Students as teachers

Today as we were starting math and my math students were coming in one sat on my chair and asked if he could be me today. He was joking, but when I said, "sure" I was serious. I've done this with students before and they usually have a blast getting to be the teacher, and it is often more meaningful for them and the class. This gentleman is so charismatic and not only did he do a phenomenal job, but he was a riot!

He was a fantastic teacher. He had appropriate wait time, he took his time calling on students, had words of encouragement, checked for understanding, took care of behavior problems. It was fun to watch him take over with little assistance from me, for about 20 minutes. I think he captured their attention far better than when I am in front of them!

Particularly wonderful things he said...

"Class, do you agree or disagree?" (Looking around at the students for a thumbs up or down, waiting until he had a response from everyone)

"Who can help _____ out?"

"I think I'm going to call on _____, you have been raising your hand patiently."

A student said to him, "I don't understand" and his response was, "tell me what you don't understand," and then they worked through the question.

"Class, let's all clap for _____, he/she did a great job on that problem." (Class claps)

I also got to be a student. I raised my hand, was called on, and purposely wrote the wrong answer on the whiteboard. The kids (and student teacher) loved that I was wrong and enjoyed correcting my mistakes.