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#7 You Do It All
Coming home each
day after school and feeling like you’ve just run three
marathons backwards with you coming in last does not make you
want to repeat the process again.
The major reason this feeling exists is because of another major
mistake teachers make by "doing all the work" in the classroom. If you and I took a casual, leisurely walk down your school hallway and peeked into most classes, we would see the teacher doing the work 85% of the time. No wonder teachers are exhausted at the end of each day.
How are you
going to have any fun when you get home if you're exhausted?
Stop doing the work and let your students do it. You'll love
it! They'll love it! You'll see!
When your students are the active participants in the act of
learning, they enjoy it more and learn more. Then you maintain
your mental and physical well being.
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 Analyze your school day closely to see
how much of your
time is invested in doing
work that should be done by your learners.
From this analysis, list each specific activity and exercise
that must become student-centered rather than teacher-centered.
Think of tomorrow’s lesson. How can it be planned, key word... planned, where at least 80% of the lesson is
taught and experienced by your students? Yes, 80%. I’m not
talking about seat work where the student is mindlessly performing
activities to consume time. I’m talking about group participation
where students get involved in the class and actively engaged
in the lesson and learning.
I know you may feel strange relinquishing this much control to
your class, but in actuality, you are gaining control because
the classroom will operate more efficiently and smoothly. When
students are involved in lessons where they are the focal point,
they gain the necessary ingredient for success... ownership.
Discipline problems diminish...
This transformation from teacher-centered to student-centered
may take time, but start the transformation process tomorrow.
You owe it to yourself and your students to let them do the work
and the learning.
Remember this... "The person who does the work does the learning." You already know the
information; you already possess the skills... that why you're
called the teacher.
Please stop doing all the work. Let your students feel
the joy and excitement of taking responsibility for their own
learning. They'll love it! You'll love it! They'll love you for
it!
Great combination!
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