I was at a professional development day the other day. I found myself sitting there and completing a task. A valuable task of recording what we want students to do and therefore what is our responsibility. Then it struck me that the expectations of a teacher in this subject would be exactly the same for all other areas. It’s what I call Teaching 101. We all want the same goal. To provide engaging and rich learning experiences that foster personal growth for all students. Whether it is social, emotional, academic or spiritual growth. Some sort of learning. It occurred to me that the same was pretty much expected from teachers at all times. So what is it that I consider my teaching 101 role?
One of the things that helps determine what is your teaching 101 role is answering a simple question: What do you want your students to get out of the experience or session?
List it. Brainstorm everything. For me, when I saw the list the first thing I thought was wow, that is too much! I had to change my expectations. To think every student would walk away with fifteen things each session is so unrealistic. This made me really look at the list with a more critical eye. Once I had determined the most important factors, it was then a matter of writing a matching list for my role as a facilitator.
For example: if I want students to generate rich questions then I need to provide deep content. Or if I want them to think deeply, then I need to have great questions. So two things on my list are thought provoking questions and rich content. That I can do. I suggest that you generate your own personal list of what you want students to feel like or get out of any learning experience and your role in that. Learning experiences are much easier to plan once you have your own personal little formula.
Once you have your list, keep it somewhere you will use it. Pin it, glue it, stick it wherever it will keep it in your mind. I have been teaching nearly 20 years and I loved doing this quick refresher. The bottom line is if you wouldn’t engage in your own lesson, why would you expect kids to? Driving my teaching at all times is how can I get these group of students to get the most from this experience. It’s my role to facilitate rich experiences as it is yours. Some sessions you can't jazz up. They will be boring and you just have to do it. However, you can look to add a teaching 101 aspect. A mindset focus, an interesting question or a time to build connections. The lesson already deepens. What’s on your teaching role 101 list? We would love to see yours!
One of the things that helps determine what is your teaching 101 role is answering a simple question: What do you want your students to get out of the experience or session?
List it. Brainstorm everything. For me, when I saw the list the first thing I thought was wow, that is too much! I had to change my expectations. To think every student would walk away with fifteen things each session is so unrealistic. This made me really look at the list with a more critical eye. Once I had determined the most important factors, it was then a matter of writing a matching list for my role as a facilitator.
For example: if I want students to generate rich questions then I need to provide deep content. Or if I want them to think deeply, then I need to have great questions. So two things on my list are thought provoking questions and rich content. That I can do. I suggest that you generate your own personal list of what you want students to feel like or get out of any learning experience and your role in that. Learning experiences are much easier to plan once you have your own personal little formula.
Once you have your list, keep it somewhere you will use it. Pin it, glue it, stick it wherever it will keep it in your mind. I have been teaching nearly 20 years and I loved doing this quick refresher. The bottom line is if you wouldn’t engage in your own lesson, why would you expect kids to? Driving my teaching at all times is how can I get these group of students to get the most from this experience. It’s my role to facilitate rich experiences as it is yours. Some sessions you can't jazz up. They will be boring and you just have to do it. However, you can look to add a teaching 101 aspect. A mindset focus, an interesting question or a time to build connections. The lesson already deepens. What’s on your teaching role 101 list? We would love to see yours!
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