ESTCA 2022

Education is about people working and learning together. It is about building relationships with the students and adults in an effort to create a learning community. How we treat each other and the way we interact with one another will set the tone for everything else we do in school.

This presentation is about building trust in relationships. It is based on the premise that we make a difference in the lives of students by creating a positive school climate that is conducive to collaborative learning for all. It is one thing to say that we should be part of a learning community, but it is another thing to translate that into action.

We make a difference. We have to believe that statement. Every child that enters our classrooms in September will be different in June. The question is how will they change? By next September will they simply be one year older? Will they simply have a year’s worth of new facts in their heads? Will they be more school-wise and better able to spew back what we want to hear? Or will they be independent thinkers, mature enough to tackle the academic and social challenges ahead of them? The answers to these questions come from within us, the adults. What we do with students and how we do it, from September to June is the critical factor.

Teaching is not a random act. Our planning and preparation, our teaching and marking, our modeling and mentoring are all designed to have an impact on each individual student. More important than our lesson plans and yearly overviews, it must be emphasized, is our personal interactions and relationships with these kids. How we treat each individual matters. The behaviors that we model and expect make a difference. The depth of our tolerance and height of our expectations set the tone. The variety of learning activities and the range of authentic assessments that we provide make learning meaningful. The adaptations and accommodations we make for individual differences, at both the low and high end of the spectrum, create opportunities for success for all students. This is what school is about: all students learning and growing.