Five Minutes to Inspire a Student

Mark Barnes, author of The 5-Minute Teacher (ASCD), tells us that we only have a few minutes to capture our students’ attention and motivate them to want to learn more about what we are teaching. His book, 48 pages long, seems to follow this guideline for us, as well. Sure, the book will take more than five minutes to read, but it is a quick read that’s filled with ideas that will work in your classroom. Even highly motivated students who have the interest and determination to listen to a longer lecture will profit from short instructional sessions. Teaching in small increments is what Barnes recommends—inspire our students and then set them off to learning on their own.  With integration of technologies into classroom, teachers are putting those precious five-minute sessions to work, and then giving their   students the tools for finding the information they need to move themselves forward. If you’d like to try this idea, look for 5-minute teacher resources and Web pages online.