Inquiry Buddies
  • Inquiry Buddies
    • Year One - Reflections
    • Student Work - Year 1 >
      • Videos - Year One
      • Student Reflections - Year One >
        • Student 'I-Thought Book' Reflections
    • Year Two - Reflections
    • Teacher Inquiry
    • Year 3 >
      • Student Resources >
        • Animals >
          • Birds - Hummingbirds, Owls, Penguins
          • Cheetahs
          • Dogs
          • Horses
          • Pandas
          • Reptiles - Komodo Dragons, Turtles
          • Sharks
        • Science >
          • Rocks and Crystals
          • Robots
          • Space
        • Sports - Hockey, Olympics, Gymnastics >
          • Hockey
          • Gymnastics
          • Soccer
          • Olympics
        • Architecture
        • Dreams
        • Magic
        • War
    • Teacher Resources
  • Our Findings
    • Student Survey Results - 2012/2013
    • Time
    • Relationship / Voice
    • Engagement
    • Resources /Process
    • Skills / Background Knowledge
    • Other Considerations
    • References
    • Parent Comments
  • Implementation
    • Unit Plan
    • BC Core Competencies
  • Mini Lessons
  • Our Blog
    • Contact Us!
  • FAQ's

How Does Your True Self Impact Classroom Culture?

2/24/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
   This month I have been struggling trying to express my thoughts on culture in schools and in my classroom.  I have been looking to find the right words to articulate my thoughts and ideas around culture in schools and in my own classroom.  I start, I reread, I reflect, I delete, and then I start all over again!
Now its not because I don’t have a lot to say, because anyone who knows me knows that at times I have too much to say.  My thoughts can’t always keep up with what I am saying!
Through all my attempts at my February Blogamonth post, one theme kept surfacing to the top, one common word – Relationships.  At the end of the day, all that matters in my classroom is the relationship I have with the students on any given day throughout the year.  When the relationship is strong, everything else seems to fall into place.

I don’t, though, believe there is a perfect formula for how to build relationships. 
  • Yes, you need to listen to kids.  
  • Yes, you need to know what they like and dislike. 
  •  Yes, you need to take time to build mutual trust.  
  • Yes, your lessons should be meaningful and an engaging. 
Picture
However, after 14 years of teaching, I have begun to realize that you can know and do all the above things, but still not achieve a positive culture or a true relationship with students.  I think, now and I may be wrong, but I do think that the biggest factor in creating positive relationships and a positive culture in your own classroom needs one last thing – a teacher genuinely being himself or herself.

Over Christmas, my mother-in-law and I were chatting.  She was trained as a K teacher in the 60’s in Australia.  During our discussion, she mentioned that in Teacher College, it was stressed that you need to use your strengths your own teaching.  Each person has different strengths, and that what sets you apart is when you use your strengths in a positive, engaging way.  Now she has not taught elementary school since the 70’s, so she is not immersed in a 21Century classroom, yet her words are so relevant and so important.  Amidst all the changes in curriculum, perspective, and as the pendulum swings so to speak, those teachers who maintain a positive learning culture in their room, I believe, stay true to this idea.  Teach as yourself, not as others expect you to.


Two years ago, my job share partner and I had a 23-year-old male student teacher.  He was a fantastic, energetic guy with a lot of potential.  I remember at the half way point saying to him that he needed to stop teaching like a middle aged woman with two kids and start being himself.  He didn’t need to be us, what he needed to do was bring his own personality to his teaching.  We encouraged him to bring in his guitar, to sing for the kids, to be his 23 year old man self!  The relationship and mutual respect between him and the students grew from this point on.  My point being that he had checked off all the necessary relationship building activities he was given on a checklist from university, but had not yet done it as his own self.

I have job shared for the past 3 years working 3 days and giving 2 days to my job share partner.  People ask how do you maintain the same positive environment from week to week, when you are both so different?  The bottom line is that we both build relationships, but we build them as our own selves.  The relationship I have with Student A is different than the one she does, because we are different people.

Who is my true self each day when I teach.  Well 4 things from my personal narrative that I know for sure influence my teaching and the culture of my classroom each day are:
  • That I am the oldest of 4, the other 3 are boys; therefore, nothing a Grade Seven boy has done yet has fully shocked me.  Boys will be boys!
  • I will forever be a 'Bookworm Athlete'  Yes I participated in high performance sports, but at the core I am a bookworm!
Picture
Picture
  • I teach Grade Seven because I still remember that raw, horrible feeling of being a teenage girl both at the right and wrong ends of girl drama.  A few wounds are still healing.
  • Finally, being a mom to two very different little humans has changed the way I teach, because they changed the way I live!
I am tempted to once again reread this, reflect and probably delete most of it, but this time, I am just going to publish live and leave this rambling set of thoughts as is.  Classroom culture is so uniquely our own, and if it is positive and learning is taking place, then I think that the best version of you must be the person teaching each day!
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Inquiry Buddies

    Nadine Keyworth, one of the co-founders of Inquiry Buddies, blogs here about her thoughts on Inquiry Buddies, Teacher Inquiry and Life in the Classroom!

    Archives

    September 2014
    August 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013

    Categories

    All
    Assessment
    Classroom Culture
    Collaboration
    IPad
    Reflection
    Teacher Inquiry

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.