The teacher next door was shouting 15 minutes ago. I talked to my CT. Her reply was teachers are insane during this time of the year. I totally understand! Take it easy! Let’s think outside of the box and laugh at the facts.

Have you ever noticed that teachers are often similar to the students they teach? We even pick up a lot of their strange habits. Here are some of the ways our students have rubbed off on us.

1. Whispering to our friends during PD meetings

Does it drive us crazy when our students talk over us? Absolutely. But does that stop us from having conversations with our friends in the middle of a PD presentation? Absolutely not.

2. Procrastinating (and getting away with it!)

We tell our kids that they can’t do well if they procrastinate, but honestly…sometimes they can. And instead of being mad about that, we’re really just inspired to try out their impressive strategies. Strange habits or genius life hacks? It’s a fine line sometimes.

3. Missing deadlines for submitting work and/or attendance

Whether or not we procrastinated (and we probably did), we will always complete the work that is most important to us. However, like our students, we can make no such promises when it comes to submitting lesson plans, professional goals, or daily attendance.

4. Gossiping. A lot.

We see our students’ eyes light up as they share the newest drama, so we can’t be blamed for seeking out our own gossip-induced adrenaline rush with our teacher friends. You want to talk about the newest frenemies in your class? A ridiculous email from a parent? A secret relationship between two teachers in the building? Count us in.

5. Losing the ability to show up anywhere on time

We’ve gotten so used to tardiness that we don’t even fully understand the concept of “on time” anymore. When we show up to our dinner plans eight minutes late, we’re honestly proud of ourselves for being so prompt.

6. Forgetting to hide it when we roll our eyes

Just like our students, we find life very annoying sometimes. However, unlike our students, we’re supposed to be adults. If we’re lucky, we might be able to disguise our immaturity by saying we have something in our eye.

7. Being a little too unconcerned about our appearance

Some of our students proudly admit it when they show up without brushing their hair and teeth, so we have a new understanding of what it means to look presentable. Too many of us have walked into a grocery store, caught a glimpse of our reflection on something shiny, and realized that we were basically in pajamas.

8. Using teen slang unironically

It may have started off as a joke when we were talking to our students, but it doesn’t take very long for us to pick up their mannerisms. This often comes off as strange habits to other adults. They either have no idea what we’re saying, or they judge us for speaking like the children.

9. Embracing our identity as the class clown

As much as we might hate to admit it, the class clown is…funny. So while we try to limit their off-topic remarks during class, we can’t help but follow their lead and crack some jokes when we’re in a meeting or just a regular conversation.

10. Eating (and thinking about food) constantly

There’s something about being with kids all day that normalizes being hungry and talking about food all the time. We are completely unfazed when we see a kid eating a bag of Doritos at 8:45 in the morning, and we would be lying if we said we’d never done the same thing.

11. Being brutally honest because we’ve forgotten how to filter our thoughts

Yes, kids can be absolutely ruthless, but there’s something so freeing about talking without even attempting to use a filter. So sometimes, whether it’s intentional or not, we use our students as role models and say anything that comes to our mind.

12. Being so sarcastic that people don’t know if we’re being serious

While we may scold our kids for being sassy, we’re always ready for some good sarcasm. We can convince people that something we’re saying is true, but sometimes when we actually do tell the truth, we realize we’ve forgotten how to use a tone that makes people believe us.

13. Zoning out in daily conversations

We know that our attention spans should be longer than our students’, but we often find ourselves daydreaming when we’re supposed to be giving someone our full attention. Like our kids, we need a change of pace if we’re going to officially unglaze our eyes.

Reference: https://www.boredteachers.com/post/strange-habits-teachers

Instead of “Be quiet.” try “Can you use a softer voice?”

Instead of “What a mess!” try “It looks like you had fun. How can we clean up?”

Instead of “Do you need help?” try, “I’m here to help if you need me.”

Instead of “Let me do it.” try “I believe you can do it.”

Instead of “I explained how to do this yesterday.” try “Maybe I can show you another way.”

Instead of “Stop crying.” try “It’s okay to cry.”

Instead of “Look at what you’ve done.” try “How can we fix this?”

Instead of “Do I need to separate you?” try “Could you use a break?”

Instead of “Do you have any questions?” try “What questions do you have?”

Instead of “You’re OK.” try “How are you feeling?”

Instead of “It’s not that hard.” try “You can do hard things.”

Instead of “You need to listen.” try “I want to help you.”

Instead of “We don’t talk like that.” try “Please use kind words.”

Instead of “Calm down.” try “Breathe. I’m here to help.”

Reference: https://www.weareteachers.com/positive-language-in-the-classroom/?fbclid=IwAR0Z6sl18gEfA2BdG3ebva5LXJXtK1-qTRXtyCjaDjg5tv9qzkuw13z3UAc

1. Be consistent: there is comfort in routine.

Consistency doesn’t have to be strict or mean. There is comfort in routine. Outline your expectations and then follow through. Your students will adapt to your routine and enjoy knowing what’s expected of them, which will, in turn, encourage them to respect you and maybe even like you. For instance, my routine is that I always warm up my class by greeting kids ‘How are you?’. This simple check-in establishes the habit and shows concern from their teachers. Then, kids participate by saying how they feel and the reasons.

2. Your priority is to create a safe, structured classroom environment.

Your priority is not to be BFFs with your students. Your priority is to create a safe, structured classroom environment. If your students know your classroom is a safe place to learn and be creative, they are more likely to come to class prepared and ready to listen, which are signs that they like you.

3. Don’t use bribery to convince them to behave.

It can be very tempting to offer your students candy or trinkets as a way to convince them to behave. The ultimate goal would be to set your expectations and then expect your students to rise up and meet them simply because that’s what they need to do. Students who understand this will respect you so much more than a teacher who has to give kids treats to get them to behave. Kids will love the candy, but they won’t like you much. As a teacher, I never gave candies. I don’t like my kids to get sugar high!

4. Building relationships makes your job easier and more enjoyable.

When you build a mutually respectful relationship with students, it makes your job easier. Just don’t fall into the trap of thinking that a relationship means every student likes you. You might be able to get students to respect you because of the relationship, but that doesn’t mean they like you. Get over that. The relationship is more important than whether every student likes you or not. 

I am a tender teacher. As long as I built a rapport with my kids, they started to reveal their secrets. They told me what they like and dislike, who they love, and even they hate their homeroom teacher….

5. Be yourself: let your personality show in your classroom.

Be the teacher you were trained to be. Let your personality show a bit in your classroom. Just as with every aspect of life, some people will like the real you and some won’t. That’s OK. As long as you go into your classroom every day dedicated to making a difference, most of your students will end up liking the real you.

6. Treat them like important humans no matter their age.

Just like teachers want to be treated with respect, children of any age want the same. Look at your students as if they hold the potential to change the world, wonder what awesome people they will become, and then treat them like they are world-changers. Who wouldn’t like a teacher who is so excited about their future?

7. Don’t try to be the cool teacher.

Nothing makes a kid laugh harder than an adult trying to be “cool.” You don’t need to be up on the latest slang and fashion trends to convince students to like you. As an authentic adult who cares more about the students than about being “cool,” you are more likely to be respected and liked.

8. Find something to like about each and EVERY student.

It can be hard to find something to like about each student. Some students are just hard to enjoy. But when you make the effort to do so, it will be more probable that they will like you. Students just want to be valued by their teachers, just as we want them to appreciate us.

9. Remember kids don’t need a friend, they need a good teacher.

That’s what kids need. They don’t need another friend. They need a teacher who shows up every day dedicated to teaching them what they need to know. Kids like good teachers. Don’t worry about being liked; worry about what you can do to be a good teacher to your students. The liking will follow.

10. Follow through

Students can’t respect a teacher that says one thing and does something different. Even if you regret promising something, follow through. You will be both respected and liked when students learn they can trust your word.

11. Command respect

Establish your rules, tell them to your students, and then enforce them religiously. You are not being mean when you do this! Once students realize that you love them enough to expect respect, they will realize that they do like you in addition to respecting you.

Reference: https://boredteachers.com/post/respected-and-liked-by-students

As a PBL teacher who worked at an IB school, I know both educational systems and functions. As a proponent of inquirer-based learning, I also agree that there are some common elements that are shared by both PBL and IB. I’ll highly suggest you read this article and have a deep thinking and reflection on what we are doing during our daily lives as educators.

With shared emphases on inquiry, student voice, and choice, PBL and International Baccalaureate methods can combine to facilitate meaningful learning.

Project-based learning (PBL) usually involves a student-led process in which learners create a product that is presented in front of a public audience. The approach is valuable—fostering reflection, student engagement, voice, choice, inquiry, and authentic feedback—but it doesn’t come without challenges. 

In my work in the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum framework, I’ve gleaned insight into instructional approaches to PBL that work well for students and teachers around the world; I share them here for replication across educational contexts.

USING VISIBLE THINKING ROUTINES THROUGHOUT THE PBL PROCESS

Visible thinking routines, one element of IB’s approaches to learning skills(ATLs), are an excellent tool for supporting students throughout their projects, kindling and maintaining curiosity, and sparking conversations about perspective-taking in the classroom. 

Harvard University’s Project Zero—which IB educators can use for professional development—has a Thinking Routines Toolbox that I find especially useful. When starting a project, I like to use Chalk Talk to activate students’ background knowledge and introduce new concepts. Try a chalk talk with the driving question of a PBL unit, as well as the inquiries that the central question inspires. Questions should be open-ended and discussion-oriented, and they can provide valuable bulletin board material for sustained brainstorming.

To move from idea generation to evaluation, I use Compass Points to offer students an opportunity to consider their ideas from different perspectives—a practice that has proven just as useful in faculty meetings.

Leveraging perspective-taking to further build empathy, Step Inside is a routine that I use to encourage students to consider the perspective(s) of the intended audience for their PBL project. This approach is also valuable for encouraging students to consider the perspective of a guest speaker visiting the class to discuss their work or for inviting students to write from the perspective of a character—such as the protagonist of a novel or a historical figure whose work connects to the driving question of a PBL unit. 

And because PBL is grounded in inquiry, What Makes You Say That? is a helpful routine for classroom discourse that encourages the utilization of evidence to back up ideas, allowing facilitators to probe deeply into student thinking.

Finally, to scaffold meaningful, inquiry-based reflection, I use the I used to think… Now I think… frame throughout a unit to track students’ learning and encourage metacognition. Using sticky notes to do this routine allows students to move about the room, and it is easy to hang students’ reflections on a bulletin board or color-code responses to find patterns in the group’s thinking.

TEACHING SKILLS EXPLICITLY TO SUPPORT STUDENTS’ PROJECTS

PBL supports students’ development of skills that are applicable far beyond their time in school, which aligns well with IB’s ATLs: thinking skills, communication skills, research skills, self-management skills, and social skills. The IB breaks these skills down into subskills; in a PBL unit, taking time to talk about and teach these skills explicitly—in addition to the latent learning that naturally happens through students’ projects—can bolster students’ facility with them and create opportunities to discuss how these skills connect to a unit’s driving question.

For example, the IB cites taking effective notes during class as an important skill. You could utilize direct instruction to target this skill and offer a gradual release of responsibility by, first, introducing the Cornell notes system, a model that supports students’ documentation of facts, questions, and summaries of learning. Model this approach in front of the class or in focus groups, then invite students to practice while watching Steve Jobs’s commencement speech at Stanford, and compare their results. 

Because everyone learns differently, and PBL prioritizes student voice and choice, you could then follow direct instruction and practice with an opportunity for students to choose their own favorite note-taking method, practice it, and share it with the class. Or you might encourage students to blend the skills learned from direct instruction with their own favorite method and then discuss how they feel about this hybrid approach.

USING IB METHODS TO CREATE DRIVING QUESTIONS

Driving questions are the heart of PBL, but crafting them can be arduous. The IB Middle Years Programme offers a solution: Educators must create conceptual and debatable questions for a unit of study that are comparable to driving questions, and the following framework scaffolds their creation. 

Conceptual questions usually begin with the word how or could, for example: Howdo creators (authors) use symbolism across different genres of texts and works? In PBL, we look for this style of question plus a more direct connection to student engagement. For example: How do creators use symbolism across different genres of texts and works to _______ teenagers? You can fill in the blank with whatever word most resonates with students: entertain, inspire, influence. Or you can change “teenagers” to another subject—a singer, an actor, or another celebrity.

Notice the word creators: The IB uses this term instead of author to make the question inclusive of other producers of texts—poets, authors, illustrators, playwrights. The words works and texts also connect to IB pedagogy, in which workdefines a complete work of literature, and text describes images, oral works, and more. Being intentional about wording can further open students’ minds. 

Next, debatable questions: These usually begin with should or to what extent. Using the word should invites debate and discussion. An IB unit, for example, poses the question, “Should violence ever be justified?” To make this question more relatable and engaging to students, we might adapt it to this, “Should violence in _____ ever be justified?” and then work with students to fill in the blank (e.g., video games, sports, movies, books and stories). And to what extent questions—for example, “To what extent should youth be influenced by celebrities?”—also help to move beyond yes/no to invite a range of student opinions in the classroom.

There are many similarities between IB and PBL approaches to education, and by braiding together select practices—such as those highlighted above—we can simplify the sometimes extensive planning involved while reaping the benefits of instructional practices that center students’ curiosity, connection, and idea-building.

Reference: https://www.edutopia.org/article/ib-school-curriculum-can-enhance-project-based-learning/?fbclid=IwAR33BrgFbfp0TvyQk54l48MvE7A49MTb9J_qGtEfAsJHtWUQiFl7kFllv4w