Sunday, March 22, 2009
Hiatus
I haven't been posting as I am very busy with report cards and planning for my upcoming trip to Europe. I'll be gone until April 19, but I'll be blogging about the trip! Rest assured, I'm still Power Teaching and it's still going great, and I will begin blogging again when I return.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Best of the Forums
I've been really active on the forums on the new website lately, and there have been some fantastic ideas shared so far. Here are a few of my favorites in no particular order (sorry, I can't link to the specific posts, so you'll have to scroll through the thread to find the appropriate post):
1. Tetris and Battleship games for teaching area
2. Silent-Focused-Thinking (SFT) technique for micro-independent work
3. Geometry gestures (including one for isosceles triangle that is one of the best I've seen for anything)
4. Course Questions game to use as a warm-up activity
5. Gestures for animals and their needs
Hope you enjoy them. My ulterior motive for making this list is that it's my To Do of things to use in my own classroom. :-)
1. Tetris and Battleship games for teaching area
2. Silent-Focused-Thinking (SFT) technique for micro-independent work
3. Geometry gestures (including one for isosceles triangle that is one of the best I've seen for anything)
4. Course Questions game to use as a warm-up activity
5. Gestures for animals and their needs
Hope you enjoy them. My ulterior motive for making this list is that it's my To Do of things to use in my own classroom. :-)
Thursday, February 26, 2009
My Teach-OK Routine
I'm going to take a break from reflecting on my own teaching and share something I feel I've gotten good at with any new Power Teachers that might be reading. This is my exact routine for teaching any concept using Power Teaching strategies.
1. Give the "Mirror" command and present the concept as concisely as possible and with very simple visual aids if necessary. Perform any necessary gestures as you explain and make sure everyone is mirroring.
2. Have the class Teach-OK with their partners. I usually leave it open, but sometimes I will specify 1s explain to 2s if it is especially difficult or 2s explain to 1s if not.
3. Yell "Switch!" once they've had about enough time to get through 2/3 of the concept, if that makes sense. You don't want them to just have to repeat themselves when they switch, but rather actually pick up where their partner left off.
4. After Teach-OK is done (no more than 15-20 seconds usually), regain the class with "Class-OK," and choose a student (not from a show of hands, you choose the student) to explain the concept to the class. I usually phrase it as a question ("think you can do it?"). You and the class mirror their gestures. Choose the student carefully; for an advanced concept choose a high student, and for a basic one choose a low student.
5. If the student fails, give them an "It's Cool," and repeat the above before asking a different student to explain. If they succeed, give them a woo!
This whole process should take 2-5 minutes at the most. Keep it really fast-paced. By that I don't mean talk fast, but always be ready with the next step. Don't take any time to think as this will give the students gaps that they will fill by losing focus and possibly misbehaving. After this 2-5 minute routine, I would bet that at least half of my students have the concept cemented already; no independent work needed. Enjoy!
1. Give the "Mirror" command and present the concept as concisely as possible and with very simple visual aids if necessary. Perform any necessary gestures as you explain and make sure everyone is mirroring.
2. Have the class Teach-OK with their partners. I usually leave it open, but sometimes I will specify 1s explain to 2s if it is especially difficult or 2s explain to 1s if not.
3. Yell "Switch!" once they've had about enough time to get through 2/3 of the concept, if that makes sense. You don't want them to just have to repeat themselves when they switch, but rather actually pick up where their partner left off.
4. After Teach-OK is done (no more than 15-20 seconds usually), regain the class with "Class-OK," and choose a student (not from a show of hands, you choose the student) to explain the concept to the class. I usually phrase it as a question ("think you can do it?"). You and the class mirror their gestures. Choose the student carefully; for an advanced concept choose a high student, and for a basic one choose a low student.
5. If the student fails, give them an "It's Cool," and repeat the above before asking a different student to explain. If they succeed, give them a woo!
This whole process should take 2-5 minutes at the most. Keep it really fast-paced. By that I don't mean talk fast, but always be ready with the next step. Don't take any time to think as this will give the students gaps that they will fill by losing focus and possibly misbehaving. After this 2-5 minute routine, I would bet that at least half of my students have the concept cemented already; no independent work needed. Enjoy!
Monday, February 23, 2009
Weakness in Power Teaching?
I've been going for about a month now, and I've noticed something. I seem to be able to do really effective Power Teaching for concepts that have discrete "chunks" that can be easily micro-lectured - i.e. content like science or vocabulary (vocabulary has definitely been my biggest success with it so far). However, I am having difficulty using it with skills teaching - things that can't be boiled down to a quick sentence or two that needs to be memorized.
For example, in math we just finished a money chapter in which students needed to learn to calculate change, then express it in terms of coins. I had great difficulty trying to find a way to structure this in a way that would allow students to Teach-OK or do gestures the way they have done in, for example, science. The same type of thing happens in language arts, when I want to teach something more complex like how to edit a paragraph.
It could be that I wasn't able to think of a way to "chunk" these concept appropriately for the students. Maybe I just need to start anticipating these difficult topics and actually write down each micro-lecturing "chunk" before doing the lesson. On the other hand, it could be that some things simply can't be chunked in this way... I'll have to keep experimenting with this.
For example, in math we just finished a money chapter in which students needed to learn to calculate change, then express it in terms of coins. I had great difficulty trying to find a way to structure this in a way that would allow students to Teach-OK or do gestures the way they have done in, for example, science. The same type of thing happens in language arts, when I want to teach something more complex like how to edit a paragraph.
It could be that I wasn't able to think of a way to "chunk" these concept appropriately for the students. Maybe I just need to start anticipating these difficult topics and actually write down each micro-lecturing "chunk" before doing the lesson. On the other hand, it could be that some things simply can't be chunked in this way... I'll have to keep experimenting with this.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
The Independents, pt. 2
Friday went well. I was pretty harsh with my independents (they got to watch the other students get 10 minutes of extra recess), and one of them asked to be taken off. Donald came to me and seemed pretty penitent, so I have high hopes. Timothy didn't ask, but I think he forgot (he's in for a nasty surprise Monday morning).
I'm not sure what to do about Teach-OK with Timothy on Monday, since he won't have a partner. He really likes doing it, so it might be a good punishment to not let him participate (he's a high student, so his learning wouldn't suffer much. I could partner with him, but that would probably feel like a reward. I could also have him join another partnership during Teach-OK, but that would defeat the purpose of Independents in the first place...
More on Monday about whether I see a change in either student. If anyone is reading who is experienced with this strategy, I'd love some feedback.
I'm not sure what to do about Teach-OK with Timothy on Monday, since he won't have a partner. He really likes doing it, so it might be a good punishment to not let him participate (he's a high student, so his learning wouldn't suffer much. I could partner with him, but that would probably feel like a reward. I could also have him join another partnership during Teach-OK, but that would defeat the purpose of Independents in the first place...
More on Monday about whether I see a change in either student. If anyone is reading who is experienced with this strategy, I'd love some feedback.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
The Independents, pt. 1
Well, today I ended the day by putting Timothy and Donald on Independents. I kept them after school, sat them down and quickly but sternly explained that they were not following the rules, they were disrupting the class (citing a few examples), and that basically half of the "frowny" points were due to them. That wasn't fair for the rest of the class, so they were going on Independents. I explained the concept (if you haven't read it it's in Teaching Challenging Students) to them and they moved their stuff from their desks to the floor next to the desk they will be sharing (it doesn't have book boxes underneath).
My basic strategy for tomorrow is to make their lives as uncomfortable as possible and make sure they lose the Scoreboard game while the rest of the class wins. Wow, I feel mean. :-) More on how it works out tomorrow.
My basic strategy for tomorrow is to make their lives as uncomfortable as possible and make sure they lose the Scoreboard game while the rest of the class wins. Wow, I feel mean. :-) More on how it works out tomorrow.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The Honeymoon's Over
I was worried today.
I kind of feel like Power Teaching got off to a good start, but a few things are kind of stagnating now, and some things aren't getting better. The biggest issue is engagement. I don't always have everyone with Class-Yes, or even with Hands and Eyes (this is particularly bad; some students do it for like two seconds and then just space out again). I've tried stopping and doing scoreboard points, then having the class repeat it. This improves it a little in the short term, but I don't see general improvement yet. I'm just going to keep at that.
I also have some problem students. Two students, Timothy and Donald, are often talking or out of their seats, and will sometimes just smile about getting a "frowny" point on the scoreboard. They don't give me guff, so I'm not bothering with a guff counter, but I think these two might be ideal for trying out Independents with. I will be doing that for them soon, I think.
My other issue is with Eduardo, who I've blogged about before. Eduardo is one of my favorite students, while also driving me completely insane. He has a lot of social problems, and does not relate well to the other students. He also has great difficulty paying attention in class and following class routines. That said, he is very intelligent and generally has a great attitude. He has lots of difficulties with Power Teaching routines, but the most detrimental I think is that he just doesn't do partner sharing at all. He will either ignore his partner (he didn't even hear me do Teach-OK), talk extremely slowly (he's got a lot going on in his head and it's hard for him to get it out sometimes), or do playful gestures completely unrelated to the topic at hand. This is all to the great chagrin of Eduardo's poor partner Johnny.
With Eduardo I don't think putting him on Independents will help, as he will probably enjoy being on his own, and not even notice if the rest of the class gets a reward and he doesn't. One of Eduardo's biggest issues is that he doesn't realize that he's not fitting in or following the rules. To help him with this I'm going to go straight to the Bull's Eye game. This will give me a chance to mini-conference with him, and hopefully help him in reflecting on his own progress. I did it with him the first time today after school, and it went fairly smoothly. I still have to think of a reward for him though...
I kind of feel like Power Teaching got off to a good start, but a few things are kind of stagnating now, and some things aren't getting better. The biggest issue is engagement. I don't always have everyone with Class-Yes, or even with Hands and Eyes (this is particularly bad; some students do it for like two seconds and then just space out again). I've tried stopping and doing scoreboard points, then having the class repeat it. This improves it a little in the short term, but I don't see general improvement yet. I'm just going to keep at that.
I also have some problem students. Two students, Timothy and Donald, are often talking or out of their seats, and will sometimes just smile about getting a "frowny" point on the scoreboard. They don't give me guff, so I'm not bothering with a guff counter, but I think these two might be ideal for trying out Independents with. I will be doing that for them soon, I think.
My other issue is with Eduardo, who I've blogged about before. Eduardo is one of my favorite students, while also driving me completely insane. He has a lot of social problems, and does not relate well to the other students. He also has great difficulty paying attention in class and following class routines. That said, he is very intelligent and generally has a great attitude. He has lots of difficulties with Power Teaching routines, but the most detrimental I think is that he just doesn't do partner sharing at all. He will either ignore his partner (he didn't even hear me do Teach-OK), talk extremely slowly (he's got a lot going on in his head and it's hard for him to get it out sometimes), or do playful gestures completely unrelated to the topic at hand. This is all to the great chagrin of Eduardo's poor partner Johnny.
With Eduardo I don't think putting him on Independents will help, as he will probably enjoy being on his own, and not even notice if the rest of the class gets a reward and he doesn't. One of Eduardo's biggest issues is that he doesn't realize that he's not fitting in or following the rules. To help him with this I'm going to go straight to the Bull's Eye game. This will give me a chance to mini-conference with him, and hopefully help him in reflecting on his own progress. I did it with him the first time today after school, and it went fairly smoothly. I still have to think of a reward for him though...
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