Engagement..., Recess..., My Greatest Teacher Is...

Engagement

How to engage learners has been on of the biggest issues discussed here this week at the GTS, so we began the morning with a large circle discussion of engagement. several tips and hints on how to engage learners were discussed. they included:

• Give someone 8 seconds to answer a question - the silence will engage the learners
• Don't react to "Silly" answers
• Say "And" instead of "But"
• Keep them busy - no downtime even if it doesn't fit with the curriculum
• Develop and environment of trust/self disclosure
• Stop teaching students about what to think and start teaching them about how to think
• Do homework in class - many have no time to do it outside of class
• Teach a concept, give 20 minutes to do an assignment - break them into groups, leave the room and get them to "fill in the blanks". Then all that is left is to go home and make a neat copy of the assignment
• Engage them with the learning, not you
• Coordinator of the New York GTS has a mantra that is repeated for students - "Do You Want Fries With That?"

There were many other suggestions, tips, and tricks from around the circle. Suffice to say, engagement will be an issue that will keep us engaged for a while to come...

Recess

We then went outside for recess, where we were presented with a series of activities designed to, well look for yourself:

Nothing like a little running around to get the blood flowing



















David - the calm in the eye of the storm
























The faces say it all








My Greatest Teacher...

We got in out of the cold wind (it was freezing) and settled back into the big circle. In turn, we told the group, by name, who our greatest teacher was - it was an extremely personal, emotional, and bonding experience. Lots of tissues were used. Ask anyone who was there and I am sure that they would say the same. Even if you don't believe in spirits, the room was full of them and their energy. One very interesting point that was common to us all is that our greatest teacher was not about the subject or the content, it was about the person - they cared, they went the extra mile, they were a positive influence, and had a life-long impact on who we have become. For me, this was the most profound activity of the GTS.

Who is your greatest teacher?...