Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire
I discovered Rafe Esquith through Real Rap with Reynolds. Reynolds talked so highly of him that I immediately got one of his books: Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire. With a title like that, how could you not be intrigued?
Rafe was an elementary school teacher for thirty-one years, and if you’re looking for an example of someone who pours himself into his craft, you’ve found him. I’m pretty sure if you Google “Examples of people who love their job,” he’ll come up. Even though I’m not an elementary school teacher (I couldn’t survive that, but kudos to you who are able able to), the things Rafe had to say about teaching resonated so deeply with me. He has a lot of points to make in this book, but my biggest takeaways were his attention to #2 students and the high standard he holds his students to.
Rafe has something he calls the #2 student, which has changed how I interact with my students. He says there are three types of students in every classroom. #1: The A+ student. The angel. The one who never gets in trouble. The one who sits in the front. The one answering all the questions. The one scoring all A’s on his report card. Student #3 is the trouble student. We all know this one. The one who never does homework, never participates, never pays attention. The one who distracts the other students, whispers through class, gives everyone an attitude, and gets low grades.
Student #2 is the student in between. They’re not generally that outgoing, they don’t draw attention. They’re not scoring A’s or F’s; instead, they’ve got a solid B.
Rafe has a technique he uses within the first day or week of class. He pulls out his rosters and circles all the students he remembers. The ones he doesn’t remember become his focus. Those are the students, those solid students in the middle group, who slip between the cracks. Students #1 and #3 get plenty of attention from teachers, but the middle ones get forgotten. And that’s where the magic can happen. That’s where you can make a difference. You can bring students up and you can be the only teacher who sees these students.
To be honest, I read this book at the beginning of the semester and forgot to do this during my first week of classes. But, a few weeks ago, I remembered I needed to be focusing on these #2 students. I started doing it, and let me tell you--what a difference it’s made! Those students light up when I talk to them during breaks. When I send them extra articles or exercises to improve their English, they’re shocked. When I give them detailed feedback about their performances, they’re the most grateful. These students are longing to be seen and heard and feel like their efforts and yielding results. #1 students know they’re doing great. #3 students know they’re failing. But #2 students want to be involved for once.
Another huge takeaway I got from this book was the standard of excellence Rafe demands from his students. You would think that, since they’re elementary students, he would dumb things down for them, but that’s not the case. He has students creating budgets, planning activities, and researching before cross-country field trips. He even has students put on a full Shakespeare play—and they understand the material.
#mindblown
Rafe’s mentality is that, under proper teaching and guidance, students can rise to any expectation. He treats them like adults, and he expects them to act that way. I feel like my students are scared or bored of English, so I try to simplify as much as I can. I try to make the material accessible to them, and I say things like, “I know this exercise is difficult, but let’s try it!” Instead of coddling my students, I want my students to be given difficult material and have them know that they are capable of doing it. Also, if you’re new to the world of scaffolding or building upon past lesson material, Rafe breaks down how to teach students something step-by-step really well.
I could keep talking for a long time, but why listen to me when you could hear directly from him?
If you’re an elementary teacher, this is a must read. 100%. Even if you’re an ESL elementary teacher. And if you don’t teach kids, I still think it’s worth it. It’s inspiring to hear from someone who is so experienced and so passionate about not just teaching, but about truly changing the trajectory of his students’s lives.
If you’d like to download it on Kindle, like I did, here’s a link: https://amzn.to/2rQhHtu
If you prefer a hard copy, I’ve got you covered too: https://amzn.to/2RiIbOQ