In this video we are going to be talking about teaching for legacy. Before we get into it I want to let you know that this episode is brought to you by the Behavior Management Blueprint. This is my FREE e-book on the five key essentials of classroom management and it also comes with a free mini video course as well. You can download that by clicking the link at the end of the blog.
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We are going to be talking about teaching for legacy, I am just going to be looking at the importance of investing in the future and looking to the future when you teach. This week I had the opportunity to go to my great aunt’s funeral, my great-aunt was a school teacher and as I listened to the eulogy they talked about the great impact she had on many young people as she taught. They talked about her style of teaching, she was funny, she was kind, she built positive relationships with students and she invested in them for the future. What really amazed me was that she was 89 when she died and she had students from decades earlier that she had taught writing to express their sadness at her passing and writing to say what a great impact she had left on their lives. These are people that she had taught 50 and 60 years earlier but they still remembered her and they still remembered the impact that she made on their life.
I want to encourage you that when you teach you are not just teaching for the curriculum, you are not just teaching for the assessment or even the report card. What you are doing is investing in the future. You are building a legacy that goes on long after you are gone and so I just want to look at some ideas or some ways that you can build a legacy in the children that you teach and make a lasting impact on those kids.
1. Prioritise Relationships
The first one is this, teach with a priority to relationships. Take the time to build positive mutually respectful relationships with your students. Do not just focus on curriculum, focus on the children, focus on the relationship with them. Children do not learn from people they do not like and so make an effort to build that positive rapport with them. Be funny and kind. My aunt taught in an era where the cane was prevalent, where authoritarian type teaching was prevalent and yet all those years ago she was still using kindness and relationship to get through to her children and that’s what I believe really helped to leave a legacy with those kids that she taught. So, prioritize relationships, get to know them, get to know their world, get to know what they care about, what makes them tick, what their interests on the weekend are. Look at them as more than just a student but as a human being that is interesting and valuable and worth knowing. You will find that it leaves a lasting imprint on them into the future.
2. Teach the Whole Person
The second thing you can do is, teach the whole person. Do not just teach a number, don’t just teach a name on a role, take the time to inquire about them and their well-being. If you have got students that are misbehaving, do not just target the behavior, criticize the behavior or chastise them but take the time to inquire about what is motivating the behavior. Many times behavior is motivated by deeper emotions and deeper experiences that are beneath the surface that we do not often see but if you take the time to figure out what is going on in their world, what are they worried about, what are they scared about, you will often be able to address the problems in your classroom in a positive healthy way. You will also leave a lasting impression on those kids because they will know that you were the teacher that took the time to show them that you cared and you invested in their whole person and their well-being, not just them as a student, so that’s really important.
3. Build Them up For the Future
The third thing is this, build them up for the future. Help children to dream about the future, help them to see the potential of what they could be. Many students today do not have a picture or a vision for their future. There is an old proverb that says “Without vision people perish” so we need to, as teachers, teach children how to dream, how to think about their future. Help them to connect what you are teaching them now with their future. Help them to understand why it is important and why they should be excited about it. When your teaching lifts the students’ perspective regarding their future, what will happen is, those lessons will stay with them, those imprints of experience, imprints of relationship and those imprints of your investing in them as individuals will make a lasting impression that will go on long after you are gone.
So this is just a quick little reflection I wanted to leave with you. Remember you are teaching for the future. You are teaching to leave a legacy. You are teaching to leave a mark on the students that will last long after you are gone. Do not just teach the curriculum. Do not just teach for report cards but teach for the future. Prioritize relationships, teach the whole child. Do not just deal with behavior but understand why they are the way they are and the third one is teach to lift their perspective of their future. Help them to dream and see what they could be. Those encouraging teaching moments and relationships will be some of the fondest memories you and your students will carry into the future. Your classroom can be transformed into a place where real learning occurs and misbehaviour diminishes.
If you want to learn more tips like this do not forget to check out our online course called “Behavior Management Essentials.” The link is in the description below. It is four hours of content, a deep dive into behaviour management, taken from our live workshops. If you have enjoyed this, then share it with somebody that you think would benefit and I will see you next time.
If you would like to learn more about managing classroom behaviour effectively, why not check out our FREE video course Behaviour Management Blueprint. See below for details.
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