Staying Humble

It is impor­tant for teach­ers to get feed­back from knowl­edge­able observers. A good super­vi­sor will help you ele­vate your prac­tice, hone the skills that are already sharp, and iden­tify the areas where you have allowed lax habits to seep in.

Even the best super­vi­sors can only visit a few times a year. Hav­ing peers watch us work is help­ful, but mak­ing that hap­pen is often a logis­ti­cal chal­lenge. We could video­tape the les­son and watch it later, but that too is often com­pli­cated and time-​​consuming.

We often for­get the team of observers that is read­ily avail­able: our stu­dents. Ask your stu­dents reg­u­larly to tell you how you are doing. They’ll tell you. In excru­ci­at­ing detail.

Even bet­ter, do what a col­league of mine did the other day, per­haps with­out even real­iz­ing what would result: Ask your stu­dents to teach. It was fas­ci­nat­ing to watch as stu­dents took on the per­sona of the teacher, then walked around the room, shush­ing other chil­dren, ges­tur­ing, and explain­ing. We saw, in some­times fright­en­ingly accu­rate mim­icry, the pre­cise meth­ods and man­ner­isms that the teacher uses on a reg­u­lar basis.

If you really want to find out what you do well—and will dare to find out what you don’t—put your stu­dents in the front of the classroom.