With only two weeks before the start of my 10th year as a teacher, I thought it would be a good idea to put down some thoughts on what today’s student needs in order to fully maximize success in the classroom. Now these thoughts are specific to high school aged learners. However, many of the things I am going to mention apply to the younger learners as well.
Compared to when I was in high school, today’s adolescent learners are very different. The difference is primarily due to the world they live in compared to when I was their age. We are in an immediate gratification era as far as information accessibility goes. Today, if we want to know something about something, we simply make a search on the internet and within seconds, the answer is there. Back in my day, we needed teachers to be the main source for that same information and so therefore, our teachers had that as a priority. That is, they were content driven. Today, all a student needs is access to a computer with internet capabilities in order to seek the information they need. So why is it important for kids to go to school nowadays? Well, because we are no longer in a content needed world, we have a different priority now. We (the teachers) need to teach our students skills!
1- Be a good person (yes this is a skill)
Students need opportunities to develop their character. This simply does not happen by texting 1000 messages per day while sitting on his or her bed. Kids need to be put in social circumstances that will allow them to develop communication skills, conflict resolution skills (something that is a tremendously lacking in our youths today) and an appreciation for other people’s unique attributes. As much as technology makes you work behind a screen, it is still extremely important to know how to deal with live social settings. If a student goes to school every day (something that I will get to in a minute) with a focus of getting better as a person to others, I think that person is arming him or herself very well for his or her future. In my classroom, I call it Character Development. All of my students are asked to keep in mind the 6 attributes I have found over time to be extremely important to have:
I- Respect (believe in yourself and be good to yourself- believe in others and be good to others)
II- Autonomy (be your own person…don’t try to be someone you are not)
III- Ambition (want more all the time but be ready to work for it)
IV- Resiliency (if you do not get what you want, figure out why and try again...and again…and again)
V- Responsibility (be responsible not only to yourself but for others as well- your choices do not
just impact you…they impact everyone around you)
VI- Passion (whatever it is that you decide to do, put your entire heart into it…give it everything you
got)
2- Focus on being more Emotionally Intelligent rather than Intellectually Intelligent
In my experience, students in the high school setting that have had more success than others were simply more stable emotionally. Now, I understand that some circumstances at home make emotional stability a very challenging thing to obtain but I am of the very strong belief that with awareness toward this end, students will have much more success in the classroom. They will not panic as easily, they will not be distracted as easily, they will have a plan to what they are trying to accomplish on this day and they will be more resilient. I could go on and on about Emotional Intelligence but for the sake if this blog, I will not at this time.
3- Focus on good habits!
If a student can focus on these next items, there is absolutely no reason why this individual should not have a ton of success in the classroom.
I- Wake up in the morning and have breakfast
II- Get to class on time (no skipping, no excuses)
III- Be organized (have an agenda or use your phone to keep track of things you need to get done)
IV- Have a plan (do not resort to studying the night before a test….for best results, breakdown the content that you must learn into three parts and start 4 days before the test. On day one, study part one, day two-part two, day three-part three and day 4 review all parts)
V- You do not need an hour of lunch every single day. Take two days out of five and use the full hour (I recommend Mondays and Fridays). For the other three days, take 30 minutes to eat and socialize then take 20 minutes to go to the library or a quiet area and work on things or study)
VI- Your brain needs sleep. It will not be able to perform or organize itself if you neglect sleep.
VII- Eat the right foods. Again, your brain needs the right type of foods in order to perform. Pop and chips does not get it done (neither does RED BULL or ROCKSTAR)
VIII- Review your day’s work just before going to bed. Better yet, do it as you lay in bed. Last thing in your brain is the first thing it will organize. Daily review will also cut down drastically on your study time before tests or exams.
IX- If you have homework, do not do it as soon as you get home. Take a break, eat a snack and watch some T.V. or whatever else you like to do to relax. After supper, give yourself and hour (nothing more than that) to do your homework. Be sure to have a 10 minutes work to 3 minutes distraction ratio when doing this. Your brain will appreciate that J )
X- Finally, care about your work. Be proud of it.
Notice that I did not at all talk about intelligence. In today’s world intelligence is nice but it is not what will make an individual successful. See point #2 for a refresher. In today’s world, a person must have a strong work ethic and strong character. Technology is changing our world every day. The workforce is impacted greatly by technology. If we (the teachers) instruct content rather than skills, we are killing any chances our students may have in today’s world. We must make sure that our students can change with the times (character development) and whatever their job is they will get it done (good working habits). In addition, if they can roll with life’s punches (emotional intelligence) our students will have lifelong success no matter what they do.
And that’s my lashing about that.
I would like to say that these are not only skills that are required to be successful in school, but also required to be successful in life. Many of the skills that you mention are the competencies that employers are seeking in the people they hire. The more competent you are in these areas, the better the level of employment you will achieve.
ReplyDeleteYou are missing one however, that perhaps is part of what you are calling responsibility. It is called "Accountability". People can live with the fact that people make mistakes. What is not acceptable is to not be accountable for your mistakes. This is a major gap in today's society and hopefully through parents and teachers, we can explain the value of accountability.