For a while now, I've been pushing myself to leave the center of the classroom. Our rooms are often set up facing the teacher, and that's sort of a practical necessity with large classes of 25 or more. That doesn't mean, though, that I need to be the center of all instruction.I've spent a long time fine-tuning my grammar instruction to make it clear and fun. I can explain all the main grammatical concepts and issues for each of the courses I teach, and I've made a great deal of effort to have a deep level of mastery so I can explain things in multiple ways and answer all kinds of questions.
This year, though, I've decided to teach some of the grammatical principles by having students research individual concepts and then teach them to the class. It was ridiculously fun. The kids really got into it, and it was a bit more fun than a typically structured lesson.
Here are some things I learned from the process: first, the more intrinsically motivated the students are, the less structure you need for the activity. Students who are already in the mindset of doing a good job will approach the activity flexibly and with good resilience. Students who are not in such a mindset will balk at problems and have trouble making progress. They will also fall off task, despite the presence of a large clock counting down their time.
Second, you need at least as deep a knowledge of the principles as you do if you're teaching them yourself. When students look things up and try to learn them, they sometimes find mediocre sources or misunderstand what they're working with, so you need to not only understand the concept the way you like to teach it, but you also have to be able to adapt to whatever mode of thinking your students have chosen. I'm not sure this style is practical for those who are not experienced and expert in a subject. If you only know your one way of explaining something, you can't be effective in answering questions, catching misunderstandings, and clarifying the topic.
Lastly, you still need to do followup work to check student understanding before moving on. It's a great way to cover topics, but students still need to use and demonstrate their knowledge. The presentation only asks the students to use and demonstrate knowledge of the one subject they researched. They still need an opportunity to employ the knowledge they gained more passively in an authentic context.
