Ever gone to the picture theatre and wandered up to the candy bar only to discover that the popcorn machine is malfunctioning? It leaves you a bit empty because there is this anticipation that the experience isn’t quite complete unless you have the movie and the popcorn.
As we begin the 2025 school year – don’t we all want the ultimate experience?
As educators in schools we all want the ultimate experience; the movie and the popcorn. Any good educator knows that being successful requires you not only to be experts in curriculum design, but also in developing positive, restorative relationships.
With so much literature abounding in relation to explicit and direct instruction, we can feel that this is all encompassing, and the opportunity to build positive, restorative relationships can go by the wayside.
I am here to tell you; you can have it all.
As educators let’s trust our judgement. The ultimate experience is transformative and purposeful. It is a combination of good teaching and relationship building. It reminds us why we became educators in the first place. It allows us to go home less stressed every day, and more often with smiles on our faces.
The transformative, purposeful educator ensures there is coherence between curriculum and relationships; their students are working harder than they are, the learning environment is flexible and adaptive – accommodating for circle architecture.
They create a culture of continuous feedback and challenge that is managed through self-regulation and co-regulation. Everyone displays a thirst to know more and transference of deep learning to new and different contexts is evident.
There is shared responsibility and accountability for the way that all stakeholders speak, behave and think. They approach all situations with the intention to recognise what is happening, understand it and respond.
The transformative and purposeful educator knows they are never alone, and every deviation from the ultimate experience is an opportunity for adjustment, not judgement.
So how do we get there and achieve this ultimate experience?
Here are a few tips to begin with:
- Speak directly to the behaviours you want to see. That means co-constructed classroom expectations, stated in positive language:
- Prepare students for changes to routines and irregular school events
- Establish norms for staff and students to self and co-regulate
- Use clear verbal and non-verbal communication tools
- Build emotional vocabulary through regular use of affective language and interactions
- Set up a learning space that heightens engagement, responsibility and accountability:
- Classroom walls that change regularly
- Desk formations that allow for flexible learning
- Clearly displayed expectations and non-verbal prompts
- Relevant, up to date resources that stimulate learning
- Multi modal learning assessments
- Opportunities for student voice, influence, choice and the ability to work together
- Talk about all stakeholders as though they are in the room (‘loyal to the absent’):
- Work with all stakeholders in a respectful, relational and authoritative manner.
- Enter every interaction with curiosity, seeking to understand and respond.
- Stay on the high road to recognise, understand and respond to all situations, rather than assuming, guessing and reacting
- Create an environment for students to celebrate successes and recognise and respond to mistakes, without blame.
Want to know more? We’ve just released a new whitepaper – Aligning Effective Instruction and Relationships.
There are many more hot tips in there to get you started and ensure that 2025 is the ultimate experience for all!
Download the Aligning Effective Instruction and Relationships Whitepaper here.
Warm regards,