Shyam Barr

Blog

 

PREFACE

This blog discusses topics that exist between the fields cognitive psychology and leadership, teaching and learning. Although I make connections between research and personal experience (my attempt at bridging the age-old ‘theory-practice’ gap), I write for a general audience. It is as Mihaly Csikszenmihalyi stated in the preface of his book FLOW:

“To take this step is somewhat dangerous, because as soon as one strays from the stylised constraints of academic prose, it is easy to become careless or overly enthusiastic about such a topic” (p. xi)

To avoid carelessness, I will endeavour to include references to journal articles, books and alike (as commonly expected in academic writing), but not at the expense of accessibility and ease of reading. This will be a delicate balance and one I will endeavour to achieve.

To end, I chose the word ‘discusses’ in the first sentence of this preface, to highlight that although the blog articles themselves are very much a dialogue between myself and what I read, I encourage you to share your comments and questions, so that we may start a more authentic discussion. 

 
 

Why It's Important For Teachers To Know Their Students & How They Learn

Why It's Important For Teachers To Know Their Students & How They Learn

Get to know your students.

Recently, I facilitated a workshop for a group of leaders from a primary school here in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). During our conversations about developing a “goal-setting culture”, we discussed the importance of getting to know the learner.

What do you do to get to know your learners?

The two overarching strategies that emerged during the workshop were:

(1) A quality conversation with students, and

(2) Focused observation of students’ behaviour.

Both strategies were highly valued by the group of leaders; however, the barrier - TIME.

The school has adopted formal goal-setting conferences in the past, scheduled into the timetable, but staff have reported it feeling overly formal and somewhat static - in that, the conversation seemed rigid and a focus on generating goals appeared to hinder the natural progress of the ‘getting to know you’ conversation with the student.

What if we shifted approach - from the formal goal-setting conference to simply a rich conversation with a learner, where the teacher's role is that of deep listening and meaningful comments/questions that respond to the learner, rather than a predetermined set of criteria?

After all, the AITSL Professional Standards detail that the number 1 professional standard is KNOW STUDENTS AND HOW THEY LEARN.

So… how do we craft learning experiences that enable a rich conversation… That allows us to get to know our students and how they learn?

I encourage you

  • to reflect on how you prioritise time for deep conversations with your students.

  • take the time to experiment in your own classrooms with pedagogies that prioritise conversations with students. For example:

    • Have you heard of the 2x10 strategy? It’s a relationship-building strategy, whereby the educator selects a learner and aims to engage with the student at minimum for a 2-minute conversation for 10 consecutive days.

    • Another strategy is to have a list of students and to mark off each student as you engage in a conversation with them. I have used this strategy in the past to ensure that I ask every student in the class a question throughout the lesson (or to ensure that everyone is contributing at some point during the lesson). Either way, it’s a way of holding yourself accountable to every learner.

    • Consider alternative ways of spending time with students beyond the classroom. For example, during recess/lunch duties, coaching or supporting extra-curricular teams, supporting homework/learning clubs.

This is discussed further in the Educate to Self-Regulate podcast: Episode 5 - Identifying student motivation: Conversation with Brendan Lee (Assistant Principal/Teacher), where we explore the importance of the ‘conversation’ with identifying students’ motivational beliefs. Click here to listen!

Shyam Barr