"Teach the Students You Have"
Longtime math department chair Richard Kelly, who retired just a few years ago, was among the wisest teachers I have encountered in my years in education. One of Richard’s mantras was “Teach the kids you have,” and it’s a notion that has really stuck with me over the years.
What Mr. Kelly meant by this statement, and why it serves as a powerful reminder to me, is that teachers need to be aware and responsive to the students in their room and attend to their particular needs, even if that occasionally leads a teacher into an unplanned place. Another way of looking at it is you can’t wish for students you don’t have — some teachers might lament, Why don’t they know this already? Shouldn’t they be picking this up faster? — but those are self-defeating questions. The fact is they don’t and they can’t, and that’s OK. Time to regroup and try a new approach. And time to appreciate and support the learners you do have in the room.
Sometimes, and perhaps even more so in high-performing schools, teachers might expect students in their classrooms to come in already knowing certain things or being able to perform certain tasks effectively. Whether that means they can already solve the quadratic formula or write a well-crafted paragraph, the notion that kids at a certain level “ought to” be able to do some important skill underscores a more old-fashioned teaching mindset.
Happily, that sort of student-blaming feels as old-fashioned as corporal punishment these days. The differentiated learning movement that carried through education in the 90s and early ‘00s brought with it a notion that different students needed different strategies and motivations. A one-size-fits-all approach typically benefitted only one type of learner, and that type was usually the one who learned and understood in ways most like the teacher.
We know adolescent brains are constantly changing and growing. Some things stick right away; some things do not. And of course that can differ greatly from student to student. It’s another reason that flexibility, not rigidity, is an essential aspect of a teacher’s craft. Such an open attitude is also consistent with a growth mindset.
Respected educator Dr. Kevin Maxwell is quoted as saying something very similar to what Richard Kelly preached here at CA: "Our job is to teach the students we have. Not the ones we would like to have. Not the ones we used to have. Those we have right now. All of them." That lends to a dynamic and supportive teaching environment where all students can grow to their full potential.
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