It's Saturday morning (yay!!) I slept in, read Sherlock Holmes, made pancakes, and am now ready to start my plans for next week. As I learn to be a teacher (or to be a better teacher), I wonder what is or isn't effective. Some things I learned this week:
1. REVIEW!!! Review, review, review. Every day, I ask my students what we talked about yesterday. If we learned a new grammar structure, I have them write examples on the board. I ask questions about it. I think it helps them reconnect with the material since they go from class to class. It's also another chance for me to see if they understand or not.
2. Explaining learning outcomes for the students - Learning outcomes seemed novel to me at first, but then I remembered working with first graders. Every day, we wrote on the board "Today's language goal is: ... " I have really only implemented this in one of my classes. We have a great book that weaves one question for the unit through every activity. So, at least once a class, I point it out and ask my students how what we are reading connects to it. Goal: do this in more classes.
3. Be able to laugh. It makes class more fun.
4. Have a clear vision of what you want to accomplish in each lesson. This is a goal for the week. I was reading a blog my my friend Kelsey (not about teaching) and I read this. Warning: If you click on that link, you may never be able to stop reading her blog. She's an AWESOMEAWESOMEAWESOME writer. And I don't just say that. So yes, I guess I'd never thought about that before. I think this week, I'm going to try to write my lesson goal for each class at the top of a paper and then tell them. We'll see how it goes.
Do you have any teaching tips?
Sounds to me like you have a good handle on what you are doing. One of the things we talked about this week in a collaboration meeting was how important it is for students to discover things for themselves. You lead the process but let them think it through to get the results. It takes longer but the learning sticks better.
ReplyDeleteThe other thought I had was that what is effective and what is not depends on your students. Understanding them is half the battle.
Keep smiling. I bet they love coming to your class.
Janice
Well what a surprise…I pop over to read your thoughts and teaching and then there is my link…you're too kind :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Janice up there: sounds like you have a great handle on what's happening/what you need to be doing.
Your focus of reiterating the PURPOSE for each lesson/how it connects to the "big picture" of your classroom or current unit is essential. I post a "learning goal" on the board of this nature for each class. However for certain lessons, in particular really FUN, HANDS ON, or GROUP activities, I always put the purpose for the lesson at the top of their handout etc. Sometimes I even point blank ask, "If someone were to walk in here and ask why you're eating ice cream, what would you tell them?" And they need to be able to tell me "Because we learned the writing process through building ice cream sundaes…" or whatever the particular activity was [that is a fun one, though! :)]
LAUGHTER is HUGE!!! It validates them in ways other things can't. We laugh ALL THE TIME in my classroom. It makes my day better, and it makes them more willing to buckle down when the laughter is over.
THe biggest thing I've figured out in the mere four years I've taught though is this: Building valid relationships with my students and treating them as human beings is THE best classroom management around. When they know I care, they are typically well behaved, and stop when I ask them politely to stop. I always give them respect, and they return it. I don't ever yell at them. Ever. And I don't have to. Creating a safe space for them to learn is the FIRST KEY to their learning process.
I bet you're doing a fabulous job and I'm sure they love yoU!