Should Students Know More About Their Teachers ?

Hi Readers,

A totally different slant on what I’m banging on about today in this post.

No incense burning or sitting cross legged at dawn waiting for inspiration, but hopefully something I feel that you could all relate to, and have a range of differing opinions on.

I was scrolling through Twitter recently and came across this tweet that really got me thinking. If you look at the responses to it you can see that it got a lot of others thinking too, and these are just the ones who actually replied or responded online! Try to imagine how many saw it and didn’t respond online, but generated discussions about it with their own colleagues, friends and families!

As I’ve said in previous posts, all of us have been to school in our lives ( or at least I hope so !) so that gives us some reason to be able to form opinions on school debates.

Whether our opinions are always agreed upon is debatable, but at least we can all say we have had some experience on the matter.

I don't know anything about the person who published this tweet, but let me say that in reading some of the feedback the author really opened a can of worms.

Some were supportive, whereas most were against the general idea of it.

To their credit, most who opposed it voiced their opinions very clearly and reasonably, still respecting the views of the author rather than attacking them personally.

But then, after reading through even more of the responses, quite a few did get stuck into him!

I tried my best to pay little notice of the responses that were extreme in their approval or disapproval so that I'd see more of a mainstream response, but some responses were quite humorous even if they probably weren't meant to be!

If you know your way around Twitter, you'll be able to find this tweet and read the responses for yourself.

So where do I stand on this ?

I can virtually guarantee that amongst those of you reading this, there will be some that agree with the tweet, others who disagree and others somewhere in between. I respect all views and all that I'll do today is share my views from the perspective of a teacher.

Even then, other teacher readers could vehemently disagree with me and I have no problem with that. 

There are some parts of the tweet that I agree with. I have never discussed my politics with any children whatsoever, and come to think of it, any colleagues. I'll admit I'm not politically minded at the best of times, which is probably why I can't be bothered to discuss it with others.

At the most, I'll freely admit that I'll vote for someone who will actually do something for the community in which I live, and this can be done without naming names or political parties.

As teachers in the upper grades, we often teach about our political system as we are required to, but this can be done without adding any political bias one may have. 

Similarly with cultural stances. We teach about various cultures, comparing and contrasting them, and any teacher worth their salt can do this without shedding any cultural bias.

But when it comes to personal life, I find this can be very hard.

This topic can be fraught with danger as we are all so aware of the safety standards regarding children and adults, and it is when adults and teachers reveal too much of their private lives that the line becomes crossed.

I'm not for a moment advocating revealing too much of one's private life to the students, but I find it is virtually impossible not to reveal some aspects.

Often we cannot have any say in what is revealed about ourselves as students may see us in public and they will begin to make assumptions about our personal life.

I can remember as a kid seeing one of my teachers walk into the pub my family owned, and was mortified !

First of all, I was seeing my teacher doing something out of school !!

Wasn't she meant to be just a teacher ? Didn't teachers just live at school?

Did teachers have friends and families too ? Did teachers actually do normal things like other people ?

So many questions ran through my mind that seemed quite normal to a 5 year old. I still get these responses from kids at school when they see me doing something in public rather than just 'being a teacher'.

I soon began to realise that teachers actually had lives out of school too !!!

It soon began to be a bit of school yard gossip when us kids would share stories about where we had seen our teachers, and who they were with and what they were doing. They were almost public property.

Fast forward 20 years and the boot is now on the other foot, and I'm the teacher.

I clearly remember my first year teaching in Wodonga, and kids seeing me going for a run, or at footy training, or down the supermarket. The next day at school this would be a topic of discussion among them... "I saw Mr K at the supermarket and he was buying...."

Sometimes we didn't need to tell them anything about what we did out of school as they'd find out one way or another.

I could share countless examples of times when kids have seen me out and about, but one that sticks is when I was involved in a stoush playing football, and ended up a bit bloodied around the face. A few kids from my class had their dads playing in the same team, and as they were at the footy too, they saw it all happen.

Come Monday, I go to school with some cuts and bruises clearly visible on my face and the kids all knew straight away what I'd been up to.

Rather than make up a story, or deny what their friends had told them ( and their versions did get quite exaggerated !) I just rolled with it and accepted their humour.

This taught me a great lesson. By being honest and open, it helped to build respect and generate really good relationships with the kids, something that I believe I've been able to maintain throughout my teaching career.

I'm always prepared to share things about my own personal life, but strictly within reason.

Sometimes kids will ask about things that I just won't discuss as there is no point in going there, but other times I see no problem in sharing things about what I have done.

To me it helps to create a more human aspect to our roles as teachers, as the kids see us as more than just teachers, but as people just like other adults in their lives.

Since last year my class knew that there was a serious illness in my family, and sadly my sister died recently. They knew at the time my sister was sick. That's all they needed to know and they respected that and didn't pursue it any further. Similarly with what is going on with my family at present.

Not every day in the classroom is rosey. We all have bad days or moments, kids and teachers alike. But when they can relate us to something relevant in their lives it makes it so much easier to sort through various situations as they occur.

When teachers know more about a student and what they do out of school, this can be invaluable when helping them at school. We can tap into their personal interests for the benefit of their own learning, and use these rich contexts as an avenue to getting them more invested in their learning at school. 

I clearly remember a boy I taught recently at a country school who found most learning situations in class hard to become involved in. By chance one day he was telling me all about water pumps that were used on his family farm. He knew all the facts about horsepower, flow rates etc. What a great opportunity to pursue !

We then created a mini project where he was to design a small irrigation system for a specific area, and the research involved in this was so valuable as it was practical and relevant to him.

All because I knew something about his personal life.

Now if we flip it the other way, in what ways can the kids knowing about our personal lives be okay?

It comes back to the building of relationships.

The kids know I love my sport and often ask about the sports I played. I often bang on about how good my football team is (Richmond) to the point where the kids must be totally sick of it by now, but the banter between us continues constantly.

When my team is playing their team we often have "Paper Bets" (Please don't accuse me of encouraging gambling, that's stretching it too far !)

I'll see them in the yard or in class and tease them gently about their team then say "I'll bet you 20 papers that the Tigers win". That means the loser picks up 20 papers in the yard the following week.

And more often than not they'll take me on but up it to 50 or 100 papers !!

Magnify this by 10 or so kids who want to have a bet with me, and you'll quickly realise that our schoolyard gets a good clean up !! Usually by me !!!!

Once again, it is seen as harmless fun but it always generates great relationships. 

My most recent bet occurred when the parent of a child was in touch with me and I said I'd have a paper bet with her son as usual for 50 papers. He agreed, but added "50 papers, PLUS the margin!!" When I eventually get back to school I'm already in his sights to pick up 72 papers, and there's no way he'll let me miss it. 

I'm sure that on my first day back he will be the first person coming to see me.

All in good fun, but only possible because we have established a good relationship where we have allowed certain things from our personal lives to be known to each other.

I taught the same group of kids in Ballarat way back in 1987 and again in 1989 when they were in Gr 4 then Gr 6.

There was just something about this group that was so special, they all just clicked together and they were two of my most enjoyable years of teaching.

About 5 years ago they organised a reunion, and I was invited as I was their teacher then.

They'd organised it so well, and I even had to read out the roll and tick off those who were present. Sadly there were 3 missing who had lost their lives along the way, and one more just recently.

It was just the greatest day reminiscing with these people who were now in their late 30's, most married with young families. And the best thing was that I wasn't treated as their teacher, I was treated as being one of them.

This was something that was in the back of my mind as I was heading to the event, but all my fears were put to rest the moment I entered the function.

And this would not have been possible if the relationship wasn't there in the first place.

Back in the 80's these kids knew a lot about me, but only what I was prepared to share. They knew that I was more than just a teacher. They knew they'd probably see me around town, they'd often see me running, being with my own family, and unfortunately, getting injured and into fights playing footy !!!! 🙄

In over 30 years of teaching I have always worked hard at building appropriate professional relationships with the kids I teach, and it never fails to surprise me when the benefits of doing this arise.

At my current school there are 3 young teachers who I actually taught years ago. Not for a second has there been any awkwardness at working alongside someone who was once your teacher. The good relationships that were built years ago have now progressed into our professional working lives. And not for a moment do I see myself as superior to them, or in a position to tell them what to do like I did so many years ago. I didn't even feel superior to them when I taught them, so that's not the word I should be using.

Yesterday as I was entering the hospital the young nurse at the door checking for Vaccination Certificates and issuing masks was just so pleasant, and I responded likewise to him. He then said "Are you from Bendigo?" to which I replied that I was.

He then revealed that he was in my class about 14 years ago and how much fun he had that year. I was shocked that I didn't recognise him ( he did have a mask on as well as a face shield) and boys in particular change so much in their teen years.

Once again, that relationship building from that year still had an impact yesterday and I walked away feeling just so vindicated that the approach that I use is okay.

Readers, I could go on and on about the sorts of things that kids in my classes have learnt about my personal life that I have no problem whatsoever in sharing with them, or them having found out. Sometimes they'll discover things we'd rather not have them know, but that's life.

So think about some of the teachers you have had, in particular the ones you really looked up to. I'd be confident in saying that a lot of this is because they shared with you some things about their own lives that was relevant and enabled the development of positive relationships that in turn contributed to really positive learning environments.

In summarising this, I don't want my students knowing everything about me, but I do like them to know enough about me so that they know what makes me tick. I like them to see me as a teacher, but also as a human who experiences the same feelings and emotions as they do, and in doing so we create environments that hopefully make learning fun.

Well Readers,

Something slightly different, but something that generated a response from me.

Feel free to hit the comments tab below, be brave !!!

Until my next post,

Cheers 😁