Understanding Our Students

I was surfing the net to find any inspiration for my next blog entry and came across an article on  a teacher shadowing high school students.  With the intention of finding out what students really go through inside the classroom, Alexis Wiggins, a 15-year teaching veteran now working in a private American International School overseas followed two students for two days  -- a 10^th grader and a 12^th grader with the task of doing everything the student is  supposed to do. 

Following is the author’s findings on the journey he has taken for two days and his takeaway on the experience.  I also added my opinion based on my experience as a teacher.

Alexis’ key takeaway #1

Students sit all day, and sitting is exhausting.

I could not believe how tired I was after the first day. I literally sat down the entire day, except for walking to and from classes. We forget as teachers, because we are on our feet a lot – in front of the board, pacing as we speak, circling around the room to check on student work, sitting, standing, kneeling down to chat with a student as she works through a difficult problem…we move a lot.

But students move almost never. And never is exhausting. In every class for four long blocks, the expectation was for us to come in, take our seats, and sit down for the duration of the time. By the end of the day, I could not stop yawning and I was desperate to move or stretch. I couldn’t believe how alert my host student was, because it took a lot of conscious effort for me not to get up and start doing jumping jacks in the middle of Science just to keep my mind and body from slipping into oblivion after so many hours of sitting passively.

My takeaway (based on my observation during my classes)

I couldn’t agree less with the author. It is never easy to just sit down and commit one’s self to listening to the discussion of the teacher.  This is why at times, students tend to divert their boredom and exhaustion to talking with their seatmates, a scenario that we as teachers don’t understand because we are quick to conclude that such students are not interested at our discussion and are disturbing the focus of their classmates.

Alexis’ takeaway #2

High school students are sitting passively and listening during approximately 90 percent of their classes.

Obviously I was only shadowing for two days, but in follow-up interviews with both of my host students, they assured me that the classes I experienced were fairly typical.

In eight periods of high school classes, my host students rarely spoke. Sometimes it was because the teacher was lecturing; sometimes it was because another student was presenting; sometimes it was because another student was called to the board to solve a difficult equation; and sometimes it was because the period was spent taking a test. So, I don’t mean to imply critically that only the teachers droned on while students just sat and took notes. But still, hand in hand with takeaway #1 is this idea that most of the students’ day was spent passively absorbing information.

It was not just the sitting that was draining but that so much of the day was spent absorbing information but not often grappling with it.

I asked my tenth-grade host, Cindy, if she felt like she made important contributions to class or if, when she was absent, the class missed out on the benefit of her knowledge or contributions, and she laughed and said no.

I was struck by this takeaway in particular because it made me realize how little autonomy students have, how little of their learning they are directing or choosing. I felt especially bad about opportunities I had missed in the past in this regard.

My takeaway (based on my observation during my classes)

Our teaching strategy should be student-centered.  We are supposed to engage them in activities that do not only uncover their potentials but more importantly those that enable them to showcase their contributions to the learning process.  Yet, at times, we unconsciously focus on our self-imposed rule – that learning can only come from the expert, the teacher.  We sometimes still impose the idea that we control everything.  That we are the center of learning simply to boost our stature or feelings of self-worth.

Alexis’ takeaway #3

You feel a little bit like a nuisance all day long.

I lost count of how many times we were told be quiet and pay attention. It’s normal to do so – teachers have a set amount of time and we need to use it wisely. But in shadowing, throughout the day, you start to feel sorry for the students who are told over and over again to pay attention because you understand part of what they are reacting to is sitting and listening all day. It’s really hard to do, and not something we ask adults to do day in and out. Think back to a multi-day conference or long PD day you had and remember that feeling by the end of the day – that need to just disconnect, break free, go for a run, chat with a friend, or surf the web and catch up on emails. That is how students often feel in our classes, not because we are boring per se but because they have been sitting and listening most of the day already. They have had enough.

In addition, there was a good deal of sarcasm and snark directed at students and I recognized, uncomfortably, how much I myself have engaged in this kind of communication. I would become near apoplectic last year whenever a very challenging class of mine would take a test, and without fail, several students in a row would ask the same question about the test. Each time I would stop the class and address it so everyone could hear it. Nevertheless, a few minutes later a student who had clearly been working his way through the test and not attentive to my announcement would ask the same question again. A few students would laugh along as I made a big show of rolling my eyes and drily stating, “OK, once again, let me explain…”

Of course it feels ridiculous to have to explain the same thing five times, but suddenly, when I was the one taking the tests, I was stressed. I was anxious. I had questions. And if the person teaching answered those questions by rolling their eyes at me, I would never want to ask another question again. I feel a great deal more empathy for students after shadowing, and I realize that sarcasm, impatience, and annoyance are a way of creating a barrier between me and them. They do not help learning.

My takeaway (based on my observation during my classes)

We teachers are certainly guilty of such sarcasm more often than not.  I can only imagine how we rolled our eyes (or maybe some other acts showing disgust) to those who we feel have not been listening or attentive enough to ask us the same question.  I believe we need to be reminded of the word empathy.  Let’s be keen enough to identify with and understand somebody else’s feelings or difficulties.  That way, we set up a freeway to learning.

I find the shadowing thing an awakening for all of us teachers.  Alexis Wiggins has paved the way for us to better understand our students now and to be more empathic to their daily predicaments in going to class.  We don’t need to break our time-tested teaching strategies, we simply need to bend those old tricks a little and help our students say that going to school is never a difficulty after all.