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!
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Hey Jason,
ReplyDeleteHelp! I've been a power teacher for about two months now. I love it, my students love it, and they are more excited and engaged than ever. My class-yes is starting to lose its effectiveness, with two or more students talking to eachother each time, even after they have responded with a "yes". Do you have any techniques to increase the rate of the class-yes effectiveness? I initially started out asking for a hands and eyes with every "yes", while giving them points on the scoreboard based on their performance. what works for you?
I wouldn't use Hands-and-Eyes every time you do Class-Yes, as this would decrease its effectiveness. I do two things to keep the kids doing Class-Yes well. First of course is the Scoreboard. I say Class-Yes, wait until I have everyone, and after a few seconds if I don't I'll put a frownie point up (the mighty groan gets everyone's attention). If you have kids intentionally talking even though they've responded with Yes, point them out by name as you take the frownie point away. The second thing I do is try to keep them engaged by changing up the voices and number of times said for Class-Yes (I try to do about ten different ones, including some funny ones like pirate voice), and keeping your pacing quick so students don't have time to let their brains stray to side conversations. You should also check out the forums at the official website I link to at the top of my blog if you need help. Good luck!
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