In October 2014, we published an article about private school learning coach Alexis Wiggins, who wanted to experience a day in the lives of her students to see her school from a different perspective. This month, we’d like to introduce you to Beth Wilson, the English Department Chair at Darlington School in Rome, Georgia, another intrepid explorer into the lives of her students.
We met Beth on Twitter, after she responded to our post about Wiggins's experiences as a "student." As it turns out, she and 17 other teachers and administrators follow in Wiggins's footsteps to demonstrate Darlington School's mission of empowering students with a passion for learning through a personal dedication to education and renewed discovery.
How It Began
Darlington School's Academic Dean read Wiggins’s account of her day as a “student.” He was so inspired, he shared Wiggins's story and asked if any of the Department Chairs and other select faculty would be interested in replicating the experience. Eighteen volunteered, with Beth shadowing first.
Beth decided to follow junior Hunter Manning because he was “in her wheelhouse,” in a manner of speaking. She explains:
“I teach a junior AP course, and he's a junior who takes a lot of challenging classes. I was [also] similar to Hunter in academic and extracurricular involvement [as a student], so it offered a direct comparison to what I remember from high school.”
A substitute teacher was arranged so that Beth could spend her whole day with Hunter, and they were off!
What She Saw
Beth wanted to fade into the background as much as possible during her day as a “student” and have as realistic an experience as possible. So, she wore the Darlington School uniform, which was quite the experience:
“The kids thought it was hilarious that I dressed in uniform, and some other teachers have followed my lead … It certainly wasn't presented as an expectation. But it did give me insight on the student experience.
“On one hand, I didn't worry about my outfit throughout the day in terms of whether I 'fit in' with the students. On the other hand, I had a terrible time ironing the skirt to get it to lay right, and my skirt kept getting caught on my tights because of the material and riding up in the front!”
As she settled into her day, Beth was pleased to discover that she didn’t feel “antsy” or frustrated from being “talked at” in many of her classes. She took copious amounts of notes during her time—something she says that was not repeated by many of her fellow students! Many of her observations can be found recorded on her blog post detailing the experience.
For example, Beth mentions in her blog post that athletic programs offer several great models for both teaching and learning. “How so?” we asked. She answered, based on what she saw during lacrosse practice.
- “Frequent transitions signaled by a student manager,” as she tends to become absorbed on a topic, consequently spending too much time on it;
- “Putting students in a position to coach each other while the teacher works with small groups or individuals,” to increase differentiation and personalized instruction; and
- “Designing learning activities and assessments that give immediate feedback and allow students to continue trying based on that feedback,” to help students know quickly how they're doing, as well as encourage learning rather than punish performance.
Beth got to see both transmission-based learning and cooperative activity-based educational styles during her time as a student at Darlington. After witnessing different teaching styles, from activity-based to repetition, she concluded that while some of the lessons she saw could afford to be “shaken up,” it’s the teacher who has the most impact on the student learning experience—not necessarily the specific style. She went on to say:
“I am very 'plugged in' to the current conversations happening in education. As a result, I feel surrounded by messages about how we ought to be teaching—and how we oughtn't. […] We need to acknowledge what does work about the old ways in order to entice teachers to make those ways even better.
“When we trash-talk the old ways, it attacks teachers' self-concept, because their teaching is often an enactment of who they are. What I saw working well was that every teacher really wanted students to learn, and every teacher offered that learning, including being open to questions and adapting to students' needs and pace. That's a good starting place for teachers' growth."
Do This at Your School
Beth says that she’d definitely shadow again, though she can’t take more time away from her classroom this year. If she were to choose another student, she’d shadow a student who struggles academically. She admits that following AP student Hunter means that she saw a small subsection of the larger school population—but, she added, there are 17 other “shadowers” who will add their experiences to the collective pool.
For schools looking to gain similar student perspective, Beth has the following advice:
"1. People undertaking this project should recognize that they're not experiencing students' lives if they're still trying to live their own. Thus, I might be careful about whom I choose to do the shadowing, focusing on people who really want to commit. [For example,] I didn't check email during class or sneak in any grading. I made arrangements for child care so I could be at breakfast before school and lacrosse afterward.
"2. Specify that the shadower should approach the experience as a student. I observe teachers as part of their evaluations, so that's something I'm used to doing, but I didn't approach these classes as observations—instead of taking notes on how they taught, I tried to learn what they taught.
"Both kinds of observing are valuable, but I think this helped me be immersed in student learning rather than assessing pedagogy 'from the outside.' Seeing firsthand what pedagogy worked for me as a student gave me better insight into how to help teachers improve their methods.
"Trying to learn from the teachers showed me what was valuable about what they did—great knowledge for leaders to have when they seek to help teachers grow.
"3. The kids really wanted me to do their homework, as well. That wasn't practical in my case—they have e-books, for one thing, and I have a lot of my own 'homework' that I also had to do both the night before and the night after. Doing the homework would be valuable, though, if it could be arranged."
ISM will feature a new school each month to share stories of student, programmatic, and administrative success with nearly 30,000 private school administrators every month. If your school has a success story you'd like the world to hear, contact our e-letter editor today!
Additional ISM resources:
Research: Research Outcomes: The ISM Student Experience Study (SES) 2010–11
Private School News Vol. 13 No. 10 Private School Administrator Shadows Students, Is Shocked
Additional ISM resources for Gold Consortium members:
I&P Vol. 37 No. 4 Research Outcomes: The Student Experience Study
I&P Vol. 33 No. 7 Teacher Impact: How to Identify the Difference Makers
