Continuity with my post of 10 July 2017 - School Effectiveness Criterion #3

In my post of 10/07/2017 I hinted at the next School Effectiveness Criterion.  Here it is as quoted from my book"

"Criterion #3  My Teacher(s) Talk To Me Personally Each Week (Aligns with SDP element #10)

Tom firmly believed that each student deserved each week a reasonable amount of the teacher’s one to one contact in a positive manner.  He wanted teachers to weekly or fortnightly, depending on how many students they contacted each week, to have a quiet introspective time to reflect on the frequency and quality of the contact they had made with each student.  This way no student should fall through the cracks unnoticed. For secondary teachers who had weekly contact with large student numbers fortnightly was more realistic.  Another alternative was for them to review weekly their contacts for half the number of students with whom they had contact each week.

A teacher could easily have a photo of each student on their computer and date the introspective time and type in a comment or two about the student.  It is always assumed that the computer is as protected as it can be against outside intruders.  Student privacy is vital.  In the past this process was based on teachers having a card for each student and Tom mused that maybe this was still a safer way to go in terms of student privacy.

This introspective time not only allows the teacher to reflect on the contacts being made but on the whole student and how they have generally been coping and presenting in terms of a sense of their wellbeing.

At a more general level Tom knew that effective teachers did not allow familiarity to damage the relationships they had with students.  Such teachers ensured that they created a subtle distance from students.   At upper secondary level the very best teachers were able to develop a mature adult to young adult level of communication where it was obvious to the students that their emerging independence as young adults was respected.  Tom had noted that some teachers made social media contacts with students such as on Facebook.  He was adamant that this should be avoided at all costs.

Within the context of having assured student general wellbeing Tom was ready to contemplate the core reason for students being at school, the academic learning program.

“Are you ready for a bite of lunch?”  Tom inquired.  “I’m feeing peckish,” I replied, “so let’s do it”.  We went into the galley and Tom put on water to boil for the pasta.  It was to be a bolognaise lunch with a couple of James Boag light stubbies as we waited for the water to boil and the sauce to heat up.  We chatted about the past footy season with me being a West Coast Eagle’s tragic and Tom a Docker’s tragic.  We took an hour over lunch and then settled again to proceed with the task in hand. We moved on to school effective criterion #4 as perceived by Tom in his priority listing."

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Criterion #3 might seem to be a small thing to do but I believe it is vital.  Students need to feel that their teacher(s) are communicating with them at a personal level.

May the Force be with you!

GD