 Family Life
Resources For Family Educators
Drawing the Best Out of Your Students
(For the sake of clarity in this document, agents and other trainers are
called "teachers" and participants or clients are called "students.")
Who is in charge of problems? Who is in charge of solutions?
It is common to see teachers as the source of solutions and students as the
source of problems. In this view, students bring their ignorance and their
problems to teachers who bring their knowledge, answers, and suggestions to the
students. You can see several problems with this approach:
Students know far more about their own lives, challenges and resources than
the teacher does.
Any solutions imposed by the teacher without the conviction and commitment
of the students will not be effective.
Some of the most important answers in any training will come from students.
The most important answers are those that represent the students’ best thinking
and commitments to growth.
Building trust with students
Sometimes students do not volunteer answers to questions because they are not
sure how they will be treated. Will they be embarrassed by the teacher? Will
they be corrected or condemned? If they can’t express themselves clearly, will
they be humiliated by an insensitive teacher?
Teachers earn trust with all students by the way they treat each student. It
is natural for students to be reluctant to comment until they feel safe with a
teacher. A skilled teacher will set students up for success by asking questions
that allow for many different answers. They ask questions like:
"What do you think will work?"
"What have you seen people do in this situation?"
"Do you have an idea of how to apply this principle?"
After asking a good question, a teacher looks at the students. Sometimes it
is clear that one or more of them have ideas but are reluctant to volunteer. We
can encourage them, "Reba, it looks like you have an idea."
During this first silence, if the teacher jumps in with answers, students
learn that the teacher doesn’t really want to hear from them. They are less
likely to answer in the future. If a teacher genuinely welcomes input from
students, they quickly warm up. When students make a comment, the teacher
encourages effort by honoring every comment.
Working together to solve problems
The best way of thinking about teaching is as an opportunity for people to
gather to solve problems. A teacher should bring important research-based
knowledge. But, maybe even more important, a teacher should bring an ability to
draw the best answers and enthusiasm for growth out of the students. When
teaching is understood in this way, there are several things teachers should do
to bring out the best from the students:
1. Teachers should feel and show a great respect for the efforts, skills,
experiences, and challenges that students bring. This respect can be shown by
listening carefully and humbly to students’ comments. It can be shown also with
words such as:
"You face so many difficulties!"
"I admire your courage to keep trying."
"You have tried many things to make your life better."
"I don’t know if I could survive what you face."
"You have a lot of good ideas."
2. Teachers honor students (and bring out their best) by inviting them to be
creative problem solvers. While teachers teach true principles, they always
invite the students to find good ways of applying those principles to their
lives.
"What do you think would work with your family?"
"How would you apply that principle to make your family better?"
"What have you learned from your experience?"
"Can you think of other things you would like to try?"
The best teachers help the students find ideas within themselves.
3. There are times when a student will make a statement that the teacher
disagrees with. This is the place where master teachers shine. It is also the
place where all teachers work to be better. A great teacher will honor that part
of the statement that is true or will honor the student’s efforts while inviting
the student to other possibilities. For example, if a parent in class suggests
that "what kids these days need is a good whooping," there are many things a
master teacher might say:
"I agree that children need to know limits. What do you think is the best
way to get children to respect those limits?"
"Letting children know that you are serious about limits is important. In my
experience, children are more likely to follow the rules when they
understand them and believe that they are important. How can we help
children with this?"
"Respecting rules is important. Can you think of the experiences you have had
that helped you want to follow the rules?"
"You really want your children to respect the boundaries. What do you do that
works best for that?"
When teachers combine a respect for the students with a passion for the
subject, students are likely to leave class wanting to be better, wanting to
grow, and wanting to return to class for more problem-solving.
H. Wallace Goddard, Extension Family Life
Specialist
U of A Cooperative Extension
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