It’s ALL about Relationships.

Are things so different then they were 20 years ago?  I understand that kids now have access to an unfathomable amount of information and tools that we never even dreamed of.  I understand that the whole idea of the Star Trekian “communicator” is laughable now given the current technologies in cell phones.  As an aside, they still haven’t perfected the phaser or the transporter.  I also understand that the world that we lived in was significantly easier to manage given that we did not have at our fingertips global breaking news in real time.  I understand all of that.  Technology has transformed much of our lives and we have adapted and live in this world in a different way than we did 20 years ago.

One thing has remained a constant however, and that is the importance of relationships in the day to day grind of our lives.  As teachers that is especially significant – the success that comes out of our dealings with children is all about the relationships that we have formed with them so that they can learn.  I don’t know about you, but I can think of a teacher or two that I had who had tremendous subject knowledge.  They held degrees and spoke with conviction on their discipline but at the end of the day, I still learned significantly more from those teachers who had a special bond with me and I felt I trusted them.  The environment was so much easier to learn in.

This isn’t simply true in education circles but in life.  Dan Erwin, a specialist in career and neuroscience research, has found that while we believe that in is the functional business skills of a field that will make a person successful, that is a misconception.  The greatest common denominator for successful people is there ability to relate well to others.  The ability to communicate and really make people feel valued is a pivotal component of most successful people.  In the words of Jim Knight “it all comes down to relationship.”

So, in light of this knowledge, what skills are we teaching our students?  Those CALM (Career and Life Management) classes that students dismiss in school may well be the most important class they take for their development and success.  I’m not discrediting the sciences or the humanities, far from it.  Where would we be without the Einsteins and Shakespeares who have enriched our lives in so memorable a way?  All I am suggesting is that we need to really stress relationship building as well.

Food for thought?

Hope so.

Keep Learning

Dave

Keep on learning,

Dave