The other day I noticed the fun I experienced marking students’ work when I chose to remain open, relaxed and connected to what they were learning. I opened myself up to see beyond what the curriculum requirements were, and was instead assessing the level of connection I made with each student.
For as long as I can remember I had always thought marking needed to be done quickly and was a burden on my teaching time. The piles were never-ending and the pace with which marking was done was fast, with little regard for the student and their work. Darting around the classroom in order to mark the work before I began another set of teaching instructions felt like the norm.
The levels of exhaustion I experienced made me feel racy and there was no connection with the students or with their work. I gave little consideration to how I could support them to go to the next stage of learning, or to consolidate their current levels of learning.
The teaching phase was fun and by far the most enjoyable stage. I would introduce the topic and get the ball rolling with practical examples and engage the children in each step. The children would share and laugh whilst learning. Everyone was focused and the learning was meaningful, relevant and there was a sense of ease in which this was done. Every lesson was simple and the children were part of the teaching rather than doing all the learning. This unfortunately was lost once I moved to the marking mode. I could feel my relaxed and open body turn into a hard machine, ready to race through the assembly line of paper marking.
When I made the choice to stop and connect more to the steady pace in which I was teaching, I noticed there was no need to go into the overwhelm of what the idea of assessing and marking brings to teaching.
The playful interactions that took place with the simple daily over the shoulder marking made me realise how much the students enjoyed the ‘one to one’ connection they were receiving. Every interaction with a child was simple and varied, according to what they needed:
A supportive hand on the shoulder…
A playful gentle tap on the head …
A tender touch of the hand…
A knowing glance of ‘you’ve got it’…
A cheeky wink to say… yep! …. You’re on the right track.
With this way of marking their work came a deeper level of understanding about how the children crave this connection and wait patiently for their turn. I could feel them nuzzle into their chairs, brushing gently past my arms as I began to mark. Their eyes were open and engaged in what I had to share. They talked more and their voices had a giggling tone that invited more connection. They were not disappointed or hard on themselves if they didn’t fully understand the teaching concept, as they knew the support was always there.
Marking and assessing can be a task that overwhelms and overloads but with that comes a fall in the quality of connection that the children are clearly receptive and open to.
Assessing how to connect to a student is what true marking is about. When we assess what is needed at each moment the marking becomes simple, fun and straightforward.
By Anonymous, Teacher, Mentoring Teacher and Program Facilitator, Australia
Further Reading:
The power of relationship in the classroom
Circle time: an opportunity for connection and expression
Education, Schools & Teaching our Kids: ‘Quality of Presence’ in the Classroom
Teachers are Gold
477 Comments
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 .
I love the simplicity of what you are sharing here. To treat everything we do as a way to connect to ourselves and others makes sense. What I also love about what you share is that when we withdraw or get stressed it is simply a choice we have made not simply something that just happens to us. Likewise, it is therefore equally a choice to stay open and light and not rush through something but to stay open and connected.
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.