Teaching: It's all about Relationships




Sometimes reflection can bring you full circle. I thought and thought, and what I found was what I've known all along - a simple truth that underscores everything that we do as educators and what most of us look for all of our lives -  solid and meaningful relationships are the most critical things that teachers must establish before real instruction can take place. I take a lot of time preaching about the need for relationships - you may have heard me remark (at least once a week) that good teachers understand that you have to have a relationship with students before you can teach them anything! 


Think for a moment about your favorite teacher and you probably can remember something that that teacher did or said that was above and beyond academics. Those teachers were able to create a drive for learning, even if the subjects were not your favorite subjects at all! I think that the power behind this is that strong teachers don't back away from opportunities to touch and connect, and this connection results in students who really, really want to learn!


What is all this relationship stuff that I'm talking about?  It's simply taking the time to get to know the students that you're teaching, and getting them to know that you care about them. It's making sure that your students are more than a name in a grade book. I guarantee that once you make a meaningful connection, things will suddenly change. Test this theory out and see what happens! If necessary, start small - tell a joke, have a genuine laugh, give a sincere handshake, and see what happens!

   Queen Bee

Accomplished Teachers and Reflective Practice: Becoming Better

It's all about becoming better, isn't it?
Each day of life is about improving ourselves, and teaching is about becoming better at instructing and learning. I've been on the road to accomplished teaching for awhile, and it's a journey with no real end. Every day that I work with teachers and students is about how I can improve my practice. 

How can I educate better? Listening - Positioning - Reflecting

1. Listening: Hearing the essence of what others say.
  • not superficial listening - which is simply waiting for the speaker to stop so I can jump in. 
  • not autobiographical listening - which is adding my two cents of life history to whatever is being said 
Authentic listening is being present for the speaker, acknowledging what is being said, and being able to understand and clarify and even respond to what was said.

2. Positioning:  Offering substantive support to others.
  • not in a top down hierarchy - I am not the know-it-all, but I am the know-it-some. 
  • planning for future opportunities is not always about just following what I say, it's about using what I say to plan your way.
Successful positioning is more about how to position myself  to become a more successful mentor. Successful mentors will  collaborate and offer guidance from the side, instead of standing up front, like beacons in the night.

3. Reflecting: Thinking about what was done. 
  • how are our conversations the basis for real change?
  • what can we do to increase our practice as teachers?
  • do we really reflect, or do we sometimes just rehearse what we've done? 
Do we really think about how to improve our work? And if our work is with other teachers, do we really offer them a chance to improve themselves?


After all, isn't every day another chance to improve ourselves?
  
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