We have all been there. You’re in a lesson, coaching session or meeting where the person speaking is not really being listened to. You start doodling or looking at the clock thinking, “Come on, I just want to start…”
As a sporty student myself, who often got told that I had “ants in my pants” this was regularly the case – listening to teachers or coaches give instruction after instruction, explaining the same concept in a number of boring ways! They did not allow freedom to just have a go and see if you could answer the brief without a rigid structure.
I recently read an interesting article in the Sydney Morning Herald on the amount of time people in high level jobs waste talking or attempting to explain tasks that employees would be more than capable of doing without so much direction. The article was related to business, but it got me thinking about my own teaching style and if I was talking too much, instead of embracing project based learning and its philosophies.
I decided to analyse my teacher talk time in theory and practical lessons. I am very aware of the fact that we must keep our students active, but for those who read my blog from time to time, you’ll know that I am big on goal setting and slowing the class down to have important discussions related to big ideas and the concepts we teach.
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