I use this all the time. But I have probably never explained it to students. It's so obviously beneficial to me that I cannot imagine it's not equally obvious to them. But experience indicates they are clueless about how I teach using this structure.
So a near-term experiment is to be explicit about what I am doing and what students should do and get when I use this structure.
down-side-- this structure requires students to give attention to me. So often this year, and increasingly as the year gets closer to its end, I sense many students simply putting in time, thinking they are doing me a huge favor by just sitting and not causing problems. Sensing this is toxic to the spirit of my interaction; I never know how or if I'll be able to get through the cloud to connect with the other hearts and minds in the room. also I just looked yesterday at the overall results of the three FAIR tests. I am devastated by how many students went down over the course of their year with me. If I am effective, I don't seem to be effective in what FAIR measures. so now what???
I don't see the FAIR scores as being a measurement of your effectiveness as a teacher. I took my classes yesterday and too many of my students were interested in flying through the passages just so they can be done with it. These particular students, I fear, have checked out for the rest of the year.
ReplyDeleteThe question that plagues me is how do I overcome this?