Special Guest: Dr. Ann Marie Taylor Part 2

0:01 SPEAKER_00: Awesome. You've hit on really um the key ingredients to an effective classroom and having the norms or expectations, um, providing um having where the students can provide feedback to the teachers about what's working, what's not working. And praise is definitely something that our students in my years in in being in education, um, our students don't hear enough praise, in my opinion. Um, so I'm glad that you brought that point up. Praise is very important to that process because if students are always hearing negatives, then they will throw up shields and guards and and they won't let you in.

0:46 SPEAKER_00: And the learning can stop right there. Talk to me and the listeners a little bit about um when teachers say they don't have time to build relationships, and I've heard this in my time and being in education. I've heard you say, I have this curriculum to cover, I don't have time to go back and go over rules. Students should know already what they're supposed to do. Talk to us a little bit about what you would say to teachers who say they don't have time, and saying that time is the enemy, I don't have enough.

1:23 SPEAKER_01: You know what? I agree that teachers don't have enough time. I I fully agree that that's a battle I faced as a teacher, and it's a battle teachers all over the country continue to face. Um, but I think there's a couple key points I want to make about time. Number one, spending some good time on the front end to get the culture right makes the most difference on the back end. Um about that. Number one, we're not in a race. Uh, unfortunately, we as teachers feel like we're running a race sometimes because of curriculum and pacing guides and testing.

1:59 SPEAKER_01: Um, but in my opinion, this is not a race. Um, and we need to treat it as such. We want to take kids where they are when they come to us and move them up, whatever that looks like, and however that needs to happen. Um it's okay. And it's okay to go a little bit slower, and it's okay to spend a whole bunch of time on the front end building that classroom community. My students, um, even though they struggle with learning, had had an excitement for learning because they were honored and celebrated.

2:30 SPEAKER_01: The teachers I worked with that really blow me away as far as their success stories with students. Um, the reason they're successful is because I took time with them to build the relationship and to honor what they did and really talk about expectations, norms, and wins. And I think that is so, so important. The other thing I want to talk about for a second is um we're not just building robots that know standards and no content. What I hope to build in students and in teachers are great humans that make this place a better place to live in.

3:06 SPEAKER_01: Um, and so it's important for us to really think about what we're trying to create here. We're trying to create learners, absolutely, but we're also trying to create people at the time lobby and know how to work with one another and know how to celebrate one another and know how to honor the strengths and the diseases of other people. And our kids need that model. And if we're not modeling it, who will? And so, um, so I I think spending time on the front end and all throughout the year, even if it's just moments here and there, building the community makes the most difference as far as students and people on the back end.

3:44 SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Dr. Taylor. You have made some very relevant points, and and I know our listeners will appreciate um hearing some of that information given to them as they are getting ready to go back into their classrooms um in August or September. We have listeners that are in um Ireland, we have listeners um that are in different parts of the world, and so they may be in their classrooms, but this is still relevant information for them to hear, whether they're preparing for a new year or they're in the trenches right now.

4:21 SPEAKER_00: So I just want to take this opportunity to say thank you so much for the work that you're doing with our children. You are doing an awesome job, and I know that in your your new endeavor, you will be successful as well. And thank you for joining me on this podcast today. And I hope it's not the last time. Hopefully, I can get you back on for another episode. Um, but again, thank you for joining the listeners. Do you have any final thoughts that you'd like to um share or leave with them, leave with them?

4:51 SPEAKER_01: I'm an educator um here in South Carolina and honored to um be on board with all the other educators that might be listening. So thanks and um continue to be his hands and feet.

5:02 SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much. And this has been a road to an effective classroom environment. I am Lashonta. Until next time. Bye bye.