I retired from teaching high school mathematics a little over 5 years ago, so I have had lots of time to evaluate my teacher career. As I look back over almost 40 years, I view my teaching career with satisfaction, positive feelings, and a sense of "a job well done." I loved working with high school kids and I loved the challenge of taking kids who hated math and turning that attitude around. If I had to return to the classroom today, knowing what I know now, would I do everything the same way. Certainly not! There are, however, several things I would do the same way again. As they say... "never change a winning game."
The following techniques served me well for a very long time. I wouldn't even consider entering a classroom again without these in my toolbox.
7 Teaching Techniques I Would Keep:
1. Using individual white boards. Many years ago I made (my children helped, too) my own class set of personal white boards from white shower board purchased at a local lumber store. The lumber store has been gone for a very long time, but I still have my white boards and I wouldn't teach without them. I spent a small fortune of my own money on low-odor white board markers and boxes and boxes of tissues that served as erasers. What makes white boards special?
(a) They are wonderful brain-based teaching tools. I considered white boards an important part of teaching long before I knew anything about "brain-based teaching." I wasn't surprised to learn that they are effective for brain-based teaching.
(b) Kids love using them and they keep students focused on you and the topic.
(c) They allow for a quick check for understanding (students write their answer on the board and hold up the board for the teacher to check). Mistakes get caught quickly and before they can be practiced.
2. Using Jim Fay classroom management techniques. I took a week-long Jim Fay class called "Dealing With The Difficult Student" in the summer after a year in which I was given every low-level math class my school offered. That school year was incredibly difficult, but that Jim Fay class was the best thing I did for my teaching career. It literally removed discipline issues from my future.
3. Keeping the routines I developed over the years. By the time I retired I had created routines for every classroom task (like taking attendance, collecting homework, dealing with make-up work, etc.) that didn't interrupt teaching, put student responsibility on the student, and took much of the grunt work (grading papers) off my shoulders.
4. Using "looks like/sound like. " This technique was originally introduced as the way to teach group skills when cooperative learning was first introduced. I found this to be a very effective technique for teaching almost everything behavior related and for all ages. Teachers tend to assume that when we tell students what we expect that the students are picturing exactly what we are. This is often untrue.
5. Having a strong sense of humor and always looking for the funny side of situations. Humor can defuse difficult situations, it can win over a difficult student, it can keep you in the career when other things are pulling you down.
6. Using my grading policy of never recording a test grade under 50. For various reasons, some students fail tests. If a student happens to REALLY fail a test, as in get 20% or even worse, it is virtually impossible for that student to recover enough to pass. A student in this situation has no reason to make any future effort in your class. A grade of 50 on a test is still an "F," but it gives students the ability to raise their grade with enough effort. Students appreciate the opportunity and generally will take advantage of it; and the teacher loses nothing with this policy.
7. Teaching from the overhead (or whatever the technology). Turning your back on the class can create chaos in a matter of seconds. Because mathematics requires so much board writing, I started teaching using an overhead with a roller. I never had to turn my back on the class, the class stayed focused on what I was teaching, and the things I had written stayed there throughout the period for later referral if needed.
There are, of course, new teaching techniques that I would add to my tool box, but they must take their place next to these 7 techniques.
Shirley Slick, "The Slick Tips Lady," is a retired high school math teacher and tutor with degrees in Mathematics and Psychology and additional training in brain-based learning/teaching. Her goals: (1) to help parents help their children with math, (2) to help eliminate the horrendous Algebra failure rate, and (3) to inform the general public about problematic issues related to the field of education. For your free copy of "10 Slick Tips for Improving Your Child's Study Habits," visit her website at http://myslicktips.com/
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