I know I’m teaching when
A student has that crumpled up facial expression that says “This assignment is challenging.”
Students won’t leave at recess time.
Students create their own assignments and lesson plans.
I get unsolicited emails from students sharing something interesting they found online.
Students are completely oblivious to the fact that I am even in the room.
I overhear a group of students debating about who has the “correct” answer.
I don’t know the answer to a question but can get a student to answer it themselves.
Students are teaching me.
Students can articulate a problem they are having and develop their own strategies to solve it.
Students can tell me what they are most proud of.
Students can identify the next steps on their learning journey.
Nobody asks to go to the bathroom for an entire class.
I’m late to class and the lesson has already started.
I’m utterly exhausted and couldn’t be happier about it.When do you know you are teaching?
What a great post. I agree with everything you have & said to a student this week "of course it's challenging.. If it wasn't you wouldn't be learning!". Here are a few more I saw this week:
ReplyDeleteI know my students are learning when:
They pull out the rubric I've provided at the beginning of the project to figure out (1) whether they have met all the requirements & (2) what their grade will be.
The bell rings to signal the end of our 50 minute class & your hear students saying "wow this class flew by today."
Students who used to be quiet are now raising their hands because they have gained confidence in their abilities.
I love these examples, especially getting the kid to raise their hand, good one!
ReplyDeleteI got this email this evening from a student and I have to add getting requests like this to my list:"could I maybe look at my past math tests to see if there has been any patterns in my mistakes."
ReplyDeleteI would add:
ReplyDeleteWhen a kid says, "Hey, (x topic) is just like what you were talking about the other day"
When kids teach their classmates a skill or strategy just because they think it would be a good thing to learn.
When kids. Help each other because they recognize that it's the right thing to do
The one about students being oblivious that we are in the room always cracks me up! Like you can't hear conversations that are happening right next to you! Kids are so funny!
ReplyDelete