I am amazed at how powerful 'Perfect Tests' are. I make them 9 questions long and my students have to get all 9 correct including the work. It is only 9 questions... so they are believing they can learn and they have to be perfect ... so they are learning that they have to consciously develop ways to avoid mistakes (Behaviors of Intelligence). In the past, these low kids would be thrilled to get 7 out of 9 right. Now they are bummed when they miss one and they are learning from their mistakes faster.
Peer teaching is the best way. It is insane for me to keep standing up there day after day doing the same teaching thing and expect different results. I know I can teach some and I am counting on those that learn to teach their neighbors. They are getting better and better at this. We have only been doing this for about a month. Their test scores are showing dramatic results. I gave a test last Thursday to my two low classes over the first 2 perfect tests, and the results were: 1 D, 1 C, 3 Bs and the rest As!!!! These are classes where in the past the results were basically flipped. Peer teaching is transforming them because of the focus of the perfect tests. I spent all year trying to teach them concepts from my 4 posters and I felt like my results were just OK. But now... I am literally seeing them blossom before my eyes.
Gabby is a low math student. She has a hard time paying attention. When she doesn't understand, she doesn't even try... so often times she is not even trying to learn. She has her head down and is simply going through the motions. When she finally got perfect on her first perfect test, she became the BEST peer teacher of all my students. She was patient and very good at explaining how she did something and why. The students she helped learned and they got perfect on their tests. I watched her teach and was simply surprised at how good she was. I talked to her after class. I told her what a great job she did. I told her she should be a teacher. She beamed! She has struggled with making poor choices personally and I told her that she needs to learn, do her best and take care of herself, so that she can be in the place to help others. In the past she hasn't minded not taking care of herself... but maybe this new found power, skill and enjoyment of teaching others will help her to take care of herself and learn so she can have the opportunity to be a good teacher.
I told all my students the next day that I was very proud of the job they were doing together working with each other. I told them that when I coached wrestling, I encouraged and challenged my wrestlers that they should want to be the toughest, strongest, best endurance and best technique ... so they could be the best teammate. "I want to be my best so I can best help my teammate be his best."
What a servant and selfless attitude to learning.
I think we all struggle with this idea of being more willing to let ourself down than others. I am trying to teach myself and my students to respect ourselves and do our best so we can be best able to respect others and help them do their best. I need God's love, grace, wisdom and forgiveness everyday. "I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me."... I believe I can teach all my students through Christ who strengthens me... the real question isn't can but what... what am I teaching them? And how can I be more effective at teaching them. If I am teaching them, then they should be learning...DUH!? The best way to learn something is to teach it. I am very hopeful that this new approach will have even better and better results as they: get more and more confidence; improve their teaching skills; improve their learning skills; improve their Behaviors of Intelligence.
No comments:
Post a Comment