Dear colleague,
A couple months ago, I was asked at a PD workshop I was leading whether or not teachers should sit behind their desks while students work independently on their learning. Let's talk a little bit about this.
So first of all, it's important we create classroom cultures where our students are sometimes independently practicing. Whether it's writing, reading, problem-solving, rehearsing, working out, or creating, independent practice is a critical phase of any growth toward mastery. The person who does the work does the learning; the mind changes through work as the body changes through work. When we don't have independent work happening at all in our classrooms — choosing instead modes like direct instruction or collaborative learning — we run the risk of individual students avoiding the individual work it takes for a mind to learn.
And to be clear, it's challenging to get some classes to the place where they can work independently (and productively!) on a learning task. It takes steady classroom management, stamina building, and a LOT of teacher attentiveness to student motivation problems. It also takes Woodenization and practice (e.g., this school year, I spent a large amount of effort for a number of weeks helping some of my classes get good at beginning the warm-up on their own). So yes, independent practice is an important learning mode, but yes, it is hard to help all students get good at this, and it raises a number of teaching challenges. The good thing about grappling with these teaching challenges is that as I do so, I get better at teaching and my students get better at learning and self-governance.
All that being said, once your students get good at independent practice mode, it can be tempting to gravitate to that desk chair and work on the zillions of things you're behind on: emails, grading, providing feedback on student work, and so on.
So back to that question I was asked: Is it wise for teachers to be at their desks while students are working independently?
I think it depends.
If it becomes a habit, I run the risk of harming my Credibility with students. Even if I'm at work on something directly beneficial to them (e.g., feedback on their work), me habitually retreating to my desk while they work independently can send the signal that I'm detached from what they're doing. When students don't feel the teacher is in any way in it with them, Credibility is bound to wane.
One simple solution is just, when you have decided to do something while they work independently (Mike Schmoker writes about the idea of “writing days” at the end of this classic article), tell your students what you'll be working on while they're working.
- “While you read and respond to the article during the next 15 minutes, I'll periodically circulate to see if you have any questions. When I'm not circulating, I'll be going through the writing you did yesterday and making note of patterns we can address during revisions tomorrow.”
In this example, the teacher would be at their desk while also signaling to students that they are all-in on the lesson plan and not checking out. They'll be circulating periodically to check for understanding, and when they're at their desk, they'll be reading student work and preparing feedback.
Notice how different that is than the following:
- “Work on X until you finish it. When you're finished, complete Y task. Any questions, let me know.”
The teacher may have the best of intentions — or heck, they may just be tired from this difficult, often-exhausting job we do! — but intentions don't build the Credibility belief. Signals do.
So these are some things that the teacher's question got me thinking about.
Teaching right beside you,
DSJR
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