Speaking Honestly with Students

As part of my teaching practicum at IslandWood, I have the opportunity of having my mentor observe how I am working towards my professional goals and practices as an educator. Although it can be nerve-wracking for me to be filmed as I teach, I instead focus on reviewing my teaching habits as they are, with the insight of my mentor with whom I've worked with to talk openly about whether the impact of my teaching reflects my intentions.

The first piece of feedback I received was about how I tended to ask passive questions to my students to encourage them to do something I actually needed them to do for the safety of the group. For example, upon noticing a student standing on the top of a rock on the edge of a hill, I feel unsafe and ask them, "Do you want to step down from that rock for me? It looks unsafe and I'm not sure that's a great idea." My mentor suggested that I say exactly what I need from the student. Instead, I could have said something along the lines of: "Please step down from the rock. It looks unsafe and I need to make sure you are not in a position to get hurt." Since my mentor gave me this feedback during the teaching day, I immediately became more aware of when I used passive phrasing with my students and was able to adjust quickly to think about my words before I said them. I noticed that when I made this simple switch of using active, direct sentences, students were more likely to hear my request and respond to me rather than when I suggested them to take my request.

I realized that it is important to become more clear and honest with my students so that they understand that I see them as people who are capable of hearing direct intentions and that my asks have a core reason behind them to keep students, myself, and the environment a safe place as we learn together.