Lead With Competence and Belonging Will Follow

Dear colleague,

There's a common misconception amongst us teachers about how to develop Belonging in the classroom, and it's this: at the start of the school year, you need to budget lots of time for things like icebreakers, get-to-know-you activities, and team-building exercises. Don't rush into the curriculum, the thinking goes, until you develop that sense of community.

What I've learned through my research, writing, and practice, however, is that this is an upside-down idea. When you try to help your students develop a sense of Belonging to a class that hasn't even started yet (because instead of beginning to teach the class, you're focusing on cultivating belonging), you're creating an unnatural thing. Instead, you want to create something worth belonging TO, which typically requires getting students right into whatever it is you're going to be learning together this year.

Rather than lots of icebreakers and get-to-know-yous, create enjoyable and productive learning experiences. These will demonstrate that, in this class:

• You'll be led by a caring, competent, and passionate professional.
• You'll do work that is valuable.
• You'll be given clear and steady guidance and practice in effective effort.
• You'll experience clear and accessible definitions of success that all students can access, provided they work at it.

By demonstrating these things, you begin to prove them. Because after all: the proof is in the pudding.

When you start the year focused on creating these kinds of conditions, guess what tends to happen? Belonging gets thrown in.

Because:

• Who WOULDN'T want to believe they belong in a class led by a credible educator?
• Who WOULDN'T want to believe they belong in a class where the work is valuable?
• Who WOULDN'T want to believe they belong in a class where good effort is clear, accessible, and productive?
• Who WOULDN'T want to believe they belong in a class where success is clear and possible?

When you compare belonging to something like this versus yet another hour of get-to-know-you activities… I know which one I'd pick.

And I know which one students tend to pick.

The human heart is DRAWN to excellence, to value, to competence, to growth.

The question is, how quickly do you want to start giving your students tastes of these things?

Before I end, a quick clarification: I'm not pooh-poohing any of the get-to-know-you activities that you may be planning for start of school. But I am saying consider sprinkling those throughout the semester instead of using them to put off the start of the work. Because the work is good.

Best,

DSJR