“So far, so good”, would be one way to sum up my first five months as a new teacher—a satisfying place to be given my unusual (gentle way of saying “sad”) preparation program into the field and personal struggles as a student. The road wasn’t perfect, and I made plenty of mistakes. The most memorable of these were some bumpy interactions with an unhappy parent and the frustrated student who just wanted me to answer his question. My classroom “observations” by Principal Bernie were acceptable, though I needed to work on classroom appearance (I wasn’t very good at keeping the window shades all at the same height; and the students desks were poorly arranged and not in straight rows!). Ironically, the best measure of effectiveness came not from a colleague, administrator, or student, but from a parent when I returned after a day’s absence.
I missed my first day of teaching in mid-January to attend a day-long educator’s conference sponsored by the Albany Diocese. I don’t remember much from the sessions other than the questionable advice one speaker gave when asked how to best manage student behavior—I perked up to hear his response: “Don’t smile until Christmas, and don’t ever let your guard down”. He also suggested turning the lights off if chaos struck the classroom. Hmmm. I had broken those first two rules the second week of teaching and my basement classroom was dark enough; so I sat back in the chair and wondered how classes were going at St. Mary’s.
The next day, I was happily back at school prepping for lab when one of my physics students came in with a small wrapped box complete with a bow and card. Terry had taken chemistry the year before and had just missed passing with a 64 on the state exam (65 was the passing grade for Regents exams). Fortunately, she wanted to be a nurse so her mother convinced her to give physics a try. Terry’s average was a solid B half-way through the year, and her confidence and attitude towards science had risen with her academic success. She told me the class missed me yesterday, handed me the gift from her mother, and headed off to homeroom.
35 years later and I still get choked up when I reflect on that gesture of appreciation. Terry’s mom had written a simple note on the card: “Dear Mr. Danna, thank you for all you’ve done”. That was it. And the gift was a mug which read, “There’s no substitute for a good teacher” (I enjoy coffee from that mug regularly and you can see it because I took a picture of it for this newsletter). So, yea, I was doing “okay” halfway through the year. I was making a difference. Maybe my classroom was a little messy, and maybe I needed to hone my communications with parents skills; but I was making a difference—and that felt GREAT!
Lessons Learned:
You don’t always realize the effect you are having on students or parents’ lives, but inevitably out of the blue you’ll get a note, email, or gift thanking you for being a good teacher. The reasons are simple but have a major impact on students: for caring about students and doing your best; for being kind, fun, understanding, and patient; or for making exceptions (I made tons), accepting late work, allowing test retakes, and making it safe for students to be themselves. Teaching is a joy for those wanting to make a difference. Sometimes the rewards are a simple card and coffee mug.
Research:
This comprehensive literature review1 explores the impacts of teachers’ psychological characteristics on student learning, classroom performance (observations), student perceptions of their teacher, students’ social-emotional development and self-regulation, and other critical educational outcomes, including teachers’ well-being, interpersonal relations, and retention. Self-efficacy, mindfulness, emotional intelligence, and other psychological characteristics of teachers are addressed in the study. Implications for practice include 1) shaping professional development around teacher needs with special attention on self-efficacy; and 2) using psychological characteristics of candidates to guide selection processes for teacher preparation programs and entry into the teaching profession.
How and why teacher-student relationships change over an academic year and the impacts on student achievement and motivation were key elements of this research study.2 The authors cite research identifying student-teacher relationships as the most important factor shaping youth development, and a lack of research measuring changes in these relationships from the beginning to the end of the the school year as the impetus for the study. Results show relationships do change over the year; with overall declines negatively impacting student self-efficacy for the class, handing in homework, and effort (Note: there were relationships which did not decline). Another interesting result was the increase in students’ social perspective taking and similarities with their teacher over time—both with positive implications for student learning.
Bardach, Lisa, et al. “Teachers’ Psychological Characteristics: Do They Matter for Teacher Effectiveness, Teachers’ Well-Being, Retention, and Interpersonal Relations? An Integrative Review.” Educational Psychology Review, vol. 34, no. 1, 2021, pp. 259–300, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-021-09614-9.
Gehlbach, Hunter, et al. “Changes in Teacher-Student Relationships.” British Journal of Educational Psychology, Received 22 June 2011; revised version received 19 October 2011, vol. 82, no. 4, 2012, pp. 690–704, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8279.2011.02058.x.
What a wonderful story!
You made part of the day fun for us, Doc; even if we sometimes tried to make sure you thought otherwise :)