“Fundamentally, at the very essence of teaching, what is uncannily correct and elusively true, is that I teach who I am. I am the main textbook my students will read.”
-Basil Favaro
While we can’t share all of ourselves with our students, truly we must share some of ourselves with them. It’s the connections that come from that humanity and personality that allows us to foster such impactful and honest teaching. Part of what makes schools full of teachers and classrooms full of their presence so valuable are those unique qualities.
We certainly ask a lot of students, and at the ages of intermediate school, they’re already swimming in discomfort and confusion and self-doubt. People don’t like being open, they don’t like being vulnerable and uncomfortable by default, and at school-age even less, so we as educators have to improve the communicative environment. Offer our own first. Trade vulnerability with them.
We have to be human to show them it’s okay for them to be human.
There’s a reason what students remember the most are the personalities of their teachers. Students remember how the teacher made them feel more than the material. They remember how they were treated. They remember being inspired. Once you’ve opened those doors of communication, and confidence, and inspiration, then whatever our subject, whatever the lesson, then the students will be able to receive it.
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There are no ’10 Commandments’ of teaching. No perfect formula. And right there shouldn’t be. Teaching is a personal and unique journey both for student and for teacher, but every teacher still needs a personal code to guide them. Their own stability and reassurances to remind them. And for now, these are mine:
1) At any age students are more capable and knowledgeable than they’re given credit for. This potential can’t be released unless both they as students believe it and we as teachers believe it. It’s up to us to make sure both happen.
2) We must create an environment on the foundation of respect, communication, safety, and personal growth. Any type of classroom can thrive on that groundwork.
3) For everything we teach, we must provide a strong and stable core framework and perimeter to start and let the students fill the inside and decorate the outside with their own curiosity and interests.
4) Keep the students informed of your expectations, methods, and the resources you have for them at every step of the way.
5) Always be open to changing or adding to the above. Learning never stops and we should always be adapting and growing ourselves.
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I also have a few guiding principles for how I design my lessons, treat my students, and lead my classroom. These mantras and snippets help keep me grounded and focused on providing the best possible environment for my students:
- All teaching is about relationship building
- Learning is not route, and neither should be teaching
- Telling without change is not teaching
- Language is the BEST tool you can give students to overcome any challenge
- Reward effort over product
- Comfort zones are muscles; they need slow and steady training, overworking them is damaging
- Apologize to your students when you make a mistake
- Always talk to a student, before you talk about a student
- Discipline should be about behavior, not character
- Never do or say anything with just the goal of critique, you need to rebuild and reinvent after deconstruction
- The curriculum is a floor from which you build, not a ceiling under which you’re limited
- Always respect your students no matter what, and when they see that they’ll respect you in return
- Everybody wants to learn something
- Unless your students are six years old, do not treat them like they’re six years old
- Consistency is KEY
- Take the time to understand when a situation requires Discipline or Intervention
- We are more than the worst thing we’ve ever done
- Students hear what you don’t say, just as well as what you do
This philosophy and guiding principles are ever-changing as I pick up new experiences and face new challenges. We as teachers not just should, but must always be learning and growing and improving; if not just for our sake, but for the sake of our students.
Because at the end of the day it’s not just us who gets shared with the students, but them who gets shared with us too. We must be ready to reward, receive, and foster the potential within when our students open up. They are each a unique and tender plant, with diverse range of care instructions and environmental needs, and it’s up to us to collect the knowledge and compassion to cultivate these fertile minds.