"No matter how great the lesson, if students aren't alert, sitting up, and actively listening, teaching them is like pouring water into a leaky bucket." (p 158)
The author has an acronym to describe the 5 basic behaviors that maximize students' ability to learn:
- Sit up
- Listen
- Ask and answer questions
- Nod your head
- Track the speaker
(Some schools also add Smile to the beginning -- S-SLANT. I like that, too.)
A champion teacher tells the students that these behaviors are best and are expected. Then, the instructor can quickly and easily remind students about it: "Make sure you are SLANTing."
My response:
I LOVE THIS! I have so many students who slouch, don't watch me, don't listen, don't nod, and don't track the speaker. I teach some classes in computer lab classrooms, and the students log in, and go straight to facebook. For some reason, they think I can't tell -- but I can because they aren't tracking me, nodding, etc. So, I ask them questions to bring them back into the classroom, but that just interrupts the flow of the class, and uses questions as a sort of disciplinary action -- not what I want to do. (Others log in and take notes on-line. I can tell the difference because they are tracking me, nodding, etc.)
I plan to put this acronym on my syllabi and on a PowerPoint slide to remind students what I expect of them.
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