Learning for Teacher's Sake

​What does it look like to learn for the Teacher's Sake?

The second level of classroom culture is a step in the right direction, because it moves the emphasis off prizes, and onto people. While I would obviously argue that the students are more important than the teacher in a classroom, absent an engaged and reflective teacher, students cannot successfully create a learning environment for themselves, so phase two is incredibly important.

Without further adieu, here's what Learning for Teacher's Sake looks like:

Strengths

1. By emphasizing the teacher, a classroom will function and look how the teacher wants it to, and usually, teachers have effective visions of classrooms.
2. Running an effective classroom that emphasizes relationships between teachers and students requires the teacher to reflect and refine their practice to connect with students.
3. By starting to emphasize people over prizes, a learning community is in it's infancy, and can more easily progress through the levels of classroom culture.

Weaknesses

1. Emphasizing a classroom's teacher means that the teacher, or the teacher's interactions with students are the center of attention, not necessarily the text or task.
2. Building a classroom based on relationships develops the mentality: "why learn if I don't feel a connection to the teacher?"
3. When the teacher is absent from a classroom culture dependent on the teacher, students can, and likely will, destroy everything.

Students Say

• "Do you think this is a good answer?"
• "I'm always good in English. Mr. Karpie is so cool."
• "This is my favorite class."
• "Why did you give me this grade?"

Teachers Say

• "I think you guys are awesome!"
• "It's awesome that you're working so hard for me."
• "Do me a favor, and let's get through today without any incidents."
• "I don't disrespect you, so you shouldn't disrespect me."

Learning for Teachers Sake Debrief

​You'll notice a big step forward when the emphasis is on the teacher, and not the prizes. The types of things that students say in a classroom in which they like, and respect the teacher, are more generally positive, and those positive feelings usually translate into improved work completion and better behavior. Just this year, I had a "teacher's sake" moment in which a girl was planning to fight one of her peers, followed the standard protocol: remove phone, jewelry, etc from her pockets, and was about to start the violence when she looked over at me, and said "nope, I'm not gonna to this in this classroom," and then resorted her personal objects and left. We talked afterwards about how much we respected each other as humans. 

Now, the above anecdote (which is 100% true,) is a huge testament in favor of a classroom that emphasizes a well-liked and well-respected teacher. Students will make better decisions to impress the people they respect than they will make to earn a slice of pizza. The down side of the teacher-focused classroom is that had I been absent that day, fists would have flown because there would have been no reason to care about the substitute in the room.

Another tricky minefield that exists in the first two levels of classroom culture is the balance between running a successful and disciplined classroom while still making sure students like and respect you. If you are too concerned with winning student approval, students have all the power, and even at the top level of classroom culture, that is a horrible power balance. You need to be able to ask students to do tasks they don't want to do, and have their respect for you become compliance. Students will recognize, and capitalize on, teachers who are so concerned with their reputation that they will allow students special privileges without reason.

It is important for teachers experimenting with level two classroom culture that in order to win the respect and admiration of students, the trick is that they don't actually want to talk to, or know about you for a long time. To get them to respect you on the level of the girl who refused to fight in my presence, you need to be legitimately interested in them as people, which will segue us nicely into level three: Learning for Students' sake.

​Recommendations for Creating a Successful, Teacher-Based Culture:

Emphasize

1. Teacher-student relationships and roles: compliment students work ethic, work quality, and amazing discussion responses.
2. Ask students questions, don't tell students stories. They will respect you more because you're interested in them, you will never be interesting enough to win their adoration on merit of your awesomeness alone.
3. Focus on how teachers and students fit together in a classroom culture on your terms. 

Avoid

1. Personal connections based on shared sports teams, favorite clothing stores, or mutual interest in American muscle cars.
2. Long, personal stories about friends and family, or stories that make you sound awesome. Students benefit from seeing themselves reflected in their teachers, and the best way to achieve that is to embody a mirror, not a window through which students can see into your life.
3. How adults and students can be friendly and respectful of each other as people outside the role of teacher and student.

​Next Steps: How do I move towards learning for students' Sake?

1. Slowly move your practices towards student-centered activities in which you set up learning experiences for students so that they interact directly with the material, not with you, teaching them the material.
2. Slowly emphasize the teamwork you see between the students, and move "do me a favor and..." towards "I notice you have a classmate that's struggling..."
3. Minimize teacher-talk time, but make sure that the teacher-talk time is incredibly engaging, important, and builds the maximum connection with students with the minimal emphasis on yourself.