Unconditional Teaching

“It is vital that kids know and understand that we care about them. That we as educators have their well being and success at the forefront of our minds during our daily interactions. As soon as they know we care, we have a chance that they might learn something.”

I could not agree more, and I would even go so far as to add that when we create a learning environment that is safe for intellectual growth, that is to say one that supports, encourages, guides and instructs the intellect, we demonstrate to students that we care. Students know inherently that their intellect is a tremendous gift, and they know when they are squandering it. They know that teachers who really care are teachers who design learning processes that students can really dig their intellectual teeth into. We know, too, that these are not necessarily the most popular or “loved” teachers, but they are the ones who are adept at providing the necessary scaffolding for learning and then stepping out of the way to become a coach, a river guide, a suggester, a fellow ponderer… giving critical feedback along the way. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of the feedback. Unfortunately, the feedback loop has in many cases dissolved into a grinding testing loop that emphasizes grades rather than progress. This is a travesty in education. On the progressive side, there is a dangerous reaction that I’m afraid throws the baby out with the bath water: no tests, no grades. I think this is a mistake. I have seen students engage enthusiastically around feedback assessment. For example, my students liked what I called the FYI quiz, a frequent check-up on student understanding and progress. The FYI meant that no grade was taken but the students scored themselves as a personal gauge of whether they had grasped the basic information at hand. It allowed students to say, “Okay, I’m getting this,” or, “Yikes, I’m really not getting this,” and respond accordingly. One surprising outcome of the FYI quiz was that while students were embarrassed and ashamed of poor test scores, they discussed a poor FYI score freely, often garnering feedback from fellow students about how to manage learning the information. It allowed students to become instructors and transformed the classroom into a community of learners. It also gave me valuable feedback on where the sticking points were in my program. When students were working on self-determined assignments (such as design-your-own projects), they often made a little FYI quiz for themselves to identify the essential facts they had set out for themselves and make sure they were moving toward what we called “authority” on the subject. They found it humorous that a score of five out of five made them an “authority” and declared themselves ready for the master’s degree. Feedback. There is a middle ground, and teachers who help students find the way (quite literally, the “curriculum”) and then give them an informed, experienced second opinion on their progress, are teachers who are showing students they care.