How to get students to do what you asked: 1) Give a clear, concise direction. (What to Do) 2) Stand where you can clearly see whether they do it. (Radar: “Pastore’s Perch”) 3) Watch to see whether they do it. (Radar: Scan/swivel) 4) Use non-verbals actions to make it clear to students that you are watching…
All of a sudden I’m on a Right is Right jag. Last week there was this clip of Grace Ghazzawi driving up the rigor with an “answer my question.” This week it’s Maggie Johnson killing it with a beautiful “hold out for all the way right” moment with one of her students- during close reading no…
When we teach math we try to develop number sense- a broader intuition for how numbers work, an affinity for the logic of how they fit together. When we set out to teach ‘number sense’ one tool we often use is a simple version of “sensitivity analysis.” We ask students to evaluate the effect of changes…
It’s been a busy morning at TLaC Towers (pictured) where high, above the pulsing city of Glenmont, NY, (population 5,200), we’ve been cutting amazing video for our upcoming workshop on Engaging Academics, to be held April 10 and 11 in Albany. Needless to say at the workshop we’ll do some serious geeking out on all of…
When you finally get your hands on TLaC 2.0, technique #36 (or thereabouts) will be something you didn’t see in the first edition of the book: Show Call. The idea was developed by teachers at Uncommon who adapted Cold Call with a view to building incentive for students to do top quality work when writing or…