The documentary showed experiments conducted by Professor Dylan William in classrooms to identify ineffective teaching practices and provide recommendations. It highlighted how eliminating the "hands up" participation method excluded some students from participating. William suggested teachers randomly select students to answer questions. The documentary also showed exercises in the morning increased attendance and focus. It provided various techniques for teachers to receive feedback from students, including traffic light cups to indicate comprehension and students training to provide feedback to teachers. Overall, the documentary demonstrated the importance of teaching approaches that engage all students and address their individual needs.

1. Innovación Educativa
Profesor: Dagoberto Sandoval
Student: Silvia Buján Gómez
III CO 2014
Response #3
The Classroom Experiment
I found this documentary very interesting because it provided a lot of tools for new
teachers. By going through different experiments at the classroom, the professor Dylan
William showed us some common mistakes that teachers do, and therefore we should
avoid. The first of all was the elimination of the “hands up” participation because it proved
that the smarter and extrovert teens are the only ones who participate, while the ones who
don’t understand are the ones who never raise their hands. William suggests that teachers
should select students to answer a question randomly; students will get frustrated at the
beginning, but they would get use to this dynamic. Then, William recommended exercising
early in the morning so students can feel more awake and prepare to participate later at
class. Along the weeks, attendance increased due to this exercises. It makes sense because
our brain releases healthy chemicals when we exercise.
Then, William continues sharing recommendations to apply at our own lessons. For
example, the “all student response system” in which students’ have their own whiteboard to
write down their answers, so no child is being left behind. Traffic lights were not only
interesting, but also fun. Although, I personally believe that this could work better with
younger students. In the movie, every student has green, yellow and red cups which

2. indicated whether the student wants the teacher to slow down or even to stop. This system
ended up being useful for the teacher to be found out if students understood the new
contents or not. I found this activity very important because students felt more comfortable
knowing that they have the chance to share how they feel, and this opportunity was
provided by their own teacher who gave them the cups to take control of the class.
Also, other interesting feature of the video was that some students were trained to provide
effective feedback to teachers, and their observations were very meaningful for these
students because they were able to communicate to the teacher how they feel.
Another of William’s recommendation is to give feedback instead of grades. The problem
is that because of the “system” we are use to be evaluated depending on grades, so it might
take a while to understand a new evaluation approach. In the documentary, students with
lower performance were the ones who get benefit of it because they felt more engaged and
comfortable with reading comments to improve rather than with a bad grade.
William also showed us the importance of parents getting involved in their children
education. Students were able to feel the support of their families, and this emotional factor
made them also feel more committed.
Finally, the secret student activity showed us that each student should be responsible for
their own behavior. A random student was selected to watch behavior, so everyone felt a
sort of peer pressure. A getting points system was applied as positive reinforcement in
order to keep students engage, and to take care of each other’s behavior. Sounds
complicated, but it works.
All the above strategies were exposed to showed us that approaches and technologies being
use at class should depend on each student’s needs. So as teachers we must be prepare to
accept the challenge.