Teaching Presence

This drawing reminds me of my students who I hope to see eye to eye on a human level.

I am coming to reflect how important this is because it is from the trust and security students feel from another that they are enabled to spring up in their creativity, intelligence and virtues to actualize and flourish their goals and dreams.

I am also being reminded that all the small talks I have with my students, personal check-ins throughout the day, and words of affirmation and encouragement all build on each other to help students to believe that there is at least one adult figure in their life that is at the best interest and genuinely accepting of who they are.

However, it is not OK for me to stop here. I must go on to continue to support my students and give them truly my all while I am in the classroom. My lesson plans, my instructions, my help, and the space I am giving my students all need to be directed to meet students needs at that time and place.

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[Kessler]

Beyond technique and curriculum, the most effective teaching also includes our modeling. We celebrate these precious moments when we embody a "presence" that carries the class to a place where minds and hearts are moved and genuine connections occur.

RESPECTFUL DISCIPLINE. If we want our classroom to be a place for students to share what is deeply meaningful to them, we must take responsibility for creating an environment that is safe.

AN OPEN HEART. An open heart is precondition to being fully present. A teacher with an open heart can be warm, alive, spontaneous, connected, compassionate. He or she can see the language of the body and hear the feelings between the words and behaviours.

BEING PRESENT.

• Open to perceiving what is happening right now

• Responsive to the needs of this moment

• Flexible enough to shift gears

• Prepared with the repertoire, creativity, and imagination to invent a new approach in the moment

• Humble and honest enough to simply pause and acknowledge if a new approach has not yet arrived.

In teaching... there is a secret hidden in plain sight

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• Chapter 2 - It's all about thinking: Creating pathways for all learners in the middle years

• Kessler, R. (2000) "The Teaching Presence"

• Butler, D. Shnellert, L. (2014) "Collaborative Inquiry: Empowering Teachers in their Professional Development"