Assuming the Best

Today's blog title comes directly from a reading assigned to my field placements class at UWB. I found this article (Rick Smith and Mary Lambert, in Educational Leadership, September 2008) particularly inspirational. They posit that when we assume the best about our students we build positive connections that support student learning. Operating from this perspective does not mean that we overlook inappropriate behaviors or poor work. Rather it means that we assume that students essentially want to learn, to participate, to be cared for.

Thankfully Smith and Lambert do not leave their readers wondering how to put this into practice. They offer several specific suggestions. I was particularly intrigued by a strategy developed by Raymond Wlodkowski. He terms the technique "Two-by-Ten." Simply put, after identifying a particularly difficult student, the teacher commits to spending two minutes a day, for ten days in a row, in conversation with that student. The conversations can involve virtually any subject; the point is for the teacher and student to get to know each other and begin to form a bond. He found that not only did the behavior of the "difficult" student improve, but the behavior of other students in the class did as well. The technique is based in part on the idea that what difficult students need most is a positive personal connection with their teacher.

I would not characterize any of the students in my assigned sixth grade class as "difficult," but I think the lesson still applies. This afternoon, toward the very end of the day, one student in particular was having trouble holding it together. The students were beginning a science unit, moving from station to station, and this particular station involved making written observations about photos of the Grand Canyon. "Brian" was talking loudly, making noises, and seemed unable to settle down to the task. My first instinct was to redirect him immediately toward the assigned work, but a moment's reflection inspired me to speak quietly to him about his football team. (He was wearing the jersey, and I had overheard him in conversation about the team.) I simply asked him if he had practice tonight and whether he was looking forward to getting to be active outside. We chatted briefly and he informed me that Saturday games were the best because they could play all out. That was it, and then I redirected him. It wasn't magic or a miracle, but he managed to completed the task. I hope he also got a message about his student teacher's personal interest in him.