Methods at SSA: 80/20 Rule Helps Students Learn More

• We follow a 80/20 rule: teachers talk only 20% of the time, listen 80%!

• We ensure that, when our students are right, they know!

• Find out more on our blog!

Talk as Little As Possible to Let Students More Actively Learn!

The less teachers talk, the better!

One key thing that I try to do: talk as little as possible. When I train new teachers, I talk about an 80/20 rule: the kids talk 80% of the time and I talk 20% of the time. Most of the time when I do talk, I’m saying: “Ok, what’s the next step? What’s the next thing we can do here?” So, I’m giving as little information as possible and I’ll frequently say: “Give me one moment. I want to figure out the least amount of information that I can give you so that you get most of it on your own.” If you figure it out yourself, it will stick with you.

Don't restate students' explanations!

When we hear a student give an explanation and it’s right, rather than restating it so that the kid is like: “Oh, wasn’t I totally right, or was I kind of right, or was I not right at all and the teacher just wanted to give me credit?” if the kid is right I’m like: “Yes! Perfect! That was exactly the right explanation. You got it.” and that’s it. This encourages students to actually listen to each other, and makes it clear to the kid that they understand and it also edifies the kid, who thinks “Oh, I got that completely right. Nobody had to rephrase that. That was just right.” So often, teachers rephrase - even if students are right!

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