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Three Ideas to Teach More by Talking Less

March 31, 2016 by Instructor Leave a Comment

Teach More Talking Less

Why do I sometimes have the impression that my students are baby birds with their mouths open waiting for me to fill them with wormy pearls of wisdom?  Oh yeah, because sometimes I just talk too much, spewing out maggoty messages to fill my students’ heads with knowledge.  It could be, once again, I’ve been tangled in helping my students create the perfect product and have made the rookie mistake of focusing on the endgame instead of focusing on the process of investigation and inquiry.

After reflecting on this problem, I’ve come to the conclusion there are several factors in play: teacher assessments are often based on products, contests that are won based on products, school assessments are based on data gathered from final assessments, and let’s be honest; focusing on a product rather than a process is easier to control. We teachers are evaluated and assessed on outcome, which is easier to measure than the process.  How can we focus on the process?

We can allow our students to struggle.

While it is uncomfortable to not immediately answer when a student asks a question, it’s okay for students to wrestle with a problem…better than okay, this struggle is what grows the brain and allows students to become resilient and persist when the going isn’t smooth and easy.

My co-worker Bonny has a rule that her students are not allowed to ask for help until after they have tried to solve their question for about five or ten minutes.  At first students angrily complain,”Why aren’t you helping me? Isn’t it your job to tell me how to do this?” (Yikes, have we been teaching them it is our job to immediately provide any and all answers?) After students have unsuccessfully tried getting us teachers to do their work, they often dig in and try.  If students are still frustrated, ask students to make their questions specific.  This encourages them to think about what they need and where there is confusion. Support students with guiding questions.

We can ask our students to summarize their learning.

When students struggle, ask them to summarize what they think needs to be done.  This will give you insight as to where the confusion lies.  Address the confusion with a question instead of explaining everything.  For example, if a student does not know how to write a reflective, thoughtful conclusion to their essay, instead of rushing in like a star quarterback, explaining every detail, coach them by showing some examples, allowing them to examine good writing techniques.

We can require students to self-evaluate their work instead of addicting them to our praise.

Instead of telling students what they have just learned, ask them to reflect on what they gained from the process.  Too often students wait for the nod of approval and acceptance from the teacher.  We are turning our students into praise addicts.  We should be teaching our students how to evaluate their own success, building their self-confidence instead of making them dependent on external validation.

When we keep our mouths shut, we help our baby birds build intellectual, problem solving muscle, and soon these birds will mature and fly on their own.

Filed Under: Teaching Tagged With: coaching students, common core, common core benefits, common core standard, Common Core Standards, Common Core State Standards, common core student, Common core teaching, learning, student knowledge, student skills, Teacher's Planning Partner, teaching

Word Power!

January 11, 2016 by Instructor Leave a Comment

Word Power 2Words equal power, so when people on Facebook and Twitter posted pieces on one word resolutions,    I thought, “Oh, yeah, this is groovy.”  Winter is all sludgy and freezy and the next significant break is months away, so my teaching energy could easily be poof, soot, gone. This one word resolution idea might keep me on track.

I thought if the one word resolution works for me, it would work for my students as well.  I shared the one word idea with my students and how it could inspire them throughout the year.  The students dove in and generated a list of powerful words.

Now, students were faced with the task of choosing their word.  “One word? Just one? Can’t I choose like five? This feels too important to just randomly choose one word.” Many students stalled, unable to choose the one guiding word.  I confessed that I had not chosen my word for that same reason.  My brilliant virtual assistant, Beth Milligan, helps her clients focus on a successful year by using the one word resolution tool.  Additionally, she suggests clients define their top three goals for the year as well as a theme to tie it all together.

Maybe my students should set a few goals. I asked my students to put their resolution word on the back burner and concentrate on their goals.  Again, students rose to the task and generated goals.

While my students set goals for improving their athletic skills, or earning better grades, or maybe trying out for plays or cheerleading, I modeled for my students by writing my own personal goals using a document camera.  When I reviewed my top three goals (reconnecting with friends, not letting work pile-up, and the traditional “I’m going to get healthy this year”), my first thought was that these goals seemed to have nothing in common.  Then, “Bam,” the word balance jumped out at me. I need balance in my life.  Since I came to this conclusion while thinking aloud in front of my students, my students started to find that after they set their goals, their words were easy to pick out, too.

Apparently, starting with goals aided in gaining clarity.  Students excitedly shouted out words like “commitment”, “focus”, and “drive”.  One girl looked at her goals, decided they would require much effort to accomplish, and said that the word “commitment” was her obvious choice.  Another student said that the word “focus” would help him accomplish his goals.

What one word will guide you when you feel your teaching is veering off course and your workload feels overwhelming? The day after my classes completed their goal setting and one word resolutions, one of my students pulled me aside to tell me she had been in a horrible car accident the night before, but that everyone was alright.  She confided to me that her one word was “survive”.  Yikes, survive? Without context, that word made me wonder what she might be tangling with.  She assured me that she saw this word as powerful and protective; if it were a stone, it would be her talisman. Wow, we both agreed that words can be powerful!

Filed Under: Teaching Tagged With: coaching students, common core, Common core teaching, one word, planning, student knowledge, student skills, student success, Teacher's Planning Partner, teaching

Make the Best Lasting Impression on Your Students

June 9, 2015 by Instructor

Don’t get me wrong, I love celebrations as much as the next gal, and I do believe celebrations help build community, but too often students expect the last few days of school to be a series of picnics, games, and socializing.

Why not offer students more than a cooler full of Fudgsicles® at the end of the year.  The end of the school year is like the mother of all lesson closures. Close the year by reminding your students of the skills, knowledge, and curiosity they’ve acquired.

2015-06-09 19.56.32My students have just checked the last Common Core Standard to be mastered on the Teacher’s Planning Partner posters.

 

On the last day of school, I traditionally cement the learning with a review game.

Rules of game:

  1. Divide class into two teams.
  2. Each team sends a team representative to the front of the room.
  3. Pose a question that is either Common Core related or a bite of wisdom such as…Good writers blank (show) not tell.
  4. The team rep who answers the question first earns a point for her team. The teams are not allowed to talk while the reps are answering the question. (This is a huge bonus.)
  5. Each team will continue to send a new rep until every student has a turn or all questions have been answered.  Timing for this game is flexible.  You can make it as short or as long as you need.  My students love this game and have never gotten restless.

The winning team gets to do a touchdown celebration dance.  I’d let my students Lambeau Leap, as we live in Wisconsin, but the landing could be dicey.

End your year with a learning celebration, and you will have reinforced a culture of learning, and you don’t even need to pick up any sticky wrappers.

Filed Under: Common Core Tagged With: common core, common core standard, end of school year celebration, end of year, learning game, student knowledge, student skills, Teacher's Planning Partner, teaching posters

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julie_krautkramerJulie has been teaching for over 25 years at both private and public schools.  She has been an instrumental part of curriculum writing teams and vertical teams

Mike-NewMichael has been a science and math teacher for over nine years at both private and public schools and has taught adult education for over 25 years.

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