Model, Model, Model!

I took the title of today's entry directly from an ALL CAPS phrase in a cohort-mate's recent blog entry. Kirsten writes:

Most importantly, both of the texts referred several times to the importance of MODELING. MODEL MODEL MODEL. I especially loved the examples of the teachers who talked about how they gave a lesson which they thought would address the OLM quite well, but when they got the student responses, they realized they had not done an appropriate job of SHOWING the students what they expected or what they should be doing.

To read the rest of Kirsten's post, check out Kirsten's Blog Thoughts

This might sound really obvious, but it has been a huge take-away for me. Especially by the time kids get to sixth grade, like my main placement, it's easy to assume that we can shortcut some of the stages of teaching. Do we really need to model new skills, or is it good enough just to explain? Of, if we do model a skill, can't we just then send kids off to work? I might have thought so before this year.

On Thursday I taught a lesson on word choice, specifically using "powerful" verbs. I took a lot of time and care in drafting this lesson, and made sure to include all of the stages of Routman's Optimal Learning Model. The lesson went well, thanks in part to a fun lead-off activity - reading William Steig's Shrek! (amazing word choice) - and I think that all the modeling and shared demonstration time paid off. The students' responses demonstrated an ability to differentiate between "tired" and "powerful" verbs, and they were able to put powerful verbs to work in place of tired verbs.

So, even for the older kids, don't underestimate the need to "MODEL, MODEL, MODEL"!