Setting the Table While Serving the Meal
If there’s one piece of enduring advice that teachers like to remind each other of this time of year it’s that we should take the time to “set the table” during the first couple weeks of school. The table setting metaphor is a warning to not jump too quickly into the curriculum; we should instead take time to establish rules and procedures, practice and repractice classroom routines, and, most importantly, build productive classroom cultures that will sustain an environment conducive to high levels of learning. We implore one another to make our rooms welcoming places, build relationships with our students, and encourage classmates to connect with one another, all while sending the message that our classroom will be a safe place where students will want to be. We are warned that serving the curricular meal too quickly, while tempting, is actually a recipe for future disastrous dining experiences. What we give up in time at the beginning of the year we will more than make up for later in the year, we are reassured.
There is wisdom is warning teachers not to forsake the important work of building a productive culture and training students to perform high-frequency procedures that will result in smoothly run classrooms. But the problem with the table setting metaphor is that, while moderately clever and easy to understand, dining and teaching differ in some significant ways. One of those ways is that you can’t both prepare the table setting and serve the meal at the same time. Trying to do so CONTINUE READING: Setting the Table While Serving the Meal - Teacher Habits