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But how can you "pull this off" when you are focused upon "teaching to the high-stakes test," and when your job is on the line?

Don't your students know that passing the high-stakes test is good for them, is pivotal for their economic survival, is their ticket to all the success and happiness of the "American Dream?"

Answer: They've heard this line hundreds of times (if not more), and they don't believe it.

Fake it 'til you Mean It?

The basic communication that you have to model, personify, be congruent with is; "It's not about me, your teachers, or about test scores; it's about you and your happiness."

Your attitude, thoughts and behaviors can't trick students, though. Your slightest self-interest will betray you.

Your approach has to demonstrate, show, objectify, "operationalize" real caring, and do this in a way that students recognize.

If you were a sales person, you would have to put the customer's needs before your commission checks. As a teacher, you are selling ideas, and you have to put your students' needs before the test scores.

It would be OK, if what students were called upon was easy, required nothing but a few dollars from their pocketbook, or required them to press the lever in a voting booth hard enough to dislodge the chad.

But no, what you ask students to do is substantial, difficult, with learning and unlearning barriers to surmount.

The student that works after school 'till one A.M. is not lazy just because your homework was not completed and turned in in meticulous fashion.

The teen mother who got two hours sleep because she was nursing her ill and crying child is not disrespectful if she nods off during your extended period of pontification.

When you take the time to know your students, take the time to find out how you can help them; then you will have the knowledge (to go with your gut wisdom) of creating a flexible path for each one's learning.

The Most Unfair Method of Instruction: Treating Each Student Equally

Students are individuals, and need individual pathways to happiness.

Students are like diamonds, and each one must be studied in order to bring out brilliance and sparkle.

Politicians often think of the students that we graduate as our products, but it is shortsighted to think of students as raw materials that is to be processed in conformance to quality control standards.

Instead, we make students our "products" by tailoring our work to their needs.

Hard to Understand Concept: Instruction Changes with Each Student

Master teachers understand that the ebb and flow of instruction changes with each student that is added or is subtracted from a classroom. Less talented teachers cannot comprehend the fact that communication changes, relationships alter, and assignments must be revised and adjusted to account for the new group dynamic.

Master teachers embrace this fact with relish and excitement because they learn something new, and because they perfect their skills with each student interaction.

Less talented teachers bemoan the fact that students don't act, think, feel, learn the ways that the teacher wishes that they would.

Celebrating the differences in students is the hallmark of a Master Teacher, and the lack of such perception of the value of each student is the "Scarlet Letter 'L'" (for Looser) that such a teacher proudly displays by their words and deeds.

So, the next time that a principal or school administrator browbeats you about redoubling your "teaching to the test" efforts; politely agree and promise to do your best.

But, know in your "heart of heart," that for you, students come first.

The paradox is that when your students come first, they achieve superior outcomes on those high-stakes tests. Students who perceive that the test scores are more important to their teacher than they are, lack the motivation, confidence and self-esteem to excel on the test.

Make sure that your students know that you care about them, and they will take care of you (and your job security) at testing time.