Whether you're just starting out or a seasoned veteran, it's never too late to fine-tune your classroom approach. In his own classroom, Harned discovered that students were taking too much time handing in homework and passing out papers. He remedied this by attaching rows of mail pouches, each marked with a student's name, to the classroom wall.
Pupils now go straight to the pouches every class period to pass in work and pick up new materials.
It cuts down time, and students seem to enjoy the new responsibility and this little piece of turf set aside just for them, he reports. N.Y. A 1996 study of eighth-grade math achievement by The Education Trust, in fact, shows that student scores tend to fall as worksheet use rises. Even earlier research has consistently shown that too much independent seatwork in any subject area is negatively correlated to student achievement. Students benefit from interactions with teachers that provide corrective feedback. Festa looks for ways to base a math lesson on a well-crafted story problem, one that lends itself to multiple solutions.