Teach in the Affirmative: The Connected Lesson

As the new school year fastly approaches, I have decided to dedicate one more post to the educators of the world, but as usual, the concept applies beyond the classroom and children.  Being connected through any conversation is required for the conversation to be clear.  It is responsible of a good communicator that they leave the conversation with clarity.

Teach in the Affirmative

An educators' guild to Talk in the Affirmative in the Classroom.

The Connected Lesson

Teachers, stay connected the entire way through a lesson.  No matter what, make sure you find a good place to end a lesson; time it, even.  The end of your lesson is almost as important as the beginning of your lesson.  Even the kids who are distracted [Note how I avoid saying “…kids who don’t listen”. TITA] may have gotten enough, or may be drawn in by those who did ‘get’ the lesson, to connect to the lesson if you end it effectively.  If you rush through any moment of the lesson, you have disconnected before knowing that your kids have connected.  If you have to be late for lunch or if you have to rush to your next class, do that before you disconnect from the lesson. If you disconnect from the lesson, so will the kids; the kids will disconnect from you too.

A way to have a successfully connected end to your lesson is to look the kids in the eyes and ask them if they got the lesson.  Attempt to visually connect with each of them.  Have some of the kids attempt to give an overview of the lesson. [Note: Requires a modeling of an “overview”.]  Occasionally, but not often (not as a trick but as a technique), ask a kid that you know says he ‘got it’, but is just saying he ‘got it’ in order to “look good”, to give an explanation of the lesson.  Instead of making it an embarrassing moment for the kid when he reveals that he did not ‘get it’, make it an opportunity to forward the kid. I might say, “I really thought you knew the answer and were being honest.  It takes away from everyone else when you do that, someone who really got it could have answered it and we could be getting on with the lesson. That’s being selfish.”

Forwarding the kid with the way of being and what to do is affirmative and gives him and the other students a direction. Telling the student what not to do is in the negative and takes away from focus.  Once I tell a kid what to do in a situation, I give him or her time to develop the understanding and skill.  How to be is as much a skill to learn as how to multiply!