Stories from School would like to welcome Brian Sites as a guest-contributor to our blog. Brian Sites is an alternative educator and National Board Certified teacher, who has earned recognition at the state and national level for his work helping students achieve their full potential at River's Edge High School in Richland, WA. 

This post is an excerpt of his self-publisehd book "Who's Teaching Who? Stories of hope and lessons learned from my first 10 years of teaching" available in pdf format, and free of charge  at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/284848

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The New 3 Rs:    Relationships
+ Resiliency=
 Results

The original 3 R’s (Rigor, Relevance, Relationships) always made sense
to me, but I felt as though it missed the mark. To me, I saw an underlying
assumption that teachers did not offer enough rigor to their students, and that
teachers were clueless about how to teach in ways that make content relevant to
the lives of their students. As for relationships…being the third “R” somehow
seemed to diminish its importance, as if by somehow doing the other two very
well, the Relationships will come naturally.

To me, this is entirely backwards! I see Relationships as the cornerstone of good teaching. Building
students’ resiliency is what teachers are supposed to do, but why is it never
discussed? My experience tells me that because it is not easily quantifiable,
and it is not related to specific content areas, resiliency has been banished
from our pedagogical vocabulary.

When you think about the job of an educator, the primary role is to
create trust with students, nurture their inquisitive minds, and teach them
habits of mind that lead to creative solutions to complex problems.

If a teacher has the capacity to build quality relationships with
students, and equip them with the ability to persevere and overcome adversity
(to be resilient), the results will be remarkable. Increased academic
performance, increased attendance, less misbehavior, and an increase in
intrinsic motivation are all likely outcomes when teachers focus on
relationships and resiliency.

Focusing on these areas does not mean rigor and relevance go away.
Both rigor and relevance should be a part of instruction, but without
relationships and resiliency, a teacher can have a very rigorous and relevant
curriculum, yet students will not try as hard or care as much. Rigor and
relevance focus on the curriculum, while relationships and resiliency focus on
the human element.

Students respond to classrooms that are rigorous in two ways: either
try their hardest, or give up (“fight-or-flight”). Think back to when you were
a student, and what was present (or lacking) in the toughest classes you took.

I’ll bet my retirement that there were the tough-but-caring teachers
who pushed you the most, and brought out the best in your, while the
tough/hard-ass types taught the classes you loved to hate. Being rigorous or
relevant isn’t enough…the cliché, “They’ve got to know that you care, before
they care what you know”, is an apt description.

Certain things in
life can be quantified; others cannot. Heart, determination, having the courage
to take risks, learning from failure, overcoming adversity…these are the true
drivers of success. As our system continues to evolve, and implement the rigor
of College and Career Readiness inherent in Common Core standards, my hope is
that the educational system does not lose sight of the importance of
relationships and resiliency.

 By Brian Sites, NBCT &  ESD 123 Regional Teacher of the Year