Good to Great..

Today it "clicked". Last night I read a post by Vicki Davis about poor teaching strategies that got me thinking about how my personal project in my classroom Standing Desk dovetails into other educational ideas.  Her post included a section about using the computer (or phone) during class:

Multitasking is a lie. You shouldn't be Facebooking, Tweeting, emailing, surfing, reading your PLN or anything during class - even during a test. You should be up and around in your classroom helping and TEACHING. They are paying you to teach, not hang out in a virtual teacher's lounge. Teaching is work. You need to be part of  your class. When you sit down at your desk and disengage with your students, you suck the energy out of your classroom.

What ever you are doing behind your computer during class is irrelevent.  If your focus is away from the class for too long, you've lost your students.

So I focused on this idea today and it really made sense.  Since I got rid of my traditional desk about a month ago, it has been a main focus for me to circulate during class and provide individualized help more often, and ask each student related higher order thinking questions during class to check for understanding.  I've made the diagram to express the synthesis of these three ideas.

 

For myself, "good" has never been enough for my classroom.  I am fortunate that these three ideas came together for me at just the right time to change my class room from good to great!