Hope in Education - Teachers and principals encouragement

I know it is up to us educators. Help is scarce. Yet the emergency of child despair and anxiety can serve to encourage our leadership. As school principals, this could mean distributing our leadership, so teachers learn from each other how best to respond to students' social-emotional and intellectual needs. As teachers, this could mean distributing our leadership among students, directing toward fulfilling their self-set goals (waypower), and igniting curiosity, so intrinsic motivation builds up agency toward achieving personalized aims (willpower).

Yes, hope is more than an emotion. Hope theory contends that it consists of honing the pathways, together with agency. It is a positive psychology theory that builds on children's, youth' and teachers' strengths.

So, how do we cultivate hope amidst the chaos that seems to envelop us?

Here are some ideas from my students' book Creative Children and teacher encouragement book Michelangelo in the 21st Century. They are based on the 5 E's practical strategy: Explore, Experience, Examine, Elevate & Express. Together they support students in finding, molding, developing, and expressing their knowledge and voice. This is especially important now that we worry that they might use AI as the means, instead of as supporting tools.

Take classroom interruptions as cues to learn about the students' progress. At the phase of exploring, you might be introducing today's lesson to ignite curiosity. Students might become engaged. When it is too much, there will simply be too much enthusiasm. That's your cue to move on to the experiencing stage. Provide semi-structured activities, open-ended, to invite thinking. Know that thinking occurs together with sound and movement. So, a little agitation is a good sign. If class is too quiet and still, that's your cue to check if individual students or collaborative groups have trouble understanding your guidelines, maybe the task should be amplified or simplified, or the learners need to set their own goals for the task.

With this kind of approach, teachers can ignite meaningful learning. Examine the students' ideas and insights together with them. Provide directions on elevating their learning into an original educational product. They need both pathways and agency. So, you'd want to provide both guidance on proceeding and confidence. You could ask them to consult AI on outlining their learning product. You might give directions, and they will immediately go away. That's a good cue - they are enthusiastic about implementing it. You might give them a directive, and they seem bewildered. Ask them to explain the product they envision to you, so you understand better. If their explanation is too vague, ask them to show it to you by creating a model, a simple prototype. You'd be amazed.

The final E is Express. That's the peak of agency. They need to come up front and present their product. How do teachers give them hope that they succeed? Best encouragement is to remind them of something they did successfully ('Remember what you did yesterday? I was really impressed. Your help/behavior/idea was so helpful'). If you touch the right spot, they will immediately turn their back and go prepare toward implementation. Yes, implementation is presenting their product. That's your cue that you gave them hope.

And when they present beautifully, that's your cue that you did great teaching.

One last tip. To use AI for such an open-ended lesson plan, provide a prompt that includes your directions, the relevant learning standard, and the student's needs.

Good luck,

Michelle Korenfeld

This article and painting have been created by Michelle Korenfeld with no use of AI. Just oil colors, brushes, canvas and pen. Well, with the 'pen' I exaggerated. I typed on my laptop.

Raising Creative Thinkers - PD and books for teaching together with the 4 Cs.

Raising Creative Thinkers logo articles by Michelle Korenfeld