Try Something New as the Year Draws to a Close

The end of the school year is a great time to try something new. Although the best time for "something big" this is in the last month, if you have a lesson idea or tool you are thinking about for next year, why not try it now, when you and your students have less to lose?

One example that many teachers in GPS are trying is the Building Thinking Classrooms approach. While there is plenty written about it that teachers can explore, the crux of the approach is that instead of starting a lesson with direct instruction, the teacher uses more of an inductive learning method by giving students novel "thinking tasks" to work on, ideally in groups.

The creator of this method, Peter Liljedahl, shares the realization that if we want students to push through difficult problems and find their own solutions, we have to create situations that provide opportunities and support for this.

“By and large students spend most of their class time not thinking, at least not in ways we know they need to think in order to be successful in mathematics.” Liljedahl explains. “If they’re not thinking, they’re not learning.”

Also key are whiteboards, or nonpermanent vertical surfaces that allow students the freedom to fail. Liljedahl shares that research supports this, and it makes sense, because students will "try anything and everything because they feel like they can just erase it if it's wrong".

The same can be said for teaching, especially at the end of the year. Try something new--and if it isn't perfect, that's okay.