In George Couros' (@gcouros) podcast interview with Baruti Kafele (@PrincipalKafele), Kafele discusses (about 8 minutes into the podcast) what he calls an "attitude gap" and describes it as a students' willingness to learn. He states that if we can increase the will to learn then the skill will follow.
I have thought about this concept before and always referred to it as the students' readiness to learn. Some some students enter the classroom ready to go. The relationship with the teacher might not matter much to them - they already have the will to learn. Maybe their will resides from wanting to get an "A" so they can get on the honor roll, build up their transcript to get into a good college, or even because they are excited about the content. However, other students come into the classroom not ready to learn. Maybe it is because they do not care about grades, do not see themselves going to college, or are not excited about the content.
Early in my teaching career, I made two mistakes that have stuck with me.
The first, I actually denied entry to a student into my class because of an arbitrary delineation that my class was for juniors and seniors only. It was an elective class and there was a sophomore student who was ready to learn, excited about the content, and wanted to earn the early elective credit. I am embarrassed to admit it, but I went straight to my administrator and counselor who dropped the student from my class.
The second, I had a student who was on his phone for the duration of the first day of class. I attempted to redirect the student during class but failed. I did not engage in any other attempt at relationship building. Again, I marched down to the administration/counseling office and told them that this student is not a right fit for my class. It was an elective after all, and he showed no interest in being there the first day so we might as well drop him now and find a different class that is a better fit.
What should I have done differently? Well, I could have started by first giving each student a chance. I didn't even do that. And I needed to stick with the student even when it gets rough. It all starts with a relationship. I needed to make that connection, build the trust, and get the student on my team. Ensuring ALL students have a readiness to learn is the first step that every teacher needs to accomplish with EVERY student in their classroom.
