As a new teacher, I often did more preaching than teaching. Sometimes my preaching came in the form of 鈥測ou can do it鈥� speeches. Other times I lectured students about the work habits of successful people, and admonished them for self-defeating behaviors such as disorganization, tardiness, and irresponsibility. I also tried to inspire students with my formula.
But whether I was cheerleading or chastising, my motivational efforts had no effect on students. Correction: no positive effect on students, since I got lots of pushback from them. Most memorable was when a student interrupted me and said, 鈥淔_ _ _ you. You don鈥檛 know anything about our lives.鈥� Language aside, he had a good point, as did the student who wrote on a , 鈥淵ou should act like a math teacher instead of a salesperson.鈥�
As I鈥檝e written before, my . And what they taught me in this case was that I needed to stop preaching and start teaching. Rather than tell students they could be successful, I needed to show them how to be successful. I needed to model the behaviors I wanted students to exhibit, reinforce those behaviors when students exhibited them, and establish policies and protocols that targeted those behaviors. Here are a few examples of how I replaced preaching with teaching:
- Instead of criticizing students for lack of effort and determination, I worked relentlessly to improve my effectiveness as a teacher. When students struggled to master a skill, I searched and searched for new and better ways to teach it. (My was informed by over 20 hours of self-directed research--pre-Internet!)
- Instead of harping on students鈥� poor note-taking skills, I empowered them with my note-taking system.
- Instead of confronting students for not doing their homework, I completed my --i.e, planning and preparing thoroughly for each class rather than winging it, as I often did my first year.
- Instead of pestering students for being disorganized, I created a classroom that was a model of .
- Instead of bemoaning students鈥� lack of resourcefulness, I cultivated resourcefulness by letting students use notes during quizzes and establishing a .
- Instead of dwelling on students鈥� self-defeating behaviors, I looked for and acknowledged their constructive behaviors. ()
- And instead of trying to talk students into feeling hopeful, I gave them by grading them and improvement rather than just accuracy.
In his book, , Martin Haberman asserts that 鈥減reaching and lecturing is not teaching and does not impact behavior.鈥� That鈥檚 exactly what I learned from my students--first through their resentment of my preaching, and later through their response to my teaching:
鈥淐oach G, all I have to say is keep up the good work. The harder you try the better you get.鈥�
鈥淵ou taught me respect, responsibility, and the rules of this game and I respect you for that.鈥�
Image by Orlando Florin Rosu, provided by Dreamstime license