Teaching Tip #158

Teacherscribe’s Teaching Tip #158

Okay. I'm not saying I could sell tickets for these lessons, but they go over very well with the kids. Here are some of my most effective lessons -

Teaching the climax of "The Yellow Wallpaper."

Introducing and analyzing "Young Goodman Brown."

Linchpin boards.

TED Talks.

Stick-Note Book reports.

To test this, I texted a dozen students to see what lesson they would come back and buy tickets for now that they're gone. I was happily surprised to see that I received 12 different answers!

The three parts of incredible teaching.

Part 3 – presentation

Burgess argues – correctly, I think – that this is the one that is never thought about or discussed.

Presentation is vital.

Think about how you learned best in high school.  Or think about the coach that taught you the most or got the most out of you.  Or think about the TED Talks you love to watch or the presenters you love seeing show up to your school at the beginning of the year or during an inservice training.

I don’t think you show up for the content or simply their methods.  I think we all show up for their presentation.

Think about those dreadful blood born pathogens or material safety data sheet trainings we all have to suffer through.  The content and methods are clear.  YET, there is zero value in the presentation.   It’s not engaging or effective at all.  And that’s why we all click our way through them or put them on and then go play with the kids or wash the dishes before taking the quiz.

Now, contrast that with a truly effective presenter.  My sister is a great example.  She can present on blood born pathogens and material safety data sheets and make it funny, insightful, relevant, and personal . . . in other words engaging.  Her presentation is the reason she is so busy that she turns down thousands of dollars of work every single week.

Or even contrast our training videos with the school lawyer who presented to us last year.  I didn’t agree with a lot of what he spoke about, but it was engaging. I enjoyed his presentation, even if I didn’t agree with much of it.

Presentation is vital.  If our presentation sucks, what chance does our content and methods stand?  Perhaps, that’s why so many students underperform or if they do succeed, maybe they do it in spite of us.