In recent posts, I’ve addressed the
issue of teacher burn-out by suggesting instructional practices that lighten
teachers’ loads and boost students’
learning. Boy, will you be popular if
you help teachers do that! Another thing
you can suggest to those you coach is this: Let students teach.
As teachers, we know that to teach
something well, we have to know it well – really well. So turning some of this
responsibility over to students means they will learn well, too. Of course, this doesn’t mean hands-off for
teachers. Students will need clear expectations and varying levels of
scaffolding to be successful in their roles as teachers. But the result will be
empowering for students and will deepen their learning.
This looks different at different
levels. And sometimes, to be honest, it doesn’t really mean less work for
teachers, but it is different work, and it is effective work. And it is not the kind of work you have to
carry home in your teacher bag to grade.
When a kindergartner leads the class
through calendar time, he follows a routine that the teacher has established.
He loves being in charge and thinks harder about what those numbers mean on the
day when it’s his turn.
In third grade, when a student comes
to the Smartboard to explain how she solved a math problem, she is taking the
teacher role. She shows her work and often explains her thinking in a way that
it clearer for her peers than the teacher’s previous explanation was.
When a sixth-grade English class has a
Socratic circle, they prepare their own questions for discussion, and the
teacher’s role is on the periphery.
Whenever a good student-to-student discussion starts rolling, students
are teaching one another.
In high-school biology, when each
small group is in charge of teaching a different Kingdom of life in the animal
classification system, they should move beyond giving a report and instead use
the strategies they’ve seen their teachers use for engaging their peers, rather
than simply presenting to them.
In the classes I teach to doctoral
students, individuals or small groups choose one topic from the syllabus that
they will be in charge of. I am absolutely positive they learn these topics
more deeply than they would if I just assigned readings. I do assign readings, of course, but students
meet in small groups to discuss these before our whole-class discussion, and
the role of small-group leader rotates each class period. That leader comes
prepared with excerpts to discuss and questions to ponder.
No matter the age or topic, students
learn more (and teachers work differently) when students do some of the
teaching. Think of a time when you let students lead. What did you let go of to make that
happen? Did your load feel lighter? Who could you share that story with? Who is ready to lighten their load? When students do more teaching, everyone
benefits.
This
week, you might want to take a look at:
More ideas for letting students teach:
Coaching is more than asking
questions:
Encourage persistence by asking
students to do hard things:
When you need a break from the norm,
try these word games:
Strategies to calm young brains (that
work for old brains, too!):
That’s
it for this week. Happy Coaching!
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