In last week’s note, I publicly confessed my tendency to rush. (Yesterday, My grandma — who is so adorable and also reads this blog — greeted me with a hug and a chuckle, and then said, “well, hi there, you rushaholic.”) I can’t shake this topic — especially as it relates my work as a teacher. Going slow and taking time to talk, listen, think, and learn feel like the healing balm my weary soul needs. So, since I’m holding tight to this idea, I decided to share another confession: my fast-moving pace has resulted in the legitimate collapse of many would-be-fantastic lessons. This is because, in my haste, I hop right over a critical layer in any lesson: the teacher model (also known as focused instruction).
Modeling learning tasks for our students takes time. Actually, it takes a lot of time. Modeling is tedious and can feel boring; thereby making it an easy bit to skip over. I can think of many times when I avoided, or glazed over, the focused instruction portion of a lesson in order to get my students moving and doing. After all, it is easier in the short term to say, “go, do this writing task,” instead of slowly and methodically showing students how I would do it.
When it’s time for students to write, we’ve got to remember something: modeling may take time, but it is time well spent.
I am often overwhelmed by the wide range of learners in my classroom, and it sometimes feels painful to give whole class writing instruction when a handful of students may not need to see and hear a teacher model. But, allowing this to deter me from modeling is a disservice to those who desperately need to see and hear my thinking as I write. I wrote about the dangers of this very thing in The Write Structure, and I think it is a good reminder:
To assume a student already knows how to think through a writing task will create chaos later on when students are attempting to write on their own. We’ve all seen the chaos; mental chaos in the learner’s mind gives way to physical chaos in the classroom when 12 hands are anxiously pointed skyward waiting for the task to be clarified. (p.9)
As writing teachers, we have to be extra intentional to slow down. Taking the time to model — thoughtfully, carefully, and slowly — will pay off. Modeling benefits all learners — as a review for some or as absolutely necessary groundwork for many others. I need to be reminded of this very important instructional practice daily until the end of my teaching career. As long as my sweet and sassy grandma keeps razzing me about being a rushaholic, this shouldn’t be a problem.
Joy & cheer,
Lindsay