To me, learning is like hiking up a mountain: it can be a beautiful, fun, and rewarding experience, even before you reach the peak, but it is challenging, tiring, and requires a lot of endurance. If learning is a hike, then teachers are guides. Their task is not to carry students up the mountain, which would be both impossible and pointless, but to show them the way. In order to do this, teachers must be well prepared and able to offer good directions; they must give students a sense of agency and provide them with the skills that will enable them to make their journey independently; and they must allow students to enjoy themselves, and the view.

           

In order to offer students good guidance, teachers need to be prepared. Learning, like hiking in the woods, can be chaotic, messy, and overwhelming. Teachers should plan for this and make it clear to students what the goals are for each task, class, and unit. They should be familiar with multiple paths and which ones are most effective for which students; they should vary their methodologies and types of tasks to appeal to visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and reading/writing learners. Finally, they should give students the opportunity to practice as quickly as possible, incorporating exercises into instruction in order to keep students engaged. A teacher needs to be able to provide students with feedback, correction, and clarification while they are practicing a new skill, and they cannot do this if students are doing all their practice at home.

           

Secondly, teachers should empower students by giving them the skills and self-confidence to guide themselves as much as possible. A teacher should give students a sense that this is their journey and that they can make what they want of it. In order to do this, teachers should talk to students about their learning styles and ask them which strategies work best for them. They should give students leadership roles in the classroom, assigning group work in which each member of the group has a specific task to fulfill. I often have groups choose team names so that they feel more united. When everyone on the team has a clear sense of purpose combined with a sense of belonging, they feel invested not only in their own learning but also in their classmates’ learning. Teachers should be able to step back and observe students, intervening when necessary to re-direct or get them back on task or re-instructing students when it is clear something is not working, but ultimately letting students do the work.

       

Finally, teachers should help students enjoy themselves. Learning can be a grind, and teachers can keep students motivated by making it less tedious. Teachers should be willing to slow down when necessary. They should incorporate culture, especially music, into their classes as much as possible, even by playing songs quietly in the background during group work. They should make learning ludic, transforming exercises into games and appealing to students’ sense of competition; this can make difficult content fun. They should get to know their students and incorporate materials that interest them. Finally, they shouldn’t be afraid to challenge them by providing them with demanding tasks, and they should affirm them when they succeed. The sense of pride students get from accomplishing something difficult can last them a lifetime.