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5

I SAID BE QUIET … AND START TALKING

Help Students Learn Out Loud and Still Keep a Handle on Your Classroom

In chapter 4 (page 29), I wrote about ways your own words can disrupt teachable moments and achieve the exact opposite result of what you aimed for. This chapter also focuses on the power of words but focuses on ways to encourage your students to use their own voices, because one of the best ways to engage students is to make them active participants in their own learning.

I once had the opportunity to visit one of California’s lowest-performing schools. Located in a high-poverty neighborhood, with test scores in the gutter, the school had all of the stereotypical low-performing attributes—except one. According to the school staff, there were very nearly no behavior or discipline problems.

As I toured from classroom to classroom, I had to agree. The students seemed very well-behaved, and the teachers seemed to have their procedures and routines down to a science. As bells rang, the students moved through the halls with grace and ease. Teachers didn’t understand how they could work so hard all day without it reflecting in students’ test scores.

As I continued to observe classrooms, I realized that the teachers absolutely were teaching. And that was the problem. The teachers spent so much time teaching, there was very little time left to devote to the students’ learning.