Cognitive load theory describes the relationship between Working and Long-term Memory during learning. Understanding cognitive load theory and its implications for the classroom is one of the most important things teachers can do to improve their instruction. Cognitive load theory focuses us on understanding and addressing the importance of building Long-term Memory. Kirschner, Sweller and…
The TLAC team will be in London April 20 and 21 for a two-day workshop on Engaging Academics. I thought I’d tell you a bit about what we’ll be working on those days. First the content: We’ll take a deep dive into a series of key techniques focused around the skill of questioning and how it…
One of our favorite topics at TLAC Towers is Checking for Understanding. How do teachers prepare for and react to student errors and misunderstandings? Many of our best videos on the topic are of math teachers–the nature of math makes predicting and sequencing errors a bit simpler than in the humanities, say. So we were especially…
One of the challenges of good classroom management is that it’s often practically invisible- it’s happening off stage or on the margins of the stage; it’s usually built into habits and expectations. When it works it’s hard to see the moves that make it possible. When you can see the behavior management moves, it’s sometimes…
Show Call is one of my very favorite teaching techniques and if you’re a reader of this blog you know that Spencer Davis is one of our favorite teachers to study. So what could be better than a video of Spencer modeling Show Call. Context: Spencer’s sixth graders are reading Wonder. They’ve just read a passage…