The other day I noticed the fun I experienced marking students’ work when I chose to remain open, relaxed and connected to what they were learning. I opened myself up to see beyond what the curriculum requirements were, and was instead assessing the level of connection I made with each student.
For as long as I can remember I had always thought marking needed to be done quickly and was a burden on my teaching time. The piles were never-ending and the pace with which marking was done was fast, with little regard for the student and their work. Darting around the classroom in order to mark the work before I began another set of teaching instructions felt like the norm.
The levels of exhaustion I experienced made me feel racy and there was no connection with the students or with their work. I gave little consideration to how I could support them to go to the next stage of learning, or to consolidate their current levels of learning.
The teaching phase was fun and by far the most enjoyable stage. I would introduce the topic and get the ball rolling with practical examples and engage the children in each step. The children would share and laugh whilst learning. Everyone was focused and the learning was meaningful, relevant and there was a sense of ease in which this was done. Every lesson was simple and the children were part of the teaching rather than doing all the learning. This unfortunately was lost once I moved to the marking mode. I could feel my relaxed and open body turn into a hard machine, ready to race through the assembly line of paper marking.
When I made the choice to stop and connect more to the steady pace in which I was teaching, I noticed there was no need to go into the overwhelm of what the idea of assessing and marking brings to teaching.
The playful interactions that took place with the simple daily over the shoulder marking made me realise how much the students enjoyed the ‘one to one’ connection they were receiving. Every interaction with a child was simple and varied, according to what they needed:
A supportive hand on the shoulder…
A playful gentle tap on the head …
A tender touch of the hand…
A knowing glance of ‘you’ve got it’…
A cheeky wink to say… yep! …. You’re on the right track.
With this way of marking their work came a deeper level of understanding about how the children crave this connection and wait patiently for their turn. I could feel them nuzzle into their chairs, brushing gently past my arms as I began to mark. Their eyes were open and engaged in what I had to share. They talked more and their voices had a giggling tone that invited more connection. They were not disappointed or hard on themselves if they didn’t fully understand the teaching concept, as they knew the support was always there.
Marking and assessing can be a task that overwhelms and overloads but with that comes a fall in the quality of connection that the children are clearly receptive and open to.
Assessing how to connect to a student is what true marking is about. When we assess what is needed at each moment the marking becomes simple, fun and straightforward.
By Anonymous, Teacher, Mentoring Teacher and Program Facilitator, Australia
Further Reading:
The power of relationship in the classroom
Circle time: an opportunity for connection and expression
Education, Schools & Teaching our Kids: ‘Quality of Presence’ in the Classroom
Teachers are Gold
477 Comments
I don’t know how the concept of beating yourself up came around when you didn’t get a concept straight away in the schooling system. It is fairly simple and innocent to ask questions and take the time to understand new learning processes. Yet the system we are currently in degrades students promptly, especially in high school. The unspoken pressure to know more is heavy.
Anonymous – a deep appreciation for the sharing of the ever-unfolding evolution you bring to your life and thus to the deeper awareness you have with in your teaching role with these school children. How different life would have been in my early school years without those big red lines through small mistakes and disapproving looks from teachers being keenly felt during the following day.
No wonder the children responding to your classroom marking as you are deepening the relationship with all of them
Love it, Anon 🙂 Assessing the quality of the connection between you and the students – truly awesome.
What a well needed breath of fresh air you are bringing to the education system, and from it I can feel that your students are receiving a most wonderful and valuable gift, the gift of connection. I am sure that they will always remember the teacher that takes the time to stop and truly be with them, and in this moment allows them to feel that they are actually being listened to and acknowledged for who they are, not just for what they do.
Thank you Anonymous, you have shared a very light and loving way to embrace all parts of being a teacher. No one part is more important or should be more joyful than another. This applies to all professions, just as that is always about relationships, people and connection.
It was fascinating to read of how you approached the marking anonymous and how the children really enjoy and respond to the one to one connection. It really shows how comfortable children are in such situations and how this is normal for them to want to have this level of support and care. In teaching this should be to the foremost of every educators thoughts, which is a far cry at the moment from the systems being put in place in the UK where schools are being turned more and more into businesses, with little regard for the little human beings who will spend most of their formative years being influenced and shaped.
I must admit marking used to feel like the most burdensome part of teaching. I would only need to think about the pile of things to mark and my mood would sink. Now I tackle marking in small chunks. I take five books to do at a time, or 10 exam papers. I mix it up between other things I have to do at home or work and in that way I find I get it done with a lighter attitude. It is my attitude to the task that makes its burdensome or not.
This has been my experience too anonymous. Students love when you mark their work in class. They get instant personal feedback and you can share a few words with them that are much more personal. A great way to connect and it reduces the marking that has to be done in your free time.
‘With this way of marking their work came a deeper level of understanding about how the children crave this connection and wait patiently for their turn. I could feel them nuzzle into their chairs, brushing gently past my arms as I began to mark. Their eyes were open and engaged in what I had to share. They talked more and their voices had a giggling tone that invited more connection. They were not disappointed or hard on themselves if they didn’t fully understand the teaching concept, as they knew the support was always there.’ I love this paragraph. Like all of us children crave connection. When it is offered to them they are confirmed in the joy of who they are, and they can’t help but express this and stay open – love it!
‘I could feel my relaxed and open body turn into a hard machine, ready to race through the assembly line of paper marking.’ I am sure this is something many of us can relate to in the more mundane parts of our day. For me it is like I dig my heels in to get the job done – quality goes out of the window and it is all about finishing as quickly as possible. Yet in this process I lose connection forgetting that the very thing I am doing supports the whole.
Gorgeous blog! This is exactly how assessment should be carried out – all part and parcel of the joy of learning and teaching. This is also a very timely blog as there has been a lot in the UK media recently about our SATs tests. When we teach to test we are stifling this joy, creativity and connection. This is a disaster as far as how the children feel about themselves and can switch them off to learning for life. What you have presented here is the loving approach to marking and assessment and is one that I fully recognise and endorse. Thank you.
Every moment is an opportunity for connection and I love how you have shown here what happened when you took up that opportunity in an area that had felt until that point a burden to your teaching.
What a great way to turn what many consider an oppressing system and bring connection to it. It shows furthermore that every part of our job, our role, our life is equally important and we can’t place more importance on the parts we like than the parts that challenge us.
I have found, whatever it is that we do, if we approach it with raciness, overwhelm, stress or resentment it is void of fun and joy. But when we connect first to what we are doing with love and appreciation everything flows, it is then filled with simplicity and joyfulness.
The children you teach are blessed by your love for teaching. You have the ability to inspire these children on so many levels and I am sure the do the same back. The greatest teachers are always open to learning and connecting with the students and not see themselves as above but equal to everyone in the classroom.
This is so inspiring Anonymous. How healing for both you and the children that you have opened to marking and connecting in a whole new way…
This reminds me of how I felt as a child “With this way of marking their work came a deeper level of understanding about how the children crave this connection and wait patiently for their turn.” and how we all still seek this as adults. We want to be seen, connected with, meet and appreciated for who we are in our essence. But if we have not had that for a while we seek ways of numbing the pain we choose from missing it. We can however have a go at giving ourselves the attention love and care that we miss from others. There is truth in seeking connection, it is gorgeous to be open to that, with others and children offer so much when they offer this connection which they do with vulnerability and openness. It is for us as society to honour this and for those who feel hurt by not receiving it, to come back to allowing themselves the space to relearn, re-engage with the love and natural connection with all, that they felt as a child. It is something that I have been relearning for the last decade and it works!
The connection to a child is so important and then they can feel the truth that the teacher is sharing. It really makes the assessing process one of harmony and love as you have described, Anonymous. Thank you.
“When we assess what is needed at each moment the marking becomes simple, fun and straightforward.” this is pretty true for life itself too. When we take each moment as it comes, what naturally evolves form that is simple – not the agonising and painstaking process we make it by building it up in our minds beforehand.
This is what true assessing is all about, “Assessing how to connect to a student is what true marking is about. When we assess what is needed at each moment the marking becomes simple, fun and straightforward.” Assessment isn’t just about the child fitting into a criteria that has been set, it is about feeling where the child can be supported and inspired, while always being aware of the one to one connection being built.
What a glorious, and joyful, article to read communcating the significance and enhancement of truly connecting with another. I feel connected to just reading it.
“Assessing how to connect to a student is what true marking is about.” And I would add that this is also what any aspect of teaching is about. I have found I have experienced similar changes in myself as I go through the day as a nursery teacher that there are certain parts I find easier or like more or less than other times. However I am discovering it is how I am in connection with me and the other children that matters. Thank you for an inspiring blog.
This is a great blog for all teachers to read and in fact anyone who is teaching and observing the progress of their pupil. What stood out for me was how the children would have been feeling how stressed you would become when it was marking time, but now I am sure they enjoy the connection and fun you now bring to the task.
Anonymous what you share is lovely relates to many types of work and see its relevance to carers. Caring for the old in many establishments has been reduced to carrying out functional tasks, not relating to the person. Aspects of the role seen as routine, repetitive or dull also offer precious opportunities to connect with person as we work with love, gentleness and playfulness. When we change our beliefs about aspects of our work, in the way you did anonymous, we transform our relationship with it.
In all the years of school parent teacher meetings I gained a profound respect for teachers. The amount of pressure put on them to perform to ever increasing workloads on them by the government. Here in England, teachers at one point had to write a blog almost on every child for each reporting period. Recently some parents have made the news because by not allowing their children to take an exam. They are protesting seven-year-olds having to take required assessment exams saying it was causing too much stress, and learning should be fun.
This really highlights how we can separate actions or tasks in life into preferences as to the quality we bring to them, this could be applied to pretty much all of life such as our relationships (which essentially it all is as our relationship with one task can as so clearly shared change so drastically). And yet it need not be this way because we can choose to bring that connection into any task, the task does not determine the quality, our choices determine the quality of our relationship with the task. Thank you Anonymous.
Having never done any teaching, I can only imagine how hard it must be to stay focused on all the tasks involved, so anything that can ease the burden or change some of the more mundane tasks into something more fun and enjoyable is great for all involved. I hope this blog goes viral and the importance of it is understood by teachers all around the globe as I can’t imagine many teachers know of a way to make marking something other than a major burden.
You are right Kevin, many teachers see marking as a burden and do not enjoy it very much. To understand that through this medium is another way to connect to the kids we are teaching is key, and that how we do it makes a huge impact. If we are expecting our kids to put time and effort into their work, their work deserves to be looked at in full appreciation and as a way to connect to who they are.
I agree Kevin. What an amazing support this blog would be to teachers around the world.
A lovely realisation. A student’s writing is an equal expression of who they are as when they speak up in class and the marking by the teacher is an equal part of meeting the student for where they are at.
It is true, what a child writes is significant. I have observed how my own children are learning to write, it is an expression of what is already there inside them ad I can feel them reclaiming it through this communication of writing. The shapes they make, the care with which they place them on the page mean something for them and for me as an observer They communicate something through writing, from their innermost and it is honouring to appreciate this, as I would something that they have to say.
This feels really beautiful Anonymous for those children to be met in the fullness of who they truly are. Connecting in this way bringing out the best in their skills/abilities and that of your own – and when the education system itself presents challengers they have full support when needed and lots of fun to boot.
Why have we the tendency to walk away that far from what is really needed in life. We allow ourselves to shut down our playfulness and joy in turn for making the system work. But luckily you have changed that Anonymous and have restored the true purpose of education back into your classroom. That is to have decency, understanding and intimate relationships with your students and to help them to explore what is needed to know and learn on their way to become a valuable and joyful participant of society.
‘Why have we the tendency to walk that far away from what is really needed in life’ It happens when we focus on the task, the function and, not the person. Anonymous,as you say restored the true purpose of education back into her classroom. We are called to do the same in whatever work we do. And a sign we’ve lost the thread which is when we begin to feel dread and everything is an effort.
Beautiful sharing Anonymous. I would have loved to receive the markings the way you give them nowadays when I was a child. I can feel how that would have changed completely, lets say 180 degrees, the way I appreciated school.
This is very revolutionary Anon. What you have described is the common downfall of our education system, making it all about the results and on paper reports instead of the actual person behind those figures. I can remember feeling with each year at school the true connections with the teachers became less and less and I just accepted that as a part of “growing up” but does it truly need to be this way in the first place?
Absolutely not, this blog shows us that there is another way we can teach in our schools. Students are people too, they too love to connect and be appreciated for who they are not for how well they perform.
Great question Joshua. What is the purpose of all the assessments, tests and intensity? In the strive for ‘excellence’ what are we reducing ourselves to and at what cost to the individual, economy, society, humanity?
Joshua this is a sad but all to common experience. I feel that connection is better in primary schools but tails off rapidly once students get to secondary school. Unfortunately with the drive to get better results, lots of schools have become all about the data, leaving students feeling more stressed and thinking they themselves are failures if they don’t make the grades. In addition teacher’s performance and pay is now linked to the percentage of pass grades they get.
I agree Joshua it most certainly is the common downfall of our education system today. Recently I went back to studying (albeit online) but through that experience I realised I had to learn what felt like for the first time, how it was I learnt. Why isn’t it a given in school that we are supported at very least to come to that foundational lesson for ourselves?
Connection, how powerful it is to truly connect to anyone! Connection strengthens our innate connection to everything and everyone, so the question has to be asked ‘why do we not connect all the time?’ The answer lies within and the body speaks when we are willing to listen. Thank God for connection – the ultimate and only true connection – the connection we have to all as the living Sons of God.
I love the way you have brought it right back to the core of the entire issue Susan – ‘connection’. Truly what is the point of anything indeed without connection – I am learning that without this connection to our innermost selves then reflecting this to everyone else there is no point to any of this experience on earth – just a shallow-ness. How beautiful it must be for the children to be on the receiving end of this natural and loving way of being, being met by teachers such as Anonymous having expressed is her way of connecting to these little people.
Wow anonymous, you can really feel the level of attention and care you are offering to your students, and how supportive and refreshing is this quality you are bringing in, moving around the room and meeting the students in a way that they most probably don’t even get at home. This is what teaching is all about first and foremost, meeting the students as equals before anything else. Thank-you for your beautiful sharing.
Beautiful to share, I agree, such care and attention shared through being open and connected equally with every child. Very healing and inspiring for all to experience, read about and appreciate.
‘This is what teaching is all about first and foremost, meeting the students as equals before anything else.’ It’s easy to forget this simple but profound truth when under pressure but you are right, seeing everyone as equals no matter what their age, and not making oneself higher or lower than others, is the key to respectful and joyful interactions in the classroom and beyond.
I feel sure that most teachers can identify with your words, “I could feel my relaxed and open body turn into a hard machine, ready to race through the assembly line of paper marking.”
Similarly when at home, mums and dads can feel the joy when they are free to interact playfully with their children, but feel their demeanours harden as they knuckle down to what they consider to be chores.
How beautiful that you have identified this change in your own body and chosen to not see your marking as a separate task, different to teaching!
You are offering your young pupils the most glorious opportunities to express truly who they are.
The picture of how education is acepted to be in our world simply is not enough. It has left out what are the most important, that of connection, care, equality and love to people, where teaching and learning can truly be an evolutionary experience. Connecting back to yourself Anonymous builds the solidity in saying no to the pictures that education feeds you, and that is the connection you naturally share with your students and be imprinted in their lives from young. I teach part-time in a community college and always observe as well as express back to my students how much they teach me too. Education can truly be a most precious experience for everyone, let us not hold that back.
‘Education can truly be a most precious experience for everyone, let us not hold that back.’ Beautifully said Adele.
I agree Adele. It is not enough and the quality of our society is a proven fact of this. I don’t see adults in work places who connect with each other or have regard or care for themselves or others. If our education system was all it should be, the quality of the people in our societies would reflect this. Education for life.
Oh to have had you as my teacher, my whole school life could have been a very different experience.
Mine too Joel, I can feel the joy in this way of working, so much more supportive both ways.
Yes Joel, there are a few teachers I still remember in a good way, they made a huge impact. But anonymous has taken it to a different level.
We do always tend to remember the good ones. It’s a shame that each of us only had one or two of them that connected with us. This should be the norm since we are all able to care and connect. Thanks anonymous, for setting the trend.
“Assessing how to connect to a student is what true marking is about.” I could not agree more Anon. Connection is where growth takes place and allows a child to expand and express in their fullness.
Great article Anonymous. I love the way you are opening up space in the classroom and, further, into the detail of marking and assessing so that you have quality across the board.
One of the classic holes that we teachers can fall into is ‘overwhelm’ and ‘overload’ as there is so much to ‘fit in’ and the system as it is created involves a lot of push, drive, prove, recognition and so on. The absolute joy of teaching can be with us by allowing this place and connection, no matter how misguided and hard the system is. And it is from reclaiming this ‘space’ that the system will be changed, starting from the teachers’ livingness and joy.
I agree wholeheartedly Lyndy. Perhaps this blog will be the beginning of a joyful teachers revolution against the education system as it stands and changes to the archaic way of the roles teachers are having to comply with. Results at the expense of true connection.
‘The absolute joy of teaching can be with us by allowing this place and connection, no matter how misguided and hard the system is.’ This is a great point Lyndy. We must reclaim our humanity within these hard systems because without the humanity they do not work, without joy there is despair and boredom and escapism to dull the pain of it all. It breaks my heart to hear how hard it is for inspired teachers to work within the system but if teachers maintain their spark they will be forever fed by the children they are teaching as they do respond. Only by staying true to ourselves will the systems change.
Anonymous I feel you are on the right track to making big changes in the way Teachers relate to Marking papers and their connection to the children. Every child loves to feel that personal one on one connection to their Teacher and the care and attention offered to them stimulates a joy for learning and sense of appreciation.
Absolutely Roslyn, very well said. Our world needs more teachers like this who are not exhausted, stressed out or disconnected but teachers who inspire our children, who care and love their job.
Roslyn, this is beautiful, ‘Every child loves to feel that personal one on one connection to their Teacher and the care and attention offered to them stimulates a joy for learning and sense of appreciation.’ I read with year 3 children as a volunteer and offer them one-one time, the children love this, when I go in the room the children all ask if they can read with me – I can feel how important for the children this one on one time is, they love connecting and engaging in this way.
I agree Rebecca, I’ve been volunteering in the classroom as part of an art program at my son’s school for several years now and the individual connections made with the children each time I go in outweighs what it is we’re doing, although we have a lot of fun doing that too. It’s so precious to see all these bright beaming facing shining before me all ready and waiting, open for that connection. It’s what we all want, to be met in joy, no matter how we may feel in each moment.
Yes Candida this is so true. Working in education and meeting many of my students years later I am greeted and noted for the connection that I made with them not the subjects that were taught. They will recall how they felt loved and valued not how their grades were. The memories are joy in their eyes and this far outweighs the push and drive that is being presented in the current model.
And when you consider that matter deeply, marking and assessing is still part of the teaching because the feedback is a great learning tool. However if it is given without maintaining connection to the child it will not be tailored to their needs because how can you feel the way to express what needs to be said if you are disconnected from yourself and them and in racy white rabbit mode (ie I musn’t be late, I mustn’t be late …)