EP287 Bell-to-bell instruction is NOT best practice. Here's the research.

Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers

Angela Watson

Teachers, Courses, Education, Teaching

4.9 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 1 October 2023

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The expectation that students be fully engaged in learning tasks from the first minute of the class period until the last is known as “bell-to-bell instruction.”

It’s a widely-accepted practice in education, but does neuroscience actually support it?

Bell-to-bell instruction works from the premise that our class time with students is precious and limited, and therefore needs to be maximized. I think we can all agree on that: wasting students’ time and dragging out transitions isn’t beneficial.

But let’s dig deeper into what it means to “make the most of every moment” with students. What if the best way to maximize our instructional time is by NOT attempting to pack every single moment with more work?

The value of offering breaks and downtime to students is self-evident to most educators, and yet many schools and districts don’t permit it.

So, I’ve curated the brain research showing that breaks are absolutely essential for maximal learning and productivity.

I’ll share 6 big takeaways from the research around how the brain learns, and 6 practical ways to incorporate that research into your classroom. My hope is that this podcast/article can be shared to open up conversations about how our schools can better meet the needs of students.

Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion or, join our podcast Facebook group here to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to episode 287 of Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers. I'm your host, Angela Watson,
0:09.4	and I'm here to speak encouragement into the hearts of educators and get you informed
0:14.4	and energized for the weekend. Today, I'm examining the research about bell-to-bell teaching
0:20.7	and proposing a better way that's actually backed by neuroscience. Visit truthforteachers.com
0:26.8	for and easy to read, easy to share version of this podcast episode.
0:33.1	If you have a side hustle as a tutor, coach, or any other business that requires clients who
0:38.4	need to book appointments and pay for services, check out practice.do. Practice.do is the simplest
0:45.7	platform I found for streamlining everything from scheduling, reminder messages, invoicing,
0:51.3	and record keeping. It's perfect for teachers who tutor and want to keep all communication
0:56.1	and payments in one easy professional looking tool for themselves and for clients.
1:01.9	Any truth for teachers listeners can try practice free for seven days and get 50% off their
1:07.6	first three months using the code teachers. Learn more at practice.do. Did you hear that I've
1:16.0	started a new podcast? It's called the Truth for Teachers Daily Encouragement Podcast with new
1:21.9	episodes dropping each day from Monday to Friday. Every episode is just three to five minutes long,
1:28.2	so it's perfect to listen when you first wake up to start your day on a positive note during
1:33.8	your commute to ease into school mode, on your break to re-energize yourself for the afternoon,
1:39.2	or after dismissal to ground, calm, and recenter when the day is done.
1:44.2	The Truth For Teachers Daily Encouragement Podcast is ad-free and exclusive to subscribers for
1:49.7	$3.99 a month. Click the link in the show notes to learn more.
1:56.2	I recently had a great discussion with some educators about bell-to-bell instruction.
2:02.4	This refers to the expectation that students be fully engaged in learning tasks from the first
2:08.1	minute of class and to the last. Now the conversation that we had took place during the live chat
	...

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