Creating a Classroom Culture for Learning: Well-being (part 2 guilt)

There will always be more to do...

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In part 1 I argued the need for teachers to fully engage in a positive mindset towards well-being, otherwise attempts to have a positive work life balance will be futile.  Although pressures placed on teachers by school leadership, and short term knee jerk reactions by government ministers often make it difficult for teachers to have a sense of well-being.  In my opinion, the biggest barrier to achieving such a balance is ourselves.  We often refer to our employment as a vocation rather than a job.  We talk about teaching as a calling.  We surround ourselves with emotive language to remind ourselves of the importance of our profession.  Phrases such as

"We are not just teachers we are managers of the worlds greatest resource: Children!"

"Every child matters"

"No child left behind"

"What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the human soul"

"Education is not filling of a pail but the lightening of a fire"

"Squeeze every last drop of learning out of every lesson"

are constant sources of inspiration but also place a heavy burden on our shoulders. And often this burden goes by the name of guilt.  The kind of guilt caused by thinking that you are not doing enough to help someone or some people.  Perhaps you have a student or students who is/are constantly struggling to understand a certain concept, but now you have other obligations during the weekend you must fulfil.  Or you receive an email form a parent at 9pm about how his/her daughter is frustrated and upset that she does not seem to understand the Order of Operations in Maths, yet her work shows that she has a grasp of the basics.  This is despite the fact that you have already given days and weeks of your free time considering this student when planning your lessons, but now you find you can't continue to do so.  Why? Perhaps your own children want to have you for a little while, or you life partner would like to hang out, or other students warrant your attention. Whatever the reason the guilt now starts to get to you, yet you continue to try to figure out ways to help the students despite the toll it's taking on you. Psychologists use the term 'compassion fatigue to explain this feeling of being burnout.

Remember it is your choice whether you wish to continue to make sacrifices needed to help the students, however also remember that acting out of guilt can only drain you further and make you a less effective teacher.  Your well-being is important to the long term success of your students.  If you can't maintain your health, how are you expected to control the climate in your classroom.

Creating a Classroom Culture for Learning: Being Human Part 2

In order to build positive relationships with students I have put forward the idea that it is not enough to just know your students but that they must also know you (Being Human part 1). Whilst allowing your students to see you as something more than a teacher might make some teachers feel uncomfortable, should it help foster positive relationships, then surely this is an avenue worth pursuing.  Hattie's diagram below is a gentle reminder about the potential impact positive teacher student relationships can have on student achievement, with at least three of the factors in Hattie’s diagram related to the teacher student dynamic: teacher-student relationships; not labelling students & expectations.

An effect-size of 1.0 is typically associated with:

• Advancing learners' achievement by one year, or improving the rate of learning by 50%
• A two grade leap in GCSE, e.g. from a C to an A grade
• An effect size of 1.0 is clearly enormous! (It is defined as an increase of one standard deviation)  1

With the above in mind, below are a few more strategies you may wish to consider in an effort to show the students you are human.

i) Personal Anecdotes

1. Anecdotes show that you are human, something more than a teacher.  
2. Anecdotes are a tool you can use successfully (sometimes) to make a point.
3. Anecdotes help you avoid being a hypocrite. I think it is important that we model expectations.  
4. Anecdotes allow you to model the idea of reflection.  I have rarely met a teacher who did not ascribe to the notion that schooling is about developing the whole child.  Yet whilst modelling positive behaviour, modelling expected outcomes, and modelling language are all generally accepted norms/expectations in many classrooms.  Modelling reflection (by a teacher) beyond the realm of school work is not common discourse in schools.
5. Anecdotes sometimes enable students to be comfortable in sharing their thoughts and feelings about the themes, topics, issues covered in class.  It helps build mutual trust, and helps you create open dialogue.

Example Anecdote

During my honeymoon my wife and I climbed Half Dome in California, We set off at 5 am and made it to the top at around 2 pm, we were back down by 7.15 pm.  It is one of my most important memories from my honeymoon road trip around California. Important because I got so much wrong.  I failed to pay attention to the experience of the journey, take in the scenery, talk to fellow walkers, and enjoy the company of my life companion. Instead I was only intent on achieving my goal of getting to the summit and back down again by nightfall.  This is an anecdote I have used to remind students (and myself as a school leader) that completing work is not always about finding the right answer to a problem, it’s also about the journey taken.  For example, students are sometimes so intent on finishing a piece of extended writing quickly they forget to consider all the ingredients necessary to produce a quality piece of work (slow writing). With regards to Maths, how often do students complete maths problems without showing their working out? And how often do we witness poor teamwork by students (and adults) in the pursuit of getting work completed quickly...

However, sharing personal anecdotes does come with a health warning.  Be careful that the classroom does not become about you. This is simply a tool to ensure lessons are about them.

ii) The Playground

When on break and/or lunch duty get involved.  Talk to students about what book they are reading, or if they have watched any movies lately, or what they think of Taylor Swift’s latest song, or squeeze.  I would even suggest involving yourself in some of the playground activities such as hopscotch, skipping, basketball, football, table tennis, or even sledging/sledding:

Mr Mark Asker International School January 2015

iii) The Corridor

Smile and say 'Hi' to students on the corridor.  Remember the journey to the staffroom or the classroom is just as important as reaching your final destination.

1 http://www.teacherstoolbox.co.uk/T_effect_sizes.html

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

Good Reads: Didau and Tomsett

5/5 for both books: 

What if everything you knew about education was wrong? David Didau

This much I know about love over fear. John Tomsett

                                        

"Arguing with teachers who have a vested interest in being right about a particular ideological view of education is like presenting fundamentalist Christians with the incontrovertible evidence of evolution.  It just bounces off them and makes them even more convinced that they are right and you are wrong.  We desperately scramble to reduce dissonance by justifying beliefs in the face of disconfirming evidence and often dismiss it as the exception that proves the rule." (Didau 2015: 50)

For 14 years I have followed my faith, building a bank of skills and strategies in a constant effort to be a better servant.  I have been lucky to have helped convert many young people to the path of righteousness, confident that the tools at my disposable would stand the test of time.  However, my faith has been recently rocked by the release of another sacred text. One that has declared that much of what we believe is false.  The book: "What if you knew everything about education was wrong" by David Didau,  has challenged some of my strongest convictions, (or should I now say meta-beliefs) regarding education.  But rightly so!

Ok...perhaps I am exaggerating a little, but the book has certainly made me ask serious questions about my own pedagogical views. Particularly my lack of self scrutiny regarding assertions I have always assumed to be true.  Assertions I have actively passed confidently on to my colleagues.  Assertions that I have never attempted to prove, simply because they feel right.  How could I come to doubt some of my views on education so easily you may ask? It's only a book you say.  True, but it is a very intelligent book, especially the first 4 chapters, which are infuriatingly clever.  I almost guarantee that by the end of chapter 4 Didau will have lured you into the uncomfortable realisation that should you dismiss his ideas, then it is most likely due to one of many theories regarding bias you have just read, rather than as a result of any sound evidence.   With these theories anchored to your thinking, it becomes easy to accept that what Didau is preaching about education is potentially true.  In my case, the fear of cognitive dissonance, allowed me to be open to his line of thinking. Extremely annoying, but at the same time, extremely refreshing!

Whilst Didau's book plays with your mind, is calculated and clinical.  Tomsett's book is warm, fuzzy, and tugs at your heart.

What is refreshing about Tomsett's approach is that he presents himself as a fallible headteacher who has made mistakes in his personal and work life.  I hope most readers sees this as a strength rather than a weakness - as I do.  His comments regarding the need for headteachers to avoid losing their emotional intelligence - to always work in adult to adult mode, rather than adult to child mode when talking to staff is a fitting end to a book that provides a strong argument for servant leadership, one that recognises the importance of teachers in schools, rather than as a means to an end.

In writing this post about Tomsett's book I am sending a message to both my present and future self. The message to my future self  - between 8 and 10 years in the future to be exact is advice about parenting:

"Cars are a great places to talk about profound things.  If you have a teenage son who needs to tell you something, pop him in the passenger seat and drive - he'll open up in minutes because he can converse with you whilst you both stare straight ahead." (pg 167)

I have two boys, and judging by their character, I have a feeling I will be driving them both around a lot in the future.  With regards to the present, Tomsett’s book reminds me that my upbringing should not be remembered as a barrier that I had to overcome to be where I am today, but instead a ladder to success.  The qualities and values that my parents instilled in me, and the experiences that came from a working class upbringing is why I have succeeded in the world of education, not despite of it.

Creating a Classroom Culture for Learning: Well-being (Part 1)

Creating a Classroom Culture for Learning: Put your Oxygen Mask on First.

There are two reasons why airlines tell parents to put their oxygen masks on before their children when in an aeroplane. First, if you are unable to think clearly due to a drop in oxygen, you won't be able to be much help to yourself or your child. Second, if you become anxious, it will cause your child who looks to you to be calm in a crisis to become more anxious.  If you do not have children, substitute them for someone who would require your help in such a situation.

Now swap the aeroplane for your classroom; the teacher is the parent and the children are your students.  To most teachers it may seem like a contradiction to think that by looking after yourself first and foremost, you are looking after your students.  Teacher well-being is so important to ensuring that a culture of learning flourishes in the classroom.  I have mentioned previously about the importance of the teacher in controlling their own classroom climate, and the importance of teacher-student relationships.  How are these likely to be sustained if we let our own well-being deteriorate?

So I urge you to put on your own oxygen mask first when necessary. Your own well being is vital for student success. If common-sense  is not convincing enough then please consider the following:

"Researchers have long known about the infectious nature of stress. Pass-along strain runs rampant in relationships and work settings. Studies have shown that there is "crossover" stress from one spouse to the other, between coworkers, and "spill over" from the work domain to home. The stress contagion effect, as it's known, spreads anxiety like a virus. Our mirror neurons help suck us into the emotional eruptions of others."  1

The potential for your own emotional and mental state to impact on the classroom should be sufficient motivation to care for one’s well-being.  Keep the weather in your classroom fit for learning, don’t be the weather front that brings forth high winds that disrupt the learning environment.

If teachers are to be truly receptive to strategies supporting well-being, then they must embrace a well-being mindset. The first of The Five Pillars of Islam (Shahada) is the belief that there is no God but Allah, and Muhammed is his prophet (PBUH).  The other four are actions.  Actions that you would only complete should you first believe in the Shahada. One of the hardest things for a committed teacher to believe is that occasionally putting his/her own well being first is not selfish but selfless. Once you believe, then hopefully you will act accordingly, and look for opportunities to promote your own well-being.

For the benefit of your students be strong enough to take a break, put yourself first and put your oxygen mask on.

1 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-robinson/dealing-with-stress_b_4097921.html