A Code to Trust
The younger the student, the more trust they have in the teacher. However, it doesn't take long for that trust to diminish....even in younger students.
A teacher is a combination of adults. We are, at different times, a parental figure, an educational leader, a medical adviser, an organizational consultant, an event planner, a disciplinarian, a coach, a cheerleader, a role model (for behavior, fashion, language, anger management, etc.) and more. Our students will be looking to us to play those roles, and more. We are not "just" teachers.
It isn't easy to be all of these things AND to fulfill all of the requirements put upon us by the district we work in. It is easier to withdraw from those roles, to pretend that they do not exist and just focus on being an "educator." However, our students will be looking to us in those other roles, whether or not we focus on them.
What we are, more often than not, is an extremely stable adult in a world with very few of those. They count on us.
There are many books on the subject and even more articles....it is fascinating reading...and they offer us a variety of systems and programs to adopt (or purchase) to help us out. Regardless of the program that you choose, or create, I think that it helps immensely to have a "code." One or two lines that, when push comes to shove, you can always fall back on to communicate what is most important to you in regards to the interactions in your classroom.
For the last few years I have used this one:
Everyone who enters this classroom has the right to be treated as an individual who is intelligent, interesting, capable and important.
What I point out to my students is that it doesn't matter what our opinion is of anyone...in my room they will be treated AS IF they are intelligent, interesting, capable and important. BECAUSE....
I believe that they are.
Not that they know it yet. Not that they believe it. Not that they should, or have to, be. That they are.
So whatever I do in school...should reflect that. When I can live up to what I have stated, more layers of trust build between me and my students. When I hold my students to that statement, even more layers of trust build, not just between me and my students but among my students as well.
When I create an activity, create a system, implement consequences for misbehavior, or contemplate a "lecture", I can ask myself...does this follow our code? If so, it's a good bet that it will fly. If not, I'd better let it go.
If I stay true to the code, everything else will follow. It is the mortar that holds everything else that we build together.
with love,
Laurie
A teacher is a combination of adults. We are, at different times, a parental figure, an educational leader, a medical adviser, an organizational consultant, an event planner, a disciplinarian, a coach, a cheerleader, a role model (for behavior, fashion, language, anger management, etc.) and more. Our students will be looking to us to play those roles, and more. We are not "just" teachers.
It isn't easy to be all of these things AND to fulfill all of the requirements put upon us by the district we work in. It is easier to withdraw from those roles, to pretend that they do not exist and just focus on being an "educator." However, our students will be looking to us in those other roles, whether or not we focus on them.
What we are, more often than not, is an extremely stable adult in a world with very few of those. They count on us.
There are many books on the subject and even more articles....it is fascinating reading...and they offer us a variety of systems and programs to adopt (or purchase) to help us out. Regardless of the program that you choose, or create, I think that it helps immensely to have a "code." One or two lines that, when push comes to shove, you can always fall back on to communicate what is most important to you in regards to the interactions in your classroom.
For the last few years I have used this one:
Everyone who enters this classroom has the right to be treated as an individual who is intelligent, interesting, capable and important.
What I point out to my students is that it doesn't matter what our opinion is of anyone...in my room they will be treated AS IF they are intelligent, interesting, capable and important. BECAUSE....
I believe that they are.
Not that they know it yet. Not that they believe it. Not that they should, or have to, be. That they are.
So whatever I do in school...should reflect that. When I can live up to what I have stated, more layers of trust build between me and my students. When I hold my students to that statement, even more layers of trust build, not just between me and my students but among my students as well.
When I create an activity, create a system, implement consequences for misbehavior, or contemplate a "lecture", I can ask myself...does this follow our code? If so, it's a good bet that it will fly. If not, I'd better let it go.
If I stay true to the code, everything else will follow. It is the mortar that holds everything else that we build together.
with love,
Laurie
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