"I don't teach students responsibility- I model it for them".
I've developed this statement in response to one of the most contentious issues in education today which is giving zeros to students as punishment- or not allowing students to revise their work to show increases in understanding. Not allowing a student to complete late work for full credit doesn't teach responsibilty, if fact it teaches the opposite. Many current policies teach to lowered expectations and promote learned helplessness. Throughout my career, it is obvious that getting a student to not only complete their work, but to show growth on it creates the best learning outcomes.
How Is Responsibility Modeled?
- Organization: Ensuring that course content and activities are easily understood, and always accessible demonstrates to both students and parents that as an educational professional you are aware of the importance of making learning sequential and providing supports for all learners.
- Thoughtfulness: The human side of education is easily overlooked with the myopic focus on standards and testing. Being mindful of individual students needs and situations indicates the duty of educating and nurturing the whole child.
- Relevance: Maintaining current levels of understanding and utilizing modern practice and tools not only provides students with an up to date education, it showcases ownership of the profession on the teacher's part.
- Accessibility: 24/7 availability is necessary for today's educators. Students and parents deserve to be able to not only ask questions, but have them answered outside the normal school hours.
Outcome
By modeling responsibility each and every day our students pick it up. It is gained in a much more meaningful manner because it is not based on compliance. My favorite statistic at the end of the year is the percent of work that has been submitted. It is always 100%. By re-tooling our thoughts on when, how and why students complete school work, we can redesign what learning looks like and have a lasting impact on the quality of growth that occurs in our schools.
