Give Them a Taste!

Today I decided to let some of my kids take turns being the teacher.

I don't just mean to let them teach a class/chapter, I mean to let them take responsibility for classroom procedures such as getting their classmates to pack up, line up, and go home!

Yes, many times, teachers get bogged down by simple classroom procedures.
What seems like it should take a minute to accomplish, in the awful reality of the true-to-life classroom can take up to 15 minutes longer than expected. (Thus diminishing precious teaching time!)
This is REALLY something unis/colleges should include when they teach teachers to teach! -->READ: Bridging the gap between pedagogy and theory.

Instead of just designating a job to a student, I went a step further and "stepped down" from my own position of "power" by saying that this student was now the acting teacher and was in charge.

One would expect that the class would take a turn for the chaotic... after all, classroom management is not something we teach kids!

However, to my surprise (perhaps it is the groundwork of empathy I've been working hard on instilling in them), the students were pretty cooperative with their Student-Teacher!
Maybe having a Student-Teacher seemed like some-sort of game to them too... hence the element of "fun" was added to a normal everyday situation.

And we all know that having fun is a great motivator for anyone!