This blog is Part 2 of 3.
In the first blog, we thought about classroom management, motives and motivation.
Here, I’m going to look at how we build positive relationships with learners and, first, why we need to see them as individuals.
Seeing Individuals
This is harder than it sounds, especially when you first start working with a class (in a primary school) or with several different classes (in a secondary school).
Having thirty faces in front of you can be daunting.
Even if it is not, you will still find yourself in a position where there is more information coming at you than you can reasonably take in (names, faces, behaviour, evidence of prior learning).
Given such a situation, a common first reaction is to view your class as a mass, or as a series of groups (quiet ones, loud ones, more-able ones).
This is the application of an approach with which we are all familiar: finding ways to make sense of more information than we can easily process in one go.
You will note that the division of the class into groups is, in essence, a rough attempt at classification, which echoes one of the central aspects of human thought more generally.
When we encounter that which is new, we try to understand it in part by seeing if it will fit into the existing categories we possess.
This is a form of pattern recognition.
As an aside, philosophers have argued that concepts and categories form the basis of our thought, with both being necessary constituents of the foundations upon which our thinking rests.
But I digress.
For our purposes – excelling as a trainee teacher – it is important we are alive to the likelihood that we will not see all learners as individuals at first.
And that we need to work to correct this.
Doing so will bring many benefits.
The relationships you cultivate with your learners will be better if you see each learner as an individual.
You will be able to personalise how you talk to them and reflect the sense that you know who they are, what they are like and that you view them as important.
Seeing learners as individuals means building a picture of what they are like, both in general and in the specific context of learning.
This information lets you tailor your teaching to better meet their needs.
For example, if you know that a particular learner struggles to get started when faced with a piece of writing, you can act on this.
Even better, if you come to understand that the learner struggles for reasons quite specific to them, you can tailor your support even more precisely.
Returning to the theme of motive and motivation (from Part 1), seeing learners as individuals helps you to gain a better understanding of these two facets of their characters.
Armed with accurate, specific information about individual motives and learner motivation places you in a far stronger position than if you possess only vague, undifferentiated information that you apply to the class as a whole.
We all like to feel important.
This does not mean we all need to be held up as the centre of attention.
Feeling important stems in large part from feeling noticed.
Feeling noticed means we feel that others see us as who we are – an individual.
Learning names, working to understand prior knowledge, paying attention to learners’ characters. All of this helps you understand learners as individuals.
From here, you can show them that you think they are important.
This is highly motivational.
While you are training, you will spend less time with learners than when you come to work as a teacher proper.
This means you may not have as much opportunity as you would like to get to know them as individuals.
There are three useful methods you can use to overcome this difficulty.
First, get hold of information about the classes you will be teaching from other sources.
This includes:
- The people who teach them already
- Their form tutors (in a secondary context)
- The recording and reporting system used in school
- The special educational needs (SEN) register (maintained by the special educational needs coordinator, or SENCO)
- Any other internal recording systems
Second, when observing the teacher or teachers whose lessons you will take over, use this as an opportunity to observe and interact with the learners as well.
Start gathering information from the moment you step into the room.
Look at behaviour, look at learning and listen for names.
During activities, circulate through the room and help different groups.
Ask the teacher if there are specific learners with whom they would like you to work.
Observe how the teacher interacts with their class and see what kind of support they give to different learners.
Third, look at the work learners are producing.
How much there is and how accessible it is will vary depending on the time of year and the subject or age groups with whom you are working.
Suffice to say, however, you will always be able to get your hands on something learners have produced.
Examine this.
See if it tallies with the perceptions you are starting to build.
In the case of written work, ask yourself whether it matches the oral contributions the learner makes.
Compare work produced by different learners and use this to analyse where you think individual learners are at in relation to their peers.
These endeavours – gathering information about learners, their needs, abilities and characters – are important when first meeting a class.
It allows you to see them as individuals more quickly than would otherwise be the case.
It also echoes one of the jobs outstanding teachers do every time they teach and mark: collect information on their learners’ learning.
This information can then be used to tailor teaching, so it has an ever-higher degree of relevance and personalisation.
The Relationship between Teachers and Learners
When starting out as a teacher, it is important to remember that you are the professional in the room.
Your relationship with learners should be friendly, but in no way should you seek to be their friend.
This sums up nicely the importance of creating a positive atmosphere while also maintaining professional distance.
Boundaries are a vital part of the relationships you cultivate.
These boundaries should be set by you and not the other way round.
Whatever boundaries you set, expect learners to test them.
This is what children and young people do.
It’s part of the wider learning they engage in at school.
Consider in advance how you will respond when learners push boundaries.
For example, if you ask for silence during a task and learners begin to talk, what will you do?
Rehearsing responses to situations like these is great because it gives you the confidence to be firm and assertive when/if they arise.
It also helps you to avoid becoming flustered and diminishes the likelihood of an emotional response emerging within the heat of the lesson.
Relationships develop over time.
Therefore, you should expect teaching to become easier as you get to know your learners better.
We noted above some of the things you can do to speed up this process.
To excel in your training, you will want to develop strong, positive relationships.
Such relationships usually rest on a few key things.
Enthusiasm is the first of these.
It is infectious.
If you display it, your learners will pick up on this and respond positively.
Enthusiasm can be seen in your body language and heard in your voice. It can also be communicated through the types of lessons you create.
Manners, politeness and good humour come next.
These are ways of acting that support the success of any enterprise.
Organisation and a sense of purpose come third.
Learners arrive at lessons expecting to have an experience to which they are accustomed.
That is, in most schools, a lesson with a clear objective, connecting to what they have done before and introducing ideas or information that are new.
You are unlikely to be cut much slack because you are training.
To most learners, such a concept is hard to properly grasp (they might know what the word means, but understanding is likely to be limited due to their lack of wider experience).
A sense of purpose gives lessons drive and meaning.
This is engaging for learners.
It makes them feel like what they are doing is worthwhile in itself – and is not just designed to serve an instrumental end.
Finally, most good relationships are characterised by consistency (albeit sometimes broken up by spontaneity).
Consistency helps us to know where we are with someone.
It lets us predict the future with a reasonable degree of accuracy and, in the case of learners, allows them to be successful in the eyes of the teacher.
This is because they come to know your expectations, boundaries and ways of working, meaning they can adapt their behaviour to fit with these.
An inconsistent teacher creates problems for learners, leading to deteriorating relationships and a sense of frustration on both sides.
This frustration stems from the fact that neither teacher nor learners feel like their expectations are being met.
Simple rapport building techniques through which you can hasten the development of positive relationships include:
- Learning names quickly. If this is difficult for you, ask learners to make name cards and to display these at the front of their desks.
- Talking in terms of us instead of you and them. For example: This lesson we’re going to be looking at what happened in Pompeii. As opposed to: This lesson you will be looking at what happened in Pompeii.
- Giving genuine, specific praise, highlighting things learners have done well.
- Thanking learners for answers, contributions and working hard. This includes thanking the class as a whole at the end of a lesson.
- Greeting learners at the start of the lesson. If possible, ensure books are on desks, a starter activity is on the board and then stand at the door to welcome learners into the classroom.
- Making your expectations clear from the beginning, communicating these regularly and sticking to them.
- Creating lessons that give learners the opportunity to be successful. This includes sharing success criteria and showing what success looks like.
- Asking learners questions and listening to what they say.
- When behaviour is poor, focussing on the behaviour rather than the learner.
- Planning interesting lessons in which learners have a leading role.
- Planning lessons that stretch and challenge all learners.
- Remaining positive and enthusiastic (even if you don’t feel like it!).
