A High School Student Schools His Father

            In this Kappan article, teacher/instructional coach/writer Steven Goldman says that for four years, he commuted to his school in Cambridge, Massachusetts with his teenage son Theo, who attended the school. Since the drive took 60-90 minutes, they had plenty of time to talk (and listen to his son’s music selections). Goldman says Theo’s observations about the school have been the best professional development of his career. A few examples: 

• Teachers slow to return students’ work – Theo says teachers shouldn’t ask students to take on new tasks until they’ve given feedback on the previous assignment. 
• Student bravado – Theo told his history teacher that he’d blown off studying for a test when in fact he had put in the time. The alternative to lying, he told his father, was “to admit that I’m [expletive] stupid.” 
• Lesson plan “menus” with fun “dessert” options – “All this means,” said Theo, is that I will never get to do anything interesting because I work slowly.”
• The “dyslexia tax” – Theo has a mild learning disability and some executive function challenges, and says he is often unfairly marked down on tests. “School is a minefield for kids who do not fit our stereotypes of the ‘good student,’” says Goldman. 
• Seen as lazy – “I can’t begin to count the number of times that teachers have assumed that he wasn’t trying or didn’t really care based on small mistakes that are a real challenge for him to avoid,” says Goldman. “Believing that you know a student well enough to judge them for inadequate ‘effort’ is arrogance. Unfortunately, it is something I know I did often as a teacher. Theo helped me see that.” 
• Unhelpful teacher judgments – One wrote “Good grief” in the margin for a spelling error, another took points off for an assignment left at home. “Feedback should be about how someone can improve,” says Goldman, “not about making them feel like they aren’t measuring up.”
• Student support – Four years ago when he moved from middle school to high school, Theo commented on a difference he noticed in the educators: “The real difference is that some teachers are on your side and some really aren’t.” 

            “I don’t know of a better definition of what makes someone a good teacher,” says Goldman. “If someone is on your side, both of you are working toward the same goal. Being on a student’s side is not simply giving help or being sensitive to who they are. It is less about whether they measure up to your standards and more about conveying your belief in their capability of achieving their own. It is a mindset that allows the vulnerability necessary for learning to happen.” 

            Theo went off to college this year and Goldman is making the commute alone. “I feel pretty certain that he will never choose education as a career,” he says, “which is fine. But he’s been a teacher, nonetheless. We all learn so much from our children. I feel lucky that one of the things I learned from mine was how to be a better teacher.” 

“The Person Who Taught Me the Most About Teaching Just Graduated from High School” by Steven Goldman in Kappan, December 2024/January 2025 (Vol. 106, #4, p. 48); Goldman can be reached at arthurstevengoldman@gmail.com.

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #1067 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.