Student Experience = Teaching Perspective?
11 questions to begin "unpacking" as teachers about our own student experiences
One of my most frequent conversations with new teachers centers around the projections we often do of ourselves onto our classrooms—not only our current perspectives and values but also the experiences we had as students going through the education system.
Experiences that both brought us in what way or another to our roles as educators and undeniably shape how we see our work.
Whether we are willing to admit it or not.
So I posed that thought this morning on Twitter.
Considering the number of people this seemed to resonate with, I have been thinking all day about what specific questions could be helpful to begin the inevitably-ongoing reflection about what parts of our experience of students are most formative to our current perspective and work as educators.
Here are the eleven questions I have so far (and hopefully this is a list that evolves and expands with thoughts from others!):
Think about that moment right before you stepped inside the school building as a student throughout your K-12 experience. What did it feel like you to walk into school each day? And did that feeling ever shift over your journey through the school system as a student—if so, what caused the shift? (And if not, why was yours so stable?)
What did your teachers assume about you on the first day of school when you walked in the room? And of course the follow-up: what were these assumptions based off of and how did they shape your experience with that teacher?
Considering your entire K-12 journey, what is one of your most positive academic experiences as a student—and how did your teachers and the school itself contribute to this, if they did?
Let’s flip that, now: what is one of your most negative experiences? (And if you have to think a lot longer to decide on this one, as I did, I think that in itself should be a good moment for pause—especially if you’re currently in a role as an educator.)
Keep the focus on teachers: what was your average teacher like in terms of their expertise, experience, and enthusiasm for the work? The immediate follow-up, too: did you have many new/young teachers? Did you have long-term subs or student teachers often?
Staying in the classroom still: whose voices were heard and centered in your classrooms as a student, on average? Was it the teacher or the students—and if it was the students, was it all of them equally? Were you one of those students? Lots of easy-to-consider questions about classroom design and pedagogy you experienced, too, if you want to go down a rabbit hole!
Overall, what was your level of access, in your opinion, to have your individual needs met by the education system as a student? Example: math was without question my best subject, and I was also fortunate to have one of the best math teachers in the entire state—and to have him as a 9th grader, 10th grader, 11th grader, and twice as a 12th grader. And this wasn’t one of those schools where he was the only math teacher, of course…
A very important one, I’d argue: how did your various identities show up in your school and, especially if you hold ones that were privileged or more-seen (*raises hand*), how do you think those with different identities felt in the same classroom and hallways?
Think about all of the adults in your school building: in your eyes, how many of them had your back? My first thought: a coach who pulled me aside after I drove my mom’s car into the wall in front of the entire team the day I got my driver’s license, and had me come over to buff out the scratches immediately after practice—provided I told my mom, of course. Follow-up: did those adults have every student’s back, or just yours?
What was the relationship between your school and your family—did your school value your family’s voice? Did your family feel as if their voice could and should be heard in your education? A pretty simple starting question: do you think your family felt you were supported and challenged as a student?
Then there’s this one I can’t shake: were you able to mess up as a student and still be supported? AND did you know that you could mess up and still have this support? I think this is the game-changer for so many students, both the reality as well as the awareness of that reality and the confidence that comes with it—and if you had it I would imagine that empathizing with what it’s like to not have it is quite challenging.
Of course, there are far more questions than I can brainstorm on my own on a weekend run and whilst weeding the lawn—so feel free to add suggestions to the comments or in reply to this thread online!
With all of them, too, the first step is reflecting on your own experience and then the next, much-harder step is how these answers show up now for you as a teacher. That is where I would argue the work needs to really take place, and that work should be comprised of both individual reflection as well as peer-to-peer conversation.
We carry a lot into our classroom as teachers, particularly as far as power, and I firmly believe unpacking what we see as well as what we miss based on our own experiences is vital to making schools a better, more supportive place for all students.
Have a great week, too, as we move into the hopefully-sunnier, inevitably-more-distracting homestretch. Take care! —Marcus