Unlocking the Mysteries of Great Teaching

Elementary school teachers: making every child the center of attention

Many people, I think, assume that the best teacher is the one who knows the most. And if they could add one more quality it might be, "good at explaining."

I'll tell you, though: Deep mastery of a subject didn't come up much when I asked people to name their best teacher ever. Most people went back to elementary school for their pick, and the trait they mentioned most was some version of "made me feel special":

My teacher ... 

• "thought I was smart." 
• "took an interest in me." 
• "noticed my athletic skill."

This made me uneasy at first. I thought, isn't this more about the student than the teacher? Sure, brilliant go-getters probably have a string of great teachers. But what about the back-benchers who spend most of their school careers making spit wads?

Then I talked to one of the teachers listed as great by a whole slew of her students and former students. Kristen Bijur teaches fourth and fifth grade at San Francisco Community School. And one phrase she tossed off casually struck me:

"You have to make every child feel like the center of your attention."

Wow! Every child? Simultaneously? Nice trick, but how's it done? Kristen just smiled.

"You get to know your children as individuals so you can make each of them feel safe and loved. And for that, you'd better have a lot of emotional energy."

You see where I'm going with this. New York recording engineer Chris Howard told me that he did his best work ever for his fifth-grade teacher, Cynthia Beers, because she thought he was the most important kid in the class. Now I realize that she probably made every child feel that way. (Sorry, Chris.)

However, I have no doubt that love is not all you need, to misquote the Beatles. Kristen's students mentioned words like "fun" and "excitement." Kristen herself talked about interesting techniques she uses, such as constant modeling--saying what she's thinking out loud to demonstrate how she's making connections between topics and ideas. "I want my thought process to be visible," she says.

None of that is mysterious to me. I can imagine how it's done. But giving each of 30 clamoring kids your undivided attention--at the same time?