My husband is a magician. No, really, he is. He became interested in magic, like many boys, around the age of eight, and the hobby stuck. He performs magic shows for all ages and practices his tricks at night on me.
One thing I have learned from him is the importance of understanding your audience. His shows for four-year olds are vastly different from his shows for adults. He has dedicated tricks for different age groups.
The popular adage of “knowing your audience” is worthy of considering in the context of school as we approach the end of the first quarter. By now, you and your children have settled into a rhythm between school and extracurricular activities. Your children’s binders are filled with returned papers and, hopefully, teacher comments. Their grade books should be accumulating marks. Your children’s audience at school is their teachers, for teachers hold the red pens and assign the grades.
Just as my husband’s audiences differ for magic shows depending on the age and setting, your children face distinct expectations and preferences, depending on the teacher and course. Your children can sharpen their skills by discerning and catering to their teachers’ specific desires.
A review of comments found on returned assessments and essays should impact your children’s decisions about how to approach similar assignments in the future. Your children should pay very close attention to assignment rubrics, because they typically delineate clearly an instructor’s expectations. Reflecting on the source of recent assessment questions, considering whether they come primarily from the textbook or classroom lectures, should help your children hone their study skills. Acknowledging the study habits and classroom participation of teachers’ star students and deliberately choosing to adapt accordingly could lead to greater achievement. In short, taking time to intentionally consider what each teacher wants can elevate classroom performance.
While your children probably are already aware of the need to consider their teacher’s preferences on some level, the breadth of their awareness and their ability to extend that principle to other areas of their lives can transform a mediocre student into a much more perceptive, analytical thinker and performer.
Standardized testing is a prime example. The students who can anticipate what specific skills the test makers seek to evaluate in each question will perhaps stumble upon the key to answering that question correctly. On college applications, seniors who consider the college’s community and its admission goals when crafting their essays may be more likely to strike a chord with their readers; and, in summer job interviews, by knowing what an intended employer wants and needs, candidates may attract more attention by rewriting résumés and by angling interview responses to cater to those preferences.
By engaging in conversations with your children about these topics, you will build their awareness in the classroom and beyond, so they can learn to transition effectively from venue to venue and from audience to audience.