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.
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