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!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
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...
Friday, February 13, 2009
Happy Valentine's Day!
My Valentine's gift from my kids: 96.9% average on their vocabulary test. Thanks to micro-lecturing, gestures, and the new game I described yesterday, that's the best my class has ever done! Only seven problems were missed COMBINED! Teacher Heaven! :-)
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Vocabulary Fun Game
Today I started a new vocabulary game with my kids. It's actually based a game that I have played with adults before called Family Fun Game (lame name, great game). An Outdoor Educator friend of mine taught it to me a little while back. Here's the original game:
You need a group of at least four. Everyone writes two or three clues on pieces of paper, folds them and puts them in a hat. The clues could be pop-culture related, just words, names, whatever (think the kind things that would be answers in Pictionary or Trivial Persuit). Then divide into teams of at least two.
The first team chooses a player that gets a minute to get their team to guess as many clues as they can (they can say anything except any part of the word or phrase itself). They keep the clues that they guess (these are points). Then the hat is passed to the next team. Repeat until all clues are gone and tabulate the points.
Then you play another round exactly the same way, except the person can say only one word as a clue (remember though that we've already been through the clues once, so everyone has heard them before). Then you play a third round only now you can't say anything but can only do one gesture. You are allowed to pass by putting the clue back, and this is important if your team doesn't get it in the second or third rounds.
Anyway, that's the basics. If I was unclear, feel free to email me.
Now, for my class I didn't play exactly this. Instead we played Vocabulary Fun Game, which was the same except you skip the first part where everyone creates the clues. Instead you just make the clues yourself, and each one is a vocabulary word. I did this today to review the week's words and it went fantastically! The only downside was that my next door neighbor popped in to complain about all the noise (and she's a Power Teacher too!). Sorry about that! :-) The whole game took about 20-25 minutes, and that was with all the explanation and everything. It can be shortened by only doing one or two rounds. Try it and let me know how it goes!
I was also going to post about my first stab at the Crazy Professor today, but this has gone long so I'm going to skip that for now.
You need a group of at least four. Everyone writes two or three clues on pieces of paper, folds them and puts them in a hat. The clues could be pop-culture related, just words, names, whatever (think the kind things that would be answers in Pictionary or Trivial Persuit). Then divide into teams of at least two.
The first team chooses a player that gets a minute to get their team to guess as many clues as they can (they can say anything except any part of the word or phrase itself). They keep the clues that they guess (these are points). Then the hat is passed to the next team. Repeat until all clues are gone and tabulate the points.
Then you play another round exactly the same way, except the person can say only one word as a clue (remember though that we've already been through the clues once, so everyone has heard them before). Then you play a third round only now you can't say anything but can only do one gesture. You are allowed to pass by putting the clue back, and this is important if your team doesn't get it in the second or third rounds.
Anyway, that's the basics. If I was unclear, feel free to email me.
Now, for my class I didn't play exactly this. Instead we played Vocabulary Fun Game, which was the same except you skip the first part where everyone creates the clues. Instead you just make the clues yourself, and each one is a vocabulary word. I did this today to review the week's words and it went fantastically! The only downside was that my next door neighbor popped in to complain about all the noise (and she's a Power Teacher too!). Sorry about that! :-) The whole game took about 20-25 minutes, and that was with all the explanation and everything. It can be shortened by only doing one or two rounds. Try it and let me know how it goes!
I was also going to post about my first stab at the Crazy Professor today, but this has gone long so I'm going to skip that for now.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Double Post Today!
Rub your hands together and tell me "I can't wait for my second blog post!" :-)
OK, I have been hitting the forums, and checked out a few videos I hadn't seen before, and this is my PT To Do list for the next week:
1. Start requiring more energy and gestures from my kids when they are doing Teach-OK. They are great at this already, but I think the energy and gestures will make it even better.
2. Start doing Q&A Teach-OK (for example, "1s, quiz 2s on as many vocabulary words as you can; helpsies are allowed").
3. Start using Switch more (also, I was having them respond with "OK" for switch, and I'm going to change that to them echoing "Switch").
4. Require my students to mirror me better, and start planning better gestures rather than just using on-the-spot ones.
5. All this will be introduced as "You guys are ready for the NEXT LEVEL of Power Teaching!" :-)
OK, I have been hitting the forums, and checked out a few videos I hadn't seen before, and this is my PT To Do list for the next week:
1. Start requiring more energy and gestures from my kids when they are doing Teach-OK. They are great at this already, but I think the energy and gestures will make it even better.
2. Start doing Q&A Teach-OK (for example, "1s, quiz 2s on as many vocabulary words as you can; helpsies are allowed").
3. Start using Switch more (also, I was having them respond with "OK" for switch, and I'm going to change that to them echoing "Switch").
4. Require my students to mirror me better, and start planning better gestures rather than just using on-the-spot ones.
5. All this will be introduced as "You guys are ready for the NEXT LEVEL of Power Teaching!" :-)
Awesome New Power Teaching Website!
If you haven't yet, make sure to check out the new Power Teaching website! It has a very clean design, and compiles all the online Power Teaching resources into one place. It also has some new features, like a forum. Get on that thing if you're not already, it's great. OK, so I kind of like the new website. I'll give it a rest now.
One strategy in Power Teaching that I'm having trouble with is Please-OK. I've got my kids doing it pretty well, but when I taught the "neener neener neener" part, NO one remembers to do it (even my snottiest little GATE kid; just kidding, I love him). They generally remember OK, but it's just not that... snappy I guess, which is what you really want from it. Also, I haven't even bothered with guff, as talking back is just not a problem with my third graders (I guess I should thank my lucky stars for that one).
Here is a cool gesture I figured out today:
This is a method for differentiating between titles that are underlined and titles with quotations marks.
For underlines, we make a nice long underline with flat hands moving out, reminding us that LONG things (books, movies, albums, collections of poems, etc) are underlined.
For quotation marks, we make quotation marks with the fingers of both hands, and scrunch our arms and shoulders together a little as we curl our fingers, reminding us that quotation marks are for SHORT things (poems, short stories, songs, etc).
One strategy in Power Teaching that I'm having trouble with is Please-OK. I've got my kids doing it pretty well, but when I taught the "neener neener neener" part, NO one remembers to do it (even my snottiest little GATE kid; just kidding, I love him). They generally remember OK, but it's just not that... snappy I guess, which is what you really want from it. Also, I haven't even bothered with guff, as talking back is just not a problem with my third graders (I guess I should thank my lucky stars for that one).
Here is a cool gesture I figured out today:
This is a method for differentiating between titles that are underlined and titles with quotations marks.
For underlines, we make a nice long underline with flat hands moving out, reminding us that LONG things (books, movies, albums, collections of poems, etc) are underlined.
For quotation marks, we make quotation marks with the fingers of both hands, and scrunch our arms and shoulders together a little as we curl our fingers, reminding us that quotation marks are for SHORT things (poems, short stories, songs, etc).
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
A Great Day!
I had a fantastic day today. Things are really coming together, and I continue to be amazed by the effect Power Teaching has had on my class.
I started teaching math from the front of the room today. I was noticing that my language arts lessons were much more effective than my math lessons, and that the Power Teaching strategies were working more smoothly during that time. The biggest difference in my teaching style between the two times was that I taught math from the back of the room on the document camera. While this was very comfortable, I found that it was much less engaging for the students, which was really killing me since math takes place during the food-coma-fest that is after lunch for me.
Anyway, today I toned down the number of examples, and taught from the front (I'm losing my fear of turning my back on a class :-)). This allowed for a faster pace and kept the students more engaged, even during a three-step mother of a word problem that took like ten minutes to work through.
One more reflection before I sign off. I am NOT an energetic person by nature, and I never thought I would be a very energetic teacher. I definitely prefer a classroom on the more quiet side. I'm finding that Power Teaching gives me a structure that helps me be more energetic during teaching times while still being very in control, and that this leads to MUCH more calm and peaceful independent work times. The students get some energy out with gestures and partner sharing, and SSR (Sit Down, Shut Up, and Read) isn't such an alien concept to them anymore. Ahhhh... Teacher Heaven.
Oh, and if you're reading this, comment so I know I'm not talking to a wall!
I started teaching math from the front of the room today. I was noticing that my language arts lessons were much more effective than my math lessons, and that the Power Teaching strategies were working more smoothly during that time. The biggest difference in my teaching style between the two times was that I taught math from the back of the room on the document camera. While this was very comfortable, I found that it was much less engaging for the students, which was really killing me since math takes place during the food-coma-fest that is after lunch for me.
Anyway, today I toned down the number of examples, and taught from the front (I'm losing my fear of turning my back on a class :-)). This allowed for a faster pace and kept the students more engaged, even during a three-step mother of a word problem that took like ten minutes to work through.
One more reflection before I sign off. I am NOT an energetic person by nature, and I never thought I would be a very energetic teacher. I definitely prefer a classroom on the more quiet side. I'm finding that Power Teaching gives me a structure that helps me be more energetic during teaching times while still being very in control, and that this leads to MUCH more calm and peaceful independent work times. The students get some energy out with gestures and partner sharing, and SSR (Sit Down, Shut Up, and Read) isn't such an alien concept to them anymore. Ahhhh... Teacher Heaven.
Oh, and if you're reading this, comment so I know I'm not talking to a wall!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Sick Power Teaching
I've been getting progressively more sick over the past couple days (hence no blog entries), and today I was a mess. Power Teaching--like most things--is definitely more difficult when you are tired or sick, but there is kind of a nice effect I've noticed. The call-and-response and silliness of Power Teaching not only energize the kids, but can energize you as well. Still, I'm sick as a dog, and can barely think. :-(
After just over a week of Power Teaching, I strongly feel that Teach-OK is the absolute most effective part of the program. I just watched few videos, and realized that I haven't implemented several things that I need to. First of all, I'm using "Woos" pretty infrequently, and I could easily use them much more often. Secondly, I have only used "It's Cool" for myself! This is good, since I make plenty of mistakes, but I totally forgot that this is supposed to be used MOSTLY for students, to create a safe learning environment for them. Woops!
Give me an "It's Cool." :-)
After just over a week of Power Teaching, I strongly feel that Teach-OK is the absolute most effective part of the program. I just watched few videos, and realized that I haven't implemented several things that I need to. First of all, I'm using "Woos" pretty infrequently, and I could easily use them much more often. Secondly, I have only used "It's Cool" for myself! This is good, since I make plenty of mistakes, but I totally forgot that this is supposed to be used MOSTLY for students, to create a safe learning environment for them. Woops!
Give me an "It's Cool." :-)
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