Talk-Less Teaching Quotes

“Our profession is a blessed one because it affords the flexibility for everyone to do their job a little differently. There are not two of us who could deliver a lesson in an identical fashion because what we do is driven by our idiosyncratic differences as teachers and as people, such that it would be impossible to do so. As a result, a ‘recipe’ for improving lessons would be inherently obtrusive and perhaps condescending.”
― Isabella Wallace, Talk-Less Teaching: Practice, Participation and Progress

“Each learner should now have at least eight different ideas or pieces of information. Ask them to include all of these in the piece of work that follows this initial task.”
― Isabella Wallace, Talk-Less Teaching: Practice, Participation and Progress

“great professional judgement should tell us never, ever to interrupt learners who are busy making progress, simply to ‘prove’ the progress they are making!”
― Isabella Wallace, Talk-Less Teaching: Practice, Participation and Progress

“A great teacher assesses the impact of their teaching as they go along and adapts their teaching according to the information they glean. A great teacher is a readily flexible, ultra-adaptable ‘chameleon teacher’.”
― Isabella Wallace, Talk-Less Teaching: Practice, Participation and Progress

“Learners can achieve their absolute best in this way – if we expect it of them, believe in them and persevere.”
― Isabella Wallace, Talk-Less Teaching: Practice, Participation and Progress

“get us to do something that requires us to be active and mindful, and our attention is suddenly captured.”
― Isabella Wallace, Talk-Less Teaching: Practice, Participation and Progress

“Reduced teacher-talk is not desirable in essence. It is desirable to reduce teacher-talk when it is getting in the way of learners making the best progress that they can and when it is getting in the way of making learning meaningful, purposeful and, dare we say, even enjoyable at times.”
― Isabella Wallace, Talk-Less Teaching: Practice, Participation and Progress

“There is no one way to teach a lesson, no single style that beats all the other styles hands down. As long as our learners are making fabulous progress, then we should stick with what we’re doing”
― Isabella Wallace, Talk-Less Teaching: Practice, Participation and Progress