Bud theTeacher's Same Same (A Link)

Bud the Teacher, a blogger who I particularly admire, though I've never had any personal communication with him, writes:

It's hard to teach even twenty individuals at once with all of our competing motivations/concerns/frustrations/limitations. And I'm lucky -- most classrooms are far larger than mine. A simplistic response to that is to say that a teacher struggling to meet everyone's needs is possibly suffering from poor classroom management skills -- and that might be a piece of the mix -- but I submit that managing the needs of everyone in the room all at once is particularly difficult.

I've got to say that I'm in my 18th year of teaching and I think I've finally figured it out. I'm teaching a fifth grade class this year and my students are doing a lot of independent work. I'm able to move around the room meeting different students needs at different times. I've never felt as if my classes have had as much learning as they have now and I've also never felt as if I've done as little teaching, as opposed to coaching, as I'm doing now. I'd advise teachers who are struggling with classroom management to use more independent and group activities. It motivates and engages students.