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INSPIRED TEACHER BLOG
The Believing Game
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While interviewing an applicant to the Inspired Teacher Certification Program last week I was struck by something he said in response to a question about feedback and how he has used feedback in his life. He said something along these lines:
"Whenever I'm in a situation where I'm hearing something for the first time, whether it's critical, approving, hard to take, against my beliefs, whatever, I try my best to play the believing game...
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Opportunities
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How Research Informs the Teaching of Various Disciplines
Monday, April 12, 2010, 7:00 pm at Green Acres School Rockville, MD - lecture series presented by progressive educators including our own Christie Byers!
· Language Arts: Tracey Marks, Ph.D., teacher at Green Acres School
· Math: Susan Birnie, Curriculum Specialist for Mathematics for Alexandria City Public Schools in Virginia and Regional Director of the National Council of Mathematics
· Science: Christie Byers, Center for Inspired Teaching, Washington, DC
· Foreign Language: Alison Mackey, Ph.D., Professor and Head of Applied Linguistics at Georgetown University; co-author of The Bilingual Edge: Why, When, and How to Teach Your Child a Second Language
· Arts Integration: Victoria Brown, Ph.D., Founder and Director of Lucy School and co-author of The Dramatic Difference: Drama in the Preschool and Kindergarten Classroom
Reservations required: speakerseries@greenacres.org
Encourage Your Students to Apply for the Dream Leaders Conference
Saturday, March 20th - 10:00am - 5:00pm
Washington, DC
This life-changing day is an extraordinary opportunity for middle school and high school students who are passionate about global issues and making a difference to meet other young leaders from all over the city! There are limited spots, so email Andrew to receive your application today! Parents are strongly encouraged to attend as well! Click here for more information on Dream Leaders.
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Center for Inspired Teaching is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that exists to ensure schools make the most of children's innate desire to learn. We do this by investing in teachers. Please visit our website to learn more about our philosophy, programs, and results.
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Do my students look forward to going to school?
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This is Part IV in a series on Teaching the Whole Child. Read the previous issue (Are my students safe?) here.
The easiest way to ensure that your teaching is engaging your students is to ask yourself if they look forward to being in your class each day. What makes students look forward to going to school? We've linked to some great resources that offer ideas and explanations of what it takes to engage students, but we've also summarized a lot of what you'll find on the subject in the acronym below. Apply these ideas in your classroom and your students are sure to become "FANS" of school!
Friends - Relationships and their conflicts are central to the learning experience of children in school. While it may be easier to manage a classroom with desks in rows and students working independently, children learn little from one another in this kind of setting. Collaborative projects, opportunities to read and share together, open discussions, and student-driven rules and expectations not only boost engagement - they build a safe and supportive classroom environment.
Accomplishment - Washing all your laundry and digging up a patch of land to plant a garden are both accomplishments, but they don't pack the same punch. On the one hand you're glad you've got clean clothes for the week, on the other you are anticipating the emergence of sprouts, the growth of plants, the production of vegetables, the cooking and eating of produce... So many of the accomplishments our students experience in school are like washing laundry - a worksheet here, a quiz there, you do them to get them done but the satisfaction of completion is about all that lingers. What if more of our work in school were like planting a garden? How much more engaging would that be - both for your students, and for you?
Novelty - Breaking routine, exploring the unknown, taking risks, adventuring, just these phrases can get your heart racing and your imagination revving. Activities along these lines will do the same thing for your students and in this state of heightened awareness our brains are ready to receive and retain new and exciting information. Can you learn math off the written page? Can you read without a book? Can you learn history on your feet? Can you turn writing into visual art? How engaging would these approaches be?
Sharing Successes - The highest level of learning is when we can share what we know by teaching others. Make the learning that's happening in your classroom public. This can be something as simple as having your students share projects with a younger class, or as complex as hosting a portfolio day at your school where the entire community is invited to hear students present their work.
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Research and Resources
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Skills that Make Learning Interesting and Relevant
From the ASCD Whole Child site: links to articles on the subject of engagement from various online education media.
Ten Steps to Better Student Engagement
Former math teacher Tristan de Frondeville explores the techniques he used to make his classroom engaging, including "cultivating your engagement meter" and creating a "Culture of Explanation Instead of a Culture of the Right Answer."
26 Keys to Student Engagement
Using each letter of the alphabet professional developer Angela Maiers looks at many facets of the student engagement puzzle including Authenticity, Feedback, and Joy.
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