Three Things You Should Probably Know

Three Things You Probably Should Know at this Point in the Year About Every Student You Teach

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Fun While Test Proctoring

Research tells us that teacher-student relationships are the key to teaching, especially for reaching those students who are guarded, distant, and prickly. At this point in the year, when you can count the weeks remaining on one hand, it’s useful to think about how well you know the students you are teaching. I’ve devised a little game that could be a fun* way to pass the time while you are actively monitoring during upcoming high-stakes testing.      

Here’s how to play:  

Use a copy of your seating charts or roll sheets to access the names of all your students. Go down the list, student-by-student, and ask yourself these three questions:

1. What is this student proud of?
2. How does this student struggle in my class, or what would be the most beneficial way this student could grow in my subject?
3. What is something outside of my class that is important to this young person?

The way to win is to be able to answer each of these questions for every student in your classes.

This is a game I would have had a hard time winning when I was a classroom teacher. I could have answered all of these questions without hesitation for some of my students, but for most, I would have had one or more blanks. There were students I didn’t get to know—the quiet ones who didn’t call attention to themselves and therefore didn’t receive much, the defensive ones who walked in on day one with a permanent chip on their shoulders, the compliant ones who came to school to “cooperate and graduate” but who didn’t earn extra attention from me because they were doing fine. In retrospect, I probably didn’t make all the breakthroughs possible for those students whom I didn’t get to know as people and as learners.

Most middle school teachers and high school elective teachers seem to have figured this whole relationship thing out. In high school content-area classes, however, I think high scores on the Relationship Game are more scarce.

There are a number of factors to explain this. As students get older, they become more guarded and private about whom they will allow access to their trusted circle. Also, high school classes are more difficult and more content-heavy, so teachers at that level may tend to favor the curriculum over the humans who are there to learn it. Let’s face it: some high school English teachers gravitate to teaching English because they love Gatsby, Holden, and Romeo. Nearly every seventh grade English teacher I know teaches seventh grade English because they love seventh graders. The same is probably true for math, science, and social studies.

I’m not trying to say that high school teachers don’t love the students they teach; I am admitting, though, that our attention to content and our unwavering focus on preparing our students for college and “the real world” sometimes takes priority over getting to really know our students as human beings.  

The purpose of my little game isn’t to make you feel like a failure if you don’t have answers for all the questions. Instead, it’s a reality check.

At this point in the year, you likely know most of your students as well as you are going to know them this year. If you aren’t happy with your score, what will you do next year to change that?   

___________________________

* If you know me well at all, you know that the word “fun” was written with a great deal of sarcasm accompanying it because I’d be foolish to try to describe anything done during active monitoring as at all enjoyable. 

Incredibly Credible

There’s nothing worse than being stuck with someone who seems incompetent: the Uber driver who asks you for directions, the doctor who has to consult Web MD mid-visit, the waitperson who looks at you blankly when you inquire about a specific menu item, the car salesman who reads off the brochure to tell you the features of a new auto, the Starbucks barista or bartender who asks, “What’s in that drink?”

For students, being stuck in a classroom with a teacher who doesn’t seem to know what he or she is doing can be excruciating and potentially hazardous to student achievement. In fact, researcher/professor John Hattie, whose meta-study determined the factors most crucial to student achievement, ranked “Teacher Credibility” as the #2 teacher attribute leading to student success (#1 was “Teacher Estimates of Student Achievement,” whether the teacher can accurately tell how a specific student is doing). Credible teachers inspire students, but, as Hattie said, “If a teacher is not perceived as credible, the students just turn off.”

I’m assuming we are all wanting to be viewed as credible rather than incompetent, but we may be uncertain about what “teacher credibility” entails. Hattie identifies four factors that can help us out.

1. Trust: Students need to know they can trust you. They need to know they are in good hands and that you aren’t going to lead them astray, leave them lost and confused, or ask them to do something they aren’t capable of doing. Hattie says the best way to gain students’ trust is to show trust toward them. It’s hard to trust someone who doesn’t trust you back. Another way to achieve trust with your students is to talk to them. Not talk at them. Not talk for them. To them. Having authentic conversations with your students and getting to know them as individuals, letting them know you see them for who they are, and allowing them to see you for who you are develops bonds of trust that will allow you to take your students farther than they thought they could go.   

2. Competence: Teachers who project the image that they know what they are doing are perceived as more competent than those who bumble confusedly through class. There’s no substitute for coming to class prepared for your day. Students shouldn’t get the idea that you’re making up plans as you go along. A competent teacher knows the subject matter, has prepared and proofread any written documents or visual aids, manages people, time, and materials efficiently, has a clear sense of purpose and direction for the lesson, and can answer questions with confidence. Inevitably, a student will stump the teacher from time to time with a question the teacher can’t answer. Rather than looking at that as a failing, this is a prime opportunity for the teacher to model learning along with the students. When leading class discussions, the competent teacher has prepared questions to ask at the appropriate moment; the teacher who struggles to develop questions on the spot risks looking unprepared, a sure sign of questionable competence.    

3. Dynamism: A dynamic teacher exudes credibility. The teacher has to be “on” from the beginning of class until after the students leave the room. Developing a confident speaking style that avoids fillers, such as “ums” and “likes,” helps the teacher deliver the message without distractions. I suggest videorecording yourself from time to time (horrifying as it is to watch) to evaluate your own dynamism. Are you someone students listen to because you command their attention (Commanding is different from demanding.), or are you losing your students because your delivery is tentative or confusing?

4. Immediacy: Some teachers like to barricade themselves behind a desk, hide behind a podium, or set some other boundary between themselves and their students. Teachers who develop credibility, according to Hattie, eliminate as many of those barriers as possible and teach in proximity to the students. Evaluate the arrangement of your classroom to make sure there are plenty of places for teacher mobility, and use all of them routinely. Reducing the distance between you and your students makes you more approachable and accessible, which adds to the perception of credibility.

If you’re like me, you can remember some of the teachers in your past who failed to convince you that they knew what they were doing. You can recall those who made you feel you weren’t really in good hands. You might be able to think of a few that you were pretty sure were winging it every single day of the year. Those teachers are probably memorable for the wrong reasons.

You can probably also think about the times when you knew you were in the classroom of a master teacher. I think of teachers who trusted us to take charge of the learning, who connected with us as people (even if we were decades younger than they were), who seemed passionate about the content and well-prepared for instruction every day, and who thoughtfully designed learning experiences that stretched us as thinkers. Those were the teachers with credibility.

Take a tip from Hattie, and think about your own credibility in the classroom. He outlined some pretty basic traits that are attainable for all of us. Pick one (or all of them) and make those a resolution for your upcoming new semester. You have the power to become one of the teachers students will remember for all the best reasons.