To those of you who have commenced to plan for 2022, I salute you.
I was in a conversation with one such Senior Teacher last week who told me that she’d focus on relationships in the first four weeks of 2022 because, in her words “Relationships are the most important thing”
She told me her Maths students would be designing a colourful front cover for their Maths books in that time and that she’d chat, find common ground, reduce expectations and have fun with them while they do it.
I’m not so sure about that.
Relationships help and they’re all of nourishing, enriching and empowering – but there’s a reason we build student-teacher relationships. And it’s chiefly to leverage that relationship for performance, achievement, growth and progress.
I’d contend that this Senior Teacher – and her students – might be in for a rude shock when the expectations of learning show up in Week 5.
I suggested to this amazing educator (and she really is) that the best relationships are forged in environments where performance, achievement, growth and progress are the defining characteristics.
We then chatted about an adjusted focus for the start of 2022.
Now, her aim is to have her students experience the thrill of learning and progress as fast as possible and for her to tally the number of times she can say “That’s so awesome. We’re going to have so many Maths wins this year. I can feel it! Would you like to design a cool front cover to you Maths book to celebrate today’s win?”
Relationships for a reason, not just for the sake of them.
Keep fighting that good fight,
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PS. Leaders, if you’re also planning a high expectation, high support environment in 2022 then we should meet. I’m running a 3-hour workshop titled “Leading a Restorative School” in Brissie 14/1/2022, Melbourne 18/1/2022 and Sydney 19/1/2022 … and I reckon you should come along. Find out a bit more and register at this link.
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