The Progressive Teacher Vol 04 Issue 03

learning
Learned or Smart
In trying to encourage students we
sometimes hold up as iconic those who
are smart and successful. And we should.
My motto is that we must always celebrate
success. But when encouraging, it’s often
more important to encourage the process
rather than only the outcome.
–Steve Heisler
Often those in possession
of deep knowledge, or a
well developed skill, look
as though they were just born
that way. Looking like a genius is
part of the art. A skilled dancer
or mathematician should look
as though they accomplished
with ease what was a complex
series of skills practiced over
and over and over again. For
entertainment, brilliance puts on
a great show. For teaching, the
brilliance show alone does not
always help.
One struggling reader, perhaps
echoing the perspective of
many struggling readers, once
identified good readers as having
some kind of a ‘special reading
gene.’ He went on to note that to
be a good reader you either had
this gene or you did not: he was
quite certain he did not.
Now I would be remiss if I did
not note that there are some
readers simply born to it, who
internalize skills with greater
ease. The rest of us get the
slow, repetitive, sometimes
demoralizingly lengthy process of
learning a collection of literacy
skills that eventually produces
reading fluency.
Merely pointing out to a
struggling reader how well her
classmate is reading does not
help. However sharing how that
classmate practiced recognizing
site words in order to improve
just might.
The same is true with us, as
teachers, especially as examples.
Once, while encouraging my
students to dive into the depths
of a novel, I was told that of
course I could see all that
underlying stuff. ‘It’s easy for
you. You’re smart!’
While full disclosure of personal
insecurity dictates I must sadly
admit that I wanted then (and
still want to) jump on every
opportunity to be considered
smart, I was also aware that
my being ‘smart’ was not a very
effective teaching tool. Instead
I made a sincere effort to
capture that teachable moment
by showing that my supposed
brilliance was derived not from
my abundant intellectual gifts
but rather an ordinary interest in
literature and a desire to reread
the book repeatedly and study
critical texts to both deepen my
personal understanding of that
book and find interesting ways to
teach it.
In other words, folks, I wanted
to teach this truth: that what
appeared as smart was actually
just learned. Recognizing
process and rewarding progress,
no matter how microscopic, is
amazingly critical, especially
when engaging still evolving
students. The message has to be
uniquely about process because
in the end process is all they or
we can control.
Make sure your students and
children know that smart without
learning is not really all that
smart. It’s learning that makes
smart smart, and learned is what
all of us can be.
Steve Heisler is the author of The
Missing Link: Teaching and Learning
Critical Success Skills. Steve is a
speaker and professional development
consultant with a focus on teaching
and instructional development,
building student success skills and
parenting. He is an experienced
teacher and school administrator
having worked K-12 in schools in
New York City and New Jersey. His blog and contact
information are available at www.sheisler.com.
Jul/Aug 2017
www.progressiveteacher.in 61