IN THE SPOTLIGHT Pedro Noguera, PhD.

Pedro Noguera was a classroom teacher in public schools in Providence, RI and Oakland, CA. He currently is Professor of Teaching and Learning at New York University where his expertise focuses on schools and learning in urban environments.  Dr. Noguera has written several books, numerous articles and appears as a regular commentator on CNN, National Public Radio, and other national news outlets.  In the interview below, he shares some of his ideas on teaching and ways for new teachers to prepare themselves for the classroom. …………………….

What mindset should new teachers have if they want to be effective?

Dr. Noguera: Well, an important thing is that to be effective teachers they need three different sets of skills and expertise.

First of all, they need to know the subjects they’re going to teach, and they need to have a love of learning and of knowledge.  It sounds obvious but we have a lot of teachers who are not strong academically themselves, and that’s a problem.  If they don’t love knowledge and learning, they really aren’t cut out to be teachers because teaching is intellectual work. Teachers must make a commitment to lifelong learning.

The second thing they must do is to commit themselves to seeing teaching as a craft, that it is both an art and a skill; a craft that they’re going to continue to try to master over years because teachers don’t just become a master teacher in a year or just because they have graduated from a program.  It takes several years to really master the profession.

Third and in some ways most importantly, teachers have to commit themselves to building relationships with kids, with all kinds of kids.  And that relationship starts with having a genuine love of children.  If a person doesn’t like kids, this is definitely not the profession he or she should be in. Teaching takes a kind of unconditional love, one that is even evident when students give teachers a hard time.

And I should add, love does not mean making excuses for them; it means that because you are concerned about them, you insist they’re prepared, you insist they’re on time, you insist that they conduct themselves appropriately, and you insist that they try hard.  That’s the kind of love I’m talking about.

Many teachers will enter classrooms that will have students who are already disengaged from academic pursuits or from academic achievement.  How can teachers re-engage those students?

Dr. Noguera: The main thing is first building a relationship.  Kids will choose to learn from teachers they know care about them; teachers they know believe in them.  So I would say that the first part is build a relationship.

The second part is to find out what the students are interested in.  You have to build on their interests to make education relevant, because especially as they get older, they choose.  Building on the interests of little kids is a little bit easier than it is with older kids; older kids are making choices about whether to invest their time into something.  And if you can find out what they’re interested in, it’s easier to make a connection between what you have to teach them.  And so I’d say spend time listening, and that’s part of the relationship building too.

Does it mean anything for a teacher to have had a background similar to that of their students? We hear lots of times that we need more Black male teachers, we need more teachers who look like the students in the classrooms in which they teach.

Dr. Noguera: It is helpful to have diversity on the staff because it’s important that kids see role models who look like them, but beyond race, it’s even more important that there are people on staff who have similar backgrounds and similar experiences so that they can relate to the kids, and that they can share with the kids how they themselves overcame obstacles and barriers in their lives, so the kids can understand that it’s possible for them to overcome obstacles.  So that’s important.

At the same time, you don’t have to be of the same background as the kids to teach them.  Anybody who cares about kids regardless of their race or background can build those relationships and be an effective teacher if they have the ability to overcome their own prejudices and biases towards children.  They must be aware of those prejudices and biases so that they can counter them.

So I would say diversity is essential.  It’s not a requirement though that it be the same race in the classroom between teacher and student.

How can teachers best bring equity to their classrooms?

Dr. Noguera: The main thing is that they have to know the kids, and by that I mean know their learning styles, know their areas of strength and weakness because what they’ve got to do is to tailor instruction to each learner.  Now that’s hard.  But the challenge is to recognize that not all kids are the same, and that they don’t all learn in the same ways or at the same pace.  So equity is recognizing those differences while attempting to meet the individual needs of kids and  not allowing kids to fall too far behind.

Now it’s a challenge because some kids are going to need more time and attention than others, and if you have too many children like that in the classroom, you could be overwhelmed as a teacher.  And that’s where they may need extra support. They need maybe specialists who can provide reading support or after-school programs that give kids more time and attention beyond what’s available during the normal school day.

So it really depends, but equity is about focusing on outcomes and focusing on real evidence that kids are learning.

What expectations should a new teacher have regarding the parents of their students?

Dr. Noguera: The main thing they have to be able to convey to parents is that they care about their kids. In addition parents must know that you actually know what you’re doing.  They need to feel a sense of confidence in you as a professional, that you are capable, that you are competent, and that you are going to be able to meet the needs of their children.

Parents need to know that teaching is a partnership, and forging that partnership requires that the parents understand first of all that you’re there for them, that you care, but second of all that you will let them know when there’s help needed at home.

The most important thing is to let the parents know that they’ve got a job to do too.  It’s not just you. Teachers need to be able to tell parents that it’s not simply about what they do as teachers, but also about what the parents do as well.

Anything that you would like to tell our readers that may help them in their journey to become great teachers?

Dr. Noguera: Just that teaching is probably one of the most important professions because you so clearly have an impact, and can make a difference when you do it well on individual students.  So for that reason, I’d say it is such a crucial profession, and it’s one where we need special people each with a special commitment to enter.

At the same time, we need to make sure that you are special, that you do have that commitment, and you shouldn’t get into it if you have doubts.  It’s too hard.  The work is hard.  It’s not for everyone.  And at the same time, it can be extremely rewarding.

Thank you Dr. Noguera for your time and for your commitment to helping teachers improve their craft.

Contact Teachers of Color Preston Edwards Jr.@ preston@teachersofcolor.com