Chapter V in, Motivating Students from A-Z, mentions that Variety is the Spice of Life and challenges us to think about how we use variety in our classroom. A recipe was given as an example. Here is the recipe for my classroom.
Recipe for Success in McCabe's Math Classroom
2 Tbsp lecture and directions
1/2 cup group work and discussion
1 Tbsp student presentations
1/4 cup technology
1/8 cup worksheets/problems
1 tsp music
3 tsp differentiated instruction
1 cup opportunity for students to move their thinking
1/3 cup assessment
1/8 cup Marzano's Instructional Strategies
2 cups real life
1/4 cup "Why" and "How"
3/4 cup various methods to find an answer
Mix all together and allow ingredients to blend together. Allow plenty of time to set for flavors to be enhanced before assessing total quality of the recipe.
Moving forward is a good thing. If you don't move, you become stagnant. If you become stagnant, you smell. (I'm going with a creek bed analogy here...stay with me). "It Is What It Is" helps us to keep our sanity as we try new things, but at the same time we should never settle for "what it is". We should constantly reflect and learn to move our teaching and our student's learning to higher levels so the classroom doesn't turn stale.
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