THRIVE by Hooking Your Students

The teacher myth buster, aka Aaron Hogan, continues on in Chapter 2 by busting the myth that the best teachers effortlessly earn compliance from their students.


Unlike the "no behavior problem" myth, this was one that I believed as a new teacher, but I no longer believe. Before any teaching experience, I envied teachers that seemed to quickly build strong and positive relationships with students. Eventually, I learned that student rapport is like any other relationship; it takes time and effort to build a positive relationship.

Hogan's recommendation to thrive is to hook your students throughout the entire year and I appreciated that his solution wasn't do-this-and-your-classroom-will-be-instantly-awesome. He encourages you to reflect and "take time to identify those core values that will set the right tone for your school year." He also suggests redesigning one aspect of your classroom and reflecting on it every few weeks.

At the Model Schools Conference in Nashville this summer, I attended a session on Teaching Academic Perseverance by Jacob Clifford. He gave tons of tips and strategies to help support students and build relationships, but my biggest take-away was embedding activities every week to build classroom culture and teach students grit. So naturally, this is a perfect aspect to redesign that will hook students and build student relationships.

Challenge accepted :)









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