What focuses students? I’ve been teaching for a long time, yet I’m still unsure.
I mean, I know all the basics: relevant curriculum, high expectations, structure, relationship-building.
But today in my Advisory, my students were particularly focused during a writing workshop. Besides all the normal things — I was in a good mood, set up a good frame, provided an essay example, and offered help — I didn’t do anything special. And yet, my students quickly found a flow.
Here are nine seconds of goodness:
Some of my colleagues might tell me, “Enjoy it when it happens!” Certainly I understand that sentiment. Maybe the stars were aligned. The problem is, I’d like this to happen every day, no matter whether the students are in a good mood, or whether I do a fantastic job.
After all, by this time in my students’ educational careers, the achievement gap has become a chasm, and we need to grasp every possible learning moment.
I took some pictures, too, of my students writing their post-graduation plans. I’ll ask them tomorrow what exactly happened today that led to their flow.
