Culture is the Key to Content

Let culture take precedence

In my first year of teaching as shared in “Another trailer! You’ve got to be kidding!” I was so set on teaching content in that first semester, I thought when a student exhibited behavior indicating they didn’t “want” to learn on a given day, then that day was lost.  I would then isolate the student and essentially leave the student “alone” while they slept, colored, drew… basically anything that kept them quiet.  Initially, I didn’t think I could help them and actually engage them in learning.  

Committed to changing my experience and theirs, in our second semester I actually put culture first and instead of diving right into content each day, we began with check-ins to see where students’ emotional needs were.  I also amped up the incentives in the classroom where students would work for computer game time, cafeteria lunches, chess, classroom celebrations, recess (despite being middle school), helping in the classroom of exceptional students with severe mental and physical disabilities and so many other things that mattered to my students.  By shifting the focus less on “covering” content and more on building culture, my students actually began to learn more content.  Had I known how important culture building (inclusive of internalizing clear expectations, procedures, and mindsets) was to the learning outcomes of my students, we would not have lost so much learning time during the first semester.   

Many of the teachers I have coached over the past two decades have adapted and applied this plan to their general education classes from elementary, middle, to high! 

Message me if you would like to be sent an example classroom behavior plan I used for my students with Behavioral and Emotional Disabilities (free). In the message simply say, “Requesting Behavior Plan”.