Often I’ll hear frustrated teachers say something like:
“I’ve explained it to them a hundred different ways – that they won’t get a good grade if they don’t do the work – but they don’t listen. They won’t work. They just don’t get it! Why? Why? Why won’t they do the work? It drives me crazy!”
This is understandable. I think one of the most difficult things many teachers face is having to work with a clientele that doesn’t necessarily want to work with them. Police officers too. It’s not fun when people don’t want you around. It’s frustrating.
But what’s always bothered me about the “Why don’t they get it?” comment is the massive assumption on the teacher’s part. What is the “IT” that some kids don’t get? Clearly the teacher gets “it” … right?
Often not. It’s been my experience that most of the well-intentioned educators who regularly ask, “Why don’t they get it? Why won’t they do their work?” are also the ones who fail to realize that – to their students – it’s not about the grades. They fail to step back and ask themselves questions like:
- “Why is this worth learning, really?”
- “Why should my students work at this?”
- “How is this relevant to their lives? To their worlds”
- “Why did the curriculum experts find this important enough to make me teach it?”
- “How can I get all these things across to them?”
And that’s the key word: across. There’s a chasm there that needs crossing. You get “it.” In this case, some of your students don’t. If they did get it, you wouldn’t be complaining. And the best teachers are able to move these insights about “it” across the gap of understanding. They make learning relevant. They make it meaningful. That’s why they’re good teachers.
So if you ever find yourself asking, “Why don’t they get it?”
- Step back. Acknowledge that for some of your students grades – on their own – just aren’t motivating.
- Imagine you’re them. Like really try to imagine what makes them tick. What’s their language?
- Ask yourself,“What’s the ‘it’ that I want my students (or employees even) to be getting?” Define it.
- Then come up with 5 good reasons why they should “get it.” Why it should matter to them.
- Then try and come up with a couple of ways to communicate this to them.
- In a language they understand.
At the very least you’ll be showing them that you care; that you’re trying to reach them; that you’re trying to teach to them. That’s why teachers exist, isn’t it?
And although this alone can often be enough to spark interest and motivate … maybe, just maybe, you’ll help them get “it” too.
