A Teacher's Ruminations

The I have been dismayed to realize that despite my self-image as a teacher with a learner centered classroom, I am far from truly achieving that goal.  I have been listening carefully to myself lately, and I don't like what I hear myself saying to the kids. Instead of empowering my students to take ownership of their learning, I am still the director on the stage. I still ask leading questions rather than ones that push the learner to figure things out for herself. I realize I often spoon feed my students hopeful that they will give me the answer I'm looking for. An answer that will make my job easier. Answers that will fit with what I expect students to say despite the fact that 30 years in education has taught me nothing if not that students are unpredictable, and if we prepare for anything, that is what we should be prepared for.  Teacher An anecdote. The other day I was talking with a student about the fact that she was abandoning more books than she was ...

I have been dismayed to realize that despite my self-image as a teacher with a learner centered classroom, I am far from truly achieving that goal.  I have been listening carefully to myself lately, and I don't like what I hear myself saying to the kids. Instead of empowering my students to take ownership of their learning, I am still the director on the stage. I still ask leading questions rather than ones that push the learner to figure things out for herself. I realize I often spoon feed my students hopeful that they will give me the answer I'm looking for. An answer that will make my job easier. Answers that will fit with what I expect students to say despite the fact that 30 years in education has taught me nothing if not that students are unpredictable, and if we prepare for anything, that is what we should be prepared for.  An anecdote. The other day I was talking with a student about the fact that she was abandoning more books than she was finishing. I was...

I participated in back-to-back Twitter chats tonight. Two hours of fast-paced, free professional learning, coaching and collaboration. Ideas, encouragement and pure inspiration that I will take back to my classroom tomorrow. #EdCollab and #TWOTC Back-to-back learning opportunities. My choice. My needs. Nerdy teacher heaven. Here are nine takeaways from these two chats: When I am working with a student, I must always make sure to teach at the point of a child's strengths and zone of proximal development. As I grow and change my beliefs and practice, I will benefit from creating a "cheat sheet" with questions to ask students when I confer with them. Questions that remind me to talk less so that students do most of the work. I need to ask questions like -  What did you try?  What will you try?  What have you tried before? How did that go? What can you try now?  Tell me about what you did here. What makes you say that? If you knew the answer, wh...