Being Straight Forward
Growing up, I still remember the greatest challenge I faced academically in school, and that was not understanding what the teacher wanted. It wasn’t because I was a bad student or not paying attention (ok, sometimes I wasn’t paying attention), but teachers often seemed vague or confusing in their instruction to me. I constantly found myself asking classmates what the teacher was looking for. Once I found out, however, I was on my way and usually found the assignment to be no problem.
Some teachers, I realized, just didn’t know how to connect with me in a clear or engaging way, but once put into a way I understood, I was good to go. I believe this is the greatest issue facing middle school teachers today when it comes to responding to the literacy needs of their students.
The main way I believe we can be intentional with our instruction is to be as clear as possible with students. Of course, we always try to be as clear as possible. None of us want to confuse our students. We want them all to succeed. Our students need to know what we’re looking for. This means going to them and explaining in a way that they understand. We must assume that upon entering our class, our students are completely illiterate in our discipline to ensure that we reach students on all levels.
Something that I’ve noticed in my practicum school is that school has changed immensely since I was in middle school, but the students have not. One advantage I believe I have had in my experience in my school is that I still clearly remember what it’s like to be in middle school and know how to talk with the students. If we are intentional with our instruction and clear with what we want, students can have a better idea of what to work towards in class.
Another big thing for teachers to address students if not only for the students to know what we want… but also for us to know what we want. By this, I mean that our planning needs to be backwards. By beginning with the end in mind, we can have a smooth path planned out to get from A to B on any subject in our discipline.
By making the design of our lessons backwards, we can have a more clear and concise idea of our instruction. When an engineer sets out to design a bridge or building, they don’t just start building with the materials they have and hope to get the final product they want. They first sit down and plan everything out to make sure it is the most effective and efficient plan they can make. Education should be no different. We want our students to have the best possible education and connection with the material, so we have to be intentional with our planning and design of our lessons and material.
Finally, and the one that I am most passionate about, I believe that the best way to respond to the disciplinary needs of our students is to be as engaging as possible. By getting students interested in the material and using different ways of engaging students, we have the ability to reach every single one of our kids and get them involved in learning (whether they know it or not). This directly connects to being clear with the students, because the more engaged they are, the more they are paying attention to your instructions.
One person that does this extremely well (and someone I hold in extremely high regard) is Ron Clarke at his academy in Atlanta. His methods of getting the students involved and excited about learning are inspiring and he is incredibly effective at connecting with the students.
Mr. Clarke’s effectiveness doesn’t come only from his engagement of students, but also his way of meeting the students where they are and being a fun educator, while actually teaching the students.
Teaching is such a rewarding profession and even more so when we feel as though we are truly connecting with the students. We want to engage them, we want to be straight forward, and we also want to know what exactly we’re doing. We need try to understand our students’ perspectives and always assume that there’s at least one student confused on a concept to at least double check that they have it. By striving for all of these goals, we can effectively respond to the divers literacy needs of the students.
Sources
CBS. Ron Clark Academy dancing teacher busting all the right moves [Television series episode]. (2016, January 6). In CBS News. New York, NY: CBS.
Texas A&M. (2016, November 28). Confusion [Digital image]. Retrieved December 3, 2017, from http://ogaps.tamu.edu/Blog/Blog/November-2016/Graduate-School-Glossary
Wiggins, G.P. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design. Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development
