Teaching Tip #24

Teacherscribe’s Teaching Tip #24

Ten Risks Every Teacher Should Take With Their Class


9. Tell them your story – Listen to their stories

This is what I do on my fist day.  This also gets at what I preach in my classes: Let your freak flag fly!

I have students list 111 things about them (and I share my list with them too.  Here is a link for proof).  This gives me all kinds of insights into them and their stories.

One of the best things I did last year was peruse the list and create a bingo game out of it as a way of students getting to know one another.

Another time this worked very well was toward the end of CC 2 as we were winding down, I charged the class with going home and the next day sharing a story from their lives.

Each student shared their stories.  The others listened quietly.  Then something amazing happened.  As students connected with stories (some had stories that were examples of what the student was talking about, such as an embarrassing moment, and other times the students had different versions of the story, such as seeing a different view on a concert of game) and shared new ones.  I could have listened to them all day.