I Do It, You Do It, We Do It

At ASCD's Fall Conference, ASCD author Doug Fisher is discussing what methods work in the classroom during his session, "Better Learning Through Structured Teaching." Fisher says the balance between teacher responsibility and student responsibility in the classroom is key to student success. By setting up a structure in the classroom, educators can reach students and ensure that they are actually learning, instead of hearing and seeing the lesson but not having it register.

Fisher says there are four structures, two focused on educators and two focused on students, that must be balanced out in the classroom:

Educators

• Focus lesson ("I do it")
• Guided learning ("We do it")  

Students

•  Collaborative learning ("You do it together")
•  Independent Learning ("You do it alone")

In order for students to learn properly, all of these structures must be balanced with teachers and students interacting with each other and students learning to to solve problems on their own.