if a teacher can find plenty of evidence to support this perception, it can't be making
0:46.4	things any better.
0:48.6	And while it does seem that the pandemic exacerbated this feeling among teachers, I saw it
0:54.0	long before we ever heard the word COVID.
0:57.3	In the late 90s and early 2000s, I worked with far too many teachers who held a pretty
1:02.8	low opinion of many of our students.
1:05.8	There was a lot of these kids in certain negative generalization, or well, what do you expect
1:11.6	from him?
1:12.6	He in certain negative generalization.
1:15.6	I think many of these attitudes come from a real valid and vulnerable place, from teachers
1:21.8	who once had high hopes, but felt disappointed and hurt when things went wrong.
1:27.4	Teachers who had good intentions and got their hearts broken a little bit, every time students
1:31.8	rejected their efforts.
1:34.1	Teachers who see behaviors from their students that shock and frighten them.
1:38.5	But regardless of where they come from, these mindsets hurt our relationships with students,
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -559 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jennifer Gonzalez, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Jennifer Gonzalez and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.