Boosting Learning through Accountability: The Lemons-Aid Way
Holding students accountable teaches them to toughen up, embrace the struggle, and grab ahold of their own learning, which brings great rewards.
Holding students accountable teaches them to toughen up, embrace the struggle, and grab ahold of their own learning, which brings great rewards.
"Are any of you in Bermuda? Come back to me. Engage your minds! No cognitive vacations!" These are comments students hear in my classroom as I watch them, making sure their minds are engaged. It's normal for students' minds to wander when they're bored, tired, distracted, worried, or a task is hard. My mind wanders, too. So does yours. Have you ever been reading a book and your eyes fall on all the words...you turn the page...and then you realize, "I have no idea what I just read!" Has it happened to you while driving where you can't remember the last five miles? Whelp! I daydream about the pink sand and rocky shores on my favorite beach in Bermuda. I call this unplugged brain a "cognitive vacation." The brain says, "See ya! I'm headed somewhere a little more interesting."