Category Archives: Teachers

The E’s of Teaching

25 Friday Oct 2019

Posted by in Emotion, Engagement, Entertainment, Expertise, Teachers

≈ 2 Comments

We all decided to get into education to help change the world and to help children, right? Educationalists (yes, if you are in education, you are one of these) talk about what the role of a teacher and student should look like and be. Being a teacher goes beyond teaching your subject area. What we seem to have a hard time doing is knowing what it actually looks like to “be for a student.”

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Have you ever thought about why students like some teachers and not others? Maybe we should say, care for, instead. Let’s forget about the subject matter for the time being. Our goal for our students should be more than imparting our knowledge. We are the last great hope to help develop students and model a mature, professional example while the world gives them all that other stuff and garbage.

As I look at teaching, students might not care about the subject matter you teach, but they do know if you know what you are talking about. I do, however, believe that students think and care about how a teacher shows and provides engagement, emotion, expertise, and just maybe a little entertainment. If you can provide these, then they might just give your subject matter a chance.

If we are going to provide engagement, then we have to have connections with our students. We have to know them more than who they are sitting in a desk or at a table. Also, please do not let the negative “teacher talk” decide how you feel about a student. We must learn to engage all, not just a select few.

If we are going to provide emotion, then we have to have passion, not only for our subject but for our students as well. They have to see and know we care. Let them feel that “vibe” of your personal teaching touch.

If we are going to provide expertise, then we have to have ourselves prepared every day. Students know when we do not know what we are not talking about. Our expertise defines our teaching.

And there might be those times where we need to provide a little entertainment. I like to call it “edutainment.” Yes, it is ok to laugh and make students laugh. It is ok to do a little dance. What a powerful impact we can have by allowing our students time to breathe, and as I have often said in my classroom, “Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.”

We owe it to our students to be for them. We want them to succeed both academically and as individuals. Our focus is to grow the student. How is a student ever going to flourish in your classroom if they do not know you are for them? Find your ease (E’s) of teaching and see the difference you will make.

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others

©2019 J Clay Norton

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What is the message I am teaching?

18 Friday Oct 2019

Posted by in Actions, Balance, Clarity, Communication, Humility, Importance, Leader, Message, Relationships, Servant, Teachers, Value

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How many of us, when we first started teaching, spoke a different message than we do now? When it comes to teaching, many teachers are “talking” way further down the road, then they are actually “walking.”

The struggle for many is that we are talking so much and in so many areas where students cannot hear our message. Or do they? The contrast of what is heard between not saying something and saying something is profound, and our students are listening.

Any given day, we can point to areas where we know our teaching has not caught up to the truth we are speaking and sharing with others. It is at this point in time we must remember the idealist mission we first started with. I believe the challenge of our message is, “Are we doing right with and by students?” In all humbleness, we teach to grow and serve students to be more and better than they realize they can be.

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Deep down, we know what a message of teaching should sound like. We know about pedagogy, methodology, classroom management, best-practices… and since we know these things, we automatically think we have them. But, do we know about teaching the message of kindness, patience, fairness… yes, we know about these as well, but we do not automatically have them.

The message we speak for our students carry beyond the time we have them in class. We can make all the necessary changes here and there to make ourselves better teachers. However, if we do not find a platform on which to stand for our students, and actually hold them accountable and be for them, the platform we stand on is not any better than trying to stand on a 2×4 in the ocean.

Being a quality teacher is teaching a message that gives credibility to others and as a byproduct, credibility to you in return. This message must be part of ourselves and not lip service. Let your “walk” and “talk” catch up with each other.  Everyone will be better for it.

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others

©2019 J Clay Norton

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Teach with classroom leadership not classroom management…

06 Friday Sep 2019

Posted by in Actions, Effective, Honest, Leader, Leadership, Purpose, Relationships, Servant, Teachers, Value, Vision

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If I had the opportunity to rewrite or rename a few college education classes, renaming classroom management would be the first on the list. We live in an everchanging world, and for the most part, people, in general, want to be led, not managed. Students are no different. Education needs more teachers who are leaders in the classroom, not managers. Yet, that is what we prepare future educators to do. Why not prepare them to lead? Classroom leadership takes classroom management to a welcoming concept for both the teacher and student.  Classroom leadership is what we should be teaching our future teachers. Classroom leadership needs to be discussed more in our educational conversations regarding teaching and learning.

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Classroom leadership is centered around empowerment, not only for you, as a teacher, but for the student as well. Classroom leadership should be based on a vision and principles, not managing students like they are products on a shelf; a vision that shows what the end result can be – where students can grow, and finish better than they started. Classroom leadership should be about influence, and that is what leaders do; influence inspires, management manages. When people are inspired, they do not have to be managed.

Too many teachers get caught up in wanting or even needing to have “great” classroom management. Now, that is not a wrong concept, per se, but…  What the question that needs to be asked is, “What are you managing?” Is it policy and procedure of your classroom, lesson plans, desks all in a straight row, etc…? I believe that most teachers think that classroom management is all about having their students behave; shut up, sit down, raise your hand, I am the teacher and I am in charge (Well, I have always felt that if you have to tell someone you are in charge, you probably are not leading very well anyway). And what happens when one of these “classroom management rules” is broken? Teachers immediately enforce “classroom management” and write a detention or send the student to the office.

So, how do we move a teacher from having classroom management to having classroom leadership? A few thoughts…

Develop hallway cred…

Yes, it is just like street cred and it might be the most important attribute you develop as a teacher.  Students will do right by you, if you do right by them and believe it or not; they will have your back. Being fair and honest is all it takes. However, this takes a teacher with strong emotional intelligence. You want a student to relate to you, be willing to relate to them. The thought “my way or the highway” only works with weak and insecure leaders.

Develop a quiet strength…

Every day, we have an opportunity to be for a student.  There are enough people in the world trying to tear students down; a teacher should not be one of them. Some students take more “quiet strength” than others, this we know.  But when that student knows we have found value in them, that we have acknowledged their strengths, empowerment takes place, and it is amazing how the environment of your classroom changes for the better.

Develop yourself in being a role model…

Your classroom starts with you.  The atmosphere is contingent on what you bring every day, and those four walls are your domain. Also, someone has to be the adult in the classroom; please let it be you – talk like, act like, and please dress like an adult. If you want your students to act a certain way, give them a reason to act that way.

Develop an understanding that mistakes happen…

For the most part, I do not know students who “mess up on purpose.” Now, they may not know a better way, but as soon as you “connect” with them, they might just take your words for correction to heart more often. Mistakes can be an opportunity for learning. Please quit “beating” a student up because they get a wrong answer or do not understand. More importantly, when you make a mistake, be transparent enough to acknowledge it in front of a student or the class; this goes a long way with every thought thus far.

Now it goes without saying that there are a few teachers who have excellent classroom management, but I would say that they actually have outstanding classroom leadership instead. I would go even further by saying classroom management is easier for teachers who have classroom leadership. Excellent classroom management is a by-product of classroom leadership.

Overall, we are talking about a paradigm shift – shifting from one thought of how our classrooms should be to another. As a classroom teacher, our focus should be where we can move a child on the educational scale of the particular subject area you teach. Yes, we teach students in the now, but we educate them for the future. Leading them is the answer. Learn how to be the classroom leader instead of the classroom manager. Everyone will be better for it.

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others

©2019 J Clay Norton

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These are the times that try educator’s souls…

23 Friday Aug 2019

Posted by in Achieve, Affection, Appreciation, Choice, Crisis, Decisions, Future, Ideals, Inspiration, Leader, Leadership, Purpose, Reflection, Servant, Teachers, Useful

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Thomas Paine penned these words in The American Crisis, dated December 1776, to convince people at the time to continue to support the American cause of the Revolution.

“THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.”

As I have read these words and thought much about them as of late, it seems that we are almost in the same spot when it comes to where we are in education, not only as a nation but as a state more importantly. As educators, who are in the schools, are our souls troubled? Yes. Do we need an educational revolution, per se? Yes. Education and educators need quality representation.

 

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As we break down each one of the sentences of Thomas Paine’s great thought, let’s look at it through the lens of educators. We are at a point where it is time for those who make educational decisions to be convinced to support the cause of education.

THESE are the times that try men’s souls

Yes… These are the times that try educator’s souls. Why? Too many tests, too much time spent on paperwork, and too much anything else that gets in the way of actually allowing teachers to teach. It is too much, too many, too often, too… And let us not forgot that as educators, we have to pay for our on raises by completing the requirement for higher degrees or certifications.

The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

Let’s replace solider and patriot with educator… Yes, education, as a whole, is in a crisis, and many educators who are disheartened or contented fall away from its service. But oh, how we need educators who regardless of the crisis, will stand for what education should be – that is to educate truly. When that happens, yes, educators deserve the love and thanks of all.

Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

I am not saying that where we are in education is suppressed by tyranny, but I will say it is very hard to conquer where education is right now.  The tyranny I see is that we have non-educators making educational decisions. Educators are the ones who need to have the voice for what education should be. However, the consolation – for what it is worth… the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph of educators today as they continue to rise and meet the demands set before them. Those who continue this good fight are worthy.

What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value.

There might be some who really think that because teachers teach, they cannot do anything else. Too cheap – esteem too lightly? Well, my question would be to those who think this way… Why is there a teacher shortage? Why is teaching not valued by others? As long as there are teachers who care, education will have value, an intrinsic value only. Teaching is not easy – those who can, do, and they hold it dear.

Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.

Let’s replace freedom with education… Heaven knows how to put a price on proper goods? Yes, I believe that. I believe that education is a proper good, deserving of all, and it should continue to be highly rated. If educators decide not to teach, who will?

Many times we stand at a crossroad in our lives, and it is at those times, our soul is troubled. As we remember that education is for the future, we should be able to find some solace, knowing we teach for others. The future can only measure the value that educators bring. We need quality representation to hear our voices to make sure our souls are not troubled in the future. There are too many other “things” in life that try our souls… education should not be one of them.

 

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others

©2019 J Clay Norton

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