Master Teacher’s Newsletter
Brought to you by the letter B –
Believe in the ultimate worth of every child
TEACH LIKE A CHAMPION (TLAC)/TEM CONNECTION –
Chapter 4 – Engaging Students in Your Lessons
The six techniques below have to do with planning – the crucial part of teaching that you do before you step foot in the classroom.
Aligns to the TEM Teach 4: Content Engagement
*Provide students multiple ways to engage with content
Level 3 descriptors: The following best describes what is observed:
1. Teacher’s engagement strategies are aligned to the lesson objectives and have a clear, intentional purpose.
2. Lesson contains balance of teacher–‐directed instruction and student–‐centered learning.
3. Teacher’s strategies enable students to meet lesson objectives with appropriate scaffolding and differentiation.1
4. Teacher allows all students to practice, apply and demonstrate content mastery through discussion and/ or writing about complex text, tasks or concepts.
5. Teacher models and implements appropriate strategies that teach or reinforce one of the following problem–‐solving types: abstraction, categorization, drawing conclusions/justifying, solutions, predicting outcomes, observing and experimenting, improving solutions, identifying, relevant/irrelevant information, generating, ideas, creating and designing
Chapter 4 – Engaging Students in Your Lessons
Champion teachers are successful in engaging their students – not for the sake of engagement, but engaging them in the work of the classroom.
The techniques below show how some of these great teachers engage students and keep them focused on learning.
Technique 22: COLD CALL* – To COLD CALL you call on students regardless of whether they’ve raised their hands. For example, you ask a question, pause, and then call on a student, “Tell us one cause of World War I, please, [slight pause here] Darren.”
While this sounds incredibly simple, if done correctly, Lemov believes it is the single most powerful technique in the book. First, it lets you check for understanding because you choose the student you want to check for mastery. Second, you don’t waste time asking a question and then waiting and cajoling students to answer. Third, it allows you to include more students, not just those raising their hands. Some students have ideas but won’t share them unless you push them. People often mistakenly assume that this is a stressful technique for students, but teachers who use it consistently normalize it and it becomes a regular part of class. Also, it is a positive and often powerful way to reach students who want to speak but aren’t hand raisers. Finally, it increases engagement because students don’t know when they will be called on, so there is a strong incentive to do the work to be prepared to be called on.
While it seems simple, you can do it wrong. Make sure you use it preventatively to keep students from drifting off. It is not a discipline strategy for once they are already off task. Cold calling should become a predictable part of every day so students can anticipate the questions and pay attention. Cold calling is also systematic – the questions should be for everyone not for singling out students not paying attention, it is simply how we do business here. Furthermore, cold calling is positive because it engages students in rigorous work. Students will surprise themselves with what they know and can do if we give them the chance to answer. Finally, cold calling is particularly effective when it is scaffolded, that is, when you start with simple questions and progress to harder ones.
Technique 23: CALL AND RESPONSE – In this technique you ask a question and the whole class calls out the response in unison. It sounds simple, but it can be an effective way to engage students. Rather than one student responding, everyone responds. It’s also a lively and spirited way to energize your students. It can be used to simply report an answer to a completed problem (“On three, tell me your answer to number four.”) or it can be used to have students solve a more rigorous problem (“If the length is ten inches and the width is twelve inches, what is the area, class?”) As long as all students know that they are to respond, and they all know when to respond based on your cue (“Class?” “One, two, three! “), it will be effective.
Technique 24: PEPPER* – Pepper is a game to reinforce skills – it does not teach new skills. The teacher tosses a question out to students and if the student gets it right, the teacher moves to the next question. If the student is wrong, the teacher calls on someone else to answer. There is no discussion of an answer because it’s a fast-paced review.
Technique 25: WAIT TIME* – In this technique you wait a few seconds before calling on a student to answer. Typically, teachers wait only about a second after asking a question which is unlikely to lead to the most thorough or thoughtful answer. By waiting three to five seconds you are more likely to improve the quality of answers and the number of students who volunteer to answer.
Technique 26: EVERYBODY WRITES* – Writing gives all students a chance to reflect on and clarify their thinking to prepare for more rigorous thinking and discussion. Writing not only engages students, but it helps them to process and refine their thinking. In one video clip the teacher asks, “What are some of the characteristics an individual must have to change history?” Consider the difference between the answer from a student who shoots her hand up immediately and the student who first writes and clarifies his ideas.
Technique 27: VEGAS – The VEGAS is the sparkle in a lesson – when you might have music, lights, rhythm, or dancing. It’s not sparkle for sparkle’s sake, but it supports one of the learning objectives. It can be a 30 second break to do the “action verb shimmy” or sing the “long division song” or a brief competition to see who can do the best charade for the day’s vocabulary word.
There are many other strategies in TLAC that connect with TEACH 4 – these are just a few that I wanted to connect with this time.
Sarah Hamer, M.S. Ed., Master Teacher