Welcome to TeachSmart!
In this world of ever-changing education, TeachSmart believes that kids and teachers are what matters most and in this one main point::
the relationship between a student and a teacher, and a classroom and their teacher can change lives.
But how do we do this as educators?
The first thing is this:
The content has to be authentic.
Learning something for the sake of learning is ineffective. The less a teacher believes that the content is worth learning – that it is not absolutely necessary in the development of their students, the less effective the classroom experience will be. While we as teachers most often have no choice in what is being taught, we do have a choice in how it is being taught. It is our responsibility to understand the content.
So. What if I suggested to you that you look at the curriculum from a different perspective? Many teacher look at the curriculum from the perspective of how it would translate into a lesson. But what if you made it a priority to first find authentic content in the prescribed curriculum? Really look at the core of that curriculum outcome or objective. Can you identify the reason for its inclusion in the curriculum – how would you actually need this in your own life, as a person? Because if you cannot find it, your students probably won’t see it and then you WILL not be authentic in your teaching.
In my experience most teachers spend the bulk of their time creating lessons which are great – but these fantastic lessons are will not soar the way that they could have had they been developed with very clear, authentic content at their core. It is not that we are unable to extrapolate the core content from which to build, it is that we often feel that we do not have time.
Still other teachers believe that this is the responsibility of the curriculum writers, boards and ministries to drill down to the simple content objective or outcomes, but really, deep understanding of content is an organic thing, it is living and it changes just as societies do because there is a living relationship between knowledge and application, therefore, content often needs to be interpreted and revisited and that requires the expertise of a professional educator. This is why Google will not replace teachers.
What I am suggesting is that we carve out time and priorize a clear, root purpose for instruction tied to authentic application. This purpose changes. Instead of wondering why your lesson does not work anymore, what you did wrong, come at it from the perspective of what has changed in the application and relevance of this content? You may need to revisit that content and how you interpret and present the relationship between the content and the application. Before investing the time teaching your tried and true, wonderfully creative lessons, do a pulse check on it. If we switch the balance this way it becomes much easier to let go or revisit and adapt our lessons which will lead to greater classroom success. We sometimes hang on to lessons that are falling short because we spent so much time creating them and gathering the resources that we are unwilling to change or abandon them.
I am not saying that there is not irrelevant curriculum content out there, because there certainly is. But where a curriculum has been thoughtfully and elementally considered – there is a universal, albeit ever changing application. It is worth exploring. See if your curriculum does this. Sometimes we are so busy surviving our daily grind, that we do not stop to consider what our core role is.
Lessons have to be relevant.
By lesson I mean the way that the content is delivered and it is our business as teachers to know how to do this. Of course the lesson has to have some kind of larger meaning in its content, but the tricky bit with lessons is that the significance of this meaning is different for each student because some students already realize that the lesson is relevant for them, while others are only about to discover it. This creates learning tension in the classroom and how teachers offer these lessons now becomes so incredibly important. A good teacher works at preparing multi-layered ways into the lesson and a master teacher will automatically do that, plus adapt in the moment, every moment. This is living differentiation.
Once you have uncovered the big idea, (and there mostly is one), the authentic piece of learning – when you teach, it is absolutely no different than a doctor professionally diagnosing, then planning an educated course of action and monitoring the results, including collecting data and testing with the intent to alter the prescription on a patient by patient basis until the desired outcome is achieved *.
This is our craft.
This is our job.
We strive to become experts at this.
The art of teaching is the finesse with which you do this. The reality however, would be that you do this with 20 – 40 “patients” at the same time.
This is unfair and bad, right?
No.
I don’t think it is. I DID think so for a very long time, but then I changed my mind. I don’t think this scenario is easy, but I do think that sometimes a student will learn in a way that you didn’t think to prescribe for them just by watching you teach someone else. And THIS is why I think that mutual respect on two levels – between teacher and student AND between classroom and teacher is necessary.
In order for the lessons to be taught as quickly and effectively as possible, so that the content can be understood for deep meaning you MUST have mutual respect on these two very different levels.
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The relationship between teacher and student and teacher and classroom has to build and sustain a mutual respect.
Teacher/student = trust. Trust is needed for fluidity of learning. The student needs to trust that you aren’t wasting their time and that you have a point and purpose – basically that you have their best interests at heart, that you are invested and care that they understand. The teacher needs to trust that the student will say when they understand and more importantly, when they don’t.
Teacher/Classroom = sustainable dynamics. Sustainable dynamics are needed for multi-level functionality in a diverse classroom. Basically, the kids need to understand that everyone learns differently, at different speeds and the only way we can not totally waste our time everyday is to accept, understand and develop our ability to navigate our day with this in mind.
Kids are successful at this in varying degrees, but this CAN be taught. Kids need to be taught this. You need to tell them why it is important and you need to give them the opportunity to rise to this most applicable core lesson. Life is filled with all different kinds of family members, co-workers and people; our lives will be filled with them and that is why we need to learn this even more than math (yes, even more than math). If we give others the environment in which to learn, eventually they should and will give it to you. School will make more sense to them. School will become a tool for them to develop into whomever they decide to become.
*One note here – we are not all researchers. We should not, nor should we be asked to be data collectors for the sake of data collecting. As professional educators we should administer tests when we deem them necessary for the development of our students, not as a comparative tool between students or fellow educators. Data for program evaluation and resource assessment purposes is different and that data should be collected and assessed by professionals who are trained and unbiased.
Thanks for reading.
What you will find at this website is:
- Easy to use, creative resources to help teachers in their classrooms that keep both the teacher and the student engaged. I am tired of busy work. I’m sure you are too.
- Relevant commentary on current teaching practices for both educators and parents. We should be thinking about what and how we teach kids. It’s the most important thing we do as a society.
- A place for parents to get real feedback and insights about the education of their kids. Because they deserve every bit of help and partnership they can get.
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