The Master Teacher Blog

The great American philosopher Mister (Fred) Rogers once said, “Silence is one of the greatest gifts we have.” Fortunately, this gift is free and available to all of us. However, silence can feel uncomfortable, even awkward, if we are not accustomed to it or fail to appreciate its value.  

Despite its sometimes negative connotation, silence actually offers many learning and health benefits. For example, extended silence has been shown to lead to the creation of new brain cells associated with learning and recall. Silence can help us to increase and extend our ability to focus. It can also lower blood pressure and increase blood flow to the brain, thus lowering stress and relieving tension. The key is to find time and create conditions where silence can be experienced.  

At the same time, we know that learning can often be loud and boisterous, especially when it generates excitement. Making sense of new information may require discussion, lead to questions, and stimulate the sharing of observations. Obviously, these are important components of learning, yet learning also grows with reflection, contemplation, context finding, and connection making. 

The rapid pace of the school day can make finding time for and utilizing silence a challenge. We can feel the urge to fill each second of the day with words, activity, and other features in our efforts to keep students focused and occupied. Nevertheless, there are many opportunities for us to create and utilize silence to calm, guide, and support learning. Consider these five ideas that leverage the value of silence to engage students.  

• Look inside. We might begin our class period by providing students with a few minutes to silently gauge and reflect on their emotions. During stimulating discussions or insightful conversations, we can give students a few moments to silently explore their thoughts. We can encourage students to take deep breaths and engage in other relaxation and reflection techniques. This focus likely will open doors to discussion about how our students are feeling and how they imagine others might be feeling. We could then follow the period of silence with a discussion about how they can direct their emotions and energy in a positive and productive direction.  
• Clear your mind. Before beginning a new cycle of teaching and learning, we might invite students to pause, relax, and clear their minds of distractions and preoccupation. We can direct them to consciously let go of what may get in the way of what they will learn next.  
• Consider what you already know. As we introduce new content or a new skill, we might ask students to think about what they are going to learn. We can encourage students to take some time to think about what they already know. They could jot down notes for themselves or post thoughts in a virtual common space for later discussion. We need to give plenty of time and encourage them to think beyond their initial recollections. For example, what might be related? Of course, we also can ask what else they would like to know. 
• Hold that thought. Pausing after asking a question and allowing students to think before calling on someone to respond is a common and effective strategy for encouraging more thought and more students to respond. For students who are typically reluctant to respond in the presence of other students, we might signal that we will be calling on them in advance to help them be prepared to answer. It can be a great confidence builder. 
• Imagine what it looks like. When we pose a question, we can shift students’ attention away from immediately verbalizing answers and toward developing responses using pictures, graphics, maps, or some form other than words. We may need to allow students several minutes to silently draw, compose, and develop a graphic representation that fully reflects their thinking. This approach allows students who are not quick thinkers, verbally skilled, or outgoing to reflect and think while employing other forms of expression in a context of silence. 

In a world filled with noise, silence can be both a welcome relief and an uncomfortable, vacant space. Yet, the more we create and utilize silence to support learning, the more our students will appreciate its value and become comfortable in its presence. Meanwhile, the silence we experience can improve our thinking, our mood, and our health.  

It has been said that the student who does not believe they can learn is the most difficult student to teach. Learning requires effort, risk, and persistence. This prospect can seem like a heavy lift for students who doubt their abilities, lack confidence, or have not experienced much learning success. In fact, all students are, at some points, likely to wonder about their capability and question their ability to succeed. 

Yet, the presence of hope for success is often the first step in the learning process. It opens the door for students to see the purpose and possibilities associated with learning. Still, it is a factor in learning that we may overlook and take for granted as we prepare to teach.  

When hope is lacking, investing energy and enduring the frustration that can accompany learning can seem like a “bridge too far.” In fact, it can be easier for students to see themselves as incapable and tell themselves that what they are asked to learn is not relevant, useful, or worth the effort. Such self-talk can actually feel better than risking engagement with an activity that may lead to embarrassment and shame.

Obviously, negative self-messaging undermines our efforts and our messages about the importance and value of learning. A well-prepared, focused, professionally prepared lesson is of little value if students are not ready or able to engage in the learning we have planned.  

To be clear, hope is not just voiced optimism or a naïve view of life. Hope is the realization that success is possible with patience, effort, strategy, and persistence. Hope is a key motivator that pushes and pulls people toward their goals. Equally important, students who are hopeful also are more likely to bounce back when they make mistakes and experience setbacks.  

The good news is that hope is a learnable skill. We can teach and nurture it. Here are five actions that can help us to get started.  

Create an emotionally safe learning environment. Students need to feel safe to take risks. They need to be free from the prospect of embarrassment and public criticism. Respect, valuing, and support are crucial elements of an environment in which students feel safe to take risks and learn. Of course, a safe learning environment by itself is not enough, but it is a condition that we need to create to make taking learning risks feel like a reasonable commitment.  

Conduct empathy interviews. The more we understand about students who struggle to gain and sustain hope, the better able we are to reach and teach them in this crucial area. Explore the student’s history with learning, including that which occurs outside of school. Inquire about past challenges they have confronted and overcome to find success. Nudge for details about what they did, how it worked, and how they felt. What we learn from these conversations can provide helpful reminders and levers to instill, nurture, and sustain hope. Finally, assure students that we want them to experience this type of success, and the feelings that accompany it, over and over in our class.  

Give students a sense of control. Hope is closely associated with a sense of control. Helping students to see connections between their efforts and learning outcomes can be crucial to the development of hope. We can start with small things: making choices about activities, what to do first, with whom to work, and so on. Over time, we can expand and build choices to include use of time, learning strategies, and other learning drivers. The goal is to help students gain a sense of agency relative to their learning.  

Coach students to set goals. Goals are tangible elements of hope. Goals create a path to the future. We can help students to break goals into specific, actionable steps so they can see how they can get from where they are to where they want to go. At first, the goals may be modest and short-term, but over time they can build into more challenging and significant learning targets. Initially, students likely will need instruction, coaching, and support. However, we need to be careful to ensure that the goals are owned by the student. If students perceive the goals as ours, we will have lost much of the leverage the goals can provide. 

Encourage students to reflect on and talk about hope. At first, students may be reluctant to discuss this aspect of their learning. To build awareness and comfort, we might start with activities such as writing about or discussing a sentence stem like “Today, I hope…” as a warm-up activity and collect or invite reflections at the end of class. We might share vignettes of people who persisted and prevailed in the face of a challenge because of the power of hope. We can also connect examples of how the power of hope led to solving complex and difficult challenges related to our subject area to make a connection with what students are learning. As students become more comfortable and conscious of the power of hope, we might even have them write a letter to their future selves describing who they hope to become and why. 

We do well to remember that the level of hope in people ebbs and flows. We may see progress one day, followed by a day that will require more attention and reassurance. Experiences and circumstances can impact hope, especially as students are building confidence and growing the power of their hope. We must be patient without giving up. As hope grows, we can be assured that in the face of struggles and setbacks, we will see students bounce back faster and persist longer.

Most people with knowledge of Artificial Intelligence (AI) believe that we are only seeing initial hints of what AI will soon be able to do, and, consequently, it is a challenge to plan and prepare for the opportunities that lie ahead. Still, we need to think creatively, imagine vigorously, and resist allowing our assumptions to limit our vision.  

This challenge is especially acute in education. The design of the schools we have dates back more than a hundred years. Despite calls for and efforts to change, our schools remain organized as they have for generations, and they function much as they always have. 

AI challenges us to use what we know to question what we have assumed, examine practices that no longer serve our students, and follow what we know about how learning happens. Consider these five assumptions, the common practices associated with them, and the ways in which learners might engage (and the ways in which learning could be transformed) in the age of AI. 

Assumption #1: Learning follows a linear path, at a predictable pace, from ignorance to knowledge.  

Real learning often either speeds up or slows down in response to the learner’s background knowledge, interest, and learning experience. A learner’s curiosity may create a desire for a “side trip” to explore a topic, concept, or skill of interest rather than adhering to a scripted, preset, narrowly focused curriculum. Artificial Intelligence can shift direction, adjust pace, and open new doors to learning in response to each individual learner. Meanwhile, AI can assist learners and educators to track progress and measure key skill development across a variety of contexts and experiences.  

Assumption #2: Learning results from exposure to a cycle of formal instruction, guided practice, and learner response.  

Schools have traditionally been organized based on the assumption that the teacher is the primary source of knowledge and uniquely possesses the expertise to plan lessons, determine the pace of instruction, and assess learning progress. Further, the assumption has been that learning must occur in the classroom, under the supervision of the teacher, in order to be recognized. Learning occurring outside of the classroom and curriculum is generally ignored, rarely assessed or valued. AI offers the potential for learning to be stimulated by a wide variety of sources and experiences in near limitless locations, at a pace that works for the learner. AI holds the promise for learning to happen anytime and anywhere. It also has the capacity to assess and document learning that occurs well beyond the walls of the school. 

Assumption #3: Learning activities must be presented in discipline-based curricula and lessons.  

Traditionally, school curricula have been organized to present skills and content within the confines of a specific discipline such as science, math, English, and social studies. AI holds the potential to embed learning experiences in contexts that span multiple disciplines, connecting concepts and skills in seamless experiences that make application of knowledge and skills gained in one subject or context easy to transfer and apply in another.  

Assumption #4: Schools are to train students to ask fewer questions and give more answers.  

Most of our youngest learners come to school filled with curiosity and questions. However, for schools to operate as designed, students must focus their attention on the questions adults ask and concentrate on providing the answers adults will accept. Artificial intelligence can respond to endless questions without becoming impatient or frustrated. Even better, the questions learners ask can become stimuli for exploration, exposure, and understanding. Rather than limiting the number of questions learners ask, AI can help students to become skilled inquirers and drivers of their own learning. 

Assumption #5: Learning must be measured by formal, often standardized tests.  

AI can offer assessment options well beyond the traditional standardized test. Simulations, case studies, and other learning applications and demonstrations can assess areas of learning such as critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, and decision making. Authentic learning assessments that used to require elaborate planning and set up can now be organized and carried out in near real time. Further, assessment results can be presented in objective, criterion-referenced narratives that provide depth and insight beyond the capacity of previous assessment systems.  

We cannot know what the future holds—but we cannot afford to wait until it arrives to plan and prepare for it. While much is not yet known about the capacities Artificial Intelligence will develop, we can use what we do know to begin reimagining, reorienting, and reinventing the way learners experience school.  

The term “productive failure” might seem like an oxymoron. We typically think of failure as fruitless, as something to be avoided. Yet, when viewed from a learning perspective, failure can be a powerful stimulus for future success. In fact, mistakes, missteps, and setbacks can be among the most valuable precursors to learning available to our students.  

It goes without saying that we all enjoy the feeling of having succeeded. However, success can be the result of many factors, not all of which are evidence of learning. For example, we may have simply made a lucky choice that just so happened to work out. Or we may have made mistakes of which we were unaware, but we still were able to achieve the outcome for which we hoped. Regardless, we can feel little incentive to commit to continued learning when we feel as though we have already succeeded.  

On the other hand, those times when we try and fall short allow us to realize that we have more to learn—more skills to develop, more approaches to try, and more answers to discover. We have an incentive to reflect, adjust, and try again. Hiding within a less-than-successful experience can be key insights, hints for new approaches, and suggestions for efforts that, if pursued, lead to true success. 

Unfortunately, in schools we typically applaud successes and discount, even criticize, failure. Failure is seen as something to avoid despite its potential to lead to learning breakthroughs, new understanding, and lasting knowledge. When respected and valued, failure can be the starting point for what propels learning forward.  

Productive failure in our work with students can take multiple forms. Students may often experience failure as they attempt to apply new learning in response to direct instruction. Failure that is followed by denial, disinterest, and disregard is unproductive and typically offers little learning value. Failure only becomes productive when it is followed by examination, reflection, the search for new information, and additional informed attempts. Obviously, what happens after a learning attempt has a greater impact on long-term learning than does how well or poorly an initial attempt might have gone. 

Productive failure has also been shown to be a powerful learning driver when it precedes instruction. A study reported in the Journal of Learning Sciences found that ninth-grade students who unsuccessfully tried to solve math problems on their own before receiving instruction achieved levels of comprehension following instruction that were nearly double those achieved by students who received only the direct instruction. Another study involving seventh-grade math students found that even though students were unable to generate correct answers on their own prior to instruction, following instruction they significantly outperformed students who were introduced to the problems and solutions via direct instruction.  

While productive failure has not received significant attention in elementary and secondary education, its power to stimulate and support learning is well known and respected in other fields. In fact, productive failure is such a powerful approach to learning that it is commonly used in medical schools to prepare future medical professionals.   

So, what are some ways we can tap and leverage the power of productive failure to increase learning success for our students? Here are some places to start. 

We can reinforce with students that: 

• Failure is feedback. The experience contains important information about how to succeed.  
• Failure only lasts until the next attempt is made. Continued learning effort erases any negativity in the experience. 
• Struggle in learning can be a powerful teacher regarding the nature, structure, and resolution of problems. Struggle can also lead to lengthened retention of new learning. 

• Successful learning attempts still deserve examination to determine whether they were the result of luck or chance or resulted from understanding and insight. They can also contain hints about how to achieve even higher levels of success.  
• Instruction does not always have to precede efforts to learn. In fact, trying to solve problems before instruction can uncover unique and creative learning strategies and insights. 
• When we learn or create something truly new, we must almost always engage in productive failure. Consider Thomas Edison’s one thousand failed attempts before inventing the light bulb.  
• What matters most is not whether we try and fail; it is what we have learned from and do with the experience.  

Failure should not be a “dirty” word in learning. In fact, it is a crucial and unavoidable part of challenging learning experiences. We would do well to honor, respect, and value learning attempts that fall short, especially when they are mined and when they lead to new insights, opportunities, and discoveries.   

Source:  

Kapur, M. & Bielaczayc, K. (2012). Designing for productive failure. Journal of the Learning Sciences. 21(1), 45-83. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508406.2011.591717  

The world for which we are preparing today’s students will be filled with problems that are complex, not well-defined, and unlikely to lend themselves to a single, simple solution. They will require creative and novel approaches. In fact, the success of our students will likely depend more on their ability to engage with problems of this nature than their ability to recount facts, follow directions, or apply established processes and procedures.

Unfortunately, problem-solving skills do not often develop naturally, especially when challenges cannot be solved by traditional, single-path, multi-step strategies. We need to be intentional and strategic in our efforts to introduce, nurture, and hone problem-solving skills and strategies with our students. Here are six strategies we can employ to help our students develop the attitudes, skills, and flexibility necessary to be effectives independent problem solvers.

We can start by presenting problems worth solving. For some students, the presence of a problem alone is enough incentive to search for a solution. However, for most students to fully invest their time and mental energy requires a problem that is relevant to them, interesting enough to pursue, and challenging enough to be worthwhile. Just because a skill or concept is in the formal curriculum does not make it compelling to learners. We may need to find another entry point, a positioning strategy, or presentation frame that meets one or more of these criteria. Creating a scenario, sharing an experience, devising a dilemma, or contextualizing the problem in their life experiences are good places to start.

We do well to prioritize understanding over finding the “correct” answer. Correct answers are only as good as the understanding that supports them. Understanding and insight make solving the next and other future problems less scary and more likely to lead to success. We can support students to reflect on the path they took, recount and name the strategies they tried, describe what worked, and detail what they learned from the process.

We need to give students space to struggle. Of course, we need to limit the amount of time and struggle according to the maturity, commitment, and skill level of our students. We also need to provide appropriate scaffolding for students who may need additional support. Meanwhile, our feedback and coaching are better focused on effort, strategy, and use of resources than on a student’s perceived or innate ability.

We can teach students to “grapple” with problems. Grappling implies trying different approaches, looking for leverage, and finding promising next steps over simply persisting and repeatedly trying the same approach. We can encourage students to look for patterns and hints that suggest something new they can try, and we can teach them to not fear struggle by demystifying challenges and even failure. Additionally, we can—and should—coach them to see problems as opportunities to learn and grow. Our goal is for students to see solving problems as a sign that they are building valuable tools and strategies, which in turn would help grow their confidence.

We need to lead with questions rather than just provide answers. We might ask questions such as “What have you tried?”, “What have you noticed that might be familiar?”, “What might be the significance of…?”, or “How else might you look at/approach the problem?” Providing answers, especially early in the problem-solving process, can remove the challenge and deprive students of their ownership of the solution.

Finally, we need to honor and value the role of mistakes and missteps. When efforts fall short, we can ask questions like “What did you observe that might be useful?”, “Is there a partial answer in what you tried on which you can build?”, or “What still seems to be missing?” Mistakes and missteps are crucial elements in discovery and solution-building. We need to be careful to avoid undermining this element through the feedback we offer and the grades we assign.

The challenge of solving problems without direct adult guidance and direction can be a new and unsettling experience for many students. Our patience, wisdom, and encouragement may be the support they need to trust themselves enough to persist and prevail.

We know that giving students even a few seconds of “think time” after asking a question can make a big difference in the quantity and quality of the responses we receive. Using “wait time” (waiting at least three to five seconds) gives students time to recall, connect, and analyze information that can lead to better responses. However, like with most instructional strategies, there is more we need to consider if we hope to maximize the impact and increase the learning that results from wait time.  

Of course, there are times when wait time is less crucial to achieving our purpose—for example, when we are working with students to increase automaticity with core facts and processes. Similarly, students typically require less time to formulate yes-or-no or true-or-false responses.  

When we want students to consider, reflect, and genuinely think, wait time can be a powerful tool. It can help us to level the playing field for students who may understand key content but need more time to process information and formulate a response. Even students who typically volunteer an answer can benefit from a few seconds of additional thinking time to fully consider what has been asked. Here are seven tips for making the most of the additional thinking time. 

Ask questions that are worthy of thought. The best questions for wait time are complex, thought-provoking, and personally relevant to students. They are questions that invite students’ thinking, reflecting, and responding. 

Be comfortable with silence. Time to process information and formulate responses can feel uncomfortable at first. Resist the temptation to rephrase, paraphrase, or restate the question too quickly. Allow at least three to five seconds of silence before interrupting it or calling on a student for a response. Consider counting the seconds to yourself until you become comfortable with the time lapse and can sense when five seconds have passed. 

Signal students that you will be “cold calling” rather than selecting a volunteered response. Here, wait time is positioned so that everyone has an opportunity and reason to consider the question and formulate a response. Consider avoiding eye contact with students during wait time to avoid students concluding that you have decided on whom you intend to call. Additionally, consider spending a few seconds jotting a note or reading a few words to signal that you have yet to decide on whom to call. We can assume that some students will initially try to read our behavior to determine whether they will be called upon or whether they can stop thinking and relax. Some students and circumstances might even warrant you providing a heads-up the day before; consider pulling certain students aside and telling them the question you will be asking so that they know you intend to call on them the next day. Not only will this allow the students time to think of how they will respond, but committing to this will result in more students’ voices being heard.  

Resist collecting a single response and moving on after giving students time to think. Rather, collect multiple responses before providing your own comments, reinforcement, or follow-up question(s). This approach signals to students that just because someone has answered, that does not mean that the discussion will move forward. Everyone needs to remain engaged and ready for additional responses.  

Be patient and persistent. Students are likely to come with limited experience with wait time. They may be accustomed to routines where the students who raise their hands are promptly called on and correct answers are signals that the discussion will move forward. Some students may assume that by not raising their hands, they will not be called upon. You may need to extend your patience and resist giving in and moving on when too few volunteer responses. Inform students that you are comfortable with silence and are willing to wait. However, be careful not to get into a power struggle. Usually, a little nudging is enough to communicate that you are serious in your expectations. 

After students have a few seconds to contemplate a response, ask students to turn to a partner to discuss their thinking; you may have heard of this being called “think-pair-share.” You might even pose questions with more than one obviously correct answer to add energy and variety and intensify the discussion. Challenge students to develop a response with which they both can agree. Once students have decided on their response, you might collect several responses before adding your perspective. You might also note consistencies among responses. You may even inquire whether any of the pairs were unable to agree on a response and collect both perspectives before commenting. The discussion might conclude by inviting students to comment on what they have heard and where they note common themes.  

Create time for everyone to think about what has been said once responses have been offered. This step is often called “Wait Time 2.” Rather than immediately providing reinforcement, commentary, or interpretation, wait a few seconds to allow students to think. Again, eye contact and other nonverbal behaviors matter. Just staring at the student who responded or immediately moving on to look at another student can be uncomfortable and be read as indicative that the answer was not satisfactory. However, nodding slowly and allowing your eyes to drift or focus elsewhere as though you are thinking, too, can signal to students that the question and response are still active. After a few seconds, and before you weigh in, you might even turn to another learner and ask their thoughts on the question, what they might add, or to comment on the response. Here, too, wait time can encourage additional thought and more extensive analysis. 

Wait time is a powerful tool to support reflection, discussion, and deeper learning. However, it requires intentional discipline, patience, and strategic thinking in order to be effective. Still, the benefits of wait time, once it becomes routine and well thought out, can empower all learners and build better thinkers.  

Seeing students become ensnared by misconceptions and slowed by learning barriers can be among the most disappointing and disheartening experiences we confront in our role as educators. Our disappointment is only further compounded when our students are otherwise interested, engaged, and committed to their learning.  

Fortunately, there are several steps we can take to help students avoid predictable misconceptions and sidestep common learning barriers. However, we need to anticipate potential problem areas and learning traps, and then we need to develop plans to help our students avoid them before they are encountered in order for our efforts to be effective.  

A good place to start is sorting through our experiences with student struggles in the past and refreshing our knowledge of how our students learn. We might think about what has worked and where students have been challenged with past learning, especially with the learning that parallels what they are about to learn.  

We can pre-assess our students to measure their current understanding and recall of the key content and skills necessary to be successful with the planned new learning. However, we must remove any hint or intention of consequences for their not knowing or recalling. In short, we need an accurate assessment of what students know—and what they are ready to learn.  

Using the information from our prior knowledge and pre-assessment activities, our next step is to coach and support students to activate their prior knowledge. We might use practice problems, reteaching, or simply a discussion with students to bring what they have learned into an active state that can be employed to support new learning.  

Next, we can design scaffolding to support students to find success as they approach the next learning challenge. The scaffolding design might include key vocabulary words students will need to know, important concepts and skills to employ, strategies to consider, and background information that might be helpful. 

Depending on the nature, scope, and challenge of the new learning, we might develop a more comprehensive preview guide to create interest, stimulate curiosity, and build confidence in our students. The guide might include questions that students will find compelling, provocative statements to consider, and hints regarding the value and purpose of what students will be learning. Any scaffolding and supports we have designed can be included in the guide, as well as reminders of the prior learning and skills that students already possess, that will be useful to their new learning.  

Of course, we want our preparation to help students avoid needless and distracting barriers and missteps as they learn, but our purpose is not to remove all the challenges and struggles students may encounter. Learning that comes through effort, and even mistakes, is also important to our students’ development, competence, and confidence to take on future learning challenges. The bottom line is this: Our goal is not to prevent all mistakes and setbacks that will occur as students learn. We want students to experience enough success to create learning momentum, but we also want to build learning resilience and flexibility that will serve them long after they leave our classroom. 

When it comes to learning about us, students learn as much from what they see as what we say. They learn innumerable lessons about us—and how adults and professionals behave—through our actions, interactions, and reactions.  

We can try to counsel, coach, and convince students to adopt important values and engage in positive social behaviors, but as attentively as students may appear to listen, what they see in our attitudes and interactions typically carries far more influence on what they will believe and, by extension, adopt. Unless we demonstrate the values and practice the behaviors that we want our students to demonstrate, we are likely to be disappointed.  

Every day, we give our students opportunities to observe and learn from what they see and experience in our presence. Let’s examine five common circumstances in which our attitudes and behaviors are scrutinized and which can present our students with lessons about learning, relationships, and life.  

How we handle interruptions, regardless of the source, sends a message about our temperament, flexibility, and readiness to understand the needs and issues of others. Interruptions to our instruction and class routines are inevitable. Some interruptions are predictable, such as daily announcements. Some come without warning, such as summoning a student to the office or reminding everyone of a change in schedule. Other interruptions can result from unexpected events within the classroom or a knock on the classroom door. In our responses, are we focused on our own needs and priorities, or are we quick to respond accordingly and provide support? Do we readily shift our attention, or are we more likely to roll our eyes, or otherwise express frustration, while we wait to return to our own agenda?  

How we treat colleagues shows students our generosity and collaborative spirit, in addition to our respect and valuing of others. We may not think that students pay attention to our interactions with other members of the staff. However, they are constantly watching and learning. When we are quick to help, pass along important information, or share materials and equipment, students see our willingness to give and to collaborate. Additionally, but no less importantly, how we treat non-licensed staff members, such as custodians, paraeducators, secretaries, and volunteers, also sends a message to our students about our character.   

How we treat other students communicates the depth of our commitment to provide equitable and even-handed support, encouragement, and acceptance. Not surprisingly, students also closely watch how we relate to other students. They notice how we treat students who experience learning challenges, may need to navigate language barriers, or come from difficult economic circumstances or from a different culture or race. Do we consistently and equitably provide the support they need to build their skills and experience success? Additionally, students notice whether we place our relationship on the line with students who engage in challenging behavior, or if we separate the behavior of which we do not approve from our opinion and treatment of the student. Of course, they also are watching to see if some students regularly receive preferential treatment without an apparent reason. How we treat some students in our classes often serves as a measuring stick for other students to judge our fairness and imagine the implications for them should they find themselves in similar circumstances.  

How we respond to questions tells students about our ability and choice to be patient, emotionally mature, tactful, and professional. Questions can play a variety of roles in our experiences with students, but they matter regardless of the age and maturity of our students. Our youngest students may have endless questions, and they can try our patience. Older students may ask fewer questions, but the questions they do ask can be difficult and uncomfortable to answer; they may test our tact and sensitivity. Some questions can even be calculated to intentionally “press our buttons.” Yet, those, too, allow us to demonstrate our emotional stability and our professionalism. 

How curious we are can show our students our willingness to analyze, investigate, and pursue the connections, possibilities, and significance of what is presented to us. Our days are filled with stimuli that can stir our curiosity. Students say and do surprising things. Serendipitous events can stir our emotions or leave us smiling or rapt with wonder. We may be engaged in a planned lesson or structured discussion when a spontaneous observation or connection surfaces that begs to be explored. What happens next is of the utmost importance. We can choose to ignore what happens “off script,” or we can choose to pause and explore those sources of curiosity. The nature, strength, and richness of our curiosity can make a lasting impression on our students; these can be the “teachable moments” our students will treasure. They can stimulate an interest that grows into a student’s passion. Of course, our excitement in not only showing our own curiosity, but also sharing it, can give students permission to imagine, explore, and appreciate the unusual, unexpected, and unexplained.  

The most powerful lessons our students are likely to learn are the ones we teach without a lesson plan or clear intention. Our choice to be a model for students to emulate will provide rich lessons for them to learn. Of equal importance, doing so allows us to create a more successful and satisfying environment within which to practice our profession. 

Multiple research studies have found that student achievement is closely associated with teacher assumptions and expectations. Even though we may not intend for this to happen, we can still fall into the trap of having our perceptions of students’ abilities and potential drive our practices in ways that ultimately undermine their success.  

Research studies spanning the past two decades have shown that the students perceived to have high learning potential are often given more interesting and challenging opportunities in which to engage and may even receive more reinforcement to succeed. Students assumed to be lower-potential learners can find themselves presented with less challenging, less interesting, and less learning-supportive work. Thus, existing achievement gaps between the groups fail to close and may even become wider, despite students attending the same classes. 

How do our expectations play out in practice? Here are five common areas wherein we can find ourselves giving some students more opportunities to engage, more time to reflect and contribute, and more encouragement and support for learning than others.  

How much time do we give students to respond? High-achieving students are often quick thinkers and confident question-answerers. For this reason, they are generally given more time to respond than others, as they are assumed to have responses ready to offer. Yet, if given more time, more students are capable of successfully answering and participating meaningfully in discussions. Research consistently shows that teachers typically do not give most students adequate time to think and formulate a considered response. In fact, the typical time teachers wait for a response is between one and two seconds. Amazingly, extending the time students are given by as little as three to five seconds can significantly increase the frequency of correct responses and deepen the insight and completeness of responses. We may need to provide additional support by previewing or rephrasing the questions we will ask or offering hints or clues—but, ultimately, providing additional time makes a key, foundational difference. When we do, fewer students will respond with “I don’t know.” Meanwhile, more students will volunteer with appropriate answers, including students who otherwise are likely to remain silent.  

Who is given the most frequent opportunities to respond to questions and contribute to discussions? It can be easy to fall into a pattern of calling on students whom we anticipate will be able to answer our questions or contribute meaningfully to a class discussion. We can feel pressure to maintain a fast pace and look for quick answers. We may even become frustrated when we must wait for a student to think. Or we may anticipate that certain students will be unable to respond or contribute on a given topic or concept. Yet, these are opportunities to learn, and we must provide those opportunities to all of our students.  

Are the levels of complexity and challenge in our questions well distributed? Class discussions can fall into a pattern of asking perceived high-potential students questions that require reflection, analysis, and complex thought, while students assumed to be low-potential are presented with questions that rely on recall and fact-based information and which present limited analytical challenge. We may think that we are protecting low-performing students from embarrassment, but we risk not challenging them, not giving them opportunities to engage with challenging content, and lowering their perception of what they can do. Disparities in opportunities to interact, share ideas and perceptions, and engage in debate can perpetuate and exacerbate inequities and expand gaps between high- and low-achieving students. 

What do we do when student responses are weak or incorrect? Students may respond to our questions with varying levels of clarity and correctness. Some students will answer with exactly what we are seeking. Other students may misunderstand or misinterpret what we are asking. Some students may present a partial answer but offer less than we are looking for. What we do in response to this variation can reveal differences in our perceptions of students’ learning potential and lead to variances in learning outcomes. Our willingness to probe beyond initial answers, provide prompts when necessary, or offer clues can make a significant difference in the learning revealed and gained through these interactions. On the other hand, quickly moving on to another student to answer the same question, or present a new question, risks squandering what could be a productive learning experience for the student who is responding and for others in the class who are listening and observing. 

To whom do we give the most nonverbal support? Students watch us closely and are quick to interpret and assign meaning to our behaviors. Again, multiple research studies have pointed to the significance of nonverbal behaviors as reflections of our perceptions of others. Students perceived as high-potential, willing learners are likely to be the objects of more direct eye contact, more positive body language, and more supportive facial expressions. When speaking with them, we can be more likely to show an open, inviting posture, supported by encouraging smiles, winks, and nods. Eye contact while listening is a sign of attention and respect. Leaning forward and an open body stance are powerful tools for conveying interest and connection. Students who experience these behaviors less frequently are likely to interpret their experiences as indicative that they are not as capable or that they do not have the same level of potential as the students for whom these experiences are more commonplace. As a result, they can be less likely to take learning risks, persist when they struggle, and bounce back when they experience learning setbacks. 

The truth is that we can easily fall into habits and practices that reveal high expectations for some students and not for others. Being conscious of this possibility can be a good start. However, we may need to be more intentional. We might keep logs of questions we ask, and to whom we ask them, for later analysis. We might capture our teaching on video for later review and reflection. Or we may have a colleague observe our teaching and provide feedback. Regardless, the achievement of many of our students depends on our getting this part of our practice right. It is well worth the effort.