Teacher Satisfaction
This may seem completely unimportant to some who read this and I can tell you it was not the primary reason for coming up with the method and strategies you will experience on our website. Additionally, we, as teachers, most likely all started out idealistically thinking the job satisfaction would be pretty high as we worked to develop the young minds with which we would interact in this profession.
Well, to my great surprise, even I, who typically do not know a single student when I have flown into a city to demonstrate these methods with a classroom full of students, always walk away feeling really good about myself for the effort. My experience with this covers thirteen years, hundreds of class hours, every possible grade level from 3rd to 12th grade, almost every state in the union and every socio-economic stratum known. It has always worked to fully engage the students and pull them into thematic, metacognitive discussion. I can only imagine what it would be like if I had the opportunity to have spent time with these same students and know about their varied backgrounds, interests, strengths and weaknesses.
When I see shining eyes I know the method is working. There is nothing better than to see a group of students who the world has pretty much given up on become so engaged that they will completely read a book for the first time in order to play the game and hold their own in answering challenging questions.
Consider what Deb Svec from Palm Beach Gardens High School in Florida has to say about the incredible feeling she gets when the students clap when she enters the room. “They aren’t clapping for me, but, for the game experience they look so forward to having again and again. I am probably the most well known teacher on my campus with the student body. It feels wonderful to see how these students improve with these Cranium CoRE thinking skills over time and how the other teachers in my school are catching on to this great way to engage even the hardest to reach students. When they succeed, I know I have succeeded. On top of that, it is just plain fun.”