In my last post, I wrote about how to listen to Focus Students to reflect on and improve teaching practices. Who is better to inform teaching than the achievers in front of us, especially the quieter students and students from formerly marginalized groups? This weekend I started reading Liz Kleinrock’s Start Here, Start Now after a colleague recommended the text. I am already seeing many connections to the Focus Student process. I know there is much much more to the text, however, in this post I will briefly address connections to the Focus Student process.
Focus Student
Focus Students and Process Observers
In previous posts I have written about the importance of having Process Observers to provide feedback on meeting processes. In addition, I have written about improving one’s practice by observing and listening to ideas from a Focus Student. In this post, I want to consider how using the Process Observer ideas around language, tone-of-voice, and body language can support deeper learning from (and in service to) Focus Students.
Feedback to Pedagogical Change: Focus Student to Teacher
We know that, as educators, implicit biases show up in the ways we teach. We also know that the best feedback we can get is from observing and reflecting on practice with a critical lens and, more importantly, asking our dreamers for feedback. (Note that I am using the term Achiever instead of Scholar to honor the funds of knowledge and expertise each student already has.) In this post I want to synthesize what I am learning about the “Focus Student” process. Engaging in a Cycle of Inquiry around a focus student can increase a sense of belonging, which leads to an increase in learning and a change in teacher practice adapted to the achievers with whom we engage.
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