Teach Independence

Hello,

                My name is Wintermute and this is Dumbr. I spend a lot of time teaching you teaching methods, this blog is to help teachers, right now I’m going to teach you how to help teach your students not to need their teacher….? Yeah

                I believe Independence to be one of the most important things to teach to your students. Not only does it help them out, but you too. I have seen classrooms where teachers will get their students books, pencils, and the sort every class period. So instead of holding their hands 24/7 make the classroom more accessible to the students. Put the pencil box low; let them use the pencil sharpener and so on. You may think that your students are too irresponsible for this and would take too long. I have always found the opposite to be true. The more responsibility you give kids the better they perform, they like the feeling of being able to take care of themselves.

                Independence is also good for conflict resolution, if an argument breaks out during a group activity it shouldn’t always be the teacher who keeps the kids on track. Eventually certain students are going to have to be the task manager and make sure all of the students are doing their jobs.

                Most importantly it forces them to try harder. So many times I see students raising their hands for the answer and the teacher helps them out. I tell you now no student will ever learn if you constantly give them the answers. Make them look it up on their own it will help them absorb the information. You cannot be an effective teacher if they are not an effective learner, so show them how to learn.

    This may seem obvious to you but very often it is forgetting. Yesterday you all left wonderful comments and had a good discussing, keep that up and I will see you tomorrow. 

Your Teacher,

Wintermute