With the encouragement of the students, I began to introduce this concept to all my classes. The first semester I was still shy about asking a group of high school students to sit in a circle and pass a red velvet heart. I presented the Heart Talk to each class as a communication tool which could be specially requested if anyone felt he/she had something to share with the group. That year, I had one class which was described as "remedial." The classroom atmosphere was not so cooperative, nor the students so open with one another as I would have liked. Most of the junior varsity football team sat in one section of the room cracking jokes. I didn't press the Heart Talk because I thought the class would ridicule it, or find it silly. One day, a student in the class requested the Heart Talk to create class unity. As the heart was passed, students shared uneasily at first. I had almost decided to close the activity, when one boy began talking about his mother. She was dying of a muscle-degenerative disease. His father had died suddenly a few years earlier. (Since privacy is one of the Heart Talk agreements, please know that it is fine with Mark that I share this story.)
Mark and his two brothers were watching the slow, painful death of their mother, and facing the realization that they were soon to be orphaned. He described the hurt he felt, and the closeness that was developing in his family. The students expressed true empathy for Mark. Because of his openness, the other students felt safe to be open and authentic with one another. They shared feelings of caring and the desire to support Mark. The discipline problems in that class diminished after that day, and the hostility disappeared.
During the break between this class and the next, a student came to tell me of the death of a former student. Two minutes remained before the beginning of the next class and I had no time to resolve the shock and sadness I felt. The kids came in singing, with a surprise birthday cake for me. When I asked them if they would seat themselves for a Heart Talk, the atmosphere immediately shifted to a quiet, but open and empathic one. I experienced for the first time the power of a group supporting the person who requests a Heart Talk. I shared about my friend. Many students knew him. We shared our feelings about his death. The students led and completed the Heart Talk, and then asked for my lesson plan. They taught themselves the lesson I had planned for that day. Now thoughts of that friend's death are almost always accompanied by the memory of the caring and support of that class.
Not that all Heart Talks are about death. Heart Talks are on a variety of subjects. There are many wonderful stories to tell. Sometimes Heart Talks center on the same subject in several different classes. One year all my classes spontaneously began to share their feelings about the rigid social groups in our school. They talked about how oppressive the groups were, and how happy they were to be in an atmosphere where they could really know each other. Students spontaneously began to express their positive feelings about the kids they had grown up with, but had stopped talking to years before. On other occasions, seniors shared their feelings about graduation, the excitement they felt, as well as the pressures, fears, and doubts. And then there were the students who always felt unaccepted, different, sometimes ostracized from the group. I watched several of them open up in a Heart Talk, and receive the acceptance and respect of the group. I saw confidence, self-concept, and academic behavior improve when this happened.
So in the age of back-to-the-basics, why would a teacher of one of those basics spend the time in an activity like a Heart Talk? Because for me, the Heart Talk has made the basics teachable. By providing an atmosphere where the students are open to learning, a Heart Talk creates more time than it takes. More importantly, it restores what is truly basic to the basics: the development of communication skills which foster. understanding and awareness. For example, discussions of the purposes for and relevance of literature read like behavioral objectives for a Heart Talk. The themes we discuss in literature we have frequently explored earlier in a Heart Talk. Often the objectives stated in my course outline are best met by the Heart Talk. Heart Talks have helped my students answer the question that one of my students recently voiced, "What are the basics basically for, anyway?" In my writing classes, Heart Talks have become an essential tool. They have helped students gain what is often thought missing in student writing a sense of authenticity and voice. When students are encouraged to express themselves in Heart Talks, there is a carry over in their writing. Most of my students quickly break out of the mode of alienated prose when they see that what they have to say is honored in the classroom. Heart Talks have also had an immediate impact on the effectiveness of peer response groups. From the atmosphere of honesty and support that is fundamental to the Heart Talk, students easily move into giving feedback on writing that is honestly constructive, positive, and supportive. Elementary teachers I have talked with tell me the Heart Talk is a natural way to develop oral language.
As I review recent literature in composition theory, I can see theoretical support for the effectiveness of the Heart Talk. I see applications to the development of inner speech that James Moffet emphasizes; I see how Heart Talks help dispose of the "Engfish" that Ken Macrorie complains about; Heart Talks assist in the development of the voice which Peter Elbow stresses; Heart Talks support the intentions of the student, such that James Britton would applaud.
Although the Heart Talk is rich in academic applications, I use it because I agree with Antoine de Saint-Exupery and the little prince. "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly." When students who have graduated long ago call or come to see me, they almost always ask, "Are you still using Heart Talks? Remember when. . ."
Epilogue
The evening after I completed this paper, six of the twenty four parents I saw at open house singled me out to thank me for having Heart Talks in the classroom. The next morning I read this paper to my students. One girl enthusiastically raised her hand and said, "Yes, and tell them Heart Talks give you confidence and you begin to look at everyone differently. You learn everyone has good in them."
At first glance, that red velvet heart might appear to be just one of those affective tools; a nice addition to the program; perhaps a good method for improving listening skills. With two years of MORE TEACHABLE MOMENTS serving as a focal point of my fourth grade program, I now know that, true to my first impression; Heart Talks and the related materials are indeed the affective tools that bring feelings and self-expression into the daily plan. In addition, I now appreciate the over-all impact these techniques are making on my entire curriculum. MORE TEACHABLE MOMENTS has become the bridge between the affective and cognitive realms of my program. Its implications for use seem obvious for those subject areas requiring self-expression, for example, creative writing. A closer look, and the possible applications become equally apparent in other areas, such as math.
Somewhere between sixth grade and junior high, I vowed that, should I ever become a teacher, I would never ask a child to go to the chalkboard. To me, that direction translated: reddened, burning face, lump in the throat, and blurred, tearful vision. In my memory today, I recall those feelings as I stood there - stuck‹ not knowing how to solve the math on the board, aware of the reaction of my teacher and the giggles from the class.
Analyzing the experience, I see that for many children, math can be a risk-taking venture. During their early years, children are rarely placed in situations requiring that they exercise logic and sequential thought to the degree that they are called upon to muster up those qualities at the board. Math can become emotional drudgery for some learners new to the game.
In my classroom, I began to notice an exciting change. I watched one of my shy, take-no-risk students volunteer to come to the chalkboard to solve a problem during the math lesson. Aware of the potentially uncomfortable situation that could arise, I hesitated to call on him. His persistence overruled my resistance and moments later he was at the board. His only comment, "I'm not real sure I know how to do this but I do know all of you will stick with me until I get it." And they did!
After that day, I began to observe more closely the daily interaction of my students. My curiosity and suspicions ran me. I watched, in particular, risk-taking situations. I even set some up.
Overall, participation in such areas as math and other new learning situations was on the rise. I saw a new willingness on the part of the students to jump right in, sometimes even over their heads. There was a supportive, adventuresome attitude among my thirty students that I had not experienced in previous years.
Sometimes as adults, we make life more complicated than it need be. Rather than research and analyze any further to find out what was producing such favorable results, I went to the source via a class Heart Talk and asked the children.
"What works for you in our room?", I asked. "In this room we make mistakes seem like they are natural and not to be feared," they answered.
One child seemed to summarize the general comments when she said, "Well, in here, we're all one big group with a big bunch of feelings that happen all day long. It doesn't matter what you're doing, like math or playing or drawing. When I say something that's maybe not that good or right, it's still o.k. anyway."
That is part of the impact of the MORE TEACHABLE MOMENTS program. It creates a context of safety within the classroom that seems to inspire students to higher levels of participation. It provides a bridge, from the affective to the cognitive, upon which students can safely walk.
For over a year, I observed the Heart Talk Program and saw it being gradually integrated into the language arts classes, into classroom conflict management, and into daily social living. As a school, we found that Heart Talks often enhanced the curriculum and at times cleared the air so that learning could occur more easily.
I suppose it was in the natural progression of events that the faculty began to open each faculty meeting with a short Heart Talk. We had just been through a difficult year as far as faculty relationships were concerned. Our normally warm atmosphere had eroded and feelings of suspicion and mistrust had developed. It was at this time that we began our Heart Talks. We did not spend a great deal of time with Heart Talks, but those fifteen or twenty minutes started to make a difference. As people confided their likes, dislikes, worries, and difficulties, greater understanding and tolerance for differences gradually replaced mistrust. We discovered that old hurts and closed minds were difficult to maintain when another is being open hearted.
Over that year, I was gratified to see improved relationships on all levels, and attributed this, in part, to our faculty Heart Talks.
We no longer have regularly scheduled Heart Talks, not because we don't find them valuable, but because now our faculty Heart Talks occur spontaneously and freely. I see this as a positive sign. And, it seems to me, that the ultimate goal of the Heart Talk program is just that‹ free, loving, and spontaneous communication.
Heart Talks have worked for us. And we continue to renew our commitment to communication by an occasional all-group Heart Talk.
COPYRIGHT 1983 by Live Love Laugh