My recent blog about the difference in the performance of boys and girls in school prompted a fair amount of interest and comments. I received another comment along these lines that referenced a short talk on schools not meeting the needs of our students who are introverted. You can find it at the following link: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts.html . The speaker makes the point that the current practice of schools arranging students in pods of desks that face one another and having the students work in groups is in fact, not the best arrangement for about a third of our students who are more introverted than their peers. This criticism of course flies in the face of our quest to have collaboration lead us to the promised land of education. Although there is a lot of good research to support collaboration both at the classroom and professional level, I know that there are some who abhor this style of learning and much prefer to go it alone. To be fair, the speaker does make the point that collaboration is necessary and important. She stresses however, that deep learning may not occur for all while working in groups.
Like most things in life, what this talk points out is that there is not a one size fits all model for schools and student learning. In a few weeks our teachers will look at their new set of students and quickly recognize the differences among them. It is important that they respond to these differences by offering a variety of learning opportunities and activities. Creating the right conditions where the students are most at ease is a challenge, but is one that we must meet. A student working in a group is not a bad strategy, but for some, it is not that great.
Teachers making a personal connection
Earlier this week during our district-wide inservice, I spoke to the staff about the need to focus our attention on those variables (that we can control) that affect student learning. Specifically, I mentioned the need to support and provide effective instruction. Later that day, a teacher mentioned that while effective instruction is important, it is equally important for educators to focus on building relationships with students. To gloss over the personal or human side of education was my mistake; I appreciate him bringing this to my attention.
An easy way to identify the traits of a good instructor is to ask someone to remember their best teacher. When asked why they chose this person, one of the common responses is that the teacher connected with me. Clearly, a teacher’s assignment is much broader than teaching content. It includes maintaining a social awareness, understanding child or adolescent psychology and then applying the two to make a tie with students. A teacher can’t be a buddy to a student, but he or she should make a personal connection. This personal connection is important for some of our more reticent students and may be the needed difference to help them have success at school.