It is evident that passive learning is ineffective. It is my goal to give my students center stage - allowing them to articulate and defend their understanding. I'm a guide.
(SOCS - I: Wells/Hestenes/Swackhammer)
One of the most challenging things for me this past year was making sure the discussions were meaningful and consistently helping students bring the discussion to a "timely and satisfying closure."
To this end, the types of questions I ask and the way I ask them are very important. Students need to buy in that my questions are going somewhere, rather than viewing the discussion as a game of 'guess what's in my head.'
Another thing I need to work on is patience. Allow for silence sometimes, as uncomfortable as it may be at first. Students are not used to their new role in the spotlight. I need to give them time to acclimate rather than taking the spotlight back because they are uncomfortable.
I also need to be patience with myself. After trying it for a year, I know that modeling is not easy. Just as with most skills, it takes practice. A lot of practice. I've been told it takes 5 years to become a good teacher. Actually I was told "you will suck for 5 years." This article told me I will suck for 10 years. I need to be ok with that, and diligently work at 'sucking less.'
These ideas are very insightful. It seems easy when you say it - and even easier when you see someone like Laura do it. Patience and "wait time" are important factors in making the discussions meaningful for you and for the students. It takes practice - I mean years of practice! But consider that putting kids in a position to discuss these ideas, concepts and problems is about 1000 times better than doing all of the discussion and problem solving yourself.
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