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Best Practices: Priming the Student Learning Pump

By Kathie Marshall

October can be a time when smart and well-prepared new teachers find themselves becoming disenchanted with their early classroom experiences. "I know my content, I teach it well, but they just aren’t learning it!" My six years as a school-based literacy coach has helped me identify a frequent cause of this basic teaching dilemma. These otherwise promising new educators had not yet figured out how to prime the student learning pump.

One novice teacher I worked with taught 7th grade English. It was clear from my classroom observations that she knew her subject, but she seemed very uncomfortable in front of the class and came across as quite distant. She hadn't yet figured out how to use herself as a resource for student engagement. I offered to demonstrate a couple of student management and engagement strategies that might help.

Her 7th graders were working on expository writing, which required them to be able to "explain an event, concept, or idea using facts and examples." I began skimming the textbook in search of something we could analyze for this exercise. When I spotted an article on the history of chocolate, my veteran teacher-brain began to do its thing. Here's...