More Than Just Teaching
ROBERT HINCHLIFFE, GUEST WRITER | PRINCIPAL, AUTHOR, AND SPEAKERWhen one asks themselves the question, “What makes a great teacher?” multiple adjectives could come to mind, but the internal dialogue will consistently come back to one main overarching topic: relationships. Any person who closes their eyes and reminisces about their favorite educator will likely remember a person who took the time to get to know them as a human rather than just thinking of them as an ordinary person at a desk within their classroom. That teacher who made them feel extremely important because they asked about a game last week, the book being read, the new dog that arrived, or simply, “How are you today?” quickly takes on more importance than just another adult in their lives.
Great teachers possess many attributes, but the best adjectives are timeless and memorable. Depending on what each student needed at the time in their life, some may say demanding, caring, engaging, or fun, but those simply lead to the end result of being unforgettable. In the end, they are the person that you needed at that specific time in your life, the person you could count on when you yearned for attention in some way, perhaps in a form you didn’t know you even needed at that moment. They are a counselor, mentor, fist bump, handshake, side hug, high five, stern talk, shoulder to cry on, safe person to vent to, and a myriad of other needs, which is why it is more than just teaching to kids.
When I look back at the hundreds of students that I have encountered in my career, many stick out, but some play a larger part of my legacy as an educator. There are students like Chris, who tested me daily, or Jamaica who could bring the focus of the class to a halt with a laugh that was infectious, or a student named Elijah who just needed someone to be there and believe in him. But the one that will always stick with me is Karen.
Karen came to my room when I was a fourth grade teacher in my second year of teaching in Las Vegas. The most vivid memory I have of that year, and one of the clearest of my teaching career, occurred on the first day of school. It was an hour into the day, and like most teachers on the first day, I was explaining the routines and procedures that come with the classroom while working to set the students up for a successful year. After the first hour, other students were lining up and we were getting ready to exit the room when I noticed that she remained in her seat and she was crying. Concerned, I went over to her quickly and knelt down next to her desk and chair. Little did I know at that moment that I was about to make a core memory. “What’s wrong, Karen?” I could see in her eyes that she was scared to say what was on her mind, but she summoned up the courage to tell me. What came out of her mouth next, and the impact it has had on my life, I never could have predicted.
Students like Karen are the reason that we in education, who care deeply about our job and our profession, do what we do. We are there for the kids. It is not for the glory that comes from being famous, because, obviously, we aren’t in most cases. It certainly, as teachers, is not for the money. We are there to make an impact for students and work to change their lives for the better.
Someone correctly stated that your students are just a list of names in August and by the end of the year, they are people who matter greatly to you. Fabulous teachers are amazing individuals and deserve to be treated with extreme reverence. A teacher who can create a relationship with students cannot be measured on an evaluation form or in terms of observations or walk-throughs in a room. Further, relationships last longer than just the school year if they are developed and fostered correctly. Students who were cared for will oftentimes come back to see the teachers from their previous years. At my current school, Tyrone Thompson Elementary, you may find that students are late to class because they are busy trying to visit teachers from their previous years and grade levels.
“I just wish that people would understand that relationships matter more than anything else!” This statement has stayed with me since a fellow educator, Madison McConnell, said it during a book study at our school in 2022. It was our mantra for an entire school year because we can always focus on building stronger relationships with students and families which will lead to greater outcomes.
The theme of concentrating on relationships was, and will always be of critical importance and should be at the forefront in every school. According to an article from 2017, a survey of 25,400 sixth to twelfth graders in a large diverse district, found that less than a third of middle schoolers had a strong relationship with their teachers, and that number dropped to 16% by the time students reached 12th grade (The Education Trust). Students from low-income backgrounds report even fewer strong relationships with their teachers. Based upon these outcomes, many students would not feel connected to their school. Other research as recent as 2022 shows, “Relationships are central to a student developing a sense of belonging to a school.” The article goes on to add, “When students feel that they are part of a community at school, they are more likely to participate in school activities, identify with school values, and invest in their work” (Allen).
In today’s current state of education, many teachers are being stifled by programs and mandates from above. They are asked to follow programs with fidelity, and that causes a sacrifice of individuality along with creativity. When following these programs, teachers lose ample opportunities to tie reading or other subjects to themselves or their students personally, as they are forced to use stories in their basal rather than stories pertinent to the personal lives of everyone in the classroom. As Rebecca Alber states in her article, “One way we can deepen our relationships with students is to share a bit about ourselves with them, and create opportunities for them to share with us—and each other” (Alber). We must be able to create personal bonds with our students so that those bonds become deeply personal and stand the test of time.
If you close your eyes and think back to your years in school, what teacher immediately comes to mind and why did you remember them? Chances are, it is because you had a positive relationship with that person and they had expectations for you. Not only did they want you to do better and be better, they almost demanded it. Even greater, they worked to ensure that you met those expectations through helping you in any way possible. They were, in the clearest sense, role models for you to aspire to be. To continue, not only did they have expectations, but you had a strong desire to meet the demands placed upon you, and if you did not, you almost felt bad for letting them down, which caused you to try harder or to conquer the dip and overcome whatever adversity you may have been facing to reach a goal. Yet, in order to foster that relationship with you, they helped you when you were down and made sure that you were alright physically and emotionally so that you would become the best version of yourself.
Now, let’s reverse it. The teachers that you didn’t pick, why did you not choose them or remember them fondly? What was it that turned you off to them and how they handled their classroom? Were they rude? Were they demeaning? Boring? Monotone? Did they do something that you remember in a negative way? What was it that caused you to not have a positive relationship with that individual?
All actions that create a positive relationship matter more than any lesson or any resource that you may encounter in your career. A teacher who has an outstanding rapport with a student can teach them using anything they choose because the student knows that the teacher is there for them and in the trenches daily to make them better.
Dr. Brad Johnson states that, “Meeting kids at the door is the most important part of the educational process” (Johnson). Building relationships and establishing connections happens before the teaching begins and should commence the moment a student comes into view each morning. We have to take advantage of all times that could possibly lend themselves to making a connection which can lead to growth of a relationship between a teacher and a student. In 2017, John Hattie gave student-teacher relationships an effect size of .52 on his Influences of Achievement Scale, which exceeds the hinge point threshold of .40 (a normal year’s growth). Further, he gives teacher estimates of achievement a 1.29. His research demonstrates that relationships and believing in the students are vitally important to a students year and lead to significant gains in education (Hattie).
Every human, regardless of what they say, needs relationships in one way or another. Students, especially in today’s world, need them even more than adults. They crave someone who cares about them and wants to know about their world, and who checks on them or is willing to listen when they need someone to actually hear what they are saying.
Answering all of the questions above, my favorite teacher was a man named Ken Beasley. I can still remember him teaching me certain ways to write, demanding a more thorough answer for questions that he asked, and calling me out for laziness and a lack of effort. Yet, when I completed something correctly, there was absolutely nothing better than hearing him give kudos and showing pride in what I had completed in class. He was fun in his own way, but he refused to allow me to not give my best effort at all times. Even though I was able to complete tasks easily, it wasn’t good enough to just do an average job on an assignment. I think the most critical thing was that he did not care about who I was in terms of being on sports teams or if I was popular in school. He cared about me as a person, yes, but more so about academics and exceeding his expectations and where he set them for me. The relationship allowed for me to accept his ways because there was no doubt that he wanted the best for me at all times. It is impossible to quantify the relationship or measure how much he has made an impact on my life over time and my career.
As a teacher, I worked to make sure that students knew they were cared for, but I also had the model of Mr. Beasley in the background, demanding that students do their best, and probably demanding too much at times. However, through jokes, or through conferences, or through hunting down any student being mean to another student in my class, they knew I was there for them and would do anything to keep them safe or help them grow as scholars and people. While I wasn’t the best teacher ever, nobody cared about the kids in their room more than I did.
In the end, as Mrs. McConnell pointed out, relationships truly do matter more than anything else in the world of education. We cannot expect our students, or the staff, to reach their maximum outcome without knowing that someone is there to push them, care about their goals, help them with their needs in areas they can, or find someone who can assist when they cannot do what is necessary to move the student to a better position or toward a higher level of achievement. Being a great teacher demands that you have top level relationships with your students, because it isn’t just about delivering lessons or helping them in the classroom. It is about creating excellent humans who will be successful in the game of life. It is, with all sincerity, more than just teaching.
ROBERT HINCHLIFFE
Robert Hinchliffe is a principal, author, and inspirational speaker based in Las Vegas, Nevada. His book, More Than Just Teaching is available on Amazon. Find out what Karen said at that moment and read more about magnificent teachers in that book or contact him at www.roberthinchliffe.com to come and speak at your school.
Link to More Than Just Teaching: https://a.co/d/5eKukix
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