Teach them how to teach!

Minimizing teacher talk in the modern classroom is a must in order to keep students keen and motivated to learn. I couldn't help but break into a smile when I watched my Year 7 students enthusiastically instructing the class and explaining clearly regular and irregular verb endings in German, a topic that they had been unsure of 20 minutes previously. By reversing roles and making the students become the teachers, you give them a different experience which wakes them up from the every day norm. I thought to try this out when I realised how much I learn myself when I'm teaching, and found it really successful!

Positive outcomes:

Develops leadership skills

Improves confidence

Both student and teacher can clearly identify their progress

Develops social skills

Engages the students

Potential drawbacks and how to manage them:

Shy students

Solution: Don't make them stand up there on their own. Allow a peer student to prompt them, or prompt them yourself. Recognise anything clearly explained, however small.

Students being left out

Solution: Decide who is in each group and if necessary, allocate different roles apart from a group leader according to the strengths of each student, for example, a scribe, a speaker, and illustrator etc.

The students' lesson being unclear

Solution: Clearly model an example of how you would like their lesson to be taught. Add a success criteria with examples so the students know exactly what they have to include in their lesson.