A TEACHING TECHNIQUE—ATTITUDE

The first day in my class this is what I said to my students.

You are very lucky. Just by luck you have landed in the classroom of the best teacher in the school! I am so smart that intelligence is all over my body. As I walk around the classroom some of that intelligence will break off, float in the air and land on YOU.

It is impossible for you to sit in my classroom for 180 days and not learn anything. Try it if you want, it will not work. You will learn, I am too good, you cannot help but learn.

I said it so loud, I believe it and so did they.

This was not my original thought, my teachers told me. Boy (you could say boy back then), you will learn by OSMOSIS! (It means the same thing)

Some Students come into the classroom not believing in themselves or the educational process or in learning. This is a refreshing change for them.

Next, learn as much about your students as possible. Create a student survey document.

The more you know about each student the better you can help them. I discovered with my information document, that many had problems at home that were so prodigious. I had a paradigm shift and gladly worked harder to help them. Learn each student’s name as soon as possible.

Focus NOT of them learning the information in your syllabus, but rather make the focus be HOW TO LEARN that same information. Explain to them that your learning techniques and procedures are the best. Tell them anyone can learn stuff they are interested in, that’s easy. If takes techniques to internalize stuff that you don’t care about. Tell them you are teaching them learning techniques. The learning techniques will help them no matter what they do in life. They will always have to learn something.

Look at this clip

http://www.thewebbuilder.com/movies/sfp1.htm Check out this video clip

Identify and categorize your students. Discover which are the faster learners, which are the leaders, and  which are in need of medication (seriously). Now use

KIDS TO TEACH KIDS. USE KIDS TO MONITOR KIDS. I discovered that if I explain an idea, no matter how good I THOUGHT I explained it, some student would lean over toward another and say “what did he say”?

 The other student would tell him and he would say “OH”

Allow students to become “teacher for a day” and let them explain the concept. (this will require you selecting just the right student.

Rmember this. STUDENTS LEARN BY DOING. Try your best to make sure that each day they do something. Never let a day go by that you talked (lectured all day)

Look at this clip