Edutopia

“We aren’t trained to admit we don’t know.” This insight, courtesy of Margaret Wheatley’s essay “Willing to Be Disturbed,” is the starting point of countless conversations I have with new assistant principals. Every summer, first-year assistant principals walk into school wearing two invisible backpacks: one filled with expertise, and the other filled with self-doubt.

Across the country, a backlash against classroom technology has been bubbling up, prompting some states and districts to limit laptop use while others re-evaluate the role devices should play in instruction. For educators however, the ongoing debate often makes it feel as if there are only two options before them: laptops open all day, or no laptops at all.

Like many school leaders, Ryan Daniel, principal of Fort Foote Elementary School in Maryland, was once a teacher. In her sixth-grade classroom, an unforgettable experience taught her not to prejudge her students or their families. When the school year began, Daniel was warned about a boy in her class who was described by her colleagues as angry, often in trouble, and liable to sleep through lessons.

When my daughter was in the seventh grade, she made the following observation about her teacher’s organizational style: “She really wants all her programs to work.” She said this without judgment. She was only reporting what she experienced. I asked her what she meant by “programs,” and she gave me a brief run-through of the daily agenda: independent review via Quizlet, a Nearpod, a reading passage with questions, and an exit ticket. These are all strong strategies.

Schools can spend considerable time and resources recruiting the right educators, yet many still rely on a traditional onboarding approach built around reviewing various policy documents and sharing the school or district handbook. While these resources are important, they often do little to help new employees develop an early understanding of the school’s culture, community, and values. At the International School Yangon in Myanmar, my team and I wanted to try to do something different.

When I was a student in the 1980s and ’90s, we called them “classroom rules.” They were usually posted somewhere prominent, read once by the teacher at the beginning of the school year, and enforced sporadically. I’m old enough to remember when expectations or agreements for classroom behavior, collaboration, and engagement were established solely by the teacher or administration and posted as a rigid, unchanging set of rules.

Before there’s curriculum or calendars or lesson plans, there’s the classroom space itself, stripped of last year’s posters and anchor charts. Where should teachers begin? We’ve got the answers.

Science Teacher and Author Katie Budrow is a middle school science teacher and co-author of the book Moving Beyond Classroom Management: Leading a Culture of Learning (along with Garnet Hillman, FIRST Education Resources). Katie has worked in education for almost two decades and has developed a project-based, standards-based, and student-led classroom. She believes that students in her room aren’t just learning science but thrive when they become scientists themselves.

Science Teacher and Science Education Adjunct Instructor Kelley Hodges is a K–12 science educator and university science education adjunct instructor with over 20 years of teaching experience. She is inspired by her students and motivated to show them how to make a difference in the world. Her favorite classrooms are nearby bays and waterways, and her favorite tools are dirty hands and curious minds.

My sixth-grade science classroom is often a flurry of activity, where students work in small groups to explore simulations and design models. I’m always most interested in what I’m hearing, as opposed to what I’m seeing. Especially student questions like these: How is that working? Where did you find that? Wait, why is that happening? These aren’t just science inquiries—they also delve into the process of learning.