Blog

Don’t Make These Five Assumptions About Students

During the first weeks of school, we spend significant time and energy getting to know our students and having them get to know us. We know that the more we know about our students, the better able we will be to meet their needs and support their learning.

However, getting to know a class or multiple classes of learners is a significant undertaking. We may discover that we gravitate to some students while finding others to be a challenge. We may also look for shortcuts to create an image and profile of our students. Consequently, we can be tempted to make assumptions about students based on factors such as their appearance, what we have heard about them from colleagues, our early interactions with them, or their initial performance in our classroom. Some of our assumptions may be correct, but others may need to be reexamined and adjusted with further experience. However, there are at least five assumptions about students that we need to avoid altogether.

We need to resist assuming that a student:

Will behave just like their siblings. When students who are siblings of former students enter our class, we can be tempted to make assumptions and prejudge their character and behavior based on our experience with a brother or sister, especially if there is a close physical resemblance. Our prejudgment can be positive or negative. Regardless, our assumptions can be harmful to these students. We may unintentionally place unrealistic pressure on them to perform. Or we may be quick to pounce on any misbehavior, thinking that we need to get ahead of a negative behavior pattern. Whether positive or negative, they are just assumptions, and they risk our misjudging and treating these students unfairly.
Is not interested in a relationship with us. We sometimes experience students who seem resistant to our attempts to get to know them and form a relationship. It can be tempting to assume that they are not interested and pull back in our efforts to connect. Of course, one possibility is that the student truly does not want to connect with us. However, there are many potential reasons why a student might be reluctant. Negative past experiences might make the student hesitate, or they may be hiding factors and pressures in their lives that they do not want revealed should we get close to them. Our persistent invitations and continued opportunities to connect may be exactly what the student needs to break through the barriers they face and overcome their reluctance to allow us to connect with them.
Is a lazy person and learner. Some students may seem to care little about the learning we ask of them. They may appear disengaged and not responsive to our instruction. Based on our observations, we might assume that the student is just lazy and uninterested. While we might be correct, this judgment is just one of many possibilities. The student may be reluctant to invest because of a pattern of failure in the past. What they need may be our support and coaching. They may be dealing with challenges outside of our class and school that are overwhelming, leaving them with little bandwidth to invest in learning. Our interest and understanding, and maybe a referral for help, might be what they need to find their way and invest in learning. We gain little by assuming laziness and applying increasing pressure on them to change their behavior. In fact, doing so may make the situation worse.
Will continue to perform in the future as they have in the past. The truth is that past performance does not have to predict future performance. Many factors can influence the effort, focus, and persistence students will give to their learning. In fact, we may be the force that changes the trajectory of their learning and future. Our confidence, persistence, and encouragement may be exactly what is needed to interrupt a pattern of failure. Interestingly, even small shifts and incremental improvement now can magnify over time. Our influence to build confidence, fill skill and knowledge gaps, and nurture a sense of hope and possibility can make a lifelong difference, regardless of the student’s performance before encountering us.
Is motivated by the same things that motivated us. History shows that we often teach the same way that we were taught. We may assume that what worked for us should work for our students. Similarly, we might assume that the factors that we found motivating as learners are the same factors our students should find motivating. We may have performed because we felt it was expected of us. We may be drawn to academic activities and find formal learning satisfying and fun. However, even though these factors were powerful for us, they are not universal motivators. Many students will not respond to these factors but may be drawn to others. We know from research that elements such as autonomy, mastery, purpose, and sense of belonging are near universal motivators, but even these factors vary in their power to motivate from student to student. Some learners respond to having more flexibility and choice while others want to know how what they learn will be important and useful. Our challenge is to get to know our students well enough to understand what motivates them. When we know, we can design learning experiences that draw on and maximize the impact of these factors on their learning.

Assumptions can feel like shortcuts to understanding our students. However, assumptions can be traps that lead us to treat students in ways that, while seeming reasonable, can be harmful to our students, their learning, and their relationship with us.

Five Ways to Move Students from Spectators to Contributors

In Your Corner, Student Learning

September 05, 2024

Five Ways to Move Students from Spectators to Contributors

We know that learning thrives when students are engaged, invested, and committed. Yet, the school experience for too many students is largely that of a spectator and passive consumer. They watch adults perform, then take what they are given and do what they are told, often with minimal authentic involvement. As a result, they feel no strong connection or sustained commitment to their learning experience or what they are supposed to learn. These students complete assignments and take exams only to forget what was taught and move on to the next set of activities and expectations, and the cycle repeats until the school year is finished. Unfortunately, without a sense of belonging, engagement, and ownership, little meaningful and lasting learning is likely to result.

The challenge is to shift the experience from one of spectator and consumer to one of contributor and collaborator. Fortunately, the solution may be surprisingly simple. In almost any social context, we move from observer and passive participant to member and investor when we assume meaningful roles, have a sense of responsibility, feel needed, and are contributing to something larger than ourselves.

It is human nature to take our engagement seriously when others depend on us. We experience stronger connections when our presence and participation matters. Service to others can be a strong motivator and generate a satisfying sense of accomplishment.

Of course, fully shifting the role students have traditionally played in their learning and school experience suggests a major redesign in how schools typically function. Yet, there are several impactful steps available within the current design that can make an important difference in the experience of learners and move them from observing and consuming to contributing and collaborating. Here are five places to start.

First, give students meaningful responsibilities and opportunities to participate significantly in the operation of the class. We can give them active roles in establishing rules and routines. For younger students, these opportunities might include distribution of materials, leading the class during physical transitions, collecting supplies, and performing other classroom operational activities. Older students may play the role of timekeeper during discussions, process monitor for activities, question recorder for later follow-up, and other roles for activities that we might otherwise manage. At the next level of the shift, students might be given options in the structure and timelines for assignments and project completion. They might even have choices regarding how they will pursue and demonstrate learning and document mastery. The key is to give students, individually and collectively, as many opportunities to play active and meaningful roles in their learning as we can.

Second, give students opportunities to teach what they are learning. Decades of research have documented the mutual benefits of this activity. Most of us can recall our transition from a teacher preparation program to teaching. Suddenly, we took learning more seriously, listened more carefully, and assumed greater ownership for what we learned. We can begin this process by signaling students that when they have learned a given skill, concept, or process, we will be asking them to teach it to someone else. When students are ready, they might “live teach” their new learning to a classmate or record a video of their teaching someone else. This activity can be modified for students who may struggle with key or lower-level skills and need practice by having them teach a skill or concept to a younger student. Not only does teaching someone else represent a more active role for students, the combination of preparation and teaching further consolidates what has been learned and helps to move it into long-term memory.

Third, have students develop questions and quiz other students. While students may initially need instruction and coaching to develop appropriate, valuable questions, the process of creating questions helps students to sort through what is important about a topic or skill and further consolidates their learning. Meanwhile, students move from answering questions that have been presented to them to contributing questions and supporting each other’s learning. Of course, quizzing is a great way for students to prepare for and perform on assessments.

Fourth, create opportunities for students to share advice with other students. Students are often reluctant to take advice from adults, but they can be more open to what friends and classmates have to offer. When confronting a shared challenge such as how best to study, ways to organize and manage time, how to build self-confidence, or even how to solve a classroom problem, we can ask students to share their best advice. Interestingly, not only are students who hear the advice more likely to listen, the students who offer it are more likely to follow the advice they share.

Fifth, position students to tutor and mentor younger learners. Interestingly, when older students who may have difficulties with behavior, struggle with class participation, or even face learning challenges have opportunities to help younger students, many of these challenges go away. The opportunity to help someone and feel responsible for another’s success can be a great experience and confidence builder. Meanwhile, younger learners are often ready to listen and eager to please older students who are giving their time to support them.

We all want students who are invested in their learning. Yet, many traditional instructional practices can discourage students from assuming responsibility and ownership. Fortunately, we have it within our power to help students begin the transition from spectator and consumer to contributor to and collaborator in their learning.

In Your Corner, Student Learning

Self-Starting Is a Survival Skill: 10 Strategies to Use with Students

August 29, 2024

In Your Corner, Student Learning

Want Better Learners? Coach These Five Mindsets

August 29, 2024

In Your Corner, Relationships and Connections

What To Do About Students We Just Don’t Like

August 22, 2024

Climate and Culture, In Your Corner

Seven Often Overlooked Characteristics of Inspiring Teachers

August 22, 2024

Share Your Tips & Stories

Share your story and the tips you have for getting through this challenging time. It can remind a fellow school leader of something they forgot, or your example can make a difficult task much easier and allow them to get more done in less time. We may publish your comments.

Send Us An Email