I have read many resources about how to become a more effective teacher. Every one of them basically said the same thing as the Edutopia: Great Teachers Don't Teach Blog by Ben Johnson Jun 28 2013. Johnson states that what he remembers most about the best teachers he has had is that they made the students responsible for their learning. Those effective teachers aren't the ones with the best lectures or the best power-point presentations, but the ones that get out of the way of their students. Effective classrooms are the ones where the students are leading the learning and the teachers are just facilitating, taking a back seat. I personally love to teach from the back of my room. You will never find me in one spot, but constantly moving. Maybe it is the TeachingADHD that I have but I really have my best moments with the students jump up and teach me. This past year I had two students come to me during Math class. They had come up with two different strategies to find common denominators and least common multiples. Their strategies worked for them and when they got to turn around and teach them...they found those strategies worked for others as well! I know I am still a little "wet behind the ears" in my teaching experience, but I do agree with Johnson that my students remember those lessons that they experimented, taught others, and could discuss with their peers.
I haven't even began to be "wet behind the ears" in teaching but I agree with this article as well. How else to teach students and be effective than to allow them to be them. It is beneficial for students to collaborate with each other and brainstorming is the best tool never created!!!!! Teaching from the back of the room is clever....not only for effectiveness but for classroom management.
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