> But for ordinary kids (the vast majority), the teacher just walks through the textbook for the class IMO: This is a terrible way to teach. Even for very hi

> But for ordinary kids (the vast majority), the teacher just walks through the textbook for the class IMO: This is a terrible way to teach. Even for very highly curriculum-driven classes like the microeconomics class I'm teaching. My block periods are 1 hour 16 minutes. This is a long, long time to be giving dry lecture or popcorn-reading a textbook. Bell-ringer activities and exit tickets. Gimkit to break up long lectures and get an instant reading of mastery. Appropriate strategies towards looping and unit construction. Pacing, formative vs. summative assessments. Just how to effectively create discussions is tricky. Everyone looked a bit zoned out when we're talking about consumer surplus. "EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU HAS EXPERIENCED CONSUMER SURPLUS." Huh? "EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU HAS EXPERIENCED CONSUMER SURPLUS. Tell me when!" a few seconds of silence... eventually "Uhm.. there was a thing of candy and it had 4 pieces, and said 25 cents on it. I thought it was 25 cents apiece and I brought a dollar to the counter, but I got 75 cents back..." "Boom! That's 75 cents of consumer surplus!" Cue everyone sharing their concept of it and internalizing it when I had been losing the whole class. I didn't have training. But I did have a year where I didn't have many classes to teach and I had a very masterful teacher on the other side of the wall and I could listen to him and learn some of what he did. And I've read a whole lot about pedagogy and research from the National Training Laboratories about what are best practices. > My history teacher would show Mr Magoo movies. lol. I'm about to show a 2 minute clip from a cartoon where a shopkeeper says that it's Christmas Eve and that they're going to "jack the prices to the moon" because the customer has no other choice to illustrate elasticity of supply and demand. > He taught me how to use machine tools and not cut my fingers off I teach robotics, and that means teaching the use of machine tools to middle school and high school students that have no common sense. It is stressful. I agree no one trains you for that :D