Teach Like a Champion Technique #2 Right is Right Teach Like a Champion Technique #2

Right is Right Set and defend a high standard of correctness in your classroom. This is about the difference between partially right and all-the-way right. This is the difference between pretty good and 100 percent

Think about this…. “The likelihood is strong that students will stop striving when they hear the word “right” or some variation. So there is a real risk to naming as right that which is not truly and completely right.”

Avoid Rounding UP This is where you affirm a student’s answer and repeat it, but add to it yourself to make it fully correct. For example- When asked how the Montagues and Capulets get along at the beginning of Romeo and Juliet, a student responds, “They didn’t like each other.” The teacher might then round up by saying, “Right, they didn’t like each other, and they have been feuding for generations.” Or, the teacher might give the student credit for what she wished they had said. For example- “Right. What Kiley said was that they don’t like each other and have been feuding. Good job, Kiley.”

Why not round up? In both of the examples, “The teacher has set a low standard for correctness and explicitly told the class that they can be right even when they are not. Just as important, she has crowded out student’s own thinking, doing cognitive work that students could do themselves. Better? Questioning--- So, is this a recent thing? A temporary thing? Who can build on Kiley’s answer?

Tell them they are almost right, then… Prod Question Wait Cajole Encourage Until…. You get to the point that is rigorous enough to be college prep. You said they don’t get along. Does that really capture their relationship? Does that sound like what they’d say about each other?

In holding out for right…. You set the expectation that the questions you ask and their answers truly matter. You show you believe your students are capable of getting answers as right as students anywhere else. You show the difference between the facile and the scholarly. This is a powerful message.

The struggle is real Don’t fall into the trap of having to struggle to defend a right answer. Don’t fall into one of these 4 traps…

1. Hold out for all the way Praise for effort, but never confuse effort for mastery. Do not do students the disservice of overlooking the fact that an answer is incomplete. Examples of what you could say that show appreciation for the student’s effort and show the expectation he will answer completely- I like what you have done. Can you get us the rest of the way? I like most of that… There is a bit more too it than that. Kim just knocked a base hit. Who can bring her home?

Hold out for All the Way, Cont. You can also repeat the student’s answer back to him, placing emphasis on the incomplete parts to see if he will add to his answer…. Examples: A peninsula is water indenting onto land? You just said that a noun is a person, place or thing, but freedom is a noun and it is not exactly any of those three. You just said that first you would solve the exponent and then you’d solve what’s in parentheses.

2. Answer the Question You must know that the “right” answer to any question other than the one you asked is wrong. Students might try to answer a different question to distract you with something true and heartfelt that they DO know. This is easily solved. Don’t be distracted. Possible response? “We will talk about that in a few minutes, but right now I want to know about the setting.”

Answer the Question, Cont. The students might also conflate different types of information about a topic. Such as when you asked for a definition, and they give you an example. T:Who can tell me the definition of a compound word? S: Eyeball is a compound word! It is easy to miss that sometimes the student has the right answer, but to the wrong question! Correct teacher response: “Good example, Kim. But I asked for the definition.” Knowing the difference between an example and a definition matters (to those who are college bound!)

3. Right Answer, Right Time Sometimes students want to jump ahead. For instance, when you ask for the next step in the math problem, and the student provides the answer to the problem, that is not acceptable. If you accept that answer you have deprived the class of an important learning opportunity and from acquiring full understanding of the process. Your response: My question wasn’t about the solution to the problem. It was about what we do next. What do we do next?

4. Use Technical Vocabulary Good Answer: Volume is the amount of space something takes up. Great response: Volume is the cubic units of space an object occupies. “Great teachers teach their students to use precise technical vocabulary. It expands students’ vocabularies and builds comfort with the terms students will need when they compete in college.”