Understand Before You Instruct (Episode 20261015)

Teaching with HEART

This episode is part of the Teaching with HEART series, which explores how human-centered, empathic, adaptive, responsive, and transformational teaching can strengthen learning. If this is your first episode—or you’d like a refresher—review the Teaching with HEART Introduction before continuing.

Series Titles

• Understand Before You Instruct (Episode 20261015)
• Teaching Through Different Lenses (Episode 20260910)
• Building Transformational Relationships (Episode 20261029)

Before we can teach effectively, we need to understand what our students are experiencing. This session explores how curiosity, observation, and empathy help instructors respond thoughtfully rather than reactively.

When students struggle, our instinct is often to explain more, correct mistakes, or offer solutions. But effective teaching begins with understanding. Before deciding what a student needs, take time to notice what they may be experiencing.

• Think about a student who struggled more than expected. What do you think they were experiencing?
• How do you typically respond when someone becomes frustrated?
• What clues help you recognize when a student needs encouragement instead of more instruction?

Talking Points

Cognitive and Emotional Empathy
Empathy in teaching can happen on multiple levels. Cognitive empathy is the ability to understand another person’s perspective—what they may be thinking, what makes sense from their point of view, or why they may be approaching something differently. Emotional empathy involves recognizing and connecting with what they may be feeling.

Both can be useful in the classroom. A student who repeatedly hesitates may understand the material but lack confidence, while another may feel perfectly comfortable but genuinely not understand the concept. Recognizing the difference helps instructors respond to the learner’s actual need rather than treating every struggle as an instructional problem.

Learn more: Psychology Today: Are you an Empath

Choose Curiosity Over Assumptions
Experience enables instructors to recognize patterns quickly, but it can also make us more likely to assume we know what’s happening. A quiet student may be confused—or simply processing. A student who challenges an explanation may be resistant—or trying to reconcile what they’re hearing with something they previously learned.

Curiosity creates room for possibilities. A simple question like, “What are you thinking about here?” can provide more useful information than immediately explaining what the instructor thinks the student needs to know.

Listen Beyond the Words
Students don’t always directly say, “I’m confused,” “I’m embarrassed,” or “I’m afraid of making a mistake.” Those feelings may show up as repeated questions, self-deprecating comments, joking, frustration, withdrawal, or constant requests for reassurance.

Listening beyond the words means noticing patterns, not just statements. Instead of responding only to the question, consider what the student may be communicating about their confidence, understanding, or learning experience.

Read the Room
Learning is communicated through more than words. Facial expressions, posture, eye contact, participation, silence, pace, and changes in behavior can reveal how students are experiencing a lesson.

The key is to treat these cues as information, not conclusions. Crossed arms don’t automatically mean someone is disengaged, and silence doesn’t necessarily mean confusion. Non-verbal cues can signal a shift; curiosity helps you discover what changed.

Respond Before You Correct
Correction is an important part of teaching, but it doesn’t always need to be the instructor’s first response. Sometimes asking a question, allowing additional processing time, acknowledging frustration, or simply letting a student work through uncertainty creates a better learning opportunity.

Before correcting, consider what the student needs in that moment. They may need information—but they may also need confidence, independence, reassurance, or permission to make the mistake and learn from it. The goal isn’t to avoid correction; it’s to make sure the correction actually serves the learner.

Learn more: Listening with Intention (Episode 20260108)

Activity

What you observe isn’t always a sign that a student doesn’t understand. One learner may need clarification, while another may need reassurance, more processing time, permission to make mistakes, or help sorting through conflicting information.

As you work through each scenario, resist the urge to immediately identify the problem or offer a solution. Instead, consider what you actually observe, what the student might be experiencing, and what you would need to learn before deciding how to respond.

That is the central idea behind Understand Before You Instruct: you can’t choose the most helpful teaching response until you understand what may be getting in the learner’s way.

For each situation, identify:

• What do you observe?
• What might the student be experiencing?
• What assumptions should you avoid?
•  What could I ask before deciding how to respond?

The goal isn’t to diagnose the student or find the “right” answer. It’s to practice noticing, wondering, and asking before correcting.

Reflections

• Which observation challenged your assumptions?
• What student behavior might you’ve misinterpreted in the past?
• How can slowing down improve your teaching?

Professional Practice Commitment

Because of today’s session…

One way I will become a more observant instructor is…