Talk less, facilitate more

Not sure if anyone is really reading this, but here goes.  I am happy to report that as I continue to work with the strategies so far, my students are getting more responsive.  They're getting used to greater accountability and I've been diligent with planning to be more challenging and effective in the classroom.  Some of my strengths are starting to come out from the deep.  A student who had to leave school came to say goodbye to me this past week--a special trip, she said, because I was such a good teacher.  Gotta take it where you get it.

My students were playing Jeopardy today and calling out with the different animal noises from the characters in Animal Farm--spontaneous celebration of literature.  If they were trying to persuade me to give their side more points, I said they were being like Squealer, Orwell's persuasive propaganda pig (we call him the PPP).  Apparently you can insult teens if you do it in the disguise of literary characters.  In this unit, most of my students actually embraced the challenge of reading an antiquated, but important book.  A rarity in today's teen world.

New techniques: BREAK IT DOWN #16 is something I have more of a natural ability for already.  This is giving cues, providing context, rules, missing first steps or eliminating false choices so students can get at a right answer or understanding when they are struggling to master something.  Maybe not perfect, but I got this one, yo, you feel me?

The other technique, RATIO #17 deals with the students doing the cognitive work rather than the teacher.  Finally my shy, lack of spotlight, facilitator nature gets to shine.  Having students be involved throughout the whole lesson is invigorating for me as teacher and definitely for students, many of whom are sadly unaccustomed to speaking during class.  I know my students are happy to be able to participate--it's getting to the point where hands are excitedly raised to answer questions, share their writing, show their skills.  And these aren't the nerds.  These are the so-called problem kids.

Here are suggestions from the Teach Like a Champion guru, Doug Lemov, on how to do RATIO:  unbundle questions into smaller parts so students can answer, make half-statements that they can finish, ask what's next, feign ignorance so they are the "experts", ask for repeated examples of similar topics going deeper into the idea, rephrase or add on to other answers, ask why or how, ask for supporting evidence, and allow for a host of responses before you add comments as a teacher.  Lemov suggests a volleyball game, not soccer.  Sports metaphors are really good for getting boys to understand things!  So cheers to a home run.

P.S. It's teacher appreciation week.  My apple-gift only lasted to sixth period before a hungry student asked for it.