Seeking Truth From Our Students
The end of the school year offers us a somewhat nerve wracking but in reality amazing opportunity for a dose of truth. When we are completely honest with ourselves, the only people who can truly determine how effective we actually are as educators are our students. Our administrators and fellow colleagues only see glimpses of our craft of teaching and therefore their feedback is valuable, but it doesn’t provide us a full enough picture to evaluate who we are as teachers. On the other hand, our students hold a wealth of unique knowledge and insight into our teaching abilities if we are brave enough to give them the opportunity to share their thoughts.
If we want to improve as teachers, we must choose to not just listen to our students, but really hear their often times overly accurate and honest feedback. Our students have been with us every minute throughout the entire school year. Our students see us at our best and they see us at our worst.
The relationships we build with our students are so hard to describe to people who are not teachers. The level at which we get to know our students and the level at which they get to know us by the end of the school year is undeniably remarkable. I open up my heart and soul to my students on a daily basis. I openly confess that my students know me in a way that not even my own family and friends know me. It is such a unique relationship.
Every person in the classroom (teacher included) has to live in a state of vulnerability. We all must be willing to take risks and be willing to fail. To be a teacher you have to be secure with who you are. We teachers make fools out of ourselves every day in the name of furthering our students education. Those moments lead to developing honest and trusting relationship with our students. To become stronger teachers, we must be willing to let go of control and allow our students to become our teachers.
Cheers to realizing that the wise tea bag has it spot on, “Truth is everlasting”. Cheers to offering our students the opportunity to evaluate us as teachers. Cheers to learning from our students. Take a few moments to relax and enjoy your tea. You deserve it.
Below is the link the my TPT store. Feel free to download my FREE Teacher and Student Reflection Packet. I have been using this packet for years as a tool to open the conversation to have my students evaluate me as their teacher. I have found it to be extremely helpful in attempting to improve my own teaching abilities.
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