Teaching Strategies

Monday, December 8th

In my previous blog post, I talked about my experience encountering the culture and how my mindset about understanding it changed throughout my time abroad. In this post, I want to focus on the impact that teaching in the school had on my own teaching methods.

| Critical Thinking and Reflection Are Key to Student Understanding

After one of the lessons I taught, I had a conference with my cooperating teacher about how the lesson went and where I could improve. We had a great conversation about how a teacher carries themself in the classroom, and how that presence is often reflected in student behavior. One area she recommended I focus on in future lessons was the critical thinking component.

While students do like clear direction in instruction and information, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be asked to think about that information for themselves. My cooperating teacher recommended that as I write my lesson plans, I intentionally include moments where students must respond to why the information is important, how they connect to it, and what it means for their own lives. By answering these kinds of questions, students begin to value the content and ground it within their own schema.

| Don’t Rush Teachable Moments

One of the great things about teaching art is that there are always teachable moments in every lesson. If they don’t happen through a student question during instruction or a mistake in the demonstration, they will appear during student work time.

As students work on their projects and demonstrate their understanding of the concepts, I make my way around the room, talking with them about their ideas and helping them make connections to the lesson. While in the school in the Netherlands, I observed teachers doing this in a way that was intentional and unrushed. They weren’t hopping from one student to another but instead going deeper in each conversation and truly investing in each student.

This is a practice I want to take into my own teaching. Rather than seeing these individual moments as opportunities only to troubleshoot or correct, I want to use them to build rapport, offer support, and help my students engage with the material at a deeper level.

| Not Here to Control, Here to Guide

One misconception I’ve carried since I was a primary student myself is that teachers must control the classroom. I believed that to get things done, teachers had to wrangle students, demand silence, and maintain constant, undivided attention. I saw this as an almost impossible task that I, as a teacher, would have to somehow master. I felt I needed to strive for perfect, A+ classroom management.

Being in the school in the Netherlands didn’t completely erase these ideas, but it helped me see them differently. As I watched teachers discuss concepts with students throughout lessons, explain the importance of positive behavior, and give students the same respect they expected in return, I began to realize that my job isn’t to be an enforcer, but a guide.

As a teacher, I want to work with my students to create an environment where everyone is respected and heard. An environment where students learn and create because they understand the importance of the material and the process, not just because they were told to. I know it will take time to communicate this effectively, and not every student will follow the path I hope for, but I look forward to creating a space centered on mutual respect, learning, creativity, and growth.

These are some of the main insights I gained from my experience teaching in the Netherlands. I hope that through the ups and downs of beginning my teaching career, I can continue to integrate these concepts into my classroom and keep learning how to be an effective educator.

Thank you to everyone who followed along with my blog and encouraged me throughout this cross-cultural teaching experience!

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