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Getting Students on Board
I am curious as to the best method to get students on board and “trained” in a new system? As a middle school teacher, I have the same students up to three years in a row. Each year I change my lessons, and admittedly I’m not that predictable of a teacher from day to day even, but this will be a significantly new set up.
I have a potentially interesting predicament of having students (an entire grade) that want to be lectured at and directly told the steps or the formula to the solution. I could go on and on, but really they just prefer “efficiency”. I predict that I will experience some push back from them about the length of the exploratory learning process, its being worth it as it could have been completed faster if I just told them, as fun as the lesson could be. Some of this could be the result of self-doubt and risk aversion, of course. What are the more beneficial teacher moves to set the tone at the beginning of the year?
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1 Reply
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This is a major hurdle for many. You’re in a unique situation as well since you keep your students from year to year.
One of the best approaches is to simply start lessons with the curiosity path. The lesson will feel different from the start, but reassuring students that the lesson won’t simply be copying a note or examples, but rather problem solving is important.
Building this culture will take time and you WILL get push back especially from kids who have traditionally been successful in a procedural model.
You’ve got this!
