Today’s post wraps up a series on small changes teachers can make in their classroom that can lead to positive results.

‘Wait!’

Ralph Pantozzi is a Presidential Awardee in Mathematics Teaching and has been a classroom teacher and supervisor in New Jersey schools for 32 years:

Wait! It’s a simple move—the only requirement is a little patience. You can make “wait time” a common element of your classroom in a variety of ways, and the benefits of pausing during your teaching are numerous.

I am accustomed to teaching groups of students that contain a small subset who can quickly recall an answer to my “factual” questions. I have observed that a large number of students needed just a few additional seconds to retrieve their prior knowledge. This small adjustment gives those students the opportunity to do the thinking that reinforces knowledge for current and future use. You can provide these questions verbally, or silently in written form, and all students benefit.

When a question is concerned with observation, speculation, analysis, or synthesis, pausing is essential. Whether the question comes from the teacher or the student, everyone should have time to comprehend the question, do the cognitive work required, construct a response, and listen. “I was going to say that” was once a common refrain in my classroom. After I learned to pause and give everyone a chance to think (and usually, write a response), more students do speak up (and more importantly, do the thinking) that I was planning for them to do.

It has long been understood that “if teacher assistance is too direct or extensive, teachers will end up carrying out tasks for students instead of helping them learn to carry out the tasks themselves.” By pausing after a question is asked, we give students multiple opportunities to recognize their own talents and areas for growth. As a teacher, I can observe more of what students are thinking and learn more about what they are capable of doing. By speaking a little bit less during lessons, I (and my students) learn more about each other. I learn how best to respond to students’ questions and what question to ask next.

As Bjork and Bjork write, “Basically, any time that you, as a learner, look up an answer or have somebody tell or show you something that you could, drawing on current cues and your past knowledge, generate instead, you rob yourself of a powerful learning opportunity.” By pausing, I have learned to hold back assistance when it was not necessary. I have also created an environment where students expect to be listened to and where they know their ideas are considered valuable. Students are more willing to share their ideas, become more confident that they are mathematically capable, and become more comfortable making errors.

In math class in particular, answering questions quickly can become equated with “excellence.” We must be careful to demonstrate to students that fast thinking is not the only thing that is valued. Even with “short answers,” I encourage students to think of other ideas that come to mind as they retrieve the fact and to share their ideas with others. Students will often share strategies with each other and devise better ways to recall foundational knowledge.

While 30 seconds of quiet time might sometimes seem like an eternity in the classroom, students will become accustomed to the routine and understand how it communicates your interest in them and their success.

‘Distribute the Teaching Responsibilities’

Maria Walther and Katie Walther are the mother-daughter duo behind A Year for the Books in which they share actionable routines for building and maintaining student-centered reading communities from the first day of school to the last:

You’re surrounded by students with unique talents and abilities. Look for situations where you can encourage learners to take the lead and distribute the teaching responsibilities among them. Whether you learn alongside kindergartners or young adults, there are countless opportunities to do this in your teaching space. We’ll discuss three simple moves that have worked well in our classrooms. As you read, consider other ways learners in your setting could take on a teaching role.

Performing Poetry

Poetry is an oft-neglected genre that broadens content knowledge and builds fluency. To put students in charge of sharing poetry, try this low-prep routine: Curate a collection of enticing poems or poetry anthologies that enhance the topics you’re studying. Remember to throw in a few that tickle kids’ funny bones. Provide time during supported independent reading for learners to select and practice a poem.

Once they’re ready for the stage, readers write their name(s) and poem title on a slip of paper and place it in the Poetry Performance Jar. When you have five minutes before the bell rings and don’t want to start something new, pick a slip from the jar and enjoy a poetry performance.

Sharing Book Talks

Who do students typically pay the most attention to? If you teach upper-elementary and middle school, you know the answer: their peers! Why not use this to your advantage as you continue to build engagement around reading? After modeling several book talks, co-create an anchor chart that details the general structure of a compelling book commercial.

Post a sign-up sheet. Invite students to add their name when they’re ready to advertise a recently completed book. Sit back and enjoy learning about your students’ favorite titles. This approach not only helps readers discover new titles but is also a great way for kids to flex their persuasive speaking skills and gain confidence presenting in front of their peers.

Creating Classroom Artifacts

Need a creative title for a bulletin board or classroom display? Prompt students to brainstorm a list of possibilities and come to a consensus on the most precise one. Then, pick a group of interested learners to design it. For young writers, this is an ideal opportunity to apply their growing phonics knowledge to purposefully spelling words.

For older students, generating multiple titles encourages them to synthesize information they’ve learned about a topic or throughout a unit. To expand this idea, think about anything you might purchase for your classroom walls and assemble a student design team to create them.

By apprenticing students into the role of the teacher, we foster a culture of active participation where everyone’s contributions are valued and celebrated. As an added bonus, learners get purposeful opportunities to deepen their understanding of essential literacy skills through practical application.

Motivation

Jay Schroder is the author of Teach from Your Best Self: A Teacher’s Guide to Thriving in the Classroom.

One of the biggest challenges teachers face is motivating unmotivated students. A common strategy is to use extrinsic motivation. Threats of poor grades and enticements of pizza parties seem like an obvious way to engage disinterested students. When that doesn’t work, corporal punishment is still legal in 17 states, and some lawmakers are now proposing that we pay students to attend school.

Although threats may get students to comply and rewards may boost student interest in the short term, research indicates extrinsic strategies decrease long-term intrinsic motivation.

Educators want their students to become lifelong learners. Reward/punishment strategies actually reduce the chances of that happening.

To create lifelong learners, we need to activate our students’ “seeking systems,” the part of their brains that drive curiosity and zest for learning. More formally called the ventral striatum, the seeking system releases dopamine, inspiring people to learn, grow, discover, and explore.

When rewards and punishments are involved, the seeking system deactivates. In the case of punishments, the fear system takes its place.

Rewards replace the seeking system with the pleasure system. This causes the brain to release natural opioids, which, although pleasurable, shuts down our students’ desire to learn, supplanting that with a desire for more rewards.

Research shows that we can activate our students’ seeking systems through offering affirming, positive messages.

By positive messages, I don’t mean empty compliments. A genuine positive message requires that we bring curious attention to another human being, looking for strengths, and then tell them what we see. In other words, we look for things we appreciate and put our appreciation into language.

Once I started giving students positive messages, the vibe in my classroom changed; the undercurrent of resistance disappeared and was replaced by feelings of genuine goodwill. Students started telling me how much they enjoyed my classes. I wasn’t teaching differently, but through offering positive messages, I was helping them activate their seeking systems which made them experience the class differently.

Besides activating seeking systems, positive messages also help students activate their best selves.

We can think about “the self” as a conglomeration of the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. We create these stories from past experiences, input from culture, and what others tell us. These stories can either awaken possibilities or entrap us in limitation.

As children, we don’t consciously craft the stories we tell ourselves. Instead, story making happens in the subconscious, rather capriciously, depending on what we experience and what others model and tell us. As we grow, we increasingly identify with the stories we tell ourselves and make choices based on them as if they were true.

The good news is that we aren’t stuck with limiting stories. When we revise the narratives that drive our self concepts, we revise what’s possible.

By reflecting back the strengths of my students, I was both activating their seeking systems, and by validating the strengths that I observed, helping them upgrade the stories that informed their sense of themselves. This created a positive feedback loop as, with upgraded stories and an activated seeking system, students were achieving more in my class. Their own academic success gave them additional evidence to further revise the stories they told themselves about themselves.

Positive messages are easy to incorporate into our teaching practice. It’s as simple as saying something like, I noticed that you were struggling a bit with that paragraph, but you didn’t give up; you persisted, and your persistence paid off. Or, I saw you helping Adrian with that math problem. I was impressed by the way you didn’t give her the answer but showed her how to find the answer herself.

Our young people are looking to their parents, their peers, and to their teachers to help them learn about themselves. When we offer strength-based positive reflections to our students, we help them see themselves beyond the limitations of their stories. If we have cultivated trust-based relationships, they are likely to internalize the positive messages we give. When students see themselves through a lens of strength, they become more resilient and open to learning. In a classroom culture that normalizes positive messages, students grow, relationships deepen, lives change, and teaching becomes fun.

Thanks to Ralph, Maria, Katie, and Jay for contributing their thoughts!

Today’s post answered this question:

What is a “small teaching move” that you think is not as common as it should be? A “small teaching move” in this context is an action that would require very little prep, can easily be made into a routine or habit, and is likely to result in increased student engagement and learning.

In Part One, published last fall, Maegan Giroux, Amanda Muffler, Cindy Garcia, and PJ Caposey shared their ideas.

In Part Two, Laleh Ghotbi, Sarah Nichols, Valerie Bolling, and Angela M. Ward contributed their responses.

In Part Three, Melanie Battles, Isabel Becerra , Courtney Rose, and Kristopher J. Childs offered their recommendations.

In Part Four, Doug Fisher, Nancy Frey, Irina McGrath, Cheryl Abla, and Ylaiza Perez made their suggestions.

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at lferlazzo@epe.org. When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it’s selected or if you’d prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on X at @Larryferlazzo or on Bluesky at @larryferlazzo.bsky.social .

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