Imagine you’re a 10th grader, and it’s the third week of school. You’ve started to notice a few things in math class. Every assignment so far has been copied from a website, including a logo at the bottom for FreeMathWorksheets.com or HomeschoolAlgebra.net. A few times, the teacher was working through a problem at the board and got stuck or got the wrong answer. They’ve assigned homework a few times but haven’t graded it. The teacher has called you and some of your classmates by the wrong name. Class rules seem to have gone out the window, too.
What would be your expectations be for this teacher and class moving forward?
Students are “sizing you up” as a teacher from day one, quickly noticing whether a teacher establishes or undermines their own instructional credibility, ultimately deciding whether the teacher deserves respect and attention. If the teacher seems like a joke, students tune out. This evaluation of teacher credibility is more important than we might think, especially for newer teachers.
According to researcher John Hattie, teacher credibility is one of the strongest predictors of student learning, even more so than student effort, motivation, or socioeconomic status. Despite its importance, teacher credibility has long been overlooked in preparation and professional development.
In a nutshell, teacher credibility refers to whether students believe they can learn from their instructor. This belief is a make-or-break for student engagement and learning. There’s a lot that goes into it, but the research breaks teacher credibility into a few areas.
Trust: Is the teacher reliable? Fair? Are they honest with their students? Do they seem genuinely invested in their students’ success? Do they mean what they say and say what they mean?
Competence: Does this teacher “know their stuff?” Are lessons well-planned and organized? Do they know how to run the classroom and manage behavior?
Dynamism: Is the teacher enthusiastic about their content and student learning? Do they plan lessons that are relevant and relatable for their students?
Immediacy (perceived closeness): Is the teacher accessible and available to students? Do they know and connect with their students? Do they teach with energy and urgency?
As a former secondary teacher and current education professor working with student teachers, I’ve seen firsthand the importance of establishing credibility for novice teachers. Because students make decisions early on about their teachers’ credibility, new teachers need to be on top of their game from day one to lay the foundation for the rest of the year. If you lose your credibility as an instructor at the beginning of the year, it’s nearly impossible to get it back. Elementary teachers have known this for a long time (see Harry and Rosemary Wong’s classic First Days of School). It’s time to get serious about teacher credibility at the secondary level as well.
This is doubly important if you are a newer teacher, teaching in a new school or grade level, or if you’re at a school where teachers aren’t automatically respected by their students (see education researcher Eliot J. Graham’s work on teacher authority).
Here are a few of the do’s and don’ts that I’ve learned over the years to use as guidelines as you think about teacher credibility:
| Do | Don’t |
| ● Follow through on what you say. | ● Make false promises and empty threats. ● Repeat warnings without action. |
| ● Have organized and purposeful lessons. ● Make every minute count. Class time matters, and lessons should always go bell to bell. | ● Deliver lessons that are confusing, unorganized, or full of busy work. ● Use materials that have typos or grammatical errors. ● Start lessons late or end early. |
| ● Connect with your students. ● Learn all student names by the end of the first week. ● Create a student profile sheet about needs, interests, and backgrounds. Plan moments where you call on these connections early in the semester. | ● Be cold and distant. ● Say that you’re “not good with names.” ● Tell students to learn things “because it’s on the test.” |
| ● Apply classroom and school rules fairly to everyone. | ● Play favorites (this is especially important if you’re a coach or club sponsor who knows some students better than others). ● Be inconsistent with classroom management. |
| ● Create a safe environment by being receptive to student ideas and opinions and embracing open-ended responses that allow students to share. ● Make it a habit at the end of each class period to shout out a student for their contribution to class and post it on a class bulletin board. | ● Rely on public humiliation, shutting kids down, or heavy sarcasm for managing the classroom. ● Demonstrate political bias. ● Insist on rigid right-and-wrong answers. |
| ● Know your stuff. Demonstrate knowledge that goes beyond the slides or texts. ● Test your tech before class! Make sure settings and links are good to go. | ● Be “surprised” by what’s on the next slide or re-read materials before giving directions. ● Rely heavily on reproducible curriculum without tailoring it to your class. |
| ● Show kids that you’re actually reading their work by leaving personalized comments. Aim for a 1-day turnaround on grading assignments (especially early on). ● Be honest with grades—don’t be afraid to give out bad grades if student work deserves them! ● Pull great answers and examples from student work to showcase them in class. ● At the start of the school year, commit to introducing yourself to two parents a day, and don’t forget about brag calls. | ● Grade for completion rather than substance, leaving your kids wondering, is the teacher even reading my work? ● Take too long to return assignments. |
Teaching is complicated work. Don’t make it more difficult by squandering your credibility early in the school year. Show your kids that you mean business early on because you care about them and their learning. That’s a foundation that you can build on for the rest of the school year.
