Mister! Teacher!
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Without fail, every single year, at least one student will accidently call me “Dad.” As a parent myself, hearing my students call me “Dad” always brings a smile to my face. I find it quite endearing, interpreting it to mean that they feel safe enough around me that I am now synonymous with a caring family member. While I’m still their teacher, I want my students to know that my care is as much paternal as it is academic.
However, the first time I heard a student blurt out, “Mister! I need some help!”, I thought it might be a joke. There was no obvious urgency to the request, but her tone indicated otherwise. I walked over and clarified her confusion. Then came a chorus of, “Teacher! Teacher!” from the back of the classroom. Why aren’t they calling me Mr. Neibauer? Is this some sort of TikTok challenge? No sooner than I addressed those students, did I hear “Mister! Mister! I need some help!” from another small group of students. I could definitely hear the panic in these students’ collective voices. They obviously needed my help, right away! “Mister” and “Teacher” are new epithets that I have not heard before, or in such number, so I started paying attention to when and how my students asked for help. I noticed an interesting pattern.
I avoid lecturing my students whenever possible. Yes, I give direct instruction, but I always try to limit my talking to under ten minutes. Any longer, I feel I’ve lost them. When I give directions, I make sure to keep them brief, and provide ample wait time for students to ask clarifying questions. When I’m met with silence, I often ask, What’s a question that someone else might have? What could another student be wondering right now? Sometimes this works; lately, it has not. After direct instruction, or a set of directions for a task students are going to complete, either individually or collaboratively, I ask if there are any questions. I wait, sometimes getting a few clarifying questions. Then, when I set my students to work, 15 hands will immediately shoot up, “Mister! Teacher!” Suddenly, my entire class needs my help at once.
In K-5 classrooms, the most popular strategy for addressing this issue is 3 Before Me. When students get stuck, they are to ask three other
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