Patty McGee

In making the case for humane teaching, I open with the courageous words that I have heard students say to their teachers:

 

A kindergartener: When you yell, it makes me sad and afraid.

 

A second grader: Please, please don’t dump my desk when it is messy.

 

A fifth grader: When you announce the highest test scores with a drum roll, it makes others feel bad, especially those who work hard and will never score the highest.

 

A seventh grader: I am having trouble learning in your class because I am afraid you are going to embarrass me by throwing my binder on the floor, too.

 

A tenth grader: The fact that my paper was the most marked up in the class does not mean I should read it aloud to my classmates.

 

These are just a few of the statements I have heard in the past few years. Students shouldn’t have to self-advocate in these ways. These pleas for compassion compel me to say:

 

We are experiencing an epidemic of inhumane teaching.

 

I state this bluntly because I cannot circle around this issue for another moment. Through actions and inactions, spoken words and stony silences, teachers are creating a hostile learning environment, whether they realize it or not. Too many students endure school days punctuated with inhumane experiences, either directed at them or their peers. Whether it’s intentional or not, and whether it’s a byproduct of being saturated in an uncivil media culture, inhumane teaching is suffocating our children. In Alfie Kohn’s description of this epidemic, he writes, “Students tend to be regarded not as subjects but as objects, not as learners but as workers. By repeating words like ‘accountability’ and ‘results’ often enough, the people who devise and impose this approach to schooling evidently succeed in rationalizing what amounts to a policy of feel-bad education.” (Kohn 2004)

 

Unrealistic expectations are being heaved onto educators, no doubt about it. It’s understandable to bristle and buckle under the pressure of accountability and raising the bar mandates. This pressure, however, does not give us educators permission to fuel inhumane learning environments. Yet it is happening. Educators have become far too comfortable saying damaging statements within earshot: These kids will never be ready for the test next year; high school is going to be a rude awakening; he is so low in math. It is hurting our students. Ultimately, it is hurting ourselves too. When we diminish students, we feel diminished.

 

I say this as someone who is guilty of misusing my power as an educator. I have outwardly shown frustration at answering the question that I already answered a half dozen times. “Okay, everyone, I am going to say this one more time. Jack, Jack, are you listening? I don’t think you are.” Even when I perpetuated seemingly neutral habits like naming students by their reading level, I was undermining learners’ confidence and capacity to learn. And every time I did something like this, whether during whole class teaching or with individual students, I felt a nugget of yuck in my gut. I am not sure I could have articulated it at the time, but now I see that it felt wrong because it was going against the very grain of my beliefs. Those were stress-fueled power plays, cheap shortcuts, and honestly, authoritarian acts.

 

It is time to commit ourselves to what feels morally sound: humane teaching.

 

Humane teaching is teaching with recognition of the learner. It springs from our own self-respect and professionalism, and an awareness that students thrive when teachers bring to their role a sense of stewardship.

 

Carl Rogers, grandfather of positive psychology and one of the great humanitarians of our time, describes this approach as “prizing the learner” and it is remarkably impactful on learning. “It is an acceptance of this other individual as a separate person, having worth in her own right… a prizing of the learner as an imperfect human being with many feelings, many potentialities.” It is the belief that all learners possess the innate desires to grow and yet are grappling with growing. “Learning is increased…. when they are simply understood – not evaluated, not judged, simply understood from their own point of view, not the teacher’s.” (Rogers 1967 304-311)

 

In line with Carl Rogers’ thinking, I am not suggesting we approach our students in a fluffy, sugary-sweet, singsongy way. That’s just nonsense and all students see right through it. Instead, I am urging us to take on courageous, brave teaching. Embrace the difficulties and the struggle of learning; accept the many complexities manifested in students and teaching without finger-pointing, blame, and humiliation. This is integral in the work we do: namely, teaching with compassion and esteem.

 

So just how do we teach with compassion and esteem? I am tempted to succinctly tell you in the numbered tips style so prevalent in all media, designed to hold the attention of a distracted population, but it’s not possible to squeeze this issue into such a format. There are no capsulized solutions.

 

So, instead, I reach out to you, requesting you to draw in close for just a bit longer so I may share a bigger message here. YOU are not the problem. If you are reading this blog, you are likely an enlightened educator who doesn’t shame students. But WE are all the problem. Let me explain. We can post, read, like, share, retweet these blogs till the cows come home, but that doesn’t seem to be stemming the tide of inhumane teaching in our schools. Instead, I want to crowdsource us and our own passion and smarts and outrage so that together, we recognize it’s time for greater collective action.

 

Within our schools, how might we use our insight and energy to help fellow educators learn more compassionate ways of interacting with students? How do we help us all be more compassionate with ourselves? It seems to me it’s done by way of a paradox— a pairing of zero-tolerance and generous, abundant curiosity about why we are resorting to those behaviors and how we might search out alternatives. It is a strict, daily commitment to prize the learners within our fold in the manner of Carl Rogers. We also must, every day, recognize and prize ourselves and our fellow educators. And when this does not happen, we act. We do not let discomfort dissuade us from addressing inhumane teaching.

 

Instead, we might choose to do what one educator, a principal who has taught me much, did to face inhumane teaching head-on. First, she acknowledged the feeling in her gut that said, “No way. These words are callous and cruel. This is not who we are.” Second, she recognized her role in the situation. She owned that in some way, shape, or form she contributed to the way teachers were speaking about students. Bravely, professionally, and compassionately, she spoke to the educators about her expectations of humane teaching and how all must grow (including herself) to prize their students, especially those who seem most challenging. From there, they all made a plan of action to study together— to study ways of educating humanely. Most importantly, they followed that plan of study together by reading, talking, teaching, and supporting one another in this work. May we all be inspired to follow this same path when advocating for educating compassionately.

 

This is brave, challenging work that requires persistence. Committing to humane teaching helps us ground ourselves in the greater purpose of the work we have been called to do, and helps us to teach from that sacred space so that learners no longer need to self-advocate for dignity. WE are the answer.

 

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Resources

Alfie Kohn Feel-Bad Education

Carl Rogers Infed

 

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Patty’s book is on Amazon.

 

Learn more about Patty: check out her website.

 

Follow Patty on Twitter @pmgmcgee

 

Professional development is essential for improving our craft, but it can be expensive.  

 

In part one of this post, I shared ideas on how to organize year-long professional development.  This method can be very successful but often requires funds. In my opinion, year-long purposeful professional development lead by an expert is an ideal way to achieve goals. Differentiating instruction was the example I gave for a year-long professional development focus.

 

But what if money is tight? Can staff still participate in a year-long focus on learning? Absolutely, and I’m going to explain how.  Book studies or article studies are the keys to making this happen. However, planning needs to occur before starting the study or it will fail.  Heed my warning: place a book or an article in teachers’ mailboxes with no follow-up, and I guarantee failure. Let’s focus on success!

 

Here are five tips for successful staff book and article study.

 

Tip 1: What you study as a staff should be relevant and a known area of need for your school.  

 

Success Tip: Focus on a topic that all staff can benefit from. If you have funding, purchase a book on the topic that you have read and think appropriate for your school. Consider having staff suggest one or two books, you read them and work with staff to select the one that best serves everyone. If money is very tight and you cannot purchase a book, find a series of articles on your topic of study from the web. I suggest five articles.

 

Tip 2: Inform staff about the study and how together, you will work on the book or articles.

 

Success Tip:  Generate staff excitement about the process of learning and explain how they will work through the material with you.  I suggest informing staff through conversations and emails to adjust plans through consensus building. If you’re using a book, discuss with staff how much needs to be read by specific dates, and how all staff will communicate about the material read.  

 

Tip 3: Create reflection opportunities by using Google Docs or Google Classroom!

 

Success Tip:  Google is a great platform for staff to have conversations.  My tip is to set up a Google Doc or Google Classroom with quotes and questions for staff to respond to after completing a section of the book or an article.  What I like about Google is staff can see what others write and respond back! It is very hard to create opportunities for all staff to be in one room to discuss a book or article. However, technology, in this case, Google, allows staff to communicate and share ideas anytime and from anywhere! I suggest allowing one week for staff to respond after completing a section of text.

 

Tip 4: Everyone needs to participate.

 

Success Tip: Consider a classic comment about a conference night I heard recently: “ Well, the night was great, but I did not see the parents I needed to see.” Invitational book or article studies will quickly hook in those staff who embrace the idea, but some will avoid it–the same “some” who need it.  I have found if making this type of professional development an option; some will simply not do it. Trust me, I am all for invitation and collaboration, but for professional learning– all staff needs to come on board. As staff experience the benefits of professional study to their teaching and students’ learning as well as your continual positive feedback and recognition of their investment, they will look forward to joining the conversations.

 

Tip 5: Positive feedback generates excitement!

 

Success Tip: To model ways staff can participate, I add lots of comments to our Google chats, and I respond to all staff who make comments. Personally, I love this way of communicating; it’s like a Twitter chat, and I model it over and over!  Also, when I see staff during the day, I like to let them know I liked the comment they shared! Or, if I know a staff member is reluctantly participating I like to let them know I appreciate their participation. Always give consistent positive feedback to staff who are fully embracing this new way to share, communicate, and grow!  

 

Technology allows me–and it can allow you–the opportunity to generate conversations in new ways and to drive initiatives forward with minimal or no funding.

 

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My teaching career started in September 1963.  My husband and I had moved from New York City to Winchester, Virginia after he accepted a job there.  I had been working as a copywriter for an ad agency, but Winchester didn’t have an ad agency. So, at my husband’s urging, I took a job teaching sixth grade in an elementary school in Gainesboro, Virginia, replacing the principal’s wife who was on medical leave.  That made me the only teacher not related to the principal.

 

Gainesboro was a poor, rural community. Some of the children’s parents worked in the principal’s peach factory while others worked on his land as tenant farmers.  As such, most families were beholden to the principal for earning enough money to feed and clothe their children.

 

From the first day, the principal and I were at odds.  Corporal punishment was thriving at the school; teachers were equipped with a whip or a paddle or both.  When both first appeared on my desk, I promptly returned them to the principal’s office.  That action started the yearlong battle between the principal and me.  Every morning when I arrived at school, I’d find a whip and paddle on my desk, and I promptly returned them.

My twenty-eight students were shocked that I didn’t keep and use the whip or paddle.  They peppered me with questions:  Weren’t you ever whipped at home? At School? Why don’t you believe in whipping?  They seemed fascinated by what they feared. If they heard a child in another class screaming while being whipped or paddled, they turned shades of gray, sat stiff as toy soldiers, and when the screams subsided sighed deeply.  Yet, they wanted me to keep the whip and paddle in our classroom.

I explained that I didn’t believe in corporal punished. Instead, I preferred to talk to a student who “broke” a rule and negotiate changes in their behavior.  My students looked at me suspiciously, I believe because I came from “the big city.”  However, neither their reactions nor the principal’s persistence changed my mind about hitting students.  As winter approached, my students’ fascination with the daily ritual of returning the whip and paddle to the principal’s office waned.  Thankfully, they became more interested in playing hoops at recess, watching “The Flintstones” on TV, and wishing for snow days.

 

Their wish came true.  Just before Christmas break, a storm dropped more than a foot of powdery snow on Winchester and Gainesboro.  Two snow days later, my students returned to school dressed in heavy coats, which they hung in the closet and placed their boots on the floor.  All except Wilbur.

Wilbur was close to six feet tall; he had repeated sixth grade twice.  This year was his third time. Although a slow learner, Wilbur was making progress.  He was reading at his instructional level, early fourth grade, instead of at his frustration level, which he had been doing since he entered sixth grade, thanks to the grade-level basal his former teacher had been using.  Nonetheless, my other students didn’t relate to Wilbur because he was older, much taller, and carried the stigma of repeating sixth grade three times.  The result was that Wilbur had no friends.  He stayed on the sidelines during recess, had no school social life, and refused to discuss his feelings with me. I totally understood his reluctance to talk but continued to try.

On that December morning, Wilbur sat tight-lipped and silent each time I gently asked him to put his coat and boots in the closet.  Finally, I walked over to his desk, intending to do it for him.  Quite suddenly, he stood up, punched me in the face, and decked me.  While I was out cold, some students went for the principal who suspended Wilbur for a week, ignoring my pleas to reconsider the punishment.  I felt that I was at fault more than Wilbur.  Being a first-year teacher, I lacked the experience to know that I should not have tried to force Wilbur to obey me.  As I reflect on this story, I’m aware of the irony: I did not believe in corporal punishment, yet a student who couldn’t find the words to express his inner turmoil punched me.

 

That year, I matured as a teacher and learned three important lessons from Wilbur and my principal.

1. Always respect a student’s response and space, and don’t box yourself into a stance from which you can’t retreat.  I quickly learned to respect a student’s feelings and never push a student to obey a request, especially when he or she is hurting, confused, unhappy, or as in Wilbur’s case, embarrassed and lonely
2. Repeating a grade once doesn’t work.  Repeating a grade three times not only doesn’t work, it is harmful to the student because socialization becomes a huge issue, one that affects his or her self-esteem, self-confidence, and sense of belonging.  Progress can be made through careful interventions and scaffolds as well as by providing additional support during the day and in after-school programs.
3. Don’t compromise your values. Stand firm.  I escalated the principal’s anger and frustration by daily returning his whip and paddle.  For me, both were symbols of control, power, and daily corporal punishment to gain students’ compliance.  Much better to negotiate positive and productive behavior through conversations. Maybe, if I had kept the whip and paddle in the classroom and not initiated the daily battle of wills, the principal would have listened to me when I asked for a more lenient punishment for Wilbur.  I’ll never know.

 

Making mistakes has helped me learn throughout life.  The mistakes I made during that first year of teaching transformed me into an advocate for students.  Throughout my teaching career, I have opposed retention because all too often, the student experiences the same ineffective curriculum and teaching methods that deterred his or her progress in the first place.  Moreover, the stigmatization a student inevitably faces can affect him or her throughout life.

 

During my year at Gainesboro Elementary School, I developed a mantra I still embrace as I continue to teach and coach and train teachers in the United States and Canada: At the end of each day, I have to live with my words and actions and feel at peace with them.

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Over time, I have learned neither the school principal nor any other administrative “leader,” can fire staff as a pathway to their personal excellence.  Effective principals understand it takes time for a teacher to grow and develop the skills necessary to integrate best practices into a student-centered environment.  Effective principals understand that at times, a variety of supports can improve teachers’ practice and class management.  It’s important to understand this: a principal cannot build a positive student-focused culture by removing staff in hopes of the perfect teacher showing up for an interview.

 

A point before reading further:  I want to make it clear–there are times when a teacher should not be offered a contract.  However, these kinds of decisions should be few and far between and put into action only after considerable intervention and support.  

 

The principal either helps staff grow or not.  A commitment to helping staff grow is the best path to teacher improvement.  Every school has some rock star teachers, and every school has some staff who struggle.  An effective school has layers of support, and it’s my belief that every school should have key elements in place to provide support for staff who struggle.

 

What is the quickest way to improve a school?  Hire the best and most highly skilled teachers for every classroom.  But this is not possible.  Hiring is competitive, and the best in any profession have more choices than others.  There are two choices for the principal who wants to improve a school: believe the falsehood of firing to achieve excellence or commit to making your staff better.  Effective principals value all school community members and dedicate themselves to improving teachers’ skill. Providing support teachers require to improve their practice takes time, energy, communication, and a commitment to growth.  That’s why schools leadership is hard work.

 

There is no fast track to help principals shift to a more supportive culture.  However, change can happen when the principal is committed to a healthy, positive culture for the school.  Schools, where teachers feel supported to grow and improve, have some commonalities.  Does your school have my top five?

 

1. Hire the Right Staff:  When positions are open, effective principals set up interview committees with several teacher leaders who collectively know the skills the teacher needs and what person is the best for the school.  Effective principals are patient and do not mind doing many interviews to find the best candidate.  The best principals know experience does not necessarily equal a great teacher.  Talent will always make a difference and can be more valuable than experience.  Opening the hiring process to groups of teachers can support a school’s culture and prevent the challenges a poor hire brings.
2. Formalized Mentor Program:  New staff need support.  Effective schools have well planned and coordinated mentor programs for teachers.  Effective principals make sure all new staff have a mentor in their school who will be supportive and great role model for the new staff member.
3. Professional Development:  Effective principals work with their staff to plan ongoing professional development based on the needs of the building.  As I have stated in other posts, one and done professional development does not work.
4. A Student-Focused Culture:  Effective principals know the impact of a positive culture focused on students.  A positive, student-centered culture makes a difference and is always lead by the principal.  Schools with positive cultures have positive principals.  The opposite is equally true–a principal can create a negative environment.  Often, this occurs when the principal blames other factors for the negative environment instead of looking in the mirror and reflecting on his or her words and actions.
5. Competitive Wages and Benefits:  Yes, I said it.  This is whispered by many but not often stated.  People who teach need wages and benefits they can live on, and they must be competitive with surrounding districts.  Effective principals know if salaries are not competitive they will face challenges to retain staff and they will have a hard time attracting the best staff.  

 

Helping others grow is part of leadership.  Every school leader was once a new teacher. A new teacher with hopes, dreams, and challenges.  Always remember someone took a chance on you, and some or hopefully many helped develop you into the person you are today.  Extend the same support to those who struggle. Always keep in mind, whether spoken or seen on T.V. news, you cannot “fire” your way to excellence.

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Check out Evan’s blogs on the Scholastic EDU webpage!

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