I used to think, to be a great teacher, I had to teach everyone the same, and all at once.
As an aspiring teacher, I was given advice that hasn't aged well. "Teach to 'the middle'. The average learners will get it. The lower achievers will grasp it. And the high achievers, they'll learn despite how you teach." While I had questioned this "expertise", what did I know? I was learning from people with enough life experience that they could be my parents.
Implementing this advice, I would learn one thing: how to become a mediocre teacher.
Don't teach to "the middle".
Teaching to "the middle" reaches no one. It keeps what happens about the adult in the room. And it allows anyone in a classroom to stay at a superficial level, whether teaching or learning. Want kids who don't love school yet, to develop worse feelings towards it? Want to avoid building relationships, and trust, and confidence? Want to make school impersonal? Teach to the middle. Resisting or rejecting this kind of advice, will create a meaningful, at times, spontaneous and unexpected learning experience for all. It will create a space for personalization and will foster a sense of belonging. And it will give purpose.
Want to teach more deeply and less superficially? Here are your first steps towards action.
#1. Schedule time to make phone calls home.
You've heard that saying, about relationships. It sounds like a cliché, but it's absolutely true.
Want to make a good first impression? Begin the new school year by calling parents at home. Ask them to tell you about their son or daughter. Organize what you learn in a spreadsheet, easily accessible to you. Tell parents how excited you are to work as partners in support of your share interest: their child's success. Once the school year is underway, ending each day with a positive phone call is good or all: your student, the parent, and even you, the teacher. It's a recommitment to the relationship you're building together.
#2. Ask questions, and listen closely for answers.
Every day is an opportunity to learn something new, about someone.
Building a healthy and positive school or classroom culture begins with individual connections. Want to create a sense of belonging? Make time to ask students questions. Start by meeting and greeting each child, by name, at the classroom door. Establish brief individual check-ins each morning. Create student surveys to help initiate or sustain meaningful and student-specific dialogue. Frame your vision around learning a child's 4'S (Sparks, Strengths, Struggles, and Supports). This information will not only help connect with students, it will also add meaning to the partnership you are building with a child's parents.
#3. Co-construct goals.
Each child has a unique idea about personal progress.
Maybe it's becoming more organized, prioritizing, or improving time management. Perhaps it's getting more sleep, eating more nourishing food, or playing less video games and spending more time with friends or family. When a teacher routinely makes time for parent phone calls and one-on-one conversations, it builds trust and a sense of shared responsibility for a student's progress and positive outcomes. Using Peter DeWitt's co-constructing goals (one to go, one to grow, and one to glow), provides opportunities to collaborate with each student, identifying areas in which they're succeeding, improving, or thriving. This will empower and build a student's confidence, as well as grow his/her capacity for progress.
I used to "teach to the middle". That was before I knew better, that this would only actually make me an average teacher, at best. The good news? None of us need to accept this advice. We can reject average. And the first step is simpler than you think. Start with hello.