¨A veteran teacher turned coach shadows 2 students for 2 days - a sobering lesson learned¨
We all get caught up in delivering our lesson and wanting to make the critical points that we feel our students need to have transmitted into their brains so they can fully grasp the content we are teaching. That does sound exhausting! Grant Wiggins’ blog about a teacher who spent two days shadowing students, first as a 10th grader and next as a 12th grade student, availed some salient points about the value of seeing our classroom environments from the students perspective. In the teacher’s summary of her experience she provided a number of great ideas that I would feel comfortable implementing in my own classroom, and here they are….
Communicating with the students in a respectful manner sounds obvious but it is easy to get exasperated when you are asked the same question 5 times and one might possibly respond in a snarky or sarcastic manner. This teacher’s idea of a “swear type” jar and having the students hold her accountable was inspired. It lets the students see that their teacher is human and imperfect, hopefully allowing them to feel safe to make mistakes and ask questions. The idea of having students write their questions on the board as they come in is genius. Especially in a math class, we need to know the material the students are struggling with, so we can reteach if necessary; and what teacher isn’t looking for a way to get their students engaged as they walk in the door so we don’t have to waste precious time getting them to switch gears and be ready to learn? Her idea of creating movement breaks could get challenging. For the 6th graders I am currently teaching it is actually a lot of fun. They still enjoy musical chair type activities. For the high school students I see this being implemented more in the form of hands on activities and finding opportunities for students to get up and move during those long block periods. The teacher’s idea of having the students read through a test for 5 minutes before beginning writing is a great way to get any points of confusion clarified for all students.
I identified with the teacher’s concern about slowing down the pace by incorporating more hands-on activities but I think that would be balanced with the greater retention the students would have if they were more engaged in the lesson. Also, it is consistent with the the narrow focus but great depth teaching model that the Common Core represents.
Wiggins, G. (2014, October 10). A veteran teacher turned coach shadows 2 students for 2 days - a sobering lesson learned. Retrieved November 24, 2015, from https://grantwiggins.wordpress.com/2014/10/10/a-veteran-teacher-turned-coach-shadows-2-students-for-2-days-a-sobering-lesson-learned/
We all get caught up in delivering our lesson and wanting to make the critical points that we feel our students need to have transmitted into their brains so they can fully grasp the content we are teaching. That does sound exhausting! Grant Wiggins’ blog about a teacher who spent two days shadowing students, first as a 10th grader and next as a 12th grade student, availed some salient points about the value of seeing our classroom environments from the students perspective. In the teacher’s summary of her experience she provided a number of great ideas that I would feel comfortable implementing in my own classroom, and here they are….
Communicating with the students in a respectful manner sounds obvious but it is easy to get exasperated when you are asked the same question 5 times and one might possibly respond in a snarky or sarcastic manner. This teacher’s idea of a “swear type” jar and having the students hold her accountable was inspired. It lets the students see that their teacher is human and imperfect, hopefully allowing them to feel safe to make mistakes and ask questions. The idea of having students write their questions on the board as they come in is genius. Especially in a math class, we need to know the material the students are struggling with, so we can reteach if necessary; and what teacher isn’t looking for a way to get their students engaged as they walk in the door so we don’t have to waste precious time getting them to switch gears and be ready to learn? Her idea of creating movement breaks could get challenging. For the 6th graders I am currently teaching it is actually a lot of fun. They still enjoy musical chair type activities. For the high school students I see this being implemented more in the form of hands on activities and finding opportunities for students to get up and move during those long block periods. The teacher’s idea of having the students read through a test for 5 minutes before beginning writing is a great way to get any points of confusion clarified for all students.
I identified with the teacher’s concern about slowing down the pace by incorporating more hands-on activities but I think that would be balanced with the greater retention the students would have if they were more engaged in the lesson. Also, it is consistent with the the narrow focus but great depth teaching model that the Common Core represents.
Wiggins, G. (2014, October 10). A veteran teacher turned coach shadows 2 students for 2 days - a sobering lesson learned. Retrieved November 24, 2015, from https://grantwiggins.wordpress.com/2014/10/10/a-veteran-teacher-turned-coach-shadows-2-students-for-2-days-a-sobering-lesson-learned/