Hi everyone, I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Ross. I teach sixth grade at Jonestown Elementary in Jonestown, PA (close to Hershey). I came across Power Teaching this fall on YouTube while searching for ways to get my students engaged in learning. Ever since beginning Power Teaching it has been catching on like wild fire! The great part is the students are the ones who are demanding it from other teachers. I look forward to learning more about this awesome technique and improving upon what I'm already using. Anything I can do to help spread the word, just let me know.

Welcome, Ross! As we middle-school teachers well know....being a middle school teacher takes a very special breed of human being! Please stay posted in here, especially in the middle school section of the forums, as we can all put our heads together. Please feel free to post about what's working for you as well as what you need help with. Share success stories, oops moments, all of those things. We've allll got 'em!

Hello Ross,
I just registered and this looks like fun for the teacher and students. I am in the middle of a Kinesthetics class, so all of this fits in well.

I am new to PT, actually I haven't even tried it yet. I have done the research and I am going to try it starting tomorrow. How much do you go over the first day? Class-Yes and Rules only? I teach history does anyone else? Kristi

I would do Class-Yes, the Rules, and Hands and Eyes.

Second day review the rules, and play with Class-yes, and introduce the Scoreboard "Game".

Third day explain why we use Teach-OK and introduce it. Fourth day introduce Switch.

My two cents.

Jeff

I teach 7th and 8th grade so I see them for a 40 minute class period. Did you teach a regular lesson while incorporating the techniques?

Absolutely, the classes need to be planned so that you have brief lecture, hands-on, visual, etc. portions followed by student interaction through "Teach/Ok." I find that my classes that are the most tightly organized with Power Teaching are the ones that students enjoy the most. Remember...student engagement is the key and the more students are engage in the learning the more they will be active learners.

Sue, I have found that PT really keeps my students engaged and allows me to control their motivation through parts such as "scoreboard." Power teaching math and science especially have made my classes upbeat and interactive. You should really think about coming to the PT seminar on June 27th at Northern Lebanon High School from 9-12. See the calendar on the website for more info.