What if some of the strategies teachers use are actually doing things for children that children can do for themselves?  What message are we sending to children about their capabilities when we step in and take over for the sake of time or moving on?

Restaurants Can Teach Us about Believing in Peoples’ Capabilities

I was in a local restaurant this week, the kind of restaurant where you order at the counter and they bring your food to the table.  I could not help but notice the brilliant setup that made it easy for diners to clear their tables.  There are no signs telling diners what they are supposed to do when they are finished eating, but I noticed most people seemed to instinctively know what to do.

In two locations in the restaurant are a set of side-by-side counters.  One counter simply has a hole into which you drop trash.  There is not enough room at that counter to do anything but dump trash. Next to this counter is a second counter that contains a 2-section bin. It is evident from the size of each section, that one section is for dirty plates and the other section is for dirty eating utensils.

I noticed that most adults followed the unwritten rules about clearing their tables when they were finished and placing their trash and dirty dishes in the appropriate places.  It also seemed as though most people had the idea that they should leave their space the same as or better than they found it.

What struck me the most, however, were the number of adults cleaning up after children who were fully capable of clearing their own dishes and depositing them in the appropriate bins.  I couldn’t help but think what a disservice these adults were doing to these children.

This may seem inconsequential, but my guess is that if these adults are picking up after their children in a restaurant, they are picking up after their children at home.  How exhausting for the adults and how unfortunate for their children!

Most Children aren’t Doing Chores

Given the survey data by Braun Research in 2014, that only 28% of adults ask their own children to do chores, even though 82% of those same adults reported they had chores as kids growing up.  This means 72% of these children are not being asked to do chores.  Adults then are doing for children what children need to be doing for themselves.

Many of the students in your classroom are not expected to do chores at home.  They may not have as many opportunities to practice doing something until the point they feel capable.  This is a muscle you will have to help develop with your students.

Do not do for a child what a child can do for him or herself.

Whether it is at home or at school, children need to feel capable and feel like they have something of value to contribute. They most likely will not be able to articulate these needs, but they are real needs.  As adults, it is our responsibility to provide opportunities for children to develop their skills and thereby their sense of self-efficacy.

All the teachers reading this are nodding in agreement.

But I want to challenge you to take a look at some common practices in classrooms that “do for children what they can do for themselves.”

When Teachers Accidentally Do Student Work

• When grading essays, have you ever made grammatical corrections, added better word choice, fixed subject-verb agreement, etc.?
• When a student is “taking too long” to cut a shape out of their paper, have you ever picked up the scissors and finished cutting for them?
• When grading math work, have you ever notated the math errors for your students or worked the incorrect problems for them?
• When a student has completed a workbook page incorrectly, have you ever picked up an eraser and erased the page for them so they can do it again?
• Have you ever picked up a pencil and written a child’s name at the top of his or her paper because you wanted to move on?
• Have you ever intervened in a student’s lab experiment because they were having trouble focusing on an image using a microscope and you focused it for them?
• When a student has trouble formatting his document, have you ever taken over the keyboard and mouse and selected the formatting for him?
  

I know what you are thinking.

• Sometimes I just have move on with the entire class and I can’t wait for one student to finish cutting their paper or writing their name on the top of the paper.
• If I don’t work out this math problem on their quiz and they don’t come in for help then they may not learn the correct way to solve this problem.

Doing it for them does not make them learn better or faster, and it certainly does not help them develop their skills or help them develop their sense of self-efficacy—the feeling that they are capable.

Simple Strategies to Help Children Do for Themselves

1. Help children understand that they are part of something larger than themselves. Just as they are part of a family, they are also a part of the classroom.  As a member of the classroom, their contribution is not only expected but it is important.
2. Demonstrate your belief that every child is capable of doing what you are asking him or her to do.
3. Give children clear instructions.
4. Model for children what you want them to do. Exemplars of student work are great for student work and job descriptions are great for classroom jobs.
5. Create the physical environment that makes it easy for children to know exactly what to do.

With the time pressure in teaching, how do you keep from doing something for a child he or she can do for themselves? Leave a comment below.