Summary of Teacher Awareness Series I

by Jean Schedler, Ph.D. Educational Consultant

We have covered five suggestions to increase our Teacher Awareness regarding the students in our classroom.

All five suggestions involved us as teachers doing something slightly different and/or being more aware of what we are already doing.

I want to encourage you to continue to practise these techniques.

Here is a suggestion for a way to begin to make each of the five suggestions a part of your teaching day.

Record the five techniques on a small card.

Then across from each Teacher Awareness technique, identify a specific part of the teaching day when you will try to practise that technique.

For example:

Establish Eye Contact – When I greet the children in the morning and explain the agenda for the day.

Have student(s) repeat directions – Have two students repeat the daily homework that is assigned.

Examine teacher Language of Instruction – While teaching a lesson in Science or Social Studies, I will establish eye contact and have a struggling student repeat his/her understanding of the lesson, and then contemplate where I lost the student.

Less Teacher Talk – When students are writing at their desks.

Increase Wait Time for Student Response – When asking questions in Math or Science.

As you practice these Teacher Techniques, they will become more natural and automatic.

But more important, hopefully these Teacher Techniques are facilitating you in becoming more aware of the needs of the students in your classroom.

The goal is for us teachers to change what we do, to meet the needs of the students in our classroom. However, first we must be aware of those needs.

Next week I will be starting Teacher Awareness Series II, which will consist of six articles that will focus exclusively on the students and basic underlying skills.

In preparation for Teacher Awareness Series II, I am assigning you two tasks to complete this week.

The first task was described above – record and practice the five Teacher Awareness Techniques discussed in Series I.

The second task is to identify three students in your classroom who are fairly successful in school and three students who struggle in school.

I have purposely avoided using the word “smart”. Learning difficulties are not correlated to intelligence. One can be intelligent and still struggle in the classroom.

Identify three students who have little difficulty during the school day completing assignments, staying in their seats, taking their turn, handing in papers, etc.; and three students who find the school routine a challenge.

I encourage you to share this article with a colleague, and discuss how each of you is doing regarding the Teacher Awareness Techniques discussed in Series I.