This is that sweet spot in a lesson
Where students are being successful and challenged at the same time.
It's not too hard.
It's not too easy.
It's accessible.
But intriguing.
Just enough that pushes students forward,
Giving them confidence to keep going.
Today's first task was to demonstrate understanding from the day before.
Students solved a problem on an index card
And then on the back of the card
They communicated their struggles, questions, or what they hoped would be in the lesson today.
While I had a lesson ready to go,
This information gave me just what I needed to focus on.
As we worked through the problems,
Tackling the questions, the mistakes, and questions of the students,
Learning was moving them forward.
And pretty soon, in one class, students were asking for harder problems.
We had reached the point where the challenge was gone,
It was too easy now.
Unfortunately, I did not have other problems on the ready,
But quick thinking, allowed me to create a more challenging problem.
And as they worked this problem,
I quickly assembled a couple more that would push them.
The conversation that followed pushed thinking even more,
And pretty soon they were wanting another problem.
At the end of the hour, I gave them one that I knew they weren't quite ready for.
I prefaced it with this one was too hard,
And I doubted if anyone could solve it.
I would say about 80% of the class literally dove right in to prove me wrong.
Only a couple quit when they saw the problem.
But the silent pressure of their classmates working away got to them,
And pretty soon I saw them pick up their dry erase markers and start in.
How amazing is it to see the research play out first hand in the classroom!
When students are simply moving along in flow,
In the zone,
Where learning is visible,
As success is found,
And confidence is built
As the complexity grows.
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