This video of sixth grade students learning the order of operations really jumped out at me. For the most obvious reasons, the teacher has some really great and unique classroom management skills. This video was linked to a Power Teaching link at a College in California. While I am not familiar with this strategy, it is clear that the combination of gestures and peer teaching cultivate active student engagement. I think that this powerful combination had outstanding results in classroom management skills that appear to carry over into all curriculum within the classroom. While I think that all of these methods combined seem a bit much in one lesson, I feel that these are great methods in classroom management.It is clear that the teacher has established herself as an authoritarian figure as well as a classroom full of mutual respect and understanding. To have the students respond and actively engage not only to her, but to their peers as well would require an effective management strategy from day 1.

Not only are this teacher's strategies and methods within the classroom exceptionally effective; in this particular video we see this teacher playing the role of a facilitator of learning. This teacher is effectively guiding the students through their learning experiences and content, while maintaining a student-centered environment. The students are clearly engaged in the material and what they are learning, and the teacher can monitor this through their gestures. For example, when she noticed not everyone was on board with the learning (not following the gestures) she took a point from the class as a whole and requested everyone stay on track with their work. She facilitates some peer to peer interactions and teaching by having the students gesture and teach each other. Turn to partner and gesture_____, turn to your partner and tell them how excited you are about _____. The students are playing an active, front seat role in their learning. To further my understanding of the video and the full extent of the lesson, I would be curious to know/see what takes place after and outside of the video. Does this particular teacher incorporate gestures as seen in this video across all curriculum or is it only a situational strategy? I do believe, however, that her power teaching strategies helped her to be an efficient facilitator of learning in this video.