A word keeps popping up in my life lately. Connection. I googled it, here is what I found:
1. a relationship in which a person, thing, or idea is linked or associated with something else. .. “the connections between social attitudes and productivity.”
2. the action of linking one thing with another…” connection to the Internet.”
4. The placing of parts of an electric circuit in contact so that a current may flow.
5. A link between pipes or electrical components…” it is important to ensure that all connections between the wires are properly made.”
6. a link between two telephones…”she replaced the receiver before the connection was made.”
7. an arrangement or opportunity for catching a connecting train, bus, aircraft, etc…”ferry connections are sporadic in the offseason.”
8. a connecting train, bus, etc…”we had to wait for our connection to Frankfurt.”
9. people with whom one has social or professional contact or to whom one is related, especially those with influence and able to offer one help.
I have been mulling this word over quite a bit lately. Not too long ago someone asked me what I wanted…and it took a while, but I realized…I want a connection.
I think about my own children and the connection I have with them.
I have a connection to my community.
I have a connection with my friends.
I connect with the content I teach.
I connect with my colleagues.
And I should connect with the people I work with- my students.
This should matter in education. It should matter more than we realize.
I have a student that never comes to class. Ok. Not true. She comes about once or twice a month. I asked her why she didn’t come to class. She said she didn’t like the teacher. That would be me.
I thought about this. I thought about it in terms of resiliency-she made a choice to fail because of a lack of resiliency. The student couldn’t get past her dislike for me to show up and pass the class. A friend of mine commented that this was something she has given consideration to, these are her words:
“I wonder if it’s that learning something means you make yourself vulnerable (you admit you don’t know something), so it’s important to do that with someone you like or at least respect.”
She is talking about connection. I didn’t see it at the time she made the comment and I pushed back a bit. But, I had been struggling to try to get my students to wrap their heads around the idea of personal responsibility as well as the academic aspect of being in school. I had lost sight of connection and how important it is. And that is what my friend was trying to tell me.
I am sitting here working on my evaluation:
| NMTEACH 4C:
Reflecting on Teaching • How detailed, accurate, and thoughtful is the teacher’s reflection on her/his instructional practices? The teacher • provides an accurate and objective description of instructional practices with specific evidence, such as progress monitoring within evidence-based specialized instruction; and • provides specific suggestions as to how instructional practices might be improved, based on students’ progress and use of assessment data. • consistently reflects on instructional practices thoughtfully and accurately with specific evidence, such as progress monitoring within evidence-based specialized instruction; • draws from an extensive repertoire of instructional practices in support of all students; • suggests alternative instructional practices and predicts the likely success of each; and • uses assessment data as a primary resource to inform the quality and effectiveness of instructional practices. |
Nowhere in this reflection on teaching is there anything about a connection to students.
Right now I am supposed to be writing a reflection to prove that I do all that stuff in that box. But, the one thing I got out of my school year this year was how incredibly important it is to connect to the people I work with every day. The friend that I mentioned above, that is what she was trying to say. That when a kid can relate to the person teaching them, they have a better chance of learning.
It makes me wonder, how many of us forget to take the time in our classrooms to make this happen?
Last semester I was so focused on trying to shift the paradigm of grades versus learning, that I skipped connecting to my students. We battled all semester. I took some time over the winter break to regroup and rethink. I recalled that the one thing I like about teaching the most is my students. I love knowing them and seeing the wheels turn when they are learning. I like seeing the lightbulbs go off when they get it. But I really like listening to them, understanding them, knowing them and guiding them and accepting them. That is the part of education that is the most fulfilling. And I neglected to make that happen last semester. And I was miserable. And so were they.
I recently wrote about education and what it is to me. It is about kids and people. And trying to get legislation to take a harder closer look at decisions and how they impact those people is difficult. Nowhere in my evaluation does it ask about how I connect to kids. Nowhere does it mention this as a skill or aspect that is crucial to good teaching and student learning.
And it is. I have taught a lot of kids over the years. Kids from all walks of life. And I have found, those difficult kids, those ones that tune out, give up, or struggle in school; when I connect with them, I can know them. And from there I can find some way to make the content relevant to them. I can help them see there is something in it for them.
When I look at the definition from Google again, these stand out to me:
1. a relationship in which a person, thing, or idea is linked or associated with something else.
“the connections between social attitudes and productivity.”
the action of linking one thing with another.
people with whom one has social or professional contact or to whom one is related, especially those with influence and able to offer one help.
I will leave it here. But I ask, shouldn’t the human connection we make with the kids that come into our rooms everyday matter the most? Shouldn’t that connection be the avenue for which we reach the people that we teach? Why isn’t this the most important part of my evaluation?
Educational Rant 
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