Mr. K, Dialog #1: Teaching Academic Independence

Where do I begin? My experience so far in my teacher preparation program has been at the middle school level, so high school is quite new for me. For my first post, I think it would be a good idea to talk about my observations about you, my master teacher.  Then, I think it would be beneficial discuss some goals for our time together. 
I’ve been a little shocked by your teaching style, but in a very positive way. You have a very unique approach that I can tell is highly effective. I would have loved to be one of your students when I was in high school. I’m really curious to see how the students will evolve into scholars from now to December.

What I really like about your teaching is your honesty and directness with the students. The students respond well to this. You mentioned earlier that if you treat your students as intellectual adults, they could behave like ones. I totally agree! In only two weeks, I have seen students begin to come out of their awkward teenager shell. They are participating more in class, and several students are reaching out to you outside of class. I never really considered what the transition is like for 9^th graders, and having spent a few days at Heartwood helped me see the contrasts between how teachers treat the students. I guess I didn’t realize how important it is to get students into a college mindset from the get go. I believe it can have a lasting effect on their overall high school experience. Also, you treat the students as equals (how they are addressed, admitting if you’re wrong or made a mistake, etc.), but your tradeoff is expecting a lot out of them. Brilliant! It’s amazing (and no doubt frustrating) that students have to break bad habits, such as only raising their hand when they want to answer a question. It takes a lot of effort and patience on your part, but I can see the long term benefits of showing the students the proper way to learn. This will certainly prepare them for college.

Thanks for all the kind words – I’ve been learning a lot for the last ten years, and I think one of my biggest lessons has been not to underestimate my students.  It does take time to get kids where they need to be, but I am honestly concerned about students leaving my room without basic behavioral skills necessary for long-term learning and success.  If students don’t take school seriously, keep themselves organized, pay close attention in class and work hard outside of it, learn to be self-sufficient and fix their own problems, behave politely and in a professional manner, and invest, engage, and get interested in what they do, their chances are slim.  I’m actually not that frustrated – trust me, at KIPP I’m always shocked at how quickly students respond.  There’s a sampling error here – these are not the “average” low-income kids; these are the kids with parents serious enough to know about our school and get on the waitlist early.

With that said, I’d say the difference between how I approach teaching behavior and how it’s often taught is that, instead of teaching a series of mechanical rules or systems with grades attached, I make students directly accountable for meeting expectations.  I don’t always give clear instructions on exactly how to accomplish assignments – I want students to learn to ask for those details if I don’t provide them.  The goal is to build their own confidence and sense of independence, academically.  

Often, kids come to me from middle-school used to clear, detailed, explicit, and very often mindless directions.  They are used to never having to think for themselves or pay attention to details or subtleties, and feel entitled to having instructors drop everything and help them whenever they need it.  This is a very different set of problems (and a MUCH easier one to address!) than the issues I’ve had in more standard schools, to be fair, but it’s still something I think it’s important to address.

While some PhDs may, indeed, care deeply about instruction and focus on learning the art of teaching, many (if not most) are primarily experts in their discipline – NOT in teaching.  A successful college or graduate degree depends on a student’s ability to seek for and obtain the support he or she needs by connecting with other students, coming up with strategies to work around inconsistencies and lack of clarity in the classroom, and being innovative and determined to succeed with or without clear instruction.

In essence, learning must become something students actively cultivate as a skill and process, not something they passively receive.