Connection Chaos...
Sometimes I think our job title would be depicted more accurately if they titled us as “connectors” rather than teachers. It is beyond insane how many connections we attempt to make in a day, let alone an entire school year. The connection chaos begins the moment we start prepping for our lessons. We attempt to connect all of our material to our students’ world which inevitably means we must be in tune with their world. This means we must take the time to ponder and connect their world to what our students believe is an archaic world. As if that isn’t exhausting enough, those connections are just the tip of the iceberg in the connection chaos we call teaching. On a daily basis we attempt to...
connect content to students...
connect students to content...
form the teacher and student connection...
form the teacher, student, and parent connection...
connect with ourselves as human beings outside of the classroom...
discover we live in connection chaos...
Before we can form any sort of academic connection, we must attempt to connect with each student and begin to understand their world. Since we don’t live in “Cookie Cutter Ville” where all of our students have the exact same interests, needs, and prior knowledge base... it is a never ending process of attempting to reach an understanding to be able to draw meaningful connections.
It is truly remarkable how much we learn about our students in a school day. This is not to mention how many details accumulate in our minds about each student by the end of the school year...
their favorite sports team...
what days they are at their dad’s...
which weekends they see their mom...
if you take a few minutes before class to ask how they are doing, they will work all period...
if you mention dinosaurs, they will be intrigued for the rest of the day...
if you let them partner with their friend they will do their best work...
if you let them partner with their friend they will do their worst work...
If only we could transfer all that sometimes seemingly meaningless, but in reality, the most crucial information to pass onto their next teacher. Those tiny connections we make are critical in the process of developing the most important connection we must make at teachers, the personal connection we make with each individual. As my wise professor, Dr. R in college, always said, “Kids need to know you care, before they care what you know”. Cheers to taking more time to connect with your students!
Take a few moments to relax and enjoy your tea. You deserve it.
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