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
A teacher can learn a great deal when they are connected to a student and not in judgement of their work.
What if we did away with marking and taught the energetic truth in words so the whole body of the class as one would feel the True meaning of every word through an expanding discussion in the classroom?
Marking is a funny word as it can carry many meanings with the English language and maybe a mark of the times is that when we give ourselves space time is marked as not so important!
Forget maths, forget English and forget science if we first do not have connection to ourselves, we will be forever be lost and a slave to a mind that will forever aim to keep us in separation.
Have an education that encourages a whole-body intelligence and we will have healthy hearts, healthy minds and healthy bodies.
Children need an all encompassing education not one that celebrates the use of recall over any other attribute.
I love the difference you noticed when you chose to reverse your decision to make it about the task ahead of about people. We are social beings and connecting with one another is our most natural way of being. In fact anything less than this registers as stress and exhausts us. What you share here is a powerful insight we could use in any and every area of life.
Everyone loves playfulness and connection, so I understand why the children enjoyed how you were with them, ‘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.’
Reading this makes me realise that often we think we have to work as quickly as possible; ‘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.’ When we work in rush and drive then the connection to ourselves and others is not there. It is the connection that is key and from here children and adults will feel supported and more able to work productively.
Anonymous, I love what you are sharing in this article, it makes me realise that connection with people is the most important part and that the outcome is second. This changes everything and I can feel makes work and life more joyful and purposeful.
To know the support is always there is truly supportive for the children as they learn and understand new skills, ‘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.’
When we assess the level of connection we are making with another it opens the door to going deeper and becoming more intimate with another.
Working with children to support them in understanding the ‘3 Rs’ is an opportunity to share with them the understanding of living in harmony with each other at the same time.
In our openness to connect with another we offer confirmation to each other of the love we are in essence which is empowering for us all. As in this world we live in today it is not set up for us to be met for who we are in essence. The more we can maximise these opportunities that more we feel empowered to live who we know we are and walk tall with the grandness of our being.
I love this. Connection is the most fundamental part of relating and to allow ourselves that individual touch, being with each person honouring their presence and expressing how we feel and communicating what is needed is a beautiful way for a teacher to be with students.
Connection is the missing ingredient to our current global education system that is far from making connection the foundational part of the curriculum.
Bringing in connection as a basis in education would be transformational, and is desperately needed.
This revelation is massive in its implications and what it exposes about our current education system which puts connections at the bottom of the pile when it comes to importance in education.
When we make it about connection first, children respond and life is simple and full of joy. Focus only on the doing and achieving then life becomes a struggle.
Connection is the missing ingredient in education – bring in connection and you have a classroom management program!
I remember when at school some sixty odd years ago, you had to get everything right or you were in trouble, no laughing was aloud in the classroom, school was considered serious business. Your students are so blessed to have you as their teacher, where you can meet each one for who they truly are, with such a beautiful connection, with your knowing of how to bring joy and fun into the learning process.
Being real with children, being absolutely equal with them and allowing ourselves to express care and love through our gestures and touch allows a child to be open too and a lovely atmosphere develops in the classroom where children feel safe and cared for and free to express themselves.
Anonymous, this is very gorgeous to read; ‘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.’ Reading this I can feel that if we rush through our work that we miss out on connecting with people and that it is the connections that are the most important thing.
It is so inspiring how you have turned marking into another way to connect with each student and feel what will support them best. Just reading your words made me feel sad for the majority of students who wait patiently for their turn and then are met with a perfunctory connection that is goal focused – yes you got that and now onto the next tick box. No wonder so many children are struggling within our current education system that does not support teachers or children to build meaningful connections from which true learning can flow.
I can see how teachers may get into a rush or anxiousness around grading or assessing their student’s class work because it could bring up some feelings of being judged themselves when they were in school and on the other end of the process without the kind of deeper connection and understanding which the author of this blog had evolved into.
Often there is not the same level of purpose brought to having children share their work, learnings and ideas. Recently I had students sit in a circle and share their work and what they liked about it. This gave the students total ownership and you could feel how they felt proud of themselves for their efforts.
It is lovely to feel how you encouraged the children to connect with their process of learning and take ownership of it.
What a fantastic foundation children can have if we meet them and make it about who they are and not what they are capable of. Of course we have the learning that assists us through life but if we are not met then what we do becomes the focus and our life depends on it. Where in actual fact it is our relationship with ourselves that is most important first and foremost and for that to be celebrated.
I volunteer at a primary school once a week and was struggling a little bit by the end of the day and just couldn’t think why anyone would want to do that as a full-time job. As I pondered on my experience over the last six months, it occurred to me that the children had been very sweet and open to me, often giving spontaneous hugs even though it is not encouraged. I may have sat with some of these children maybe once a months ago, but they are always pleased to see me. So, it is not the children that are the problem it’s the system and how I was reacting to it.
It is very special when a teacher understands that marking work is a connection to the student in supporting their learning and understanding and is never a judgement.
Anonymous, I love this; ‘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.’ This connection with the children feels like the most important thing and is what truly supports them.
It comes back to connection and I love how you have beautifully shared the importance of this in the classroom. Sure marking comes into it, but when we put that before the people, then it becomes hard work.
What a joy to be in your class Anonymous. You need to be outed Anonymous for the teacher extraordinaire you are..
Assessments could be both ways – students should be able to assess the teacher on your quality of connection that was made for each of their assessments.
The difference between when we make it about learning versus outcomes. While outcomes are important, if this is the focus we lose the value in learning. When learning is the focus then the process is enjoyed and valued, outcomes are appreciated but not the defining point.
How can we truly listen to the children in a classroom or as a parent raising kids when our minds are elsewhere perhaps focussing on that day or thinking about what needs to be done the following day? It is so simple to listen to a child yet it can be one of the most difficult things to do if we are not connected and present with ourselves. It is not a bit of wonder that children turn to the iPad or misbehave when we are not giving our full attention towards them.
This reminded me of when I used to take piles of books home to mark, and how instead marking in class whilst connecting to the children brings so much more.
In reading this I can feel a deeper level of quality that I can bring to my work, instead of focusing on getting everything done, instead just ensuring the quality that I bring and making my focus first and foremost this and then my connection with others.
Connection is a solid foundation and what a gorgeous sharing of what it is to turn a sometimes mundane task into one that has people at the centre.
And yet there is so much resistance to take connection to another level in schools due to the fear mongering, Crazy, and it makes no sense. The results would be worth documenting and surprise many I’m sure if teachers stepped back, and remembered the purpose of education and what they themselves were able to offer without all the knowledge stuff.
Our quality of connection with each other really does nourish and support us to live and express our potential.
You have highlighted so beautifully how powerful it is from us to bring connection to whatever we are doing, as through this we are able to truly confirm the truth in each other. In this instance through your connection with each child not only have you confirmed their worth but also confirmed what was true of their expression, deepening their connection to knowing what feels true and what does not, as they continue to confidently grow expressing who they are.
Making the lessons about the connection first and the subject matter second is the way forward. We all have to learn certain things to get through life but at the end of the day it is how we are taught which will support us to have a positive relationship with learning new things. If we start to think we cannot do something and switch off as a young child this will impact on our lives until the day we die, and after all why go through life believing we are less just because we did not understand a subject at school.
“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.” Really what you are saying is when we come from our heart and connect to universal wisdom we know naturally what needs to be done next. – teaching from the heart is a whole other level.
It really is amazing to see and feel the difference in our attitudes and way of being when we connect to who we are and move with this purpose. Life becomes so simple and a real sense of joy is noted and expressed too. How amazing it is to reflect this to children and adults as this offers so much to explore and to the learn from too.
Reading this you can already feel the quality in which the marking is done and the children enjoying the connection – this is what makes learning fun.
How precious to have a teacher who is so connected.
Connecting with children as the persons they are behind what we are marking, humanises our teaching and gives sense to that activity. This is, as well as every interaction we have with children, an opportunity to open the doors to their willingness to learn.
We are social beings and thrive on connection with one another. It makes absolute sense that you found marking fun and energising when you connected with the children and in contrast you were drained and exhausted when you just focused on the activity of marking. We are built to be connected in love always.
The importance of connecting with our students may likewise be applied to the whole of life.
In connection with ourselves we are observing life and may bring much understanding and needed wisdom to support others.. When we are not in connection, we are at the mercy of life.
This is so refreshing to read and the hear how children are been giving the opportunity to really be connected with and understood. It makes complete sense the children crave this way of being taught because when you look around and see the way the system is set up teachers are given no room to have these connections. It has become all about numbers and reaching targets so that they pass the government requirements and that fact that there are these little beings that need nurturing and support is totally not in the equation. Each child is different also so we need to be able to adapt and connect to what is needed in each moment, not follow a structure that is not even truly about the kids.
Words of gold in this blog – when there is seemingly a massive task ahead of us – connection to ourselves and others is key. ‘Many hands make light work’ is a saying but what if you’ve only got your own hands? Working as a waitress I find that many eye connections and true smiles make work very light.
Anonymous, this is lovely to read, I can feel how we can make anything about connection and that rushing through tasks makes us exhausted and serves no-one, it is very lovely for your pupil to have his time to connect with you and I have found in my own work that if I let go of the racing trying to get things done on time and instead go at my natural pace and make my work about connecting to people then there is a flow and a joy and the work naturally gets done.
Assessing and marking can be a tedious task if done with a preconceived idea of the end result, However, when we make it about connection first there is such a lightness and flow to what has to be done that is actually joyous and regenerating as we truly enrich other’s lives.
When we make it about connection first there is no right or wrong just expanding our connections and the learning then flows through that. If we made this the purpose of our education system the focus would become the development and support for each child to explore their true potential without the constraints of a narrow assessment based system which dictates what needs to be learned and how it needs to be presented to achieve the necessary grades to be deemed a ‘success’.
I love the fun, ease and connection you brought back to how you assessed and marked the children. Education should always be about supporting the student’s connection and ability to express their own inner wisdom and awareness. I know from my personal experience of being at the receiving end of the education system that anything less than the care and connection you describe here encourages the exact opposite.
I have been inspired by this blog and used this technique time and time again and the connection does make a difference to the final grades. Could it be possible that tests are not the area of discontent but the frustration in how we are administering them?
Thank you for a wonderful sharing with such loving care for with what you share with the children. I can truly appreciate the foundation this offers them to be open to exploring learning, because there is nothing telling them they are in-correct or comparing their understanding to another’s. They are being seen and appreciated for who they are in the essence and not what they can produce that fits an ideal or belief of ‘average performance and grades’. Who wants to be held as ‘average’, this is so stifling and limiting for developing true expression.
This is such a great point Anonymous. Every part of the day or process requires equally loving attention to be with it. I discovered the same with having to have new clients sign a consent form for the insurance and Practitioners Association I am with. This is all part of the process and it works very well to honour and appreciate this more ‘admin’ type aspect as much as what happens in the healing room – every moment is healing.
When in connection everything is given to us, no need to stress or push through just the surrendering of our bodies to the what is.
As with all tasks and movements in life, if we make teaching and marking about the people and the space first, all else is taken care of. If we get swept up in the motion of the task we are lost.
Connection is vital in all relationships. Thank you for the insight that when something is not fun and flowing with ease, it is possible that the connection is missing. And we can always choose to stop, reassess, deepen our understanding and go again, as in this blog.
It is the connection that children seek, when they feel this connection they respond so openly and honestly. As parents we truly need to stop and connect to the children to allow them to open up an express in their truth.
Very true and for adults and children alike, connection enables far greater understanding and inspiration for others to connect to their inner most truth and to live this.
There are always parts of our jobs we do not like and go into auto pilot to do it. It is beautiful to see how the choice to make connection the most important things you can make these parts we did not like into something very enjoyable. I also feel often we take on from others or society what is to be enjoyed about a job and what not. Instead of feeling for ourselves if this is true for us. Like even as not being a teacher I had a sense of that marking is not the most loved part of the job yet I never stopped and considered if this is true!
Anonymous, this is lovely to read, working part time in a classroom I can feel how it is so easy to rush from one thing to the next without connecting with the children and for the day to be all about getting things done rather than connecting with the children. I too notice how the children love the one on one time, it feels lovely being playful and open to what they would like to share with me and to allow the space and time for the children to be able to do this.
This is such a huge lesson in how we approach every aspect of life. How open are we and how much space do we allow for life to lovingly unfold.
Connection is SO important…. With everything, and everyone, as we know…. With children … it is vital
What a wonderful sharing around how different one can make those more mundane tasks in a job, feel more accepting and even loving, which is sometimes a very hard thing to do. But what you have shared is that it was all about your connection and that quality you brought to all that you do.
‘ 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.’ This line is relevant to all that we do – seeing beyond what is being asked of us on a practical level and going beyond to make connections.
The children in a class can teach us so much about how they learn and when we connect with them and make it fun then the sharing opens everyone up to a deeper understanding.
Your old attitude to marking reminds me of mine with certain aspects of my life. What’s interesting about it is that when I am in it I will justify thinking this way: that something doesn’t warrant my attention and needs to be done in as little time as possible to negate the negative effects of having to do it. I know I am still in this attitude as I am trying to persuade myself to see the positives of say getting stuck in commuter traffic when I could be doing paperwork that needs doing.
But just as a start I can begin with being present and get to feel what there is to feel in those moments when I am taken away from my preferred plan of action that is all time related (i.e. got to finish that by x time, get to B at x time etc.) Already I feel the Magic of God can come alive whereas now I am choosing to be ruled by my own timetable that is arbitrary even though, when I am really in the thick of this attitude, i will justify why I need to get x done by x deadline that I will say is imposed on my by work requirements etc. There is a lot of room to play with this being not doing. It’s not a romanticized watching the clouds float by on a lazy summer afternoon way of living but an important mastery of another way of living which is being in motion.
This blog goes to show how we can compartmentalise life such as work, home etc but even within the ‘work’ box we can relate to the various aspects of our work in different ways. But from experience these compartments are not separate but interconnected. Appreciating our quality in one aspect can and does affect and flow into all others.
Anonymous, this moved me very deeply, I could feel how children are very sensitive and trusting, open to life and the world. Getting marks back is a big deal and it can impinge on their self worth, especially if children have learnt to rely on the external feedback in life to give them a sense of their value and who they are. But when they are considered and connected to, they feel this, met for who they are and it sinks in very deeply. Its all connecting and ‘marking’ for the first time is seen in a whole new light, you have shown me greater appreciation how everything affects everyone…’marking’ now has a whole new meaning. Great inspiration you are anonymous!
You raise a great point Karoline. When the focus is on the marks, they become hugely significant and they can be confused as self worth.
This can be devastating. However connection with the child communicates that worth is never in question. And the marks can be seen for what they are: simply flagging for everyone what still needs to be practiced and built on.
They couldn’t hold back the joy that is offered to them each day in learning. A far cry from my own schooling experience. An inspiring teacher with so much to offer!
It’s the joy of your openness and playful way of connecting with each child Anonymous that shows how important it is for us all to simply enjoy and love sharing and interacting from our own connection. What happens thereafter is truly amazing for not only the education system but the world as a whole.
Thank you for sharing this it is so important that we are always connecting before we mark or look at what we do. It is so important we connect with eachother in order to than have everything else in life.
You have nailed true, simple, relevant and meaningful assessing and marking Anonymous;
“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”.
Encouraging someone that they are ‘on the right track’ is so supportive rather than always pointing out where they are getting things wrong.
I have noticed when I go into rushing mode in the classroom, it directly affect the students and their learning in a very negative way. Its a shame so many teachers feel that need to rush through the curriculum. The pressure to deliver can take over and then both students and teachers suffer.
There are so many ways to assess and mark students work. In this day of targets driven by grades, teachers can get overwhelmed with the marking workload and forget that they actually do know their students very well and assessment is going on all of the time we are in the classroom. The system makes it burdensome, but we naturally do it all the time.
How super simple is this and it makes so much sense! I would love to be taught in a room where connection was placed first, above and before whatever my grades became. A child’s sense of self worth should never rest upon their ability to do well at an activity or their knowledge and understanding of a certain subject as this just does not make sense and sets them up only to seek further recognition for either striving hard or giving up altogether on a topic. When connection is the foundation between an adult and a child, the relationship is supported to develop into one of trust and consistency and this is a great life lesson as a child will know they can trust and live consistently with themselves. We could write many a book on the true implications of connection first! the more we uncover, the more we know is possible and the more we expose that which does not work for any of us in our current times.
Love it. Connection 🙂
It was beautiful to re-read this article today. Connection is an important part of teaching, it is what we all crave. As long as we are connected to we can receive and learn from the feedback that marking offers.
This is great, as connection is in my experience the biggest thing that is lacking within the education system. I know very well how it is supportive in studying to be seen and appreciated for the learnings we go through.
Thank you anonymous you are a gift to the teaching profession and to the children you teach, I watch my daughter struggle at school at times and I know this is mainly due to the lack of connection the teacher has with the children. I understand teachers are under a lot of pressure to deliver the curriculum and how pressured they can feel from this, but as you say the children loved the way you made space to truly connect to them giving them an opportunity to experience something different.
“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.” If we are not careful and discerning we can take on these ideals of how things will be and live by them without realising there is another way. By living these ideals and believes like ‘marking is a burden on my teacher time’ we make it the reality whilst if we feel if it should be this way, and as you shared, it is not we can – by living the other way – make this way the reality too. This is how we can change the world to one that we feel is true instead of living burdened by ‘just the way it is mentalities’.
And how refreshing to read how it can be for teachers… I know the current system seems light years away from supporting anything like the approach you describe, however what I love is that you can apply it WITHIN the current system by your own choice as a teacher. You are living proof of that… so thank you for sharing.
“Assessing how to connect to a child is what true marking is about”…. this is beautiful Anonymous, you have just outlined the future of teaching.
This is absolutely golden: “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.”
What if we were supported in all of life in this way? It would absolutely transform the way we live, connect and most of all, value ourselves.
What an absolute blessing you are to your profession anonymous. Your words here applying of course in many, many situations, from the home to the workplace and beyond…
The indoctrination we’ve all received around assessments and marking is intense, anonymous. No wonder as a teacher, that you still felt the impact of how disconnecting and without true connection this can be. That you’ve turned this around, and made it about connection first and foremost – clearly holding no judgement or agenda towards your students, is absolute gold, the transformation of a crushing paradigm.
A deeply heartening read, thank-you.
With teaching and with everything we do, connecting with each other is the important thing. Without connection, I feel that the meaning of our existence is lost. Bringing connection to each task is brilliant – Even to marking the right or wrong answers. What a blessing those kids would have had when you took the time to stay connected to them.
Teaching and your experience Anonymous is such a beautiful metaphor for how we are in life. We race around in the name of truth and knowledge and drive ourselves over the edge of cliffs for wisdom’s sake. These simple sums, were they written up large on the blackboard in class do not add up. For we have mistaken the subject, the exam, the report as the key part, when instead it is the connection, the touch, the confirmation and care that we are here to learn. The lesson we truly teach is not algebra, english or history but our living quality. For any profession – this is ultimately what we deliver to each other.
Connection and education are the keys for a great marriage for life. Teaching and learning in this way makes for a well rounded way of being at school, but also how we are in life too.
What a breath of fresh air for all teachers to read that there is another way in which they can bring the simplicity back to the way they work and remember the reason why they are teaching in the first place- a love of children and learning.
Connection is so magical and so undervalued in society, but really it is everything – without connection we become hard and careless machines just as you experienced and shared here and this happens everywhere no matter what the profession. Connection is key to life, to success and to joy.
It is beautiful to feel the connection and care you are offering these children. It’s beautiful that they can be compatible around you to giggle and be playful as well. Teaching should be fun too and definitely connection is the way.
It’s beautiful to feel the love the children are met with at every stage of their learning of which marking is a big part.
I’m reflecting on how many aspects of paperwork in my job I resented, liking only the actual people contact and not the documenting of everything that is said and done believing it to be necessary but ultimately of no value if not required in the future. But I’m starting to feel the quality in which I do the recordings and the analysis of what’s gone on and I can’t but feel this quality has an effect. That it’s not just the quality of meeting people in person but the quality in which I am recording events because this too is the quality I hold the people in I am writing about. I do not know and couldn’t say x causes y but I can say I’m inspired to investigate bringing greater presence and honouring to what I record and be open to feeling the effects of this.
What a wonderful lesson and learning opportunity for teachers reading your blog Anonymous, thank you for sharing your wisdom, knowledge and experiences. Whilst we did not have teachers like you in our schooling days we do have you now, what a blessing for us all.
Children love and thrive on connection, as we all do, knowing this why are so many children deprived of this basic necessity of life?
Sounds awesome, I wish you were my teacher!
I love the difference that you found in assessing and marking when you chose connection to the children above everything else, whilst still taking care of everything else you were to do. It is a joy reading how well the children responded to this. In fact we all love and crave deep connection whatever age we are. You provide a wonderful example of how when we take care of ourself, we then naturally offer this to others.
Thank you Anonymous, this shows that with any task at hand whether we deem it difficult or not it is all about staying with oneself and not going into a frenzy wanting it done as quick as possible. As then it is not the task that gets the main focus but how we are and in connection with and to others, then we make it about people and that is always a connection and interaction to simply enjoy.
The word assessment could be unpacked to incorporate a process that reveals what we know – What I know can include learnt knowledge and facts but also what I ‘know’ to be true. What if we were assessed about how we feel when we are put down or made less in a conversation or when we were confirmed and seen for our true beauty. Imagine these sort of conversations were everyday occurrences and the self assessment was how well connected we feel in our bodies before, during and after our classroom work!
The words ‘fun’ and ‘marking’ in the same sentence is usually unheard of for teachers. But here they are together in the very first sentence of this blog, and shows what’s possible when we focus first on connection.
I can feel how supportive this approach is for the children in your class, Anon. And I get the sense that the transition between the teaching and the assessing flows very naturally for you now. When we are relaxed in our bodies, children feel safe and supported to be their natural playful, curious, all-learning, all knowing selves.
This article proves that the most important thing is connection. Connection with ourselves, connection with others (children in this case) and connection with the true purpose of what we are doing. How powerful and valuable this is. Thank you for sharing such a beautiful example.
What’s so beautiful to appreciate is how magically different really understanding the potential of what we do when it is done with love. The quality of life can be transformed for all those connected to it. In this instance I doubt these children will turn off from learning when they feel connected to the joy of discovering themselves and the world around them, appreciating they are an intrinsic part of the world.
Connection is paramount – it is what we all crave, not just kids. To be seen as more than just a mark on a piece of paper, but as a person, a child worthy of connection and love.
This is an important article for all teachers to read, when we find so many leaving the profession and the world crying out for teachers that can really connect and make an impact on our kids without being under enormous stress and overwork.
What are we truly marking here when things are like this, “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.” It’s great to have teachers now looking at things like this and taking the pressure off children and themselves. There is a big focus on education at the moment and thinking it is the answer to our problems when it seems it is looking like it’s just adding to them.
These little gestures and moments of connection are not little at all for they all contribute in dissolving the apprehension we can carry around being tested.
Connection is what we are all seeking the world over, the crazy thing is, with this in place all will slot into place without having to try.
“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.” Today’s Education system has placed results over connection, it’s time to return to the core of what truly matters, connect to the uniqueness of every child first and encourage these qualities to precipitate into all that they express.
What you share how there was exhaustion and raciness when you approached it without connection makes a lot of sense for the physical state of the teachers. I know from my experience when I get into the overwhelm and see things as a burden to get through then I too feel drained, exhausted and depressed. What you have shared clearly points out that we have a choice in how we go into our work and the jobs that need to be done. We can either connect and make it all about the people and then the rest flows naturally and is feeding you back or not.
I too can remember the names and behaviours of both those that allowed and supported me to be me and those that I cowered and hid in reaction to. I do not take it personally but I completely take from this the absolute responsibility required from us all in every moment. One throw away comment said in rage, disrespect, joy or appreciation can be held trapped and buried in another’s body for years to come. There is SO much in this.
This is fantastic and exactly what all children do crave for sure. There is so many elements in today’s world where having this connection has been lost and ignored. No finger pointing or blame but an honesty of how things have gotten out of control needs to be looked at and blogs like this is a great starting point. Particularly in the education system it has become all about the numbers and meeting targets that the kids have been lost in the process. I love how you share this way of connecting and going around to each child has had an enormous impact on those children’s learning. My bet is that they will totally remember everything that they are learning with ease and confidence they way it should be because of the support that they have been given that is true. Keep up the amazing marking!
Your approach to marking and connecting with the children is heart melting, as the children would most definitely feel held and supported by a teacher who truly meets them.
I have just witnessed a beautiful demonstration of connection to students in an amazing upbeat and inspirational presentation of “The Wizard of Oz” by all the 17 students at a small local country school and all playing a part, sometimes two, and their fantastic Teachers that made each child stand out in their own right. Two of my grandchildren are very lucky and are attending this amazing school and I have witnessed great changes in both of them through this more personal approach and connection to the individual child. Wonderful to re read your sharing Anon.
This is a really cool way of showing how every part of job can be equal. Not only applied to teaching but absolutely every job – we can always find something that is not as good as the other parts of the job or something we have a bit of a resistance too so we put it off or set ourselves up to dislike it, but if we stay open and make it about the connection to ourselves or a colleague first, then it can change our whole outlook. For instance I used to hate cleaning the kitchen at work or restocking the bathroom, but since I have brought the purpose to it that it supports everyone who uses these facilities, I really enjoy it, and I love doing these things now. I can feel how much it supports another. The task is the same, but my relationship with the task is different.
It’s great that you are bringing change to the teaching system, you have felt that children need a different way to inspire them and bring out the best in them. Bringing playfulness into teaching allows the children to not feel they have to perform, but gives them a chance to share their true expression.
A great sharing here, I love what you bring to marking, I remember marking as piles and piles of books taken home and/or marked in lunch breaks. What you share here is so much more fun and the connection is key, it is what everyone craves for. ‘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.’
The joy of your writing anonymous leaps off the page…the joy of the children being met by you leaps off the page…the joy in you of the children meeting you back leaps of the page…It’s so simple isn’t it to have joy… we just need to meet each other.
This is lovely, how you are using marking time to connect with each pupil, and what a difference that will make to their day.
I feel for teaching staff burdened by a system that does not know true education and compensates by having children adhere to one set of standards for all.
The way you describe approaching your charges Anonymous is inspiring. The beauty of connection with them, be it through playful wink or gentle touch is truly gorgeous. It reminded me of the best parts of primary school, where there was a loving connection with the teacher, well before the drive of secondary school.
It strikes me that ‘marking’ is really an opportunity to offer the student a new ‘marker’ – a point from which to expand their learning and understanding. It is (or could be) marking a point of development, without judgement or comparison.
This reads like a lesson in life more than just a blog on marking. I agree with everything you say and this goes well beyond the current teaching model. Like anything and it goes to show that a true connection is what it is all about. When we go into ticking boxes or in this case ticking assessments we know we are missing the best and most important part, the connection. Behind every test, steering wheel or desk is a person and that person is worth seeing, no matter how big or small etc they are, we are all worth it.
What a lovely way to connect with children and take the dread out of marking for both the student and the teacher. As an adult I sat a test yesterday for a one day course. There were many adults in the room who were worried about the test and reading your article it made me wonder if that stems back to our experiences at school where we have these expectations heaped upon us but no real connection offered to support learning. How many children get left behind at school and then have a given up attitude to learning. And this is always countered with the argument that well, thats life, life is competitive. Which of course is not a lot of use if we have a society that is full of people who have it ingrained in them that they are not good at anything, when in fact it is the system that has failed them. That is why I love what is shared here, an I can feel how each child is valued and given the space and confidence to learn in their own way.
The true power of connection and the importance of it from very young is shown here so beautifully and is so necessary in all our lives as we grow up and move thorough important different stages in our lives. What a beautiful and true way to be as a teacher you have come to and the joy of being a child in your class is obvious and so great to read about. The inspiration for teaching like this is amazing thank you
The opportunities to connect with the people in our daily lives are endless. The more we are connected to our own self, the easier, and more and more joyful it becomes.
The more I understand about the impact of testing mainly on the narrowing of the curriculum to get the kids to pass the tests the more I see how far we have travelled from anything remotely looking like healthy education and preparing our children for their futures. It is heartening to read of someone making such a difference in a system that is stifling in its oppression.
The system of marking as it is now is basically teaching us to be either right or wrong and we carry this with us throughout our lives. We are rarely shown that we are great no matter what the results of our studying is. We need to find a way that communicates to our children and students that they are learning and where they need more or less support in this process and what their unique expression is about. If we allow ourselves to be in full connection in our educational system we may find that we do not need to teach children, we are merely there to support them in the uncovering of what they already know within.
Anonymous this is how we change the system, by re-discoveirng how to be in connection with the children and through that confirming and inspiring them in who they are. Connection is what it is all about and what you share is how you felt from the connection within yrouself how the old way was not working and a new way of working presented itself. Awesome.
This blog shows the quality not only in the connection but how the child’s work was marked and remained with that child for the rest of the year on their worksheet or workbook.
I loved the feeling of being in your classroom whilst I read your blog Anonymous! I was there, bright eyed and waiting my turn to be seen for who I am not what I did or whether I got it right. What a superb environment in which to be inspired and to connect with each other in true joy!
The quality that you bring to teaching and every aspect of it is truly lovely to feel and read in your blog anonymous. Thanks for sharing.
The children will feel the quality in which their teacher has marked their work and whether it was rushed, done resentfully, or with a critical eye or with a connection and knowing of the child and assessing as necessary with no criticism or judgement. What they feel from this time in their life leaves an imprint for them that they carry into their latter school and adult years.
I can remember the time as a student that a lot of teachers use to come in to the class and do their teaching with nothing more, no love or connection whatsoever. I can also remember the one who did, the whole experience was much more fun and relaxed. What you do with the students is amazing and I am sure they are appreciating you and understanding what you are teaching with a lot more ease.
As I read this blog what comes to mind is simplicity. Whenever I can get overwhelmed by what’s to be done I am learning to focus on keeping things simple and doing what needs to be done; in doing so this is supporting the connection to myself.
Working in a school there are many ways to connect with children but when this happens they feel this and the way they light up is worth appreciating the responsibility of maintaing a relationship with ourselves so this can happen 🙂 Thank you for sharing and showing the difference this does make.
Thank you Anonymous for sharing such a loving way of marking – the absolute antithesis of the red pen score outs and crosses many have endured at school.
Wow the difference between the two ways of marking is huge. One approach invites pupils to try to receive recognition and mistakes are met with a feeling of failure when marking’s returned (the effort I used to put into homework to get praise was substantial as was the crushing feeling when I didn’t do well or having to live up to doing well. So many students give up before they even attempt to work they’ve experienced not having their efforts appreciated so often).
Whereas the other approach appreciates the pupil for the amazing person they are so corrections and guidance isn’t felt as threatening the core of their being but just something they will learn because the support is there to hand.
How supportive anonymous to allow and reflect to children that it’s all OK we are students learning, instead of being judged for not getting it and the judgement or assessment being handed down. As a child I remember my writing being returned with red marks around the mistakes, and ticks beside what I got right and then the final mark. It was rarely a time to feel anything but sheer relief that I had passed or on the side I had failed. To this day I have had to work with healing the self judgement and the inner critic. Is it possible this all started with a school system that I didn’t fit with, being a very practical learner rather than loading me with knowledge. It has taken years to work to rebuild an appreciation and love for myself just the way I am. Your connection and confirmation to the children is the bridge to supporting children to not compare or feel judged for their individual approach and level of understanding.
” 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.” Yes anonymous children are usually open and receptive to connection, it is for us as the teachers in life to be open to connecting. It’s a simple way of being that when chosen completes a cycle of heart felt love between us. Without it we struggle to make sense in this world, it’s what has us truly living as opposed to just functioning.
Here in Holland there is a lot going on in education with a lot of people wanting to change the system and bring in new ideas to change education. But how about starting with the people that work in education and see how they feel? It is very true what you share here, that education is about connection, just like Serge Benhayon presents. If we bring in that connection, that would be the true foundation to work from and bring in already a huge change in the whole educational system.
Wow- Anonymous I wish you were my teacher years ago! It’s fantastic that you are engaging with the children at the level that they are truly met and understood. You can feel their needs and respond from their call. This is awesome !
If more teachers can be inspired by you in the classroom what an amazing positive shift in how teaching will be in the future- with more confident, responsible and committed students and adults in the workforce.
It’s that constant reminder that how we are in everything we do matters in everything that we do. There is no turn off switch as much as we may try.
I remember as a child sometimes getting a piece of work back with a coffee ring on it from a cup or a stain from a piece of food. It wouldn’t seem very nice that a teacher has disregarded my work in this way, at the same time i would wonder what has happened that it meant the teacher was eating and working, or just wondered when and where he or she had marked my work.
This is a great awareness that you bring to teaching which can be brought to any situation in daily living – if we are disconnected from ourselves, overwhelm rules the day and creates further exhaustion. A vicious self-destructive cycle to get caught up in. It is beautiful that you have broken this cycle for yourself and can teach children in a loving and honouring way to give them greater self-respect and making school a place to enjoy.
“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”.
Thank you anonymous for sharing. It got me reflecting on my school days. That helped me to realise that no wonder school was not enjoyable for me because a lot of the time the teachers were not enjoying 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”. What a beautiful way to now do your marking, every child would feel the great love that they were held in while you marked their work. How much more supported these children would now feel through this more loving way of correcting their work when needed.
Now this type of assessment I can handle! There is no need to further instil the fear of not being good enough or failing into others. Connecting is a sure way to disarm such an engagement.
Dear Anonymous I would love to be in your class as I was often afraid when the marking started when I was at school so therefore following sentences got me: “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.” How beautiful is that – school without fear.
There is no doubt that we are creating pressure with the extra assessments that are being done with young children today, for most of us we didn’t do any formal testing until we were 14 years plus, there is no doubt that the increase in mental health issues doubling in the last 10 years correlates to testing and social media. It is so brilliant to read this blog and feel that even in that pressure there is a way to really connect and bring purpose and love to assessment.
This is absolutely awesome anonymous! I’m not a teacher per se but do do a lot of training and can relate to much of what you say here! I for one love connecting with my teachers and bosses… This way of marking could really transform a classroom – I can’t wait to try it! Thank you for the inspiration ?
We seem to have lost the need to meet children and become more focused on achieving assessment benchmarks. Whilst I think it is important that we are able to evaluate where children are doing well or missing out on key elements, are we creating extra pressure to perform or produce something according to an ideal?
It is interesting the level of exhaustion you felt Anon, in trying to deliver and meet the educational outcomes and assessments. I imagine it is the same for the students who feel the pressure to meet the outcome standards and not feel a failure.
Wow what a joy for these children to have their work marked in this way. As you say – children are open to this level of response and connection, and for a teacher to honour this and not see marking as a burden is really beautiful and there is no doubt the children will pick up on this. The truth is – when I was little, I didn’t look forward to marking either because you feel subject to the unknown, so for a teacher to say ‘this is all about true learning and education and support at every step’ is a beautiful and much needed way to look at it. What a playful way to approach this.
Please, please, please let us have more teachers like you Anonymous, you have nailed it ,teaching is about the connection first we have with the student not about the knowledge. Always when we look back at our best teachers they are the ones that connected with us the best and made it about life not about one segmented subject. – Great Sharing – Our Education system needs to be based on Connection first.
Dear Anonymous I wished more teachers were so honest: “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.” It is wonderful that with this honesty you brought it back to what is really necessary if you are teaching – the connection to your students.
Very touching blog Anonymous, what a delight to share this Joy with you. This blog nearly brought me to tears.. Then, I felt into why I felt like this, because it was ok and one of those ‘things’ that touch me deeply. I think I really need to have kids! Anyway, what it is is the absolute Joy I feel in the connection. I have had it recently with adults too which is special to feel.
Nothing in this world that I know has the most sensual feeling in the body then having a deep sense of connection and joy with another, no matter what the age. Thank you Anonymous, all teachers need to take note and your blog is an educational tool.
What’s more you revive the fact that we are all teachers and students at the same time, regardless of our age. To foster the relationship you describe on that basis is very beautiful to read, and I can only imagine the amazing effect on those kids to be interacted with in that way.
Stunning Anonymous, what a refreshing change to hear a teacher speak of teaching this way… a return to the roots of what teaching is all about, making connection with the student the most important thing.
The importance this blog brings of meeting a child and re-imprinting with them the “must get it right” attitude is huge. Being playful with marking and assessing and making it based on trust is definitely a huge step forward for education as a whole, especially when a child’s confidence, understanding or quality of expression is low. Then they have a role model who shows that they deserve the same loving attention whether right or wrong while also confirming that true expression is enriching themselves as much as for others. This builds confidence in who they are, rather than in an ability to get a good mark or grade.
When I set myself up to do things quickly I lose out. I can make the task more important than anything else. I can get anxious and racey. There is no need for this, it is like I am imposing upon myself a condition and I feel the pressure of it. I have set myself the constraints of time. When I let go of this and allow myself to trust and am open to whatever needs to be done my experience is so much more enjoyable.
A great point you make Anonymous. In exhaustion we can’t be that harmonious point of reflection, and so to bring true harmony and connection we must first know how that feels and live that in our own lives.
I love the way Anon that you realised that assessment is actually all about supporting the child to go to the next level : 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.’ This is brilliant, as often assessment is used as a weapon against a child. Thank you for this great blog.
This is such a brilliant topic. Connecting with one’s innermost and so to the child who is being ‘assessed’, can be such deep and observational moment of seeing what is needed and never forgetting the essence of that child. How healing then would an assessment be.
This blog should be read by all teachers. Connection first with children is key. For me I found the more a teacher connected with me the more I enjoyed being in the classroom and so the more I enjoyed the subject. As a consequence my marks were naturally better.
To be able to feel and work with each child in this way creates such an harmonious and affirming learning environment. Our schools desperately need another way as how assessment is often carried out can be demoralising for a child and the potential for future connection with that child can be lost .
This is exactly what I needed at school, instead of the persistent marking down with no explanation and definitely a lack of connection by my teachers. Children have an amazing ability to feel what is going on and when the teachers share their connection, this allows the whole class to evolve so we all benefit..
There is a sweetness to this blog, the writer of it seems to me, not afraid to show the delicacy of their love for people and how wiling they are to go the extra mile in showing it everyday.
I used to feel school was a prison and I was not allowed to be me. It is clear that when being taught and assessed based solely on the curriculum, school becomes limiting for our true education. Then we are asked what we are wanting to do with our career and the perspective we take to this is based solely on how we have been educated and our experiences in the different fields we know we have the opportunity of doing. But none of this has given us a foundation of knowing how to be our true selves in what we do. The assessment form of thinking is something we continue with until we die unless we choose to reconnect to our true essence.
This level of understamding is beautiful and revolutionary, coming from one teacher to another…”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.” This is such an awesome insight on what is possible with our connection to children.
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.
LOVE what you say here Anonymous, just reading these one-liners make me smile with such joy for true Teaching and learning… the encouragement through loving confirmation being the lost key of an unconfident adult. Confirmation bringing confidence and also self-trust.
The simplicity and countless benefit of what happens when we connect with another whether child or adult – we get alignment, openness, cohesiveness, understanding and a sustaining or building of one’s worth. It is the essence of effective leadership , and the fact that there are so many issues surrounding leadership practices today in the corporate world, is most likely i imagine founded upon the lack of connected teaching those leaders (and us all) had as schooling kids. When there is quality connection as you write from your experiences Anonymous, there is love.
“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.” How much necessary are these little gestures in the middle of an education system which is constantly blocking the development of the natural wisdom and creativity that already is in every child. I love this blog and the foundations of the Teachers are Gold project. They are bringing back the true essence of Education. I can imagine how amazing would be a world where people know their true essence, anyone will be valued for their grades but yes for the beautiful human being that already is. I really appreciate the work of every teacher who is looking and feeling everyday their children as who they truly are.
Everything in life should be about connection first and foremost. Connection should be the foundation and from that foundation, we live life.
Making it about people first however young or old, whatever the situation, allows for this connection straight away.
I love how in taking the time and care in each moment and making this about each child transformed how you are in your day. How special each one of those children will feel by what you’ve given them. This is a complete turn around in the way teaching and marking is presented to the world. If we have to do these things, we may as well enjoy them! I am deeply inspired that you bring this detail to this area of your job in teaching. I’ve felt this in the simplicity of folding my children’s clothes, enjoying the way I do this is me sharing the love I am with them, for when they go to get them, that quality can then be felt by them. It’s a way of adoring them by me adoring the job at hand.
We all simply want to be met for and as we are, without ‘performance related’ favours. How amazing to build this quality into the way we are as teachers, a win win situation for everyone involved.
How different our education system would be if we made it about connection first and marking and assessment second.
Teachers play a super important role as they have a large part in shaping our future generation, whether the child has the ability to learn or not, with the current form of education which is based on being given information and then being able to remember and repeat this information, should not be how children are then assessed, as it is not true intelligence. True intelligence comes from the wisdom that is gained by connecting to ones body and the movement. It can be very harming and detrimental to a child, to access them as intelligent or not based on their ability to remember information.
“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”
How many of us as adults are our own worst enemy, constantly criticizing, judging and comparing ourselves to others? If we felt this love, support and confirmation of who we are more as children, we would have a strong foundation and connection to who we are, and not base our self worth and appreciation on what we do and achieve.
“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.”
Imagine if this was the basis that all teachers operated from, making the connection to the children fundamental to the teaching process, after all life is about connection to our own bodies and to others, when we loose that connection we are literally lost and can be led astray by the many distractions, images, ideals and beliefs that we are fed.
Children first and foremost want to be met and even crave it, the way you have described meeting each child through the marking process is deeply conforming and supportive of meeting them for who they are first and not what they can do or achieve, giving them a strong foundation of themselves and from that they can learn what is needed to be in the world.
It’s true that as teachers we can find marking a burden…I know that I have! The joy that you bring in your blog Anonymous in making that connection to your students is a breath of fresh air. I imagine that if as teachers we finding marking a burden how does that make students feel about doing their work in the first place? Yet if we approach marking with joy how do our students feel then about work?
Often in school we are starved of this affection and connection. I can remember in Year 3- the one and only time, I had a teacher who really enjoyed us and was fun and affectionate with us- this was the best year of school. I can remember those moments where she would lean over to mark your work and gently touch you on the shoulder, that to me was the best moment in the week- not that I ever admitted it.
‘The levels of exhaustion I experienced made me feel racy and there was no connection with the students or with their work’ – How we look after ourselves and live our lives has SUCH an effect on our ability to connect and communicate with others, as well as the quality of how we are in our homes, workplaces, on the street and so forth.
Wow what a great expose on how to bring joy into tasks at work that can otherwise be or appear to be mundane and a burden. The fact that you had the awareness to look at more deeply at how you were working and connecting with the children, was just such a delight to read. You are an inspiration and someone who should be presenting to many other teachers to bring connection and joy into what they do.
Through sharing your insights and experience in the classroom Anonymous other teachers will come to this understanding of connection, and that this connection is the basis of any true and joyful learning.
I have noticed the level of focus changes when I choose to mark pupils work during lesson time. They do wait patiently and quietly for their turn. The simple yet short exchange means pupils feel supported and met. With large classes of 30, they may not get one to one time in every lesson, so using marking as a way to connect is a win-win choice.
Super blog. With so much push and pressure on our children today this blog comes as a refreshing look at connecting with our children and not making it all about what the children can do, but instead meeting them for who they are first and foremost.
It is a joy to read your blog Anonymous and to feel your enthusiasm and joy when teaching. When we begin to honour and cherish children and their own innate wisdom and feelings, they are able to expand their life experience and become able to truly contribute to the future of our world and Universe. What amazing potential they bring with their innocence and natural joy for life when we give them space to express.
There is a huge difference between getting something done quickly and getting something done efficiently. I really understand the pressures we are under at our workplaces, but the default way that is used to finish something is to do it in a hurry and quickly. When I teach new nurses, I introduce this because everything is lost when we enter the energy of haste and quality goes out the door. Healthcare often brings situations that require immediate fast action as it is a life threatening situation, but when much of the day is done in a way of being quick, we erode our own sense of being present and we end up feeling drained at the end of the day, rather than a little tired. I can leave a ten or eleven hour shift and say ‘wow’ what a day, but it was no different to any other day except I maintained presence and connection which changes everything.
“A supportive hand on the shoulder…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.”We so underestimate the small things don’t we? Yet what you offer here Anonymous is a very simple way to let the students know that they are valued and seen. They get a confirmation inside and take this home and out into their lives with them.
I have gone back to school myself and the feedback on the assignments is crucial for getting an idea of if you have fully understood a concept. I have noticed there are different ways of marking with each tutor, but also that there is a different feel to the marking and one builds and the other just leaves me with nowhere to go, no learning just a box ticking exercise. i have more understanding of this now I read your blog. Thank you.
Oh what a gorgeous sharing! I love how it is a win win situation, you feel less stressed and exhausted by the marking and the kids get an opportunity to see how getting something wrong is ok, it is how we can learn.
The celebration of mistakes – as both a breaking of our tendency towards striving for perfection and as understanding that our mistakes are great opportunities to learn and grow. Definitely a ‘win win situation’.
Thank you for sharing the way you have started to approach marking – boy do I wish all teachers tried this way of doing it! The marking and exam system is so impersonal and can be the thing that dulls a child’s spark to learn.
What comes through for me in your writing is your joy in the interactiveness of the teaching/learning experience for all and how this can be carried over into marking/assessing if the connection is maintained. What a beautiful lesson for living life to the full.
Yes I too felt how the writer is living their life in full and offering this refection to the children. Not holding back the love on offer and the joy of a task that is often met with everything short of joyful.
Thank you this is a timely read as the nursery class I work in is faced with going through a whole heap of assessments with the children this week. At first this sounded alarming however making it simple and fun for the children certainly takes the pressure off them and the teachers.
I am not a teacher but I can relate to this blog in that I often find myself rushing or pushing to complete some tasks in my day that I deem are not as enjoyable as others. For example I might try and rush to get some household chores done, or do it in a frustrated way, to make time to play with my kids on the weekend, believing that one part is less important or enjoyable than another. But every moment, everything we do can have a magical, graceful quality to it if we connect to the quality of our essence and to that quality in others.
Everything we do becomes easier and less of a struggle when we have true connection with each other.
I find it interesting that the notion that assessments can be an opportunity to be of service to the children is so radical that it is reasonable as the author of such a notion to prefer to remain anonymous.
It makes sense but it is such a wonderful notion!
How amazing it is to read about connection before all else, and how it has fully empowered students to simply reconnect to who they are! Love it!!
To bring Love and support with marking in the way that you have described is beautiful Anonymous . So marking is not just a ‘box ticking exercise, you have made it into a way of connecting and inspiring children.
For a teacher to hold connection above anything else is everything – This is one of the greatest lessons that can be taught.
“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.” I love what your choice reflects about how we can be in all aspects of life. Opening up to see beyond what is at the surface, and embracing the moment to expand and deepen our love and connection. And how perfect that by choosing this, you are teaching the children in your care something much more valuable than what is taught in the curriculum – you are teaching them the foundations of a truly loving life.
I teach and love to teach from connection. But recently I had many interruptions in the school calendar, which delayed completing a unit. I went into anxiety and panic around it and felt pressured to complete it and pressured to have the students all properly prepared for it. This was a roller coaster downhill in my confidence which saw feelings creep in which made me doubt my teaching and that I wasn’t good enough. This overwhelm was passed onto the students and it felt horrid. Bringing it back to relationships and honestly sharing with them about what was going on was important but such an eye opener and learning in the whole process as to the responsibility we share as teachers and the opportunities we can choose to bring to them versus the pressure and anxiety we can keep them in.
Teaching is one of the many professions that is prone to exhaustion and burn out. I see it in my daughter’s teachers across the board, there is so much pressure and demand placed on them. Your writing would be a great support to them and I hope you publish your blog in wider circles too.
I love this. It highlights to me how we can bring love into absolutely every area of our lives and work. It inspires me because having been a child myself, and now a parent, it warms my heart when I see children being truly met. I can only liken this commentary to how I relate to my own child and how I see her light up when I connect with her in our relating whilst still maintaining the boundaries that she needs, but not coming from an authoritarian voice; keeping the lightness and fun present.
The greatest gift we can give to another is connection and love and all else from here becomes an incredible support.
I remember the feeling of getting marked and the stress and anxiety that would come up in my body while my teacher looked at my work. What you have discovered anonymous is a beautiful way to support students through what can be a stressful time of comparison, judgment, and potential failure.
I remember this too, Kim. The tension, stress and anxiety was palpable as we were pitched against one another, our ‘placing’ in the class for each piece of work, being given much attention and importance. This article is a beautiful point of inspiration to consider the fact that it does not have to be like that.
Assessing how to connect takes ‘the overwhelm’ out of what is before us. This is just such a gem. I can feel this truth in approaching anything I do in my day, particularly when paper work is involved.
Thank you for adding the joy to tasks that take on an entirely different quality when started with our connection.
Absolutely love this blog anon and it needs to be read by all teachers. I agree kids crave connection and when this happens they are inspired to learn and do what ever is needed with out effort.
I love this blog – I know that most I loved the one on one moments where a teacher found the time to stop and really engage in where you are and what you have learnt and what you haven’t grasped yet. So often the rush though was felt, where an piece of work was done, marked and handed back and moved on from, even if the piece of was was clearly not understood. It is as though marking is done, not to get an idea or understanding of where the child is at which what they have learnt so as to support children to fill in the gaps in their knowledge, but simply for marking sake.
How often do we as teachers feel the pressure that children need to perform so that, we as teachers look good for inspection to get our illusive good and outstanding school status? Children feel this unspoken pressure without a doubt. Letting this go and being with each child with where they are at supports them a hundred fold.
What a nurturing and supportive way to learn, where the joy of education can clearly be felt by both teacher and student, and how inspiring for the children to take this with them into further education, their life and family… and as a result inspiring many more… gorgeous to read, thank you Anonymous.
Dear Anonymous I wished that my teacher had known so much about assessing and marking like you had discovered: “Assessing how to connect to a student is what true marking is about. “
I can feel how accepting that marking is part of the whole, not separate from it, and creating space to mark individually, releases a lot of tension in both teacher and students. So many teachers I have known have found those piles of books to mark at the end of the day or week, a burden on their shoulders that never goes away, they are always playing catch up. This way, done at the time, brings a quality of aliveness and vitality to the whole inter connection between teacher and pupils, and what is being studied, and all benefit.
It is wonderful to know that there are teachers in the world that are looking at new ways to deal with age old issues within teaching such as exams and marking. Let’s face it, our current education system has failed us for the very reason that is outlined in this blog which is the lack of connection. All children want is to be connected with and all teachers want is to be connected with so when we make it about connection everyone wins.
It is common understanding that teaching can be a very exhausting job and that exhaustion is commonplace within the education system. So as you reveal “The levels of exhaustion I experienced made me feel racy and there was no connection with the students or with their work”, if this is the result of exhaustion then the quality that is currently in teaching is lacking. It is lacking the one thing you show to be a crucial element – Connection, in bringing back vitality and love to the teaching role.
Although I am not a child and no longer in school, I was recently in an assessment for some additional training, and the tension in the room was palpable. Both from the assessors who had a very strict set of criteria to fulfil, and from us the students who had to try and live up to what seemed like unrealistic expectations, all the while under the fear of failure and rejection from the college. I kept on wondering why it was that we were being assessed in this way, a way that almost seemed to be set up to make us fail, because it was so unsupportive. Yes, absolutely do asses me, mark me, see how well I can preform my duties, but surely we must always be equally cared for.
Recently, I heard a very experienced teacher describe the devastation of the education system, the way it strips us down, makes humans less than the material to be memorised, the lists, the facts, the mnemonics, the equations. This becomes our normal. We keep our eyes on the smart kids as the endorsement all is well. Do not look at their lives, and dare not ask them how they really are…work aside. We sweep the “not smart” kids under the carpet, blame them and ignore a crushing system.
It crushes children and it crushes teachers alike.
Blogs like this are crucial, because they inspire us to ask the deeper questions.
Every moment in the classroom is an opportunity for a child to feel valued and appreciated. The beauty of a primary classroom is that teachers have the same children everyday, all day, so there is ample scope to connect with each individual and confirm them all the time.
Schools have become factory’s that all have production schedules that must be maintained, standards will be met, all is laid out, been planned and approved! From this theme, we have created Tiger Mothers. Have we lost who we all are? Has it been chosen for us how they think we should be? Teachers like you Anonymous are breaking the mold by not making your students lose who they are and keeping the connection to each other, how it is meant to be.
What a different kind of school that would be, where assessments were all primarily based on levels of connection and then the content of the curriculum.
Your lovely blog Anonymous takes me back to many years ago when I was in primary school and one of the teachers I had was very loving and caring and truly met you when they were interacting with you. I can remember feeling very supported in their class and I enjoyed my days going to school while in that class.
It is very powerful when we are loving and caring when marking the assignment and then, from that connection, meet the child and pupil in person. This is quite different from the burden such an opportunity is usually considered to be.
Your blog is relevant for each of us, not only for teachers. In all our jobs we love the connection and without connection it doesn’t work and our work doesn’t have the quality it can have.
What a gorgeous blog, I almost felt being one of the children waiting for your mark, because of your vivid descriptions. And I absolutely agree with your conclusion: teaching is all about connection. From there it all starts.
‘A knowing glance of “you’ve got it”…’ The connection that is possible in the briefest of moments can never be underestimated. And this applies beyond the classroom to every interaction in our lives.
I love the way you have brought the focus back to the children with open encouragement and a deeper understanding of how you are able to support their ability to learn through your connection to yourself and others.
On top of the pressures that come with University exams, one of the things I struggle most to deal with is feeling the state everyone is in when they come to the exam room. It is very common to hear people talking about their lack of sleep and other forms of neglect they have been in.. just to prepare for the exam. This includes not exercising, isolating oneself from friends and family, living off 2 minute noodles and copious amounts of coffee and energy drinks. It is sad to see this and it is at this level that our education system fails us, at best we are conditioned to survive.
Assessments can be very challenging even for adults in a learning environment as what is being determined is if we have understood what we have learned to a sufficient level. Now if we have not maintained a sufficient level that we are deemed to have failed. It’s a terrible state of affairs given that we all learn differently and at different rates. None better or worse than the other. I love what you have presented, because it’s all about the connection you have with the children at school and that is the most important thing. With that you will automatically know what each child needs and how to support their learning.
Your blog is a very important message to all teachers. It is a great reminder and confirmation of why they actually choose to become teachers, because I am sure that an important part of the decision to become a teacher in the first place, was the connection they feel with children.
I have a young child who frequently tells me how stressed his teachers are. The feedback that the teachers have given me about my child is that he often rushes to complete his work and would do well to slow down, take greater care and begin to self correct. I feel that this is his response to a system that simply wants to see the answers and not meet him for who he is, its like he’s agreed to play a game that he can see little purpose in.
I cannot speak for the Australian education system but here in the UK our state system is squeezing teachers into an ever tighter corner where they are being forced to put results before their relationships with the kids. The overwhelm and anxiety that the teachers then take on impacts their wellbeing and job satisfaction, in turn this quality is felt by the children who Yes they are learning that 1+1 = 2 but equally that we are operating in a society that does not put people first , has put box ticking before the foundations of connections and relationships.
I feel many years ago when I was a student I never had any real connection with any teacher I ever had probably something I longed for without knowing. Having a teacher that can connect to the students like you anonymous is pure gold and makes me kind of jealous that I never had such a thing.
I noted from this blog that the change in perception about marking came from feeling the rush and harm in the body and how through observing and not reacting and blaming the process, the image being held about it was understood and let go of. Perhaps it was that marking was an unnecessary or even judgmental and therefore unpleasant task or something getting in the way of interaction – and when it was allowed to become simply connecting with the children in a different activity to the role of teaching, all of the overwhelm and rush just washed away. It is wondrous how our perception can keep us in movement and behaviour that harms, perhaps for many years, then a new perception can simply free us and bring more joy through our interactions.
Though I am not a teacher I also can do certain tasks in a rush, in overwhelm, and feeling racy and stressed – with a tense hard body as a result. Your blog has really supported me to see that compromising connection with myself and others is the first step into stress and harming my body, thankyou.
Thank you very much for sharing! I loved how you shared that when you started marking you no longer felt a connection to the steady pace you felt when you were teaching. We can use our rhythm to gauge whether what we are doing is congruent with rhythms that we know are established and are connected, it helps us from one moment to the next.
Its beautiful to hear that there are teachers that are assessing themselves and their own quality with such detail and care. In my experience as a parent of 5 children, the state or mode I am in is what most affects the kids on any given day. A while back I would have good days and really bad days with my kids, recently I have been way more focused on bringing a quality to my movement and voice and being when I am with them. Now the “bad” days are few and far between.
What you bring in this blog is remembering that every moment in the day can be enjoyed, even what might be perceived as the”hard part”…. if you enjoy it, they do.
I love the way that you make it a partnership Anonymous, working together with each child to come to a unified understanding rather than making the marking a separate, cold and clinical activity which feels totally divorced from the children themselves. May this become part of the curriculum of our future.
Yes Jeanette MacDonald I enjoyed reading this aspect to. There was no ‘teacher’ ‘student’ has being worn in this equation!
Yes I would have to agree with that! The connection that comes with this simple act is priceless and would hold a special memory for our young of the joys of learning.
I teach English in a high school and in the run up to a piece of assessment, I engage the child to understand they already know the answers; I connect to each student and give them a sense of confidence to simply unfold the learning within them. The effort and joy they come to the task with is always amazing. The improvement in their writing is incredible. When I then mark the paper, it is important to connect to the child’s unfolding, effort and development and not focus only on the rubrics and criteria. Connecting to the child and actually being with the child/young adult as you mark their paper is powerful and takes the sense of overwhelm of the piles and piles of papers. You get to ‘hang out’ with that child for a few moments. You then get a true sense of their learning and how best to support them; if I approach it from overwhelm I tend to assess only what they have ‘done’ and this can sabotage the connection. Being aware to this minute detail of the pressure and overwhelm that education can put us in an incredible part of the unfolding nature of true teaching. It is all about the true connection with a student, always.
Just brilliant anonymous. Teaching absolutely is about connection. When connection occurs sure learning can begin as a child/young adult is being given the opportunity to connect to themselves and unfold the knowledge and wisdom which actually already exists within them. As I read your blog I can feel the joy of learning being facilitated by a teacher. They feel their potential and the opportunity to develop and unfold. Whereas, with the usual marking, it is the work that is being assessed, the curriculum which is being connected to and immediately a child feels a sense of having to attain something from outside of themselves, rather than a sense of knowing and unfolding. The difference in their sense of their own worth is light years apart – marking with connection confirms them and who they are; marking without connection creates anxiety of not being or doing enough.
It is so true that the quality of connection has a huge effect on children’s learning. This highlights the great responsibility that a teacher has in a classroom, of meeting every child and confirming that who they are is very amazing as they have a lot to offer, so they learn how to be themselves with confidence in the world. What a beautiful position to hold, one that deserves to be deeply appreciated.
I love the description of how the children respond to this. You can feel the joy in them – of being met, seen and connected with. As a child in a classroom, much time is spent observing the teacher up the front of the room. They see a lot of the teacher, more that the teacher may be aware of. How lovely to have the opportunity to share themselves with you as a teacher who meets them back.
I have always had a tendency to focus on getting things done. When I do this, connection is not even in the same realm. I have tunnel vision on the outcome. And whilst I may get a lot done, there is an empty feeling to this kind of achievement. Connection is what fulfils us and makes for a rich life.
Here is s question, based on the recall of a high school event. Can marking at a ‘distant’ be accomplished in a connected way?
The memory this triggered happened in year 10. We had be given an assignment and months later no marks appeared. A few of us asked the teacher why and he laughed and said he had lost them. Even writing this I can still feel the absolute rage I had in that moment – yes, this was to a degree about the missing mark, but it was also about the dismissiveness, the lack of care and respect from teacher to pupil. Zero connection.
Your blog unlocked this old and deep hurt, still affecting me years later, so a huge thank you for that.
But it also prompted the question about connection in distance marking. I suspect it is possible, and would love a teacher to respond if possible.
A bit of personal experience here: I remember feeling like a flower that opens in the warmth and light of the sun when a teacher connected to me. Those classes that had no connection other than to curriculum were cold and barren by obvious contrast.
Just being seen, a warm and tender hand on the shoulder – what if that is all education is missing? The burden of demand upon teachers is making this almost impossible. For how difficult is it to be tender and connected, to take time, when you are overwhelmed by the need to fulfil compliances?
Children and teachers are both missing out when we make all about the chase for marks, nothing about the development of the child.
exactly Rachel! Teachers are so pressured to be compliant and push through a lot of content that has to be delivered, this system doesn’t always give recognition to that fact that children may come in from lunchtimes or from home and major things are happening for them which they cant always just forget about and learn- which is what we are expected to do.
It is so beautiful to feel the difference between the way you approached assessing children in your classroom when you were racing around the room to when you were present with what you were doing and who was I front of you. With the second approached I could feel I wanted my turn with you also as the depth of connection offered feels so honoring of the relationship between you and the students, as does the way you confirm who they are knowing that there is great wisdom within every single of your students.
Thank you for such an insightful article on the how assessing or marking is an opportunity to build on connections with students, making the most one the ‘one on one’ time together. I can remember that my favourite teachers were the ones that met me, were present with me and my questions, and I could feel that they cared about what and how much I was learning. What you have shared offers huge support and should be available for all teachers to read.
Loved reading this blog Anonymous – I remember fondly the teachers I had that took the time to connect – and many did not hesitate to stay back after class to ensure a question was understood, or to give feedback or words of encouragement. Teachers are such an integral part of our society and deserve to be truly supported, rather than pushed to hit “performance targets”.
I love this blog! And it works both ways, I feel. Sitting an assessment in the fullness of you, not stressing about getting a certain result, is just as healing for those who are involved. Imagine sitting next to someone who is calm and centred during an exam. Imagine marking the assessment done in this energy. Because it would be felt on some level, whether it is actively noticed or not. The healing power of this is too much for me to even imagine! Thank you for sharing this gorgeous way of approaching a task that we can all too quickly judge as a pain, when it is in fact not, it is simply a part of the current process.
Teachers tend to think about marking only from their point of view and forget that it can mean a lot to the children. Connecting to them the way you do Anon, takes the focus off attaining good marks and gives the child the sense that they are worthwhile no matter what marks they achieve. This is such a game changer as it starts the child off in life knowing they are being seen for who they are, not judged on how well they do.
This blog is very healing to read, if we were all introduced to ‘marking’ in this way we may just have had completely different educational outcomes. Your students are extremely blessed Anonymous.
I wonder if it isn’t just the connection when delivering the marks in person but I still remember – 40 years later – a few times where a teacher actually understood and responded to what I wrote. We never spoke about these items but I still remember them.
Thank you Anonymous! What you have helped expose is how we can often see certain things as being a ‘chore’. When these things are seen as a chore then we tend to want to rush them, we want the moment to be over as quick as possible, to ‘get on with it’. I love how you brought your own awareness to this, and then chose to make it a different experience for yourself, giving yourself permission to slow down, really, and stop the rush, stop the disconnection and instead appreciate that marking papers is no different to sitting with that student face to face. And like wise we can say that when we stop seeing chores for what they are, then the job becomes something that we want to connect with and be with and so in the end we realise it is about being with ourselves and having fun with us that then spills out to those around us.
What a difference a simple choice to remain open and connected made to you but more importantly to everyone in your world, I can only imagine the difference it made to the room the quality of interactions filling the space rather than the get it over and done with interaction that was prior. What you have so beautifully expressed and shared is amazing and thank you for sharing it with us.
What is amazing is that the work remained the same but everything changed when you connected to being open with what needed to be done, this can be transferred to every day life, recently we took on the cleaning of our home and we really enjoy cleaning our house where as before it was a chore that needed to be done not enjoyed.
This is an absolute joy to read and I shall share it widely, it is a must read for all teachers!
Thank you, Anonymous. I love how there can be countless ways to connect to and confirm children, through a cheeky wink as you say or a beaming smile. Our expressions of love can be very cute and gorgeous at all ages, if we let each other in.
Ask any adult what they can remember most about school and it will be the connection they had with the teacher, true connection made lasts a life whilst education can just be temporary.
I love reading what you have shared Anonymous and it makes me realise that when we focus on ‘getting the job done’ we get so driven by the outcome that we tend to lose ourselves in the process. Sure the job gets done, but what is the quality of the imprint that we leave behind? Making the choice to remain connected and engaged during every step of the way means that we bring our glorious All to each given moment so that nothing and no one gets left behind.
Connection not correction – your have revolutionised education with this simple gesture!
What a transformation: from marking as an arduous chore to it being another facet of relationship building and inspiring connections to ourselves and learning. Marking need not be a judgment rife with failure and success, but a confirmation and exploration, an open door rather than a closed one. Thank you for this simple but life changing article.
Reading this blog makes me what to be a teacher! How gorgeous to bring support and care to the way children learn and feel at school. Teachers have the ability to transform a child’s learning experience which will take them into how they learn throughout their life. Being hard on oneself is a terrible habit to get into, but with caring teachers like this, the possibility of that becoming a nasty habit is far less.
All children want is for us to deeply connect with them. They feel everything and know exactly when we are and when we are not present with them and all their unwanted behaviours are really just attempts to call us back to re-connect. When connected to children they are free to respond with all their innate amazing and inspirational depth of wisdom and joy.
This brought me back to my school days and my experiences as a young child. As a child I was also able to tell my teachers intentions, where and what their capacity was as a person teaching. At some level I understood that the teacher is doing the best they can.
Your blog touches my heart Anonymous. I felt so much understanding for yourself first and then for all the pupils. This feels very loving
So so beautiful – I remember as a child how i used to play teachers and we had a whole classroom set up at home with whiteboards and books, I never really liked the teaching but I loved marking working, I would spend hours perfecting my ticks. I remember looking carefully at my different teachers ticks and I could tell instantly what mood they had been in when they marked the work according the the type of tick i had received. Every part of teaching is important and communicates something.
I love what you have said here Nicole! I too used to have a whole classroom of dolls set up in our covered-in back veranda, and used to mark the dolls’ and teddies’ work. I can’t say I applied that same attention to the detail of the ticks and nor did I know what mood the teacher was in when they ticked my work! That is amazing, such attention to detail, something I am learning now. You are so right, every detail of quality movement matters! We are learning that there are no on and off buttons.
When we consider that marking is the feedback children get on what they produce it is easy to feel the importance of the quality given to the marking process. It is part and parcel of the child’s understanding of themselves and what they are learning, how amazing then is it, to have ‘marking’ as a confirmation of them selves by human connection, being met, and nurtured.
I still notice in myself how the way I have been assessed at school has its influence when I begin with something I have never done before, there is this sense of waiting till I am approved. Now I know I can choose to feel me in everything I do and confirm myself but nevertheless it is a huge pattern started from young. So reading your playful way of connecting with the children throughout you teaching day including marking and assessing feels absolutely gorgeous and true. You are a beautiful reflection for the children, their parents, your colleagues and the school system.
On re-visiting this blog today, I was aware of the opportunities we have to bring a different quality to every thing we do in life. Substitute the word marking and teaching for any daily activity e.g. housework, meetings, being at work, driving, preparing food etc with the attitude ‘getting things done’ quickly, basically just ticking boxes and a long-term burden and pressure on our body, our life and others is created. Inevitably along the way illness and disease arise from the disregard with ourselves and others through this constant rushing or being in overwhelm to live without presence with the greatest loss of having little or no true connection with people we are interacting with along the way.
“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”.
Thanks Anonymous, I love how you describe the openness of the children and their delight in being truly met by you in the process of marking their work. It goes to show that any task can be joyful if we see it has an opportunity to deepen our connection to one another.
This is a great blog and to be shared with all teachers. The marking of work can often feel like a judgement especially with the connection not felt with the person first.
I know as a child when I got a red pen strike through my lovely work it felt harsh and critical.
Almost as though the teacher had to make a ‘correction’ to show they had looked at it.
When ‘marking’ becomes ‘connecting’ then true education is awakened. ✨
What you describe here anon is a powerful way to observe and engage in life by assessing our own commitment to life in terms of the quality of our connections with self and others. A shift in focus from delivering curriculum solely aimed at preparing us for certain careers or how to pass assessments to continue in higher education, might mean education could confirm our naturally innate skills of connection and feeling life.
“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”.
Beautiful anonymous, so simple yet a powerful way to connect with and engage students. I loved reading about how you came to this awareness and how you transformed your marking and assessment methods.
A truly beautiful article highlighting the power of connection and the difference it makes to learning… and an absolute pleasure to read. Having not experienced this at school myself I can only imagine how bringing this level of care into the classroom would have supported me and my willingness to learn. Kids are suffering in the disconnection that comes with a currently non person-centred educational system, so there is no doubt that the world needs more teachers willing to do this.
Thanks Anon for showing how we can bring fun and playfulness into the classroom through all aspects of our work.
The way you describe how you were with the children Anonymous, really reflects the importance of true connection with the children and how that true connection holds them and allows them the space to be more themselves in a much more natural way, unimposed by expectation or control and more able to connect with their abilities where there is no struggle or trying. That way we all get to experience what each other brings naturally, which is what its all about.
Education should be all about connection and just that who needs to know their times tables back to front and inside out if we have true connection with ourselves and others life will always flow and be abundant. At the end of the day life needs to be about evolution not stagnant education that delivers us very short of our true capabilities.
As part of my job I take classes and do 1hr workshops in schools with young people which I love. I fully respect teachers and the job they do, it can be really hard and challenging work but also really rewarding. It is great that you went with what you felt and to do the marking in the same way you do the teaching.
How different it is when the children feel part of what is happening rather than being on the receiving end of judgment, comparison and competition. This is a beautiful example of knowing already that the children are all they need to be and the amazingness is being lived from within. Thanks Anonymous for sharing your expanded understanding of this new way of marking – it is clear that you have expanded and grown through the experience also
Gorgeous, what a change up to the normal rush mark. I can just imagine the stress teachers are under to mark all the work to a certain time frame and to the curriculum. Rather then engaging with the students and supporting them full throttle.
Thank you Anon, I love your way of teaching and interacting with the children, making class fun interesting , your connection to the children is so beautiful and supportive to each child. So different to my long ago school days, where there was much anxiety about getting it wrong and the results that would follow.
Thank you anonymous for sharing this with us. You actually expand on the actually true meaning, not always lived, of teaching.. How it is not about results but about connection.. How it is not about doing good or right, but having fun.. Etc. Etc. I love how the truth of education is being explored here, and for us here to expand..
I feel that marking work is much like reflecting on the outcomes of our choices and I know that for me sometimes this is something that I too want to rush or ignore but in truth there is so much I can learn from doing this.
I can very much connect to what you share here Anonymous, I always longed for the connection with teachers, as I knew that was the best way to learn. I can see the burden that teachers often find the marking and assessing the work, and I find it great to read how you changed and came to see that it is about connection. And that is what is lacking in education in the present time.
Unfortunately our education system has become focussed on the results and the ‘doing’, so it’s inspiring to read about how you are in the classroom and with your students and the positive impact this must have on them if they feel they have been truly met and listened to. Well done.
True learning comes not from knowledge, but from connection.
How wonderful that you were able to feel the difference in your body in the two scenarios: “I could feel my relaxed and open body turn into a hard machine, ready to race through the assembly line of paper marking.”, and then choosing to make the choice to return to feeling relaxed and open as you began to mark. The children certainly would have been able to feel the difference, as evidenced by their responses; such a beautiful lesson for you all, one that I am sure will ripple on into your lives.
What stood out for me whilst reading this blog was how the children will pick up on everything the teacher is going through and how they will know that the teacher does not enjoy that part of their job. Imagine if all of the teachers took on board what you have shared how different schooling would be.
This turns the education system on it’s head. We are so conditioned to need to ‘get things right’ and to feel stupid or silly if we don’t get great marks. By teachers remaining open and using marking and assessment as an extension of their teaching, we can hold an entirely different relationship with learning, and also ourselves.
I love this line, Anonymous – “the children were part of the teaching rather than doing all the learning” as I can feel how you honour what each child can bring, and by connecting in this lovely way with them, marking has become about them and not getting the job done. How blessed they are to have such a loving teacher who is taking responsibility for the quality of their being in the classroom each day.
Anonymous, its interesting to read this, ‘The piles were never-ending and the pace with which marking was done was fast, with little regard for the student and their work.’ I can relate to this at work, after working in a very loving, steady, calm way with my clients, when Its time to feel in the activity log i rush through this, scribbling and getting an achy hand and arm as a result, this feels really unloving and unsupportive for me and my clients, i can feel how loving it is to see everything as equally important and to stay present and calm consistently, thank you for writing this and i look forward to experimenting with lovingly and calmly filing in my paperwork.
Anonymous introduces to us the fact that to assess a persons work can be about the learning and expanding that they have experienced, and how assessments do not have to be about a marked or judged criteria. This is so important in the development of ourselves as global citizens, because as we learn about the value of ourselves as people, not needing to reach a certain mark and just being accepted for who we are, then we can grow in to adults who are less likely to condemn and judge others, holding everyone with that same and equal regard. This is the path back to unity amongst humanity, with teachers like Anonymous working and serving in the classroom.
A fascinating blog. The difference just in the way you write about the classroom marking shows so much space opening up as you come to value the interaction with the students, and appreciate what they get from the interaction, rather than being overwhelmed by everything that needs to be done. This child centric approach feels just gorgeous, as they are met (right or wrong) and you get the opportunity to connect to them.
It is astounding that teachers basically have to fight for enough time in order to connect with their pupils. I like your approach which was to listen to your body, value what it was telling you and chose to do something differently. That way you created space, which is time to connect with the children and the work they had done and bring joy back into marking. This to me is true teaching.
Great article on connecting to students whatever we do, teaching or marking. A level playing field awash with equality and true joy, the joy of connecting with another/others. And no exhaustion in sight!
What an awesome ripple affect this had on the children you teach Anonymous, as when they receive back their marks, they are not being handed back in the pressure, drive and overwhelm that was your previous experience, but in the grace of staying connected with you and in turn with them. Maybe this is where some of the high expectations and pressure children put them selves under comes from. Not having this, makes way for an enjoyable and freeing learning experience for all.
Assessing and marking is the school-sanctioned way for teachers to connect with *every* student. What an opportunity to connect.
What a gift of confirmation you bring to these young people Anonymous! Teachers are perfectly positioned to offer this confirmation almost every day to a child., building foundations and supporting a child’s sense of self appreciation- a priceless gift!
Marking in this way is a great way to ‘mark’ the connection between student and teacher, that allows the teacher to also assess much more than the test or task that is being assessed.
“Assessing how to connect to a student is what true marking is about.” Absolutely and then education would be transformed into pure joy for all.
To an outsider, marking feels like a chore, devoid of the personal interactions that happen in face to face teaching, done at home, away from all distractions. To mark work in the presence of a child, making it playful, affectionate, confirming, feels a more powerful way to enhance each child’s learning.
I love your list of some of the ways you interact with the children. It feels so natural and makes perfect sense. Most adults would respond equally as well to interactions of this nature.
“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.” This is pure gold – a living, breathing and a real example of how powerful and what an amazing difference connection brings to everyday living.
It blows me away to stop and feel the enormous wisdom that is shared just by simply reading the title of your blog.
This blog is a great reminder that we do not have to do everything by rushing and focusing on what needs to be done but instead focus on the quality we are doing it. I often catch myself getting caught up in drive and doing and feel the impact on my body but when I connect to the quality of what I am doing I can feel my body say thank you.
Many teachers can relate to this ‘ 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.’ I see it in the schools I teach in – very little connection or regard for the student. What’s more important – a student going home feeling they were seen and connected with at school or the whole pile of marking completed. I have found that both can happen with attention to our quality.
“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.” This is a wonderful example of the amazingly beautiful impact of true connection and it can be applied to absolutely everything we do.
This makes my heart sing. I really feel the warmth and support you offer the children you teach and their love of your connection. As the UK government continue to bring in greater and greater demands of younger and younger children I cannot help but wish they would learn from your lead – be inspired and bring the connection, fun, lightness and joy back to our schools.
I love how what you’re doing here Anonymous is setting a different kind of foundation for the children. One where there is more opportunity for them not to feel apprehensive about marking time, one that helps them understand that the mark is not so important but instead that it’s ok if they need more time or more support with whatever they are working and then feeling comfortable to then seek that.
So lovely to read Anonymous. The way you describe your ‘over the shoulder’ marking sounds so amazing…I love how much the kids melt as you walk around the room patiently waiting their turn to be met by you. So unbelievably cute.
At school, as a child I remember feeling so much, and that I knew so much about the people around me and the teacher. There is a built in structure in the education system, “that the teacher knows more” this gets in the way of children and teachers connecting by their essence, which is what education is at large missing.
Our approach to children as with people in general can be restrictive of the connection and expression or it can be supportive of it opening the full potential of any given situation for connection, true communication and all to learn from the experience offered.
Yes Michael. It is very restrictive. I often question how many adults would feel if they were treated the way children get treated at school?
The most important thing children can learn is to stay connected to themselves and to love and honour themselves for just being them. It seems that you are an amazing teacher and these children are blessed by your foundational method of connection for they are rare in the teaching profession – but should be the norm. You are very inspiring dn I hope many other teachers get to read this blog.
I agree. Children will feel so Supported to stay in connection with themselves if they feel connected to by the adults around them. They would not then feel a need to disconnect or check out from themselves or life.
Yes. For them to know they are already enough and perfect as they are.
What you share in this blog, Anonymous, is how important relationship with others is. Building this at early age is so important as it builds a foundation that is solid in themselves and develops the ability to interact and relate with others as they grow older. What you are doing here is so valuable and an inspiration for us all.
The word that stands out for me in this blog is ‘playful’, it feels that the task at hand can seem onerous and understandably so with the pressure and workload, yet when we stay playful such tasks no longer burden us in the same way but instead can become fun and actually a joy to do.
Gosh this is amazing! Reading this I can feel how I was, on the receiving end of markings as a student, in a belief that marking had to be very structural and just with a number that you get back. Reading how you approach the children and give them attention and the absolute support they need feels amazing. It brings the true purpose of teaching to the fore and that is to teach how things work to other people, this way of marking you describe optimalises this learning process for everyone individually.
It is gorgeous reading what you have written. This connection and joy with the children is what every person who has chosen teaching seeks, and it is what the children love. And the fact that you have found not only is it possible to maintain the same quality within tasks that most assume is impossible such as assessing and marking, but through how we choose to engage we could actually use such tasks to deepen the connection, joy and learning is awesome.
I like how you were aware and observed how certain things you like and very much enjoy about teaching and than others like marking make you recoil and go into a must be done, need to get through it mode and that you did no leave it to chance but recognised that it does not have to be that way and did in fact change it. This is enormous, as we get very much taught and also experience it that way, that there are things you can’t change and you simply do it without questioning it. But, as you show, this is not true, it simply comes back to stay connected and not lose trust in what we deep down know to be true.
Hi Anonymous, what you share here is how education is about connection and letting out what is already there within these children. And also connection as the foundation and support for them to learn new things.
Anonymous I can feel how you’ve transformed assessing into an opportunity to connect personally with each child and understand where their learning is at – love how the kids light up when it’s their turn to receive this attention, and I can only imagine how this inspires them. How amazing that this transformation came not from more funding or more of anything external, but simply from your changed way of approaching the task. This is an inspiration to us all no matter what our occupation!
Anonymous this is a very inspiring piece of writing and one I feel is not purely for teachers or for that matter, marking. I got to feel how our connection to our body and the way that we move could in fact transform any situation. Fantastic stuff!
There was a clear differentiation between the flow and enjoyment of teaching and the structure and chore of marking, where to sum up the piece of work with a number or a letter felt devoid of the nurturing that you know you bring. I find what you share about ‘over the shoulder marking’ so wonderful – what child would ever trade this connection! even for an A* grade.. it has so much value in the class room (and out!)
So often we are anxious when we are being assessed. It can be a moment of judgment where we are deemed not good enough, which can further cement a lack of self worth. The children’s response of having fun with you and treasuring the marking (connecting) time shows there was not an ounce of this, allowing them to feel safe and relaxed. As you say Anonymous, if the support is there, the kids can just be themselves and don’t need to strive for perfection.
Wow! As I read the sentence acknowledging the importance of that one on one time with each student and connecting with them in whatever way was needed, I remembered how much I loved that one on one time with my teachers in primary school. In a class of 30 it is easy to feel like a number, just one of the crowd. But to be met with playfulness and ease would be very special. Receiving attention not for the work you do but for who you are – that is a huge gift.
Hear, hear well said and great blog. Teaching and schools should be about connecting to children and helping them develop, grow and learn not simply be about grades. There is such a pressure on teachers and students to get good grades. No wonder teachers go into overwhelm with marking as essentially they are graded on their pupils performance /results. It is time we see the bigger picture and make school about developing and bringing up the next generation to be all that they are and not simply another number.
Marking is a very strong way to connect – it is an opportunity to present truth even in a very confined environment as the truth can be completely nonverbal.
“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.” When it becomes all about the marks and not the students we end up with a world that is striving to be recognised for what they do and not who they are. Your blog shows that the education system does need to change, exhausted teachers are not able to support the true wellbeing of children in our schools today.
This had me pondering on living life and writing about living life and how much can be lost if we seperate and give one more importance than the other or have an idea that one is easier than the other. Just as you allowed your living and enjoying of life to be there in your marking so can we do this in our writing or any other form of expression.
I love this article, and the idea of assessing and more importantly reading what support is needed for each child through observation and evaluation of their work. It’s fascinating that something like marking, which exhausts millions of teachers across the world, can actually be a way to really connect with the students and their work.
This is beautiful to feel the connection and simplicity that can be brought to so many things that cause us stress and anxiety. The joy and fun in life when allowed with ourselves in our everyday lives and tasks changes everything with true connection and presence. What a great support shared for all teachers and everyone thank you .
Anonymous, this is amazing; ‘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 have observed that children can be hard on themselves and critical if they do not understand something, it is really lovely that in your class they feel so supported that they are open to learning, that they are not hard on themselves because they feel supported, this way they will learn so much easier and enjoy learning too, if children feel defeated and unsure about something and do not feel that the support is there this takes the fun out of learning and makes it hard work for them.
Thank you for the reminder to not get caught up in thinking different parts of a role are more or less worthy. I have recently been feeling overwhelmed by the amount of notes I have to record about clients. I have been assigning less value to this activity and getting behind with it but can feel that it is a great opportunity to re-connect with each client and reflect on what would support them to move on with their lives.
‘Assessing how to connect to a student is what true marking is about.’ This is so inspiring because in approaching teaching spherically and making it all about connecting to individual students, not about the output and ticking boxes, assessment becomes a continuation of the learning process and not a standalone arduous and functional task that easily slides into overwhelm. It is so lovely to read how your students responded to your choice to stay connected to them and the support that each needed to progress in their learning.
I can feel how I’m still burdened with the demands of the way I’ve been tested. Always wanted to perform best. This pressure has become so ‘normal’, that I also have been putting others under the same demands. Now I’m letting go more and more of these layers of hardness and protection. I felt while reading this article that an assesment actually just is a moment to see where you’ve got to. Not to prove anything to anybody, but just a stop moment. It should be a moment to appreciate to where we’ve got to and also a moment to maybe feel where we want to evolve next… How liberating and loving it will be if our children would be ‘tested’ this way! I already sense the Joy and Appreciation from them and from the teachers!
Can I join your class when I return to this earth next time around, Anonymous, I would love to have you being the one marking my work? I love the way you described how you now approach the task, playfully, really connecting to your students, a light touch on the shoulder etc., all of which will be so supportive to your young students. How different it is to what I remember, judgmentalism, pressure, badgering, all completely counter-productive to a child really enjoying learning, that instead set up barriers in their own bodies that don’t let them take in even what you are saying. This is the way of the future for teaching, let’s hope it happens before too long. You are making the children feel important, encouraging them, makes the learning so much more enjoyable and much easier for them all. There is so much assessment going on now, it is taking all the playfulness out of schooling.
I wish I had had a teacher like that. I may not have looked out the window so often, nor spent so long in agony waiting for the last half hour to finish. Education is important, but not nearly as much as confirming our connection.
Assessing and marking is part of a way of walking in life that confirms that performance is everything and that you have to prove yourself all the time. In that you also learn that you get confirmed based on a doing.
Assessing and marking is usually an activity that comes from judgement. We judge how another one has performed regarding the ideal picture of that being evaluated. As such, it is an activity that requires the one carrying it out, to go into deep separation (including with self). This is why it tends to be such an unpleasant and burdensome activity. One has to reduce itself and get to reduce others significantly in order to go about it.
Assessing and marking is the process of separating the being from the doing and is marking the way to be identified by what we do, the skills we have and what we are able to deliver. If we truly connect with people and also make education about connection and love the being is always confirmed first and then the skills are marked without reducing the student to be identified by them.
I can remember noticing the red pen marking on school work i submitted and picking up on the mood of the teacher depending on how deep the pen had been pressed into the page, the rushes of the squiggle, multiple lines to highlight something, ticks, crosses, circles or comments at the end. It was very easy to feel the mood of the teacher, and as a child, process this in a way that maybe I had done something wrong to make the teacher react like this. Just goes to show the level of sensitivity and awareness children have. Wouldn’t it be great if the curriculum included lessons that support children reading these observations, which would stop the setting up behaviour pathways that shut down the natural awareness children have. This would build a resilient, less reactive and more understanding generation.
What a great point Johanne. Seemingly simple situations like this which one thinks wouldn’t harm can bear great consequences further down the line. We shut down our sensitivity way too early, it should never go at all for truly it supports us, and consequently live from protection of getting hurt. Learning to ne’er stand these things would help us all massively.
The moment spent with a child in connection is everlasting. I know until today how my body registered the level of love in those moments and it supports my trust in God up until today ongoingly.
Whilst reading your lovely personal account of teachIng, I could feel the joy the children felt by you making a loving connection with each child the focus in your teaching method and in assessing their progress. Such a beautiful change from making it all about the task involved and getting it done, which feels so robotic and impersonal.
‘Every lesson was simple and the children were part of the teaching rather than doing all the learning’. On reading this sentence anonymous, you bring so much understanding and clarity of what teaching is all about. Children are our teachers too.
Feels like you are on the right track anonymous by making sure you are connected with yourself first which then delivers what is needed in each and every moment. Sounds gorgeous to be a student in your class.
I can see from your blog how powerfully this change in how you mark school work will reflect on these students lives. As they get older, there will be a new attitude about receiving feedback, making mistakes and the whole framework of learning itself. Thank you so much for taking the initiative with this.
What a microcosm the way we teach is for how we all are in the whole of life. Constantly rushing through, to push that deadline, to complete the task or tick the box, yet never stopping to feel or smile. Your sharing Anonymous takes me back to my school days and how underneath the blazer and tie what I yearned for the most was not the knowledge but a feeling of togetherness there. So how would it be if we made our schools, classrooms and universities, centres of connection first?
What you have said here Anonymous is such an important and key thing about the fact that it is the quality of our living that counts: ‘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.’
Putting an ‘idea’ about assessing and marking first, before making a deep connection to our own being, brings us almost inevitably into overwhelm. If we stay connected and with our body a richness of life is there and overwhelm cannot enter.
“…understanding about how the children crave this connection and wait patiently for their turn…” your blog highlights how everything is about connection, about truly meeting another, and to do this we must first be meeting ourselves, so when we do meet another, there no trying to meet or engage, it all there already.
Many people seek recognition as a poor substitute to true connection, and excelling at school work and being a good student was the way I chose to do that, and it went down well with the direction the entire education system wanted to lead us to – total disconnection. And when we look at the whole system, to change it seems like an almost impossible task, but the teachers, who are the one that have the direct, daily contact with the children, have a possibility to bring a change in the way they teach and be with children, as you have shared so beautifully. The way we are makes up the way the world is, and that is the easiest point where we could start making changes.
Anon, this connection is so important with ‘everything’ we do and what a brilliant example to demonstrate this when it comes to education and marking and assessing work. Imagine if we applied this approach to every aspect of education and every aspect of life?!
Kids love to be included and engaged and with connection we are open to receive and discover more. Your classes sound like fun and your loving connection with your students is inspiring to feel.
“Assessing how to connect to a student is what true marking is about.” I agree anon, the teachers I remember from school are the ones who made an effort to connect, that is what is important. The whole assessment and grading system can separate and divide us.
There are so many ways and yet a simplicity to how we can connect with another. When reading this the list of different ways you know you have connected with the children Anon I could really feel it is about the quality of the connection and not so much what it looks like.
What you write here is very lovely and can be applied to all areas of life not just at school. For example, as an employer I regularly give feedback (mark) the work of my staff as they do of my work. We are all forever learning and we all learn from each other and share with each other. It is another beautiful way we connect.
It feels very important that you have nominated the exhaustion and raciness that you felt as a teacher, working against the clock and with huge demands from the curriculum. It is so draining to be ahead of yourself, always trying to get the current job done in the pressure of getting to the next. I find this is in nursing too. It has made as profound difference to how I feel nursing to not get caught in the next tasks and stay with what I am doing and not let myself become stressed about all I have to do. Staying with my body and being gentle with myself have been key, but also knowing the importance of each connection I make. I am not just giving pills or doing a task, there is a connection however brief to be made with a person. Knowing that makes my work so valuable and stops me from trashing my body in raciness.
When I think of how most teachers would mark assignments, this is completely different to what has been presented. At uni the tutors are given a tight time limit for marking each paper. This ensures that the tutor is constantly tense and racing the clock, seeing how quickly they can get through the enormous pile of marking they have to complete by a certain deadline. This completely takes away any joy in connecting with the students expression.
It is so great Mary to hear of someone who has experienced this kind of connection and support at school. Assessments and exams were originally intended to be there to help the student – to see where the bits were that they hadn’t understood and then being able to help them by explaining it in another way or going over it step by step. But exams turned into a combative war with student pitted against student. No wonder marking became a drag. If we keep it simple, factual and loving, amazing connection plus learning can happen.
This was such an awesome blog to read about marking children’s work as a teacher, and how inspiring a teacher can be. Children are blessed to have a teacher that is all about connection. This way of approaching the teaching role would produce far better results and children would be more confident in their ability to understand the world.
Your choice anonymous to stop and connect more to the steady pace in which you were teaching, goes far deeper than just a change of pace, it entirely changes the feeling in the room, that now we come to correction we have to get serious and go fast and hard. What does this say to the children on an energetic level and what do they feel….. You are about to be judged as an individual and you are no longer part of the group that was having fun, but singled out as passing or failing the exercise and that’s a serious matter, adding to the emotional ups and downs, disconnection and separation from the group, which I know as a child was very traumatic.
Bringing such a tenderness to yourself and your class feels like the true connection we all crave, rather than feel the burden of the fast paced dash around to correct work. I feel every moment you are now in connection with the children you are teaching more than the class plan, they are learning to trust, accept, appreciate and stay fun and light.
It is beautiful how we can just stop and connect to what our body is feeling, when we connect like this the body does not feel any overwhelm, it is open and allowing. I am fishing the more and more I connect to my body, my day and daily tasks just flow by smoothly. When I am not connected to my body, my mind can take over, leaving me in overwhelm and disconnected.
What a joy it would be to have you as a teacher Anonymous, this way of participating and forming relationships with your students will be an invaluable way forward for them in not only their schooling, but as in students of life.
Beautiful Anonymous you can feel how this approach to marking and assessing offers so much more to the teacher and children as they are gifted a true moment of connection.
Just reading the first couple of paragraphs anonymous I felt the hurt by the children of not having a moment of connection with you and their work seen as their unique expression. As a teacher you have changed this connection and that is Gold for a child.
As a teacher I loved reading this as I could relate to sometimes feeling overwhelmed with the amount of marking that is required, however like you share when the same level of care is put into this component it is very valuable for the students and it confirms their efforts and supports them to appreciate this too.
What I got so clearly is that when we naturally allow ourselves to do something, there is a flow, harmony and joy but when we get in the way by deeming it a chore, for example. we lose this flow as it feels cumbersome and a chore. And when we do that we harden our bodies. Thank you for highlighting how this choice has such an effect on our bodies and in a way that people can relate to.
Love your words Anonymous – ‘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.’
There are two things here for me – one the mindset of dread and loathing that persists about marking, which then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and the other, equally if not more important, being the connection between teacher and child, teacher and class. It would be curious to research the correlation between a teacher’s level of connection with their pupils and their individual and overall class marks over time. I’m convinced we’d see some mind-blowing results for the positive. But in a world of education which requires metrics, hoops and hurdles from its teachers, marks and grades have become the be-all and end-all in the leaderboard stakes that schools have to contend with – very often at the expense of real teaching and real connection.
I agree Cathy, ‘marks and grades have become the be-all and end-all in the leaderboard stakes that schools have to contend with – very often at the expense of real teaching and real connection.’ This skewers and warps every day interactions with children as teachers face pressure to get marks for league table results and performance related pay.
Children have been reduced to mark producing units, used to promote the school’s performance, thus build its reputation through metrics. What of the children themselves?
Is this assessment too harsh? Look to the young people struggling with university and college, indifferent about work, and lacking in purpose and commitment to developing a career and the answer to the question of harshness is revealed. The children and young people are the perfect expose of a flawed system. We an blame them, or we can look at the system.
What a gorgeous sharing Anonymous on the power of true connection in our everyday lives. Teachers like you are very valuable and needed in the school environment to support children to feel safe to remain open and to express themselves freely.
As a primary teacher I can relate to everything you share about marking Anonymous. I often feel the weight of having to get through a few set of books and if for some reason I don’t stay on top of it the pressure in my body mounts. Of course the children will feel this and it will affect them. I feel inspired to go into work tomorrow with a different slant and make sure that each time I am with a child, (or not) that it is a moment to connect whether verbally, or through a written comment. Connection is the key to all learning!
I love that you kept it about connecting to the children the whole time and by the sounds of it they loved it too.
Shouldn’t this be what school, and life in general, is about? Connecting to others – making life about people rather than achievements and things? A gorgeous example of how we choose to be can make such a difference in the life of others.
When we don’t appreciate what we are bringing to whatever we are doing we immediately go into ‘function’. It’s no wonder the raciness, overwhelm and nervous tension is there as we are not there to feel how much is taking place in that one single moment.
I love the appreciation you have of the children you teach and can feel how open and relaxed this way of teaching / marking is. There is no pressure then to get things ‘right’ only an opportunity to connect and from there learn. I would have loved being in your classroom as a child and remember teachers who had a similar gentle approach with me when I was growing up. I remember loving the one on one connection I got then as a student in the same way I that connection with people now.
I feel this connection is not only needed in the classroom but everywhere in life. The whole earth is a classroom. We all want this connection and from there, we can do any kind of work or job.
We often get overwhelmed by the pressure of the systems’ requirements particularly in education, but as you show it does not have to be like this, there is loads of room to teach and be in a way that brings the human connection first.
What a beautiful revelation that marking does not need to be done in a certain one way but can be playful and in the same quality of teaching and engaging with the students in equality.
I would love to have had a teacher that was not so worried about the marks but more interested in connecting with the students. I used to dread getting my papers or exercise books back with all the red marks on it. I can remember how I wanted to do things perfectly and wanted to please so I wouldn’t get the corrections.
Anon you have lightened the load for many teachers who would be feeling the pressures and burdens of marking in this current education system world wide which only add more tension and ill ease to marking and assessments.
I can feel from my own experience and observing others how those early years at school influence much if not most of the rest of your life and the importance of being met by your teachers/s are so vital as part of the growing up process. As you share anonymous those playful interactions and connecting to each and every child – all equally so, can only build a stronger foundation and build confidence for them to openly express with even more enthusiasm that’s just bubbling to be shared. This blog is definitely one for each and every staff room in all schools.
How irresistible is love in the end. How beautiful the love merges from one area of your teaching into others.
Dear Anonymous, I love what you have shared here. You are bringing back to the world the true concept of learning, assessing where a child is at academically and applying what is needed for each individual child to support them to continue to learn. My heart sings as I read the practical real way you make this happen through the marking process of your lessons.
What a delightful teacher you are Anonymous.
What a role model you are for not only your students but teachers alike. When what we do is done with spaciousness then we allow ourselves to get the most we can from it, when it isn’t it becomes burdensome and devoid of the fun that comes with being engaged in it.
So even if the child is not involved in the marking of their work, they still feel the quality and care in which it was marked. The teaching relationship extends to all that you do with them and away from them with them in mind. It’s just gorgeous to have that awareness of that connection and that level of connection.
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.
‘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.
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.
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.
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 …)