The openomg keynote speaker, Weston Kieschnick, spoke about the importance of teacher-student relationships. Strategies and tools are well known and documented and can be provided to any teacher. But, he pointed out, we are often vague when we speak about the character traits master teachers possess that enables them to connect deeply with kids. He connected 12 specific items from John Hattie's work and presented this slide. Each item is shown with its effect size and he backed each up with a vignette that illustrated how a teacher has used this to build a relationship. Very specific.
Wes is a motivational and moving speaker. I enjoyed his anecdotes and much of what he said resonated with me. He also used the word rigor. "Rigor. Relevance, Relationships." Not sure how I feel about using that word in reference to learning. Perhaps it has lost some of its dictionary meaning? Is it possible that the word rigor can refer to "challenging, joyful learning" instead of drudgery and misery that the original word conveyed?
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