“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear..”
..or so the saying goes! But it seems that in the field of public education, the prevailing perspective seems to be that if the TEACHERS are “ready”, the students will appear!!
In this wonderful field of education there is a constant push for teachers to increase “student engagement” in the classroom. However, students come to school for the most part, academically uninterested. (I’m speaking from a high school teachers perspective.) The only reason that many of them come to school is to avoid the legal ramifications of not attending, as well as for the social interaction and acceptance from their peers. But somehow it’s our job to inspire them to learn, authentically… despite their authentic disinterest in the content we are “teaching”, which I will address in another post. But the sense is that YOU as the teacher must be doing something wrong if the students are disengaged. And in some instances, this IS the case.
However, the teacher is only, at best, one half of the equation here. In fact, at the “end of the day”, it is US as students that must do the work of connecting the dots and creating understanding in our own brain, NOT the teachers. Without the conscious effort of the STUDENT, …there can be NO (true) EDUCATION being facilitated. It may be being transmitted, but it is not being effectively received or implemented. And I would dare to say that the teacher’s effectiveness is completely dependent upon the level of their students efforts.
Our STUDENTS have the power to bring the very best out of their teachers by being true students! But all too often we see them bringing out the worst. No teacher wants to constantly be going against a “tide” of disinterest!
And don’t get me wrong, teachers should be excellent in their craft and constantly improving their skills of delivery and facilitation. And IF a teacher truly enjoys what they do, they are going to do these things anyway. However, far too often the main ingredient of student learning, the student’s intrinsic motivation, is all but disregarded by those who are observing our classrooms and looking at student test data from afar.
While we are constantly looking at what we as teachers need to do “differently” to get our students to learn, what do the students need to do? What is the student’s role in their own education? And how much significance does it have when it comes to their own success? Why are they disinterested?
Don’t get me wrong again! This is NOT a post that is placing BLAME solely on the student. I’m not saying they are wrong for being uninterested. For many, that is just “where they are” at this point in their LIFE. They are not interested in anything that is serious. However, some of their “disinterest” is legitimate and for good reason! In either case, I AM saying is that it is a bit unreasonable to expect authentic learning to take place in subject matters in which “the student” has no interest!
Maybe we need to adjust what is considered “the CORE content” at the high school level. Maybe we need to revisit its true relevance to their lives. Maybe we need to “individualize” their CORE instruction more effectively. Maybe this is what their “disinterest” and and distracted behavior is telling us. More on this later… Thanks for reading 😊
Jason C. Smith 