On Caring, Preparation, Flexibility, and Diligence

Caring, preparation, flexibility, and diligence. Genuine caring shows students that they are valued as individuals, not as vessels for disciplinary knowledge. Preparation helps guarantee direction and focus in teaching while maintaining a stable environment. With flexibility the educator responds to developing student needs. Finally, diligence - the commitment to work with students through the tough times and follow through to the very end. In order to provide students with an environment in which they feel compelled to take the chances that can result in deep, powerful learning, I assert that these four anchors must exist in the classroom.

Nell Noddings, in "Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education," asserts "The primary aim of every educational institution and of every educational effort must be the maintenance and enhancement of caring ... (the student) must be aware always for me that he is more important, more valuable than the subject." One day during my senior English class, I took aside a student that was not acting like the excited, engaged person I had come to know. Instead of actively participating, she was staring aimlessly at her desk. She shared with me that she had just experienced her first major break up, and was taking it pretty hard. After we talked, things weren't immediately back to normal, but the rest of the hour was better. On a course feedback survey, however, she told me it was nice to know I cared enough to notice a difference in her behavior. Statements like this is what teaching is about, and they do not come without showing students your concern.

I agree with Noddings. Caring should come first in education. When we show our students that we have a genuine interest in their lives, not only their academic well being, they carry with them an affirmation of their value as a human being. Every once in awhile, an educational journal such as Phi Delta Kappan takes a survey of parents. A question similar to this frequently appears, "Do you think schools should teach values?" In one recent survey, there was an overwhelming positive response to this question. If this is the case, I have no qualms with showing students that I care. In doing so I free them to demonstrate the same concern for others within and outside the school community. The value of caring is something that students can carry with them far beyond my classroom.

At the beginning of the school year, I distribute a questionnaire that collects data on how students regard the topics to be covered in class. Also included on the survey are questions that ask students to let me know about their involvement in school activities, and any outside jobs that might interfere with accomplishing the goals of the course. Students are surprised that a teacher collects this type of information! "Why do you want to know this?" they ask suspiciously. "There's more to this world than what happens inside this classroom, and I'd like to know who's coming into this classroom!" Students comment it's "cool" that I care about these other responsibilities - they appreciate the interest in their lives.

I use the information I collect on the surveys to help me see the course content through the students' eyes. I can make modifications and accommodations in the first week, if necessary, simply by reading student comments on a brief survey. The ability to make modifications assumes that I already have a plan of action, for without a solid plan I would not be modifying, I would be improvising. I played saxophone in big band jazz bands for fifteen years, so I am aware that improvisation can be a beautiful thing. However, improvisation is itself an art that requires lots of practice. For this reason, I find that careful preparation is paramount in reaching successful outcomes in the classroom.

Preparation not only provides me with peace of mind, but I also believe that I owe it to my students to have a goal-oriented plan of action with solid rationale. I should always be able to answer the student who asks, "Why are we doing this?" without using vague references. That student deserves to know why we have come from where we've been and how what we're doing now contributes to what we will do, not only within the walls of the classroom, but outside those walls as well.

I entered each class with carefully laid plans for how to lead students toward specific learning objectives, and this foundation provided me with answers to why I was doing what I was doing, and how I expected to reach point B from point A. Yet even the most intricate plans can be laid to waste, especially where teenage students are involved. This is where flexibility becomes a valuable asset in teaching. I was constantly revising lessons spontaneously in the classroom, during the day from period to period, and in the long term for upcoming days and weeks. Part of what allowed me to make these adjustments was a concrete long-range plan. Should such a plan not be in place, there exists the possibility that adjustments can be haphazard and without purpose, resulting in questionable outcomes. As the software industry puts it, garbage in, garbage out.

At times, it was appropriate to push through discomfort in order to see what could happen. In my classroom it was this diligence that resulted in a wonderful large group discussion on the nature of postmodernism as it relates to music videos and television commercials. Students had read an article on the topic, and most came to class with blank looks on their faces. After fifteen minutes of discussion, there were more blank looks and a few heads on desks. I considered leaving the topic behind, but instead moved forward with student input as the catalyst. Things began to look up as students pointed out traits of postmodernism in select commercials. By the end of the hour students excitedly left the classroom jabbering about postmodernism as reflected on MTV.

As a beginner in the profession of teaching, it will take me a long time to be able to measure when to "plow through" a tough classroom situation and when to abandon one approach in favor of another. However, diligence will aid me, because in order to move forward in one's profession one must have perseverance and an interest in the evolution of the professional self. I have found that one way to facilitate such forward movement is to set goals. Based on the experiences in my short-term teaching internships, I set eight concrete goals for my extended internship. At the conclusion of the fourteen weeks, I had met six of the eight and had a plan to reach the remaining two, which now reside at the top of my new list of goals.

I believe that the four anchors of caring, preparation, flexibility, and diligence provide a foundation for a classroom wherein students can take the risks that result in powerful learning. I believe that setting high standards while providing students with the tools to reach those standards forces them to discover ways to overcome obstacles on their own. Ultimately, I believe that every student who enters the classroom has the potential to experience powerful learning. It is my aim to provide each student with a safe environment conducive to attainment of that learning with a set of experiences that will prepare the student for the responsibilities found outside the classroom.

"Students cannot possibly learn everything of value by the time they leave school, but we can instill in them the desire to keep questioning throughout their lives." - Grant Wiggins in Educational Leadership