The KISS Principle

I know all about the KISS Principle. I know that it's best to keep things simple at first so that you can go deeper later on. I know that kids need time to play around with ideas long enough to figure things out on their own. I know all of this and yet... I forget or I plod ahead without thinking. So, yesterday and today I ran an experiment of sorts. I decided to go slow in math. I decided to talk through an activity carefully with the kids. I then asked them to repeat the instructions before I sent them off to work. I also started asking them a simple question: what materials are you going to need to do your work? What I'm finding out is that more children are being successful with their learning and are completing more of their work than before. It was a small change that has given huge results. Stay tuned. I plan to keep blogging about this in the future.