My wife and I spent the week taking care of our 15 month old grandson, Rowan. We now understand what it means to spoil a grandchild. Like other grandparents, we did not buy special toys or clothing; we did not keep him up past his bedtime; and we did not take him to special places. We did spoil him by devoting our complete attention to him. We did not focus on working, taking care of the house, etc; we only focused on him.
Every teacher should spoil the students in their classroom. The teachers should be so prepared for class that when class starts the teachers can focus their complete attention on the students. How are the students responding to the instruction? Which students are “getting it” and which are not? What learning problems are emerging? What instant strategy can be implemented right now to help the students overcome their learning gap? We need to change our perspective from what we teach to what the students are learning. We need to become attentive parents/guardians who constantly look for clues of learning strengths and learning gaps. We need to be nurturing parents/guardians who can treat any “illness” as soon as we see it. We do not want any student to bleed out while they wait overnight for us to figure out a solution to their illness.
Let’s spoil our students so that they achieve more in-depth learning!
My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Students, is available through Eye-on-Education.
Very nicely put… I agree with this 100%. I always tell my parents at our orientation that when their child is in my classroom, it is like they are one of my own. My expectations for them are as they would be for my own child. All focus needs to be on the students for true teaching/learning to take place. It is so important to recognize both learning struggles and accomplishments with students!