Each school year has its rewards and challenges, and usually the rewards outweigh the challenges. Educators become acquainted with new groups of scholars and families. The beginning of the school year is exciting for both educators and scholars. We come with a refreshed outlook on the new school year. Educators think about ways to increase student engagement and improve student achievement. Students think about ways to make new friends and perform better in all of their classes. The beginning of the school year is an exciting time for educators, scholars, and families of scholars, it’s a fresh start.
On the other hand, the end of the year is filled with excitement, as well, especially for seniors in high school, eighth grade scholars, who are preparing to leave middle school and enter high school, and fifth grade scholars, who are preparing to enter middle school. These three grade levels are transition grades for scholars and signal both an end and, soon, a new beginning. As I reflect on this year as a middle level educator, I think of the three main areas that have made this year, and every year enjoyable: lending a listening ear, showing a caring heart, and laughing out loud.
Listening Ears
In my educator preparation program, there were no courses that taught me how to be an effective listener, it is a skill that I nurtured and developed over the years. Growing up, I was a very quiet child and did not speak much, but I would always listen. I listened to and followed instructions given to me from my parents and teachers. I listened intently while in college to gain new information. I listened to friends and family members when they share their stories with me or seek advice. So, listening is second nature to me.
As an educator, I have learned to use my listening skills to enhance my pedagogy. Most of my scholars like talking about their lives and I, genuinely, like listening to their stories. As I listen to their several stories about home life and events they experience at school, I am using that time to build relationships with my scholars, and these relationships help me in the classroom. Building relationships is vital to increasing student achievement because I have gained the trust of my scholars, and this trust pours into classroom instruction and learning tasks assigned to them; they give me their best work. In addition to a trusting relationship, I get to know my scholars outside of their academic performances. I learn about their favorite sports and when they have games coming up so that I can attend. Listening is a skill I will continue to use every school year to help me learn more about my scholars, both academically and personally.
Not only do scholars need access to a listening ear, but other teachers need someone who will serve as a sound board or provide them time to “vent.” Many of my co-workers have come to me to just share their frustrations about a scholar, a parent, or an administrative action or email, and every “vent session” is always confidential; I never share information shared with me to others. During these “vent sessions” I simply listen, I don’t try to fix the problem, unless asked for advice; most times teachers just want to get their frustrations out. Usually, I share the same frustrations, but I don’t share, during the vent session, I just listen, because that is what they need at the time. Listening is a powerful tool that builds trusting, positive relationships and it is a skill I will use every year in my teaching.
A Caring Heart
Working with people requires a level of care which will help build trusting and positive relationships. Working with young adolescents requires a “caring heart” because many of them don’t know how to care about themselves and, or their life goals. Displaying a caring heart toward my scholars, shows them what “care” looks like, sounds like, and feels like. Unfortunately, some of my scholars live in, somewhat, negative environments and they may not interact with someone who has a caring demeanor, and so when they come to school, I try to make their experience at school be the best experience ever. I want school to feel like a fun and safe place where there are several caring adults that can be trusted.
I remember reading this quote by John C. Maxwell, “students don’t care what you know, until they know how much you care.” This saying is so true. The first few weeks of school are challenging because my scholars do not know me and they do not know what to expect; they do not trust me. However, when I begin peeling back their many layers and listening to their many personal narratives, and building trusting relationships, my scholars become more invested in their academic tasks and they perform at a higher level. Scholars know which teachers care about them and which teachers don’t care about them; scholars usually do not enjoy the classes of teachers that do not care about them or for them. I have to literally walk scholars into those classrooms to ensure they will attend the class. These are also the classes that scholars do not care about arriving to class on time. Showing students a caring heart will help to increase student achievement, engagement, and also help them develop a love for learning.
Laugh Out Loud
This is perhaps the one skill I had to learn through my years of teaching, laughing with my scholars. When I first began teaching, I took my calling to teach too seriously, I would not smile or laugh because I wanted to make sure my student respected me. However, in the latter years of my teaching career, I learned that there is an urgency in closing the achievement gap and increasing student achievement, but that did not mean that I could not laugh with my scholars and make learning fun. The more I smiled, the more my scholars smiled. The more I laughed, they too began to laugh.
Closing the achievement gap and increasing student achievement would require me to get to know my scholars and view them as intelligent young people. Young people like having fun with each other, so why not try and connect the fun to learning. However, there are times when scholars have to maintain a serious demeanor, such as during testing or presentations to the class. Even so, I like to have as much fun teaching my scholars and I still maintain an orderly and respectful classroom environment. When we laugh we are not laughing at each other, we are laughing with each other; most often my scholars are laughing at my jokes, or funny comments. Then there are those times where one of my students will do something so funny until I can’t hold back my laughter, and we are all laughing. Laughing helps me to connect to my scholars, which in turn will help to build positive and trusting relationships that will, eventually, contribute to closing the achievement gap and increasing student achievement.
So, not only do I laugh with my scholars, I have also learned to laugh more with my colleagues while at work; sometimes teachers and students are laughing together. Laughing out loud creates a positive atmosphere because some social scientists believe that laughing is, in fact, contagious and reduces stress. I know when one of my scholars begins laughing deeply, I begin laughing, as well as other teachers walking by my door. There have been times where, when scholars arrive to my class and they are laughing at something that happened in the hallway or in the previous class, and I see that they are not slowing up with the laughter, I will just say, “okay class, let’s laugh for one minute.” We all laugh for one minute and then I am able to move on with the lesson. We all need to laugh more and stop taking life so seriously.
In conclusion, being a reflective practitioner helps me identify skills and strategies that help to increase student engagement and achievement. All teachers should reflect on their pedagogy and identify areas of “glows (+) and grows (-).” Our scholars cannot be held accountable for our lack and we can’t keep blaming our scholars or their families; it is our professional duty to build relationships and help our scholars become great thinkers and provide support to their families. My reflections on this school year have brought to light the skills that have contributed to my effectiveness in the classroom, which are having listening ears, having a caring heart, and laughing out loud when a situation calls for it. So have fun teaching so that our scholars will develop a love for learning!