High Impact Teachers... Foster non-cognitive skills In their students

As a science teacher, I always hear objections from students to the content we're learning or the method used in class that day.  If I have time, I will turn it into an inquiry and show students how to use the scientific method for non science purposes.  Even in content that students don't like, there are skills that need to be sharpened that will be necessary in the future.  These non-cognitive skills often separate functional employees from the coveted employees in the workforce.  The skills that we focus on, both directly and indirectly, in my class are time management, teamwork, leadership, perseverance, grit, public speaking, note taking and situational awareness.  

One non-cognitive skill that is critical to being a high impact teacher is relationship building.  At my church when I taught Sunday school, our superintendent always told us, "Kids don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."  I could be be the world leader in scientific knowledge and I would take it to the grave with me if I can't connect with people to share that knowledge.  This is particularly difficult to do in our district because the students are very guarded about who they let in.  I believe my steps to teaching were divinely ordered and I benefitted from being active in the church and in my community prior to coming in the building.  It was easier to get kids to open up because some of them already knew who I was.  That's huge because there were barriers that I did not have to overcome to get student buy in.  It was already there.  

As a coach, it gives me additional opportunities to connect these non-cognitive skills in real situations.  Over time, I've coached JV girls basketball, track, men's basketball and varsity volleyball.  I love when students participate in sports because you get to see some of these skills applied and misapplied in real time.  You get to see how students respond in situations where they have to make split second decisions and can relate it back to situations that may come up in the workforce.  

Though it is not a part of the pacing for Biology, I always take time to do three activities that I believe will benefit them in the future: 

• Note taking - cover different note taking strategies (Cornell method, mapping, Outline method and doodle notes)

• Learning styles - understanding your dominant learning style and the strategies that are specific to that style of learning can help students to get more from their learning and more effectively manage their study time.

• Small group activities - as an accountant, I got dinged on a performance review for not being engaged in small groups.  So this is an area that I challenge students in learning how to manage. 

I have been able to enhance my grouping strategies based on what we learned in year 1 session 3 during an EmpowerEd weekend.  We had discussions on when to use different grouping strategies including homogenous grouping, random grouping and strategically mixed grouping.  The example attached to the next page is an example of when I used strategic grouping to work through an activity in class. 

I also use the grouping strategies when coaching basketball to work on certain skills or even the way that my lineups are made on game day are a form of strategic grouping and are put together based on prior performance in games or in practice.  These groupings support "building confidence in student's ability to produce high quality work".