We should have some Top Chef situation for education, but we can replace Padma with Zalika, Gail with Jan, Toby with Kip, and Tom with Zaher. It’ll be huge.

Any-who, my top five “ingredients” would be as follows, in no particular order except how my brain spat them out.

1.    Mutual Trust

I can’t imagine being a student and feeling as though I wanted to learn or would be successful at it if I didn’t trust my teacher, his or her intentions and the rest of the classroom. Trust creates an atmosphere of comfort, safety and general well being. Conversely, trust has to be felt on the part of the teacher. Trust in the students to try their best, trust that they are going to be active participants and trust that they will carry out this trust with the other members of the classroom. Extended out, teachers also need to be able to trust the faculty and administration in the school system. I feel like this is often a downfall of the educational system. Teachers, and therefore students, rarely feel as though they can trust what the administrators in education are doing. I believe trust is integral to the foundation essential for a successful classroom.

2.     Desire to Learn

The desire to learn and thirst for knowledge must first be felt by the teacher before the students can really catch it. Excitement is contagious, and the teacher is one of the people children interact with more than any other adult in their daily lives. Therefore, teachers need to get excited and realize that everything they can by felt and seen by the students.  Teachers have an incredible amount of influence, and one thing that is crucial, perhaps above all other things, for students to obtain in schools is the desire to learn more!

3.     Mutual Respect

Children, even very young children and especially older children, know when things are being dumbed down for them. They know when they are being left out because the adults don’t think they are smart enough, mature enough or old enough to get all of the facts. I am not saying that students of all ages should be exposed to absolutely everything, but there is a way to present any topic to children in an age appropriate way that does not degrade their intelligence.

Having mutual respect involves trust and understanding of one another, two things that I also believe are very important. Respect in education, to me, means that the teacher does not view him or herself as the imparter of knowledge, as the one with all of the power, or as the final say in what is right, wrong, true or false. Rather, the teacher recognizes that he or she is more of a learning facilitator – going on the educational exploration alongside of the students, sometimes pointing out a path that might get everybody to the top, but listening to and genuinely respecting the ideas of the students in getting there. True respect from the students can only come when they feel as though they are respected as well.

4.     Love

Yuck, there I said it. Education needs love. But it surpasses any love and caring for one another. There needs to be a love of education, of teaching, of learning, of growing, of reflecting, of pushing oneself, and yes, fine… love of the students and for the students, a love of the teacher.

5.     Willingness to Change

I believe it is crucial to recognize that education cannot be a stagnant thing – it must constantly evolve and change to fit the changing needs of our students and world. The teachers and administrators must be willing to change, grow and adapt. This doesn’t mean that everything will someday be wrong. Rather, the basics and foundations of education (such as these five ingredients we are all coming up with, and others like critical inquiry and reflection) may stay but need to be presented or expressed in a new way. Refusing to change does nothing for our students except hinder them.

I believe children need... to have their basic needs met before they can be successful learners.

I believe teachers should... know who they are before they step into the classroom and expect to connect with the students.

I believe schools should... recognize that the community surrounding them is not just the geological location in which they are placed, but rather the lifeblood of the school and the only reason for its existence.