Teaching Kids - Part 2

My new role at school has me spending a fair amount of time working with students on behavior; positive and negative behaviors.  As with anything I am asked to help with, the teacher in me takes over and I start brainstorming, researching and discussing strategies and ideas to implement when working with students; both positive and negative.

There are a few things I have noticed in the eight weeks of teaching a variety of students regarding behavior.  First, parents love to hear when their child has done something positive and aren't too thrilled when they hear something negative.  Not groundbreaking research, I understand.  But communications (phone calls, e-mail, quick chats) about specific positive interactions or behaviors are seemingly unexpected and help to build a more positive rapport with the child, family and teacher.  Then, when the phone calls, e-mails or chats about negative behavior comes, it's not the only interaction you have with the family and child.  For most of our students (80% or more) behavior is an afterthought.  But for that 20% (or less) behavior impacts everything they do.  Behavior impacts learning in all classes and subjects.  It impacts friendships, social experiences, and the community.  So what do we do with those kids?  Here's an idea, we teach behavior.  It's not another thing to teach, it's what we teach.  All children need to learn about things, behavior should be no exception.  Some children struggle with reading or math while others struggle with behavior.  Just like I, as a teacher, would focus my instruction on the needs of a student with a specific math skill, I now focus my instruction on the needs of a student for a specific behavior or strategy.

When working with individuals on behavior I begin by listening.  It's a simple start but I've found it helps to let children speak their mind.  Then, I restate what I'm hearing so I can clarify the information and attempt to understand the situation from the point of the child.  It never fails that I will hear multiple sides to every story but I have to do my best to find commonalities in what I'm hearing.  After I more clearly understand what the problem behavior is I talk with the child about working together.  I can do something to help the situation if the child can do something, too.  I want them to hear that I am there to help but they must understand that ultimately they have a responsibility to help their self.  And I always end behavior focused teaching/sessions by emphasizing how much I care about the student.  The "ethic of care" is a term I've heard and read about at length.  Today, in my Twitter feed I found a video clip of Fred Rodgers petitioning members of a U.S. Senate subcommittee about the ethic of care and value of dialogue between adults when discussing feelings.

It is powerful when children see, hear, and participate in the way adults work through problems that arise from various behaviors.  It is also incredibly powerful for a child to hear that adults take time to work through things and express care for one another.  Sometimes, it just takes a little extra time and effort to teach behavior but it sends a direct message to children that you care about them as individuals, their
behavior, and their success: positive and negative.  

Teaching Kids - Part 1

It's a simple concept that can get misconstrued in any number of ways by things that happen outside of the classroom. If you ask any educator, they will agree, the number one daily priority in schools should be teaching kids. It's impossible to argue with that concept if you believe in education. But, do you believe in the educational system? That is another question. If you've payed any attention to the news, you heard about the Chicago Teachers' Union strike that kept teachers and students out of classrooms for seven school days. It was clear for those seven days that 'teaching kids' was not the number one priority for educators or the educational system. The system AND educators (administration and teachers) failed their students.  It wasn't the students that caused the strike, it was the system and people who elected to work in education that failed.  If teaching kids is what's important, then teaching kids is what will happen.

No system is perfect, especially systems in education.  If you know of a 'perfect system', educational or other, then please comment on this post or e-mail me directly.  I'd love to hear how it was developed and how it self-monitors troubleshooting, problem solving, and maintenance.  I'd love to hear about a system by which school buildings work together for educational equity for ALL students and how teachers meet students' abilities at their level and help them progress and grow from that point on every single day.

The reality of education and learning is that it is a process.  It is messy.  It taxes human emotional, brain functions, physical limits, mental capacity and pushes the limits of understanding.  It's how education evolves. It's how we as humanity evolve.  It's how we grow.  And education is what happens when a teacher is present with students, working through things together and learning.  A teacher is the single most important factor in the success of students.  That will never change.  What has changed, however, is the role of the teacher and access to information.  The job description of a teacher today is incredibly different than that of a teacher in any other generation and so is the buffet of instructional tools and information available to teachers and students.  The constant remains the same--teachers and support staff building relationships and working together with children to help them grow.  That will always be part of the job description.