Teacher teaches 1/3rd of the time and Students teach 2/3rds of the time - Listening and Comprehension Strategies

Mini Power Lessons have the teacher teaching for a short period of time (1/3rd) and then the students teach and reteach each other for 2/3rds of the time.  I teach, then with the timer running..... Student A teaches Student B what I just taught.. followed by Student B, again the timer is running, teaching Student A what was taught.

Students hear the information two times and teach it one time.  This is an excellent way for students to process information.  When checking for understanding while using this strategy, the teacher finds that student comprehension of the lesson is usually 100%.

To model this instructional strategy, I tell students about my life growing up on a farm in Minnesota.  The part of the story the students find most fascinating is that there was no running water on the farm, no bathroom, and no hot water.

When I tell them that all seven family members took a bath only once a week, and that we all bathed in the same water.... my mother first, then my sisters, then me, then my older brothers, and last my dad..... Neeless to say, by the time my dad took his bath, the water was pretty dirty!  The teachers in the workshop could not believe it! 

Here on the island, people take three baths per day!