Let Them Teach

 Innovation. What a word, right? It has this heavy aura that can make some feel immediately inept.  "No, not me. I'm not an innovator. I can barely figure out my email." The funny thing is, this is not a new way of teaching or living. Innovation is a life force. Its been around since the dawn of time. And we all do it.  Innovation is the answer to a dead end, whether organically derived or forced down by a mandate or policy change. Do you still post your attendance on a slip of paper for the office staff or aides to come around and collect each day? Probably not.  Do your classroom worksheet copies still look like this? Doubt it. When you think you cannot be an innovative person, realize you already are. Everyone is innovating, but we are doing it differently. Here's a lesson I learned from one comedic innovator, Molly Shannon. There are two ways to get into a pool. One toe at a time, testing the water as you go, or jumping in. Tho...

I'm all for small group instruction. Narrowing down that student-teacher ratio from 22 or 26:1 to 4 or 5:1 is ideal for my understanding where my kids are and for directed instruction that the students stay engaged in. A few questions arise when you dip your toe into a workshop model of instruction . Here are a few I had: 1. How do I group my kids? See Below. 2. What do the other kids do while I pull a small group? It depends. Coming soon. 3. How do I manage behavior in a station/center/rotation atmosphere? See #2. 4. What do I do once my kids are in small group? See #2. I can answer Question #1 today. Heterogeneous grouping a la Kagan. I recently attended a Kagan training that our school hosted. You can buy the book online, as I did prior to attending the training, but the training itself is very helpful in understanding the idiosyncrasies of using the cooperative learning strategies. This is NOT a curriculum. Its a great way to access curriculum in a team building...