What Teachers Teach That Curriculums Don’t

I had no idea what my topic for this week was until today. I was thinking about yesterday when a fourth grade student asked me to help him tie his shoe. I said, “You don’t know how to tie to your shoe?” I was a bit incredulous.

He replied, “No one ever showed me how.” I told him, “How about instead of me tying your shoe, I teach you how to do it?” I proceeded to do just that and within 5 minutes he was able to tie his shoes.

That got me thinking about all the things we teach to our students that aren’t written in a curriculum, but are basic life skills that help them function in the outside world. Think back if you’ve taught a student or multiple students how to tie their shoes, zip their coat, open a milk carton, unbuckle/buckle a belt, or what manners are and how to use them, and other skills, too.

And if we, teachers, were to only teach the curriculum given to us what would our students miss out on?

At least nowadays most schools incorporate a SEL curriculum into the school day as well, which helps. A SEL curriculum will teach skills like identifying feelings, how to cope with anger, how to share/take turns, how to make friends, and how to solve problems with words. If you’re interested in learning more about a few great SEL curriculums, check out this post An Overview of 4 SEL Curriculums.

It, also, got me to thinking should we be the ones teaching these basic skills or is this the job of the parent/caregiver? And if so, why aren’t these students’ parents/caregivers teaching them these skills?

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not ALL parents. There are many parents who do teach their children these skills. But what’s the difference?

I think many of the students who were not taught these skills attend a Title 1 school. These are students who come from low income families who are usually dealing with many extra hardships. In fact, “One of the most widely recognized risk factors for school readiness is poverty. Fewer than half (48%) of poor children are ready for school at 5 years of age as compared with 75% of children from moderate- or high-income households” (Pediatrics, 2019)

It makes sense, then, that these would be the students lacking these basic skills because their parents/caregivers may not have the time or energy to devote to teaching them to their child. They may, even, just not think about it.

So, how can we help parents/caregivers become more aware of the basic life skills they could be teaching their children and encourage them to do so? Here are a few ideas:

• create a flyer to send home with students with skills that parents/caregivers can teach at home (include resources on how to teach the skill with it)

• host a PreK info event and share what parents/caregivers can be working on with their child over the summer to get them ready for PreK

• host a Parenting class that focuses on how to teach basic life skills to their children-serve food and/or have a raffle to encourage attendance

In the meantime, I will continue to teach skills like shoe tying to students and encourage those students to teach their classmates and friends. It usually doesn’t take that much time and it is so worth it!

I’m sure you know, after witnessing the look of triumph on a student’s face after they get that tricky milk carton open on their own for the first time or tie their shoes without making knots of the laces.

I guess what I’m saying is, “Why not help parents/caregivers out and teach our students these basic skills when we can?” It will make our day smoother and save us time in the long run because then our students will be able to independently complete basic tasks and will no longer need to ask us to do those things for them.

Please share in the comments below if you agree/disagree and why. Also, feel free to share your ideas for encouraging parents/caregivers to teach their children basic life skills.