The classroom is where the “rubber meets the road”. The teacher is the frontline practitioner (artist) & diagnostician (scientist) in the classroom. The classroom should be as efficient and productive as a healthy cell. However, maintaining efficiency and productivity requires a net input of energy in order to maintain that functionality (see 1st and 2nd Laws of Thermodynamics). Being an effective practitioner and diagnostician requires motivation, inspiration, imagination, ongoing content/skill development (aka professional development) tailored to teacher needs/wants, and compensation. Similarly, the students are the recipients of the teacher’s practice and diagnostics, so students also require motivation, inspiration, imagination, ongoing content/skill development tailored to their needs/wants…..just not the compensation!!
For me, a classroom is a community. A community not unlike what we see in nature…two or more individuals (species) interacting in the same place, at the same time. Here is where I believe we need to have a foundation upon which to solidly “build” our classroom. Using four components of community-building and community-maintaining, we can work to have our classrooms as efficient and productive as possible. These components are trust, cohesion, sense of well-being, and shared purpose. Students and teachers should agree upon how to define (“What does trust look like in this classroom?”) these components at the classroom-level. Additionally, faculty and staff should also agree upon how to define these components at the schoolhouse-level. Regardless of agreed upon definitions, these four components must remain foundational in order to maintain the community ‘feel” of the classroom.
We should maintain laser-like focus on the classroom, what is happening in the classroom, and re-focus on the three primary driving forces the classroom….curriculum, instruction, and assessment. As educators, we should always categorize our work (lesson planning, implementation, and reflection) under one of these drivers and that may help keep us focused on the classroom as the subunit of teaching and learning. The classroom has to be a sacred space where the teacher and student can focus on these three drivers. The curriculum provides the teacher with the necessary resources (content, skills, scope, and sequence) for teaching, assessment informs the teacher about student progress/understanding, and instruction is informed/adjusted based upon assessment results and analysis of results. While curriculum and assessment may be somewhat prescribed (perhaps completely prescribed), there are still areas for teacher discretionary moves to enhance teacher autonomy and efficacy. However, instruction is where the teacher truly demonstrates their craft and should, in my opinion, have the greatest impact on the classroom community. Instruction is where the artistry of teaching truly exists and teachers should make the most of their ability to actively engage students in the learning process using their innate or learned instructional strategies. Instruction is also where the majority of the ongoing professional development should be focused for the teacher. Again, professional development should be based upon the teacher’s needs/wants with regard to their professional growth over time.
The classroom is not only the functional subunit of teaching and learning, but the classroom may also be the only true locus of influence for teachers. Now, this is going to be a let down for those who want to assign mountains of homework and/or blame parents for student issues. Teachers locus of influence is not guaranteed beyond the classroom level, so we need to make the most of the time we have with students in the classroom. This is where I lean heavily on selected text from Teaching with Poverty in Mind by Eric Jensen. The book’s title is self-explanatory and I believe what is outlined in the book also applies to students who may not be experiencing poverty. If we embrace the notion that student data (assessment) are information and not destiny, that students spend the vast majority of their time OUTSIDE of the classroom (approximately 87% of waking hours), and that what happens outside of the classroom impacts what occurs inside the classroom, then that should be enough evidence to support renewed focus on the classroom as a sacred space for teaching and learning.
The classroom, like the schoolhouse, should be an inviting setting for teaching and learning. Key components of inviting settings are safety, order, and structure. These three components keep it all together and make it so learning may occur as unimpeded as possible despite external variables beyond our locus of influence. Safety is always paramount in educational settings, perhaps more so now than ever and proactive safety measures should be a given, unmistakably apparent, and obvious. Structure and order lend themselves to feelings of comfort, harmony, predictability, safety, self-control, creativity. Further, social-emotional learning (SEL) has recently become more prevalent and necessary. Education has always valued and modeled character development, but we now have renewed focus and vigor on SEL which also positively impacts the classroom. Does this sound like a place where teaching and learning can be maximally efficient and productive? I think so!
The crude diagram below is meant to be a visual representation of the text presented above. An interesting activity would be to obscure some of the text within the diagram and then present a somewhat ambiguous gist of this post and see if an audience, ideally of educators, can determine what might fit within the locus of influence portion of the diagram. Not necessarily the italicized terms, but the big three of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. External variables may have so skewed our view of what to address, when to address it, and/or whether or not the variable even needs to be addressed. This may have taken our focus off of what may matter, thus let's promote a laser-like re-focusing on the classroom as a major “what matters” in education.
This post is an accumulation of experiences and research accrued over 20+ years in education. I wish I was better at cataloging impactful articles and books, but I am not. Recently I was heavily influenced by articles linked below and, as mentioned earlier, Eric Jensen’s book entitled, Teaching with Poverty in Mind. I do not think any of what I have presented above is earth-shattering or novel, but I felt compelled to organize and write out these ruminations that have rattled around in my head for years. If this post helps/inspires/motivates just one fellow educator, then it was well worth my time and effort to post these ideas.
How to Build Community and Why It Matters So Much by Tracy Brower
The Past and Future of Teacher Efficacy by Thomas Guskey
The Past and Future of Teacher Efficacy by Thomas Guskey
Feeling Like You Matter: A Checklist for Teachers by Shelly Wilfong
