Novel and Unpredictable

The other day, Craig and I reversed the student teaching lens and I evaluated him. What is it that he does that makes his classroom work?

We were comparing his Spanish 1 test scores (he has one section) to mine (4) and the other Spanish teacher's (1). We all gave the same test on the same day, with interesting results. Understandably, most of their scores were higher than mine. That's what experience will hopefully earn me. However, on the vocab section, his one class completely blew all five of ours away by a landslide. So what is he doing that works so well?

Finally, there are certain thingd I've observed I his class that I hope to someday emulate in my own. Students are excited to be there. The class is fun and engaging. Though it seems to be in chaos most of the time, Craig always maintains control and "order". Most importantly, they are learning, seemingly effortlessly. What is working?!

To answer this, I first go back to my experience when I first observed Craig during my Methods class. I loved observing him. I was caught up in the class as much as his students were. It was just fun to be there, regardless of your role or purpose. And on top of that, you were learning and experiencing success so that made out even more exiting! What makes this happen?

Novelty. Genuine behavior. And just good teaching.

The novelty aspect is evident in the fact that, no matter who you are (even Craig), you can never predict what is going to happen next. He is crazy, goofy, weird, and most of all spontaneous. It's 100% genuine -he just teaches in the moment and changes his behavior how he feels is fit. It comes naturally to him. And that's what really sells it. The kids (and everyone else) just eat it up. You have to be paying attention in class or you might miss something... fun. Or, you might become the subject of something fun because you weren't paying attention! (This is never a humiliating experience, just an effective attention-getter and the students laugh at themselves, too.) You're always in for a show when you watch Craig teach.

Secretly woven into this circus is simply good teaching, both in method and management. The students are blasted with incredible numbers of repetitions is a short period of time (usually around 50 per word/structure), but it never gets old because it's always presented in a novel and new way and worked into the entertaining aspects of the class (which are pretty much all the aspects of class).  In addition, Craig manges the class effectively, identifying non-participating students and making then become part of the show as well. We strive for 100% participation, meaning everyone is a part of the show. No checking out - if you do, you've got to check back in. But it's fun to participate anyway, so students don't have to make an explicit effort to learn.

Thus, while students are participating in the comedy show, they are actually learning, but don't tell them that!