Everytime you get a problem wrong, you get more practice...and you get five hugs
At around the age my 7 year-old daughter began to understand what a job was, I became a high school principal...and I was quite proud when she told others she, too, hoped to be a principal one day. When I moved from a mid-sized private school to become an assistant principal at a large public high school, my daughter’s career ambitions changed along with me; she now hoped to be an assistant principal, which I thought was absolutely adorable. However, as she proclaimed these career possibilities, I attempted to impress upon her that good principals (and assistant principals) are frequently good teachers first. And as I hoped, she eventually began informally sharing what her approach to classroom teaching would look like.
First and foremost, if you have a child this age, I hope you “play” school every once in a while. Both boys and girls can enjoy it! By putting your child in charge of her or his own classroom, even if you are the only student, you get a firm grasp on what your child is studying. In a recent occurrence of playing school, for instance, I learned how to multiply things by 5 and 10, and we worked on my handwriting (which she accurately pre-assessed as needing some work). When my print improved, I was told, I could work on cursive. We also moved through a “reading rotation” that included 13 stations! Needless to say, I was expected to retain a lot of information that day!
The highlight of this latest school experience for me, however, came when I began purposely making errors on my multiplication problems to see how she would respond. Would she know I had made mistakes, or would she assume that her student/dad got them correct? Upon reviewing my assignment, I watched her eyes flicker as she noticed my lack of proficiency. She looked from my paper to me and back to the paper before addressing my errors. Watching her decide how to proceed was invaluable.
First, she asked me a couple of questions to prod my lack of understanding. In her sweetest voice possible, she asked whether I had guessed or if I had given the problems an appropriate amount of effort. Concluding from my responses that I had not guessed and did not understand the subject matter, she delivered her line of the day:
“Everytime you get a problem wrong, you get more practice...and you get five hugs.”
This, I believed, was beautiful. While the hugs were maybe a little over the top for a “normal” classroom (one hug may have been okay), they were indicative of her desire to be supportive of her students. More important to me was her belief that I person who makes mistakes gets more practice. Both of these statements were likely derived from her current understanding of what classroom teaching should entail. She has been the beneficiary of great teachers in her first few years of formal education, and this interaction left me with no doubt that, at least this year, my little girl will be supported in her times of academic need...with extra practice, and maybe a well-timed, encouraging hug.
If you are a teacher who sends boys and girls home with the logic my daughter displayed in class on this day, thank you.
First and foremost, if you have a child this age, I hope you “play” school every once in a while. Both boys and girls can enjoy it! By putting your child in charge of her or his own classroom, even if you are the only student, you get a firm grasp on what your child is studying. In a recent occurrence of playing school, for instance, I learned how to multiply things by 5 and 10, and we worked on my handwriting (which she accurately pre-assessed as needing some work). When my print improved, I was told, I could work on cursive. We also moved through a “reading rotation” that included 13 stations! Needless to say, I was expected to retain a lot of information that day!
The highlight of this latest school experience for me, however, came when I began purposely making errors on my multiplication problems to see how she would respond. Would she know I had made mistakes, or would she assume that her student/dad got them correct? Upon reviewing my assignment, I watched her eyes flicker as she noticed my lack of proficiency. She looked from my paper to me and back to the paper before addressing my errors. Watching her decide how to proceed was invaluable.
First, she asked me a couple of questions to prod my lack of understanding. In her sweetest voice possible, she asked whether I had guessed or if I had given the problems an appropriate amount of effort. Concluding from my responses that I had not guessed and did not understand the subject matter, she delivered her line of the day:
“Everytime you get a problem wrong, you get more practice...and you get five hugs.”
This, I believed, was beautiful. While the hugs were maybe a little over the top for a “normal” classroom (one hug may have been okay), they were indicative of her desire to be supportive of her students. More important to me was her belief that I person who makes mistakes gets more practice. Both of these statements were likely derived from her current understanding of what classroom teaching should entail. She has been the beneficiary of great teachers in her first few years of formal education, and this interaction left me with no doubt that, at least this year, my little girl will be supported in her times of academic need...with extra practice, and maybe a well-timed, encouraging hug.
If you are a teacher who sends boys and girls home with the logic my daughter displayed in class on this day, thank you.
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