Teacher centered? Yikes!

Submitted by Roberta Niche (not verified) on March 12, 2008 - 14:13.

Sounds like full-frontal teaching to me. Stop thinking your role is that of a "sage on the stage". Give up that center stage and start designing in-depth projects which require your students to work together to answer a juicy question or solve a real problem. You can start with the direct instruction, but you've got to engage the students. Read up on best practices:

*Spencer Kagan: Cooperative Learning
*Bernie Dodge: Webquests
*Hilda Taba and Jerome Bruner: Concept Formation
*David Thornburg: Engaged Learning in the 21st Century
*Jamie McKenzie: Uncoverage not coverage

Try seeing your role as that of a "guide on the side". Take a page from K-3 teachers and design yourself some learning centers for the kids to rotate through.

I'm sick of a curriculum that's a mile wide and an inch deep. Aren't you?

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