We've all seen her - the teacher with the amazing class. She walks down the hallway casually, maybe even behind her students, while they file down the hall in a neat little line. Not a peep. She asks for their attention and they give it to her, right away, no questions asked. She sits at her group table with 7 kids while the rest work quietly, motivated to complete whatever task they're working on. They love her. They respect her. Sometimes, they're even a little afraid of her. Not because they're actually afraid of her but they're afraid of disappointing her.
Sound familiar?
If it does - you may know a teacher like this.
If it does - you may even be a teacher like this.
If it doesn't - you may be asking yourself, "how do I get that??!" "does that even exist?"
It does. It exists.
Some people are natural-born teachers, others are not. Part of me fervently believes that you either have it - or you don't. The other part is much more prone to be believe that you can learn to become a natural, it depends on your personality. Some people are just comfortable with speaking: call it charisma or natural-speaking ability. This natural speaking is made up of confidence, knowledge of content, and bravado. It can be learned! I believe in the "fake it 'til you make it" mentality. It works! More on that later.
Now back to that teacher. How does she do it? I asked myself this question when I first started substitute teaching. I was shaky and nervous and more afraid of the kids than I even thought I would be. So I watched and studied and learned from the teachers I admired.
Holy crap did I learn.
The one commonality amongst these amazing teachers was simple and true: know your students.
Sounds simple doesn't it? Know the kids you teach. Know them as students, know them as kids, know them as sons and daughters, know them as brothers and sisters, know them as spazzy or funny or annoying or needy or differently abled. Know them to their very core. Know more about them than they even know about themselves. And treat every student like a puzzle that needs to be solved. What makes them tick? What makes them learn? What makes them pissed off and confused? What gets them excited about waking up at 6 AM and being carted off to school for 7 hours?
This truth hit me like a ton of bricks - if you truly know and love your kids they can tell. They feel it. It makes them want to learn for you. They want to please you and they want to make you proud of them. Instilling pride in your kids is the most important thing you will ever do as a teacher on this Earth. So take it seriously.
I think this topic of knowing your students is the most important. So why isn't EVERY professional development at the beginning of the school year focused on teaching teachers HOW to get to know their kids? It should be treated like any other important topic that we discuss. Sidebar: if I have to sit through one more professional development about technology I'm literally going to set fire to my computer.*
I don't teach tablets, I teach children.
I digress - I put together a presentation to be shared amongst teachers about how and why we should get to know our students before we presume to teach them anything. Head on over to my TpT Store to download this presentation. I hope you enjoy and share with another teacher who needs a little reminder of why we do this job every day.
*If anyone asks I love those PD's on technology, got it?
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