The beauty of these mini-lectures is we are delivering "just in time" instruction when the students are ready for learning.

As we roam around the class, we notice the students developing their own collaborative groups.  Students are helping each other learn instead of relying on the teacher as the sole disseminator of knowledge.

We think the key is for students to identify learning as their goal, instead of striving for the completion of assignments.  We have purposely tried to make our classes places where students carry out meaningful activities instead of completing busy work.

Our goal is for them to be the best learner possible, and to truly understand the content in our classes.  When our students grasp the concept that we are on their side, they respond by doing their best.

We both remember sitting in parent conferences for years and parents would often ask us how their son or daughter behaved in class.

You see, the question is a non-issue in our classroom.  Since students are coming with the primary focus on learning, the real question is now:  Is your student learning or not?  If they are not learning, what can we do to help them learn?  This is a much more profound question and when we can discuss this with parents, we can really move students into a place which will help them become better learners.