Teachers of Significance

Lesson Hooks-- Cultivating an intention-rich classroom. Cognitive scientists point out the massively effective habit of recruiting and maintaining focus in the learning process.  For learners--be they adults, children, or teens in between--the challenges of staying focused in our "intention - deficit" society can create real challenges to meaning making.  In schools, we throw unending stimuli, ideas, facts, and figures at our students and wonder why they have trouble retaining.  The point of starting a lesson in an interesting, purposeful way is to set the course of intention forward. One potential issue arises from the importance of setting the stage for students to become vested in what they are learning .  Why are they being asked to learn a given topic?  Why is it significant or important?  Of course, drawing on their prior learning through discussion can create important bridges of learning as students connect old understandings and new content and concepts.