Potent Pedagogy
10 Micro-Techniques Used by
Effective Teachers
Why is this an IPA workshop?
and/or
What are you doing in a teacher workshop?
Mark Greenberg, IPA Member; Consultant, Potent Pedagogy
Dept. Chair/Teacher (28); Assistant Prin. (10); District Teacher Mentor (4)
-------O’Fallon HS, O’Fallon IL (33) ------- Valley Park HS, Valley Park, MO (9)
Principal as “Instructional Leader”?
10(Jason
Micro-Techniques
Leahy, IPA Ex. Dir., hates that term)Used by
 What’s your
most important
role in
Effective
Teachers
your school?
 What’s the role of pedagogy/instruction
at your school?
Role of Pedagogy at Your School:
(Channeling ASCD’s Peter DeWitt here)
 Every meeting, every time
 Teacher instituted/led/often co-planned
 Articles/Books/Current events as
springboards/excuses to discuss instruction
 Flipped faculty meetings to create time for
meaningful instructional discourse
Teach Like a
Champion (2010)
---12 yrs. studying
highest performing
teachers in schools
w/80% poverty
where state scores
comparable to best
schools.
---Almost 100% of
these teachers’ kids
scored proficient on
state tests.
Doug Lemov,
managing director
of Uncommon
Schools
(www.uncommonschools.org)
• Starts and manages
schools in urban
areas across the
Northeast
• Currently 28 schools
in five cities
• Author of best-selling
book, Teach Like a
Champion (2010)
All 28 Uncommon Schools share
five guiding principles:
1. ”All students deserve ____
2. ”We go the distance to____
3. ”We hold ourselves to____
4. ”We believe in data to____
5. ???
5. “We’re unapologetic about our
focus on rigor and structure.”
What makes good teaching
is what works.
 Almost obsessively
specific (LTMBD)
----------------------------------------------------------
 Technique names catchy
& a little gimmicky b/a
descriptive. Enable
shared vocab to discuss.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Many techniques
captured in short video
clips in the books’
accompanying DVDs.
 Techniques often
synergize – PB & J
-----------------------------------------------
 Many not “new”;
many technique names
now routinely coached
instructional practices
(ala Marzano, Dearborn, Antonetti
& Garver)
------------------------------------------------
 Make obvious
assumptions about
Teacher (CK/LP)
Teach Like a Champion
49 Techniques Divided into SIX DIVISIONS
1 – Setting High Academic Expectations
2 – Planning That Assures Academic Achievement
3 – Structuring and Delivering Your Lessons
4 – Engaging Students in Your Lessons
5 – Creating a Strong Classroom Culture
6 – Setting/Maintaining High Behavioral Expectations
How to select 10 out of 49 . . .
Method to the madness?
Technique #1 – S.L.A.N.T.
(bk clip #16-- SLANT + 100%, Mr. Zimmerle)
All
Uncommon
School
rooms
teach and
use
S.L.A.N.T.
Technique #1
S.L.A.N.T.
(bk clip #16-- SLANT + 100%,
Mr. Zimmerle)
 SLANT present &
illustrated in most
clips
 Begs some questions:
--Useful in all c/rs?
--Necessary in all c/rs?
--Too juvenile for HS?
--Too controlling?
--Too stifling?
Technique #2 – Cold Call
(book clip #8, #9)
Cold Call = act of calling on students to answer
questions at random, not based on who
volunteers to participate.
Benefit: Checks for understanding
Benefit: Raises number of different participants
Benefit: ???
Cold Call is . . . predictable.
. . . systematic.
. . . positive.
. . . scaffolded.
Technique #2 – Cold Call
(book clip #8, #9)
Technique #3 – No Opt Out
(book clip #1, Mr. Williams)
Technique #3 – No Opt Out
(bk clip #1, Mr. Williams)
Technique #4 – Right Is Right/
Stretch It
(bk clip #3, Mr. Armstrong; Ms. Bromley)
Technique #4 – Right Is Right/
Stretch It
(bk clip #3, Mr. Armstrong; Ms. Bromley)
T: How do the families in Romeo and Juliet get along?
S: They don’t like each other.
T: (often does/says . . .)
-------Right/Right: (Hold out for all the way.)
T: (affirm, if possible;
(HDYKT? follow up)
Technique #5 – Circulate
(book clip #6—Ms. Dickinson)
related to Techniques “Radar”
and “BSL (Be Seen Looking)”
Technique #6 – Wait Time
(book clip #11—Ms. Driggs))
A strategic delaying technique:
---Narrated wait time
 U. Of FL research – even 1-2 seconds significantly
improves quality of student response;
3-5 seconds decreases “IDK’s”
Technique #7 – Positive
Framing (bk clip #19, Ms. Austin)
Technique #7 – Positive
Framing (Ms. Volpe)
Technique #7 – Positive
Framing (book clip #19, Ms. Austin)
.
Negative VS. Positive Framing
Doctor: “There’s a 10% chance this
operation will not succeed.”
Correct & guide behavior with these thoughts:
1. Live in the now. Focus on what a student can
fix right now to move forward.
2. Assume the best.
“Is the kid giving me a hard time or having
a hard time?”
---What if action student took was intentional?
3. Allow plausible anonymity. Correct students
without saying their names. Avoid contingencies.
4. Narrate the positive. Narrate the strengths of
what kids in your class are doing.
Technique #7 – Positive Framing
Technique #8 – Threshold
Technique #8 – Threshold
Technique #9 – Warm/Strict
Technique #10 – Exit Tickets
(fg clip #13 Mr. Pollack, #14 Ms. Picard)
What do we know about
E x i t T i c k e t s ??
Plenty . . .
------Please see handout.
Potent Pedagogy
If we have time, let’s watch more clips..
 I’ll play a clip and you tell me which
technique(s) it illustrates . . .
10 Micro-Techniques Used by
Effective Teachers
Potent Pedagogy
http://www.boyd.k12.ky.us/userfile
s/496/Classes/27400/Teach%20Like
%20A%20Champion%20-%20The%
20Main%20Idea.pdf
10 Micro-Techniques Used by
Effective Teachers
10 Micro-Techniques Used by
Effective Teachers
Role of Pedagogy at Your School:
Every meeting, every time
Teacher instituted/led/often co-planned
Articles/Books as springboards/excuses to
discuss instruction
Flipped faculty meetings to create time for
meaningful instructional discourse
Mark Greenberg, Consultant,
Potent Pedagogy