Marcela Cintra –
When asked about our students we, all remember the brilliant or the devilish ones. We boast about those students who excelled in their studies or professional lives because of our lessons or laugh at the displays of misbehaviour we faced throughout lessons. In class, we are specially drawn to the loudest students. Those extremes usually account for 30% of our students. What about the other 70%? What are we doing about the learners who do not shout, do not complain, and do not stand out to us?
As teachers, we do not get to choose who our students are: we learn how to deal with mixed ability groups, with mixed-age groups and even mixed-level groups. The best teachers I have worked with are exactly those who put all the theory into practice and look at all their learners in an effort to get as close as possible to reaching 100% of the group. The most important decision towards success may be to aim higher than teaching only the ideal students we picture as professionals or the ones who need help the most. That includes looking at the ‘invisible’ students in our classes, the average, and low profile learners who do not seem to pose a challenge or bring out the natural enthusiasm in teachers.
After the first class, we give ourselves a very good excuse for not knowing everyone’s names: “it is but the first day”. After a few weeks we indulge ourselves in the fact that we have so many students we cannot remember all their names. It brings us comfort, but also means professional self-sabotage. The minute we settle to reaching fewer students is the moment we fail as teachers. We are eventually going to get through to fewer students than we aim for: some will drop out, and others will not focus or be interested. However, as educators, we should not choose to teach only those who keep us in our comfort zones. There should be an effort to address those who do not normally draw our attention or are usually not the ones we look at when nominating. Choosing to aim at 100% requires constant effort, commitment to learners (and our own development) and may bring us to another level in our careers: becoming the teacher who could see the class as a whole and help learners feel catered for in their lessons.
In order to change our mindset and perspective in class, directing our expectations towards all learners, supporting their success, we can take daily actions such as consciously saying all the students’ names during a lesson, developing an interest in getting to know about each and everyone’s background, chatting about a different student every time we talk about the group (and making constructive comments). It is important to know who each and everyone in the classroom is. Students may pick their favourite peers and take others for granted. As professionals, teachers should not choose the few students they are comfortable with, but rather challenge themselves to develop skills to reach the ones who may be invisible to anyone in class. That is part of the beauty of what we do: helping learners shine and develop their potential.
What have you been doing to look at the “invisible” students?
