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Educator bell hooks has written, "To teach in a manner that respects and cares for the souls of our students is essential if we are to provide the necessary conditions where learning can most deeply and intimately begin" (1994, 13). In making this statement, hooks acknowledged the fundamental truth that teaching, caring, and transformation are closely linked, that is, that true teaching must be accompanied by a deep level of care in order for learning to take place.
No matter how young or old, no matter the subject matter, and no matter where teaching and learning take place - a classroom, library, place of worship, or community setting - students instinctively know whether a teacher cares for them or not. A look, a gesture, a word: All of these can speak volumes about a teacher's perceptions concerning students, their identities, abilities, families, and the community in which they live. Without even realizing it, teachers bring their entire selves into the teaching and learning situation, and in the most damaging cases, this may include their stereotypes, negative judgments, and preconceptions. I have written extensively about this elsewhere (see, for example, Nieto 2OO9, 2010), and here I quote from my own experience as a child in school:
"I cannot remember her name, but the remark of one of my first teachers that it was rude to speak Spanish in the classroom still stings. It may have been nothing more than an offhand comment on her part, but those words had a powerful impact on me. In the short term, they had the effect of invalidating my use of Spanish in school. In the long term, they were to influence for many years how I would view the value of my native language. Equally rooted in my memory is the image of Mr. Slotkin, a creative and nurturing eighth- grade science teacher whose classroom was always an exciting place that made going to school worthwhile. I do not recollect any of the specific lessons he taught, and except for this one successful encounter with science, I was never particularly a science enthusiast. The relationships I had with these teachers is what made a difference, and I suspect the same is true for most people. That is why the...