Reminders for Myself

Students can go online and see more than enough videos about completing the square to require me to be the one to write steps for them.

Students can (and often do) seek tutoring outside of class to learn shortcuts to solving the most common problems.

Students can look up code that has been written before.

Students can memorize when I ask them not to do so, and choose not to memorize when I want certain knowledge to be locked in long term memory.

Students can pore over a textbook, often alone, and learn everything that might be tested on an exam. They might understand how to make connections on all sorts of scales, levels, and manners of organization with no input on my part or on the part of another student.

Given that all of these things might be true:

• My classroom should be a place that maximizes the potential a whole group of human brains all trying to learn something new in the same space. The things we do together should respect the fact that we can do them together.

• The focus in my classroom should be on the difficult parts of learning. Experiencing and overcoming confusion is a natural part of learning. So is trying something, failing, and learning why that something led to failure. Having good people around during this process lessens the blow. That is why we are there together.

• I am an expert in identifying the ideal next step in the learning process for an individual, a group, or a class. I am an experienced learner. I’ve been there. Sharing and calling upon that experience is how I add value.

• I should outsource instruction for those students that can learn without me. I can teach directly when students need me to do so, but this is not as frequent as I might first think. I should provide as many different resources as possible and encourage students to choose the ones that would best help them make progress. Pride when I am that resource, and disappointment when I am not, are not important. The classroom is not about me.

The structures and systems should not punish students for actions from the first list. The structures and systems in the classroom should support the goals in the second list.