Teach to Reach All of Your Students

Good teachers don’t just teach to the top fifteen to twenty percent of their class; they teach to reach every single student, regardless of those students’ intellectual abilities, processing speeds, or levels of motivation.

Sometimes, when a few bright students are answering questions with the correct answers and making high scores on tests, we think that we are doing our job well. This is far from the truth. It is when all of our students are understanding and comprehending whatever it is that we are teaching that we are achieving what we ought to.

Avoid Letting Star Students Dominate Answers

The first procedure to accomplish this lofty goal is not to let those star students answer all the time. Use small cards or popsicle sticks with each student’s name on one of them, then use those to call on whoever’s turn it is to answer. After a student answers correctly, move their card to the back of the stack, or better yet, set them down in a different pile, and shuffle them when you get to the end of the stack. This way every student has the opportunity to answer, and you are keeping each one of them accountable. (If a student cannot answer a question, return their card to the stack and give them another opportunity to answer correctly, perhaps with an easier question.) With a smaller class, alternate between or among the students and switch the order a few times each class to keep them on their toes. In different settings, I will sometimes (with a smile) tell a student, “You’re out of tickets,” once they have answered correctly twice in one class. My students know that means they have done well answering, but that they may not answer any longer, and the responsibility shifts to the other students.

Give Everyone Time to Think Before Calling on a Student

It is also helpful to ask a question, give students plenty of time to formulate an answer, look all of them in the eye, and carefully pull a card out before reading the name on it. I tell my students that they should all have the correct answer in their minds, regardless of who gets to say the answer. Waiting to say the name on the card gives them all time to think.

Teach Slowly and Methodically for Better Comprehension

With particularly hard-to-grasp concepts such as long division, it is helpful to demonstrate the new concept slowly several times on your own, with pauses between each step to allow them to comprehend. Then do it again, pausing to ask questions to see if they understand, explain again, and then let them answer again. The repetition can do wonders for students that need a little more time processing. And that is exactly what we should do if that is what they need in order for them to understand.

My Algebra I and II teacher, Miss Eulenfeld–I’ll never forget her– would write on the board so incredibly slowly that it was almost frustrating. She would purposely teach so accurately and methodically that I realized that my brain was not ever working behind her, trying to catch up when she taught. It was always right with her, or a little ahead of her, affirming that I had understood the concept and gotten the next step correct as she would work out the problem on the board. That was a valuable lesson, and to this day, I try to do just that.

Reinforce Correct Answers for the Whole Class

Another method to use is repeating or explaining the information once a student does give the correct answer. If it is a direct object, then do a quick diagram on the board to demonstrate how that student got the right answer. If it is a chemical formula, then write that formula on the board and point to the number of atoms of each element in the molecule. This will help the students who were not called on, but did not have the right answer in their minds, figure out what they did wrong and show them how to, hopefully, get the right answer (in their heads or aloud) the next time.

Set High Expectations and Monitor Understanding

Finally, we teachers should let our students know that we do expect them to comprehend the material and to be able, by themselves, without our help, to answer questions, do a project, read a story, or do well on a test. And if they are not, we should figure this out fairly quickly so that we can do something about it, whether it be reexplaining the material, helping them with a trouble spot, or answering a question or two that they might have.

Jeff usually hands out surveys at the beginning of the year and one of the answers to the question “What do you think makes a good teacher?” is often, “A teacher who makes sure that everyone in the class understands.”

An Attainable Goal for Every Teacher