I was a typical teenager at school. I enjoyed socialising with my friends, participating in the various enrichment opportunities on offer, playing football and cricket for my local team, and I enjoyed being in lessons. I didnt enjoy homework, written work and writing neatly. I recently discovered one of my old Year 10 books and identified 5 changes in handwriting style in 9 months, a testament to my active mind and desire for variety. My engagement in the classroom was limited to open discussions. I loved to answer questions and engage with the teacher. I hated working on my own and writing. Always writing! I needed interaction.
I always worked hard for teachers that spent time to interact. I felt I owed them something. I felt they cared and wanted me to do well. By simply interacting with me on the same level, I was instantly inclined to pull my socks up and oblige with the tasks at hand. Their praise had me feeling ten feet tall, and their criticism made me want to instantly up my game. My chemistry teacher was one such person. He could make a simple comment and it would affect my behaviour for the rest of the day. Other teachers taught to the class, whereas chemistry lessons felt like 1:1 discussions. This stoked my fires of enthusiasm and led to me studying chemistry at degree level.
Simple interactions with students are far more important than a well planned lesson. The feeling of importance a student gets when a teacher shows this level of engagement is worth its weight in gold. With Kloodle, we have found that the students with the strongest profiles are the students of teachers who comment on their work. The desire to receive recognition spurs them on to greater feats, and teacher comments written on their content serves to spur them on even further.
If youre a teacher reading this, and you have a spare 10 minutes in your day, spend time on your Kloodle newsfeed commenting on the wonderful work your students are doing. Theyll reward you with greater feats of achievement. achievement that will leave you surprised and reminiscent of the reasons you joined the profession. After all, teachers live to see their charges grow as people. Kloodle enables you to see this before your very eyes.
