-
"Say/Do that again?" (Read it, hear it, do it...5-7+ different
times/ways.)
-
"Make the kids do the work. Always." (AKA: "Eees not
my job." 150 of them doing something once is much more efficient use of
time than you doing it 150 times.)
-
"What's the point?" (AKA: "Give them the test first." Make
sure to always connect what they're doing to something else they need to
know/do.)
-
(corollary to #3) "Make it homework."
(AKA: "Don't waste class time on stuff they can do at home.")
-
"Groove and Variety" (AKA: "If it's Wednesday, we must be
doing vocab...and something else.")
-
(corollary to #5) "Mix it up." (AKA: "They're squirming after
15-20 minutes...MAX." One period should have at least three "activities.")
-
"Be the Alpha." (AKA: "They don't have to like you, but they
will." Middle schoolers, in many ways, are like dogs in a pack; they always
look for the Alpha, and there's chaos if there isn't one. Or, even worse,
one of the kids will assume the role.)
-
(corollary to #7) "Learn the word NO!" (To paraphrase Huck,
"...becuz (they) don't give a dern for a thing 'thout it's tollable hard
to git.")
-
"Make it look like this." (Examples, examples, examples.
AKA: "Make sure it doesn't look like this.")
-
"Don't make it too easy." (Their biggest fear is boredom,
not challenge.)
-
"Preparation is (much) more important than correcting work."
(AKA: Overprepare: You can always continue tomorrow, but it's a lot harder
to "pad" it out.)
|
|