I tried a new teaching idea today with my best grade two group as well as my best grade five group: not talking at all. I didn't utter a single word, or write anything on the board that wasn't first suggested by a student, for the entire classes. I didn't even tell them what my plan was when it started.

And it worked wonderfully. Working only with my hand gestures and nodding and head shaking as responses, the kids had to work together to decipher the lesson plan, in english, and then follow the steps. They read a textbook dialogue in pairs, expanded vocabulary on the board, and practiced writing sentences that describe people (clothes, hair, etc...). We even marked old homework and assigned new homework.

Kids mimic behaviour of their authority figures. The louder I'm willing to be when I tell them to quiet down, the louder they think they can talk before I stop them. In today's classes, hardly a word was uttered other than what was necessary to advance the lesson, and I didn't have to discipline anyone for anything.

This wasn't so surprizing for the grade 2 kids, since I teach 2-'sun' (best english skill), but it even worked for the grade 5-'sky' (worst skill and behaviour) kids.

What a fun day!

Comments

Anonymous said…
Fantastic idea - you will do it again, I assume.
8:56 PM
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