Category: A Teacher’s Perspective

A High School Teacher’s Perspective

Obviously, when people refer to the “reopening of schools”, they are not referring to the PROCESS by which we educate, nor the PEOPLE who facilitate education. They are simply referring to the BUILDINGS in which we traditionally educate (or, at least provide the opportunity) BEING STAFFED and ready to receive students “in person”.

I say this because we’ve actually BEEN “open” and providing the “opportunity” to students to engage in learning, pretty much since the “stay at home order” began back in March. Plus, if you include summer school, we never really “closed”, except for the few weeks between Spring Break and our “at-home learning” launch.

At any rate, You really cannot STOP learning from happening by closing a building. You cannot “CLOSE” learning, if it’s desired. ESPECIALLY, in this “technologically stacked” information age in which we live.

The need to “re-open” the buildings is more about the childcare that is needed for those parents, with young children, who need it in order to be able to go to work. Which, is completely understandable and valid. But, for high school it’s a bit different.

At the high school level, most students ONLY truly miss the “SOCIAL aspect” of school. They don’t necessarily MISS the “in-person ACADEMIC instruction” as many claim they do. Mostly, they just miss their friends. Of the more than 200 students on my roster this year, guess how many reached out to me for work ON THEIR OWN, once it became apparent we were not returning to school for the remainder of the year? It was in the single digits.

I don’t say this to suggest that students are wrong in some way for this. No. I say it to state that for the most part, students are ACADEMICALLY DISINTERESTED in the CONTENT we offer them. Not ALL content. I’m referring more so to what we call our “CORE content” areas that our states deem necessary for “graduation”, than I am to our electives. Our electives are more along the lines of what we SHOULD be offering our students as “the CORE” curriculum of each students’ specific PATHWAY at the high school level.

We learn whatever we WANT to learn, regardless of our age. There is always the opportunity to learn, IF a person wants to. School is always open to those that want to learn.

That being said, the issue may not be “is the school building and staff safe enough to gather students for in-person instruction?”. The issue may be “WHEN are we going to start providing THE CORE CONTENT that will cause the students we are instructing to “re-open” themselves to learning in our public school system?

In my opinion, it’s not about HOW we’re teaching. Nor, is it about the packaging or structure in which we deliver content. It’s WHAT we’re teaching that is the problem. It at least needs to be revisited.

Many of us as educators will readily acknowledge that each and every student has unique learning needs. So we are constantly encouraged to diversify our instructional methods in order to accommodate those needs.

All I’m saying is, that if the CURRICULUM is irrelevant to the student, then it matters not the instructional method used. The curriculum needs to be more individualized as well, as the student gets older, so that, each student is able to graduate with something specifically meaningful for their lives.

When we do “re-open”, may these things be more in place than they are now.

“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 😊

Spirit is the ROOT of WHO WE ARE!

How can we NEGLECT, DENY or SEPARATE the SPIRIT when we are attempting to “educate” PEOPLE?! There may be a separation of CHURCH (meaning RELIGION) and STATE. But there can never (truly) be a separation of SPIRIT and anything.

As educators, it’s not that we MUST deal with “spiritual things” in order to create successful “learning environments” in our classrooms! Rather, we MUST REALIZE that WE ARE ALREADY DEALING with “spiritual things” everyday, as long as we are dealing with PEOPLE!

When we are dealing with a person, we are dealing with a SPIRIT BEING. The success of a student is already dependent upon the success of their soul. They prosper as our soul prospers.. Their “issues” as well as their victories, all come from the way they believe about themselves, which is a function of the soul. Whether it be their discipline (or lack thereof), focus (or lack thereof), attitude and behavior (both positive and negative), or academic excellence (or the lack thereof); everything stems from the root of self–perspective, belief and esteem. The less the student is aware of their spiritual nature, the more their actions will reflect their value of temporary things.

We may not be able to “make” our students value the “most important things” in life, at this stage of their lives. But by REALIZING the root of Spirit we are dealing with, we can receive the WISDOM of GOD (who is the Father of SPIRITS) we need in order to take the appropriate steps in assisting our students in their personal & academic success!

Father,

We need WISDOM. We need DISCERNMENT. We need UNDERSTANDING. Thank You..

In the process of “checking for understanding”, there are a few things teachers tend to look for..

When faced with a “problem”

1. Do you know exactly what you’re dealing with?

2. Do you know where to begin?

3. Are you familiar with all of the steps it takes to solve it?

4. How do you know your end result is correct?

A good teacher wants to make sure you are comfortable and confident with answering these four fundamental questions before proceeding to the next topic. They want to know if you really know how to “do this”! Otherwise, we are just covering material.

Unfortunately, when for the sake of time, we have to move on, all students in a given class may not understand everything as we would like. For whatever reason, some student(s) didn’t “get it”. Some, because they were not even trying to get it. They are not motivated to learn it. Others, motivated by fear of falling, don’t “get it” because they were really only interested in the quickest and easiest way to arrive at the end result. They just don’t want to “fail”. Therefore, they really don’t understand the process of how to arrive at the right answer, why the answer is correct, nor why the process of arriving at the answer even works. They are not studying, they are copying the process being shown. They may even be “guessing their way” to the correct answer based on what they knew beforehand. These students may be able to give you the correct answer, but they themselves will not be 100% sure if the answer they gave is actually correct. Nor will they be able to explain why their answer is correct and what it means with respect to the problem given.

When students only follow the process you show them (which may be needed in the beginning, by the way…) but never want to know “why” the answer is what it is, or why the way works the way it does, they are not really studying. It’s easier to just follow the instructions of another than to do the work of UNDERSTANDING when you are really not interested in the subject matter at hand.

There is a method of “checking for understanding” where you can present a student with a problem along with the answer to the problem up front. When you give a student the answer to a problem, their task is to figure out the process it took to obtain it and explain the process to you. The hope is that during the process of figuring out “how” to get the answer, they solidify within themselves the steps of the process, “why” the answer given is in fact the correct answer and why the process they used to solve the problem works

Another more traditional way to check for understanding is for the student to be presented a problem that they have already been shown “how” to solve and verify. It is their task to trust what you showed them, follow it to the “T” and arrive at the correct answer. Through sheer repetition, (and having been given a variety of different expressions of the same type of problem to practice..) the hope is that, by arriving at the correct answer, they’ve shown (1) recognition of the type of problem they’re facing and (2) that they understand at least the steps involved in solving it.

In either case, the end result is NOT the answer, the understanding of the “mechanics” behind the process is. If you understand the Principles that makeup the process of solving one problem, you can use the same Principles to solve any problem of that type that is out there.

God is constantly “checking our understanding” when it comes to our lives and whether or not we know “where we are” and “what we are doing”. He is not just looking for the correct “end result”. He is looking for the true UNDERSTANDING that produces it. So, with all of our “getting”…

Jason C. Smith

jasoncsmith.org