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It is all about perception. We receive information vital to our survival within the environment we are placed in. There are very few situations that we would benefit from the superhero abilities such as night vision or super sensitive hearing. We are equipped with the abilities that we need for most situations. And, to be truly successful, we need to think outside the box and ask ourselves two questions. “What assumption am I making, that I’m not aware I’m making, that gives me what I see? And “What might I now invent, that I haven’t yet invented, that would give me other choices?” Only then would you truly have the information to solve the problem where four lines could do the work of five.
The idea of giving the students, employees or audience you are addressing an A changes your perspective in addressing them and your purpose for addressing them which will in turn have an effect on their perspective of being addressed. It essentially put a positive spin on the event that overwrites any negativity such as fear, nerves or apprehension of any kind. My principal has a quote at the end of every email that says something to the effect of "A student will not care, until they know that you care." I think showing the students that we care is very similar to giving them A for future efforts, or validating their existence. We have many students at the school that would only receive an A in their lives from us while they are at school and their behavior reflects that. If we started off class everyday by giving them a A, how would that affect their performance that day? It might be worth the experiment.
Zander, B. & Stone Zander, R. 2000. The art of possibility. Boston, Massachusetts.
Showing our students we care is one of the most important things we can do as teachers. I teach 6th grade, and my students are SO emotional and full of drama. Respect is huge for them, and they never respect those who show them disrespect. Sometimes dealing with 6th grade mouths can get very exhausting, but I realized a long time ago not to take anything they say personally. When they are "in a mood" I still treat them with respect and care. I try to see them not just as math students - but, as their parents see them - as children to love. ~ Sabrina
ReplyDeleteUltimately teaching is a very human enterprise, we are preparing the next generation so your principal's motto is essential to everything we do: "A student will not care, until they know that you care." Teacher/school accountability, NCLB and standards are meant to assure that our students get what we promise them as far as every student in every class getting a good education. But we're NOT machines and we're not working with machines and until the decision makers (and some teachers who want to mail it in) get this then we'll continually be adding band-aids to broken arms and wondering why nothing seems to work. They won't care unless they see that we care.
ReplyDeleteI love the quote at the end of your principals email. It is because of that, that I try to show my students I care everyday. I remind them that they can do it. If they fall off i don't let them slide, but try to find out what went wrong and how can I help. I try to give them chances to be successful. Once most of the class messed up on a quiz, so I scrapped it did a fresh review session and gave another quiz. They were successful the second time around. It felt good, not only to them, but for me also.
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