Observations on Classroom Teaching

Just yesterday, I was observing a class with English Learners…

When the teacher asked her next question, I whispered to her, “Ask your students to pair share first before you select a student to respond.”

She turned to the class and said, “Students explain to your neighbor the difference between superlative and comparative.”

 Wow! The change in the class was dramatic.  All of a sudden, all the students were energized and interacting academically…listening, speaking, and thinking. 

 She went on to call on three random non-volunteers…but, the the amazing thing was that every single student in the class answered the question during the pair share!

When I train teachers how to enhance initial, whole class instruction I always tell them to use pair shares.  It immediately improves student interaction, student engagement, student learning, and ultimately student achievement.

I was conducting classroom walkthroughs with a middle school principal. She wanted me to see one of her teachers who skillfully teaches using Explicit Direct Instruction (EDI) every day.

We were surprised to see him silently watching his students while copied definitions from the glossary of their textbooks. He quickly ran up to us to say that his students had misbehaved with a substitute teacher the day before, and now they were being “punished” by having to copy definitions of words.

After school the most amazing thing happened. He walked into the principal’s office with a 3 foot by 3 foot petition signed by all his students. Please go back to Explicit Direct instruction they requested. It’s better and more interesting.

Students can recognize effective instruction, and after they know it, they don’t want to go back.