Effective classroom practice

The five keys to successful circles

Getting everyone together in a circle is sometimes seen as the domain of the early childhood educator – but not for much longer. I see businesses running board meetings in circles. I see sporting coaches gathering their teams in circles at half time in preference to the usual clump. I see bands huddled in tight circles for a pep talk before bursting onto stage for a performance. What is making circles so universally popular?

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Working to a deadline

I have the wonderful privilege of speaking with teachers around Australia about both the immense rewards and the challenges of being a contemporary educator. While there’s a little bit of Pollyanna in all of us, the truth is we speak a lot about the challenges. There are an enormous number of accountabilities in being a modern teacher and with the plethora of compliances that come with the profession, there never seem to be quite enough hours in the day.

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Cinema Syndrome

Teachers are adept at chunking and sequencing academic learning, yet we forget to chunk the time that students will be required to listen to instruction or to sustain effort. In much the same way that adults fidget when we don’t know how long the movie will be, students will resist our instruction if they have no idea how long they’ll be required to listen, or to sustain silence, or to work collaboratively.

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