Teacher tips : a collection of ideas, plans and strategies for new teachers by new teachers

              PreK- K
Dianna Sneed
One site I have found is www. thevirtualvine. com. This site has a unit on themes that is organized alphabetically. It has everything from room organization with pictures to lesson plans. For example, the site has 28 lesson plans on The Kissing Hand.
One time saver I have is my hoppy helpers chart and the way I do this each and every day. I have a list of my class under each heading ( helper) and the children can see when their turn is coming up to be a helper. This has worked out wonderfully because the children are not asking me " When do I get to be door holder?" Another time saver is that I have a folder system that I put each days work in and the folder is ready to go each day. Monday folder will have their math papers or lesson in and their writing activity along with any other work I will have them do for that day. Then on Tuesday I will just pull that folder and it’s ready. I do this on Friday before the next week. I got that from my mentor during student internship.
Angel Owens
I also use folders for each day-- listed Monday- Friday.
I student taught in a 3rd grade last year that was departmentalized, so I had to keep track of two different homerooms' work. If one homeroom wasn't quite on the same work as the other, then my folders helped me stay organized.
I also reorganized on Fridays to get ready for the next week.
Cassie Proffitt
One website that has really helped me a lot this year is www. hubbardscupboard. org. This is a wonderful website just for pre- k and kindergarten teachers! It contains a years worth of thematic units and ideas, information about assessments, learning center activities, ideas for literacy and math, sample daily schedules, pictures of various classroom setups, etc. One thing I love about it is all of the pictures it contains of the activities and lessons it mentions. Sometimes, it is easier to look at an idea than it is to read about it and try to figure out what it is supposed to look like. I have stolen so many ideas from this website it is unbelievable. The site also contains great parent information as well as printable activities. I definitely have it on my favorites list and use it almost daily! You should check it out!
Maggie Butler
Cool internet sites that I visited:
http:// www. internet4classrooms. com/ month2month. htm cool math web site
http:// maggieskindercorner. com/ index. htm Neat Kindergarten web site
http:// myschoolonline. com/ page/ 0,1871,24742- 146190- 27- 3411,00. html comments for a report card
http:// teachers. eusd. k12. ca. us/ bbuchel/ great site
http:// www. geocities. com/ mitchell123abc/ index. html NC teacher website
http:// www. calicocookie. com/ cool Kindergarten site
http:// www. kinderteacher. com great site with good teacher resources by month
http:// www. littlegiraffes. com/
http:// www. tlcart. com/ Cool Art site to order art book
http:// www. kinderkorner. com/ a place to buy theme related stuff
http:// mrspohlmeyerskinderpage. com/ Kindergarten teacher page
http:// www. hubbardscupboard. org/ index. html cool site good brown bear, brown bear lesson
http:// www. oswego. org/ staff/ lvandurm/ web/ kindergarten site quilts
http:// www. kindergartenconsultant. com/ index2. asp
http:// www. lindaslearninglinks. com cool kindergarten sight Discovery bottles:
http:// www. mrspohlmeyerskinderpage. com/ discoverybottles. htm
http:// www. teachers. net/ lessons/ posts/ 2844. html
Hand print ideas:
http:// www. hubbardscupboard. org/ hand_ prints. html
A list of children’s’ authors with links to there web sites:
http:// www. lindaslearninglinks. com/ authorsontheweb. html
a web page that has free gifs:
http:// d21c. com/ AnnesPlace/ Index. html
Gina Penland
I have started using a poster that says Tell it to the ear and it has a picture of an ear. When a child comes to me to tattle as they do often each day, I tell them to go tell it to the ear. They are smart enough to know that talking to a paper ear is not cool and they go on their merry way without argument. This helps stop wasting our precious valuable time throughout the day and much more learning is accomplished.
Dianna Sneed
I too have had a problem with tattling this year. I have asked my student to go to the writing table and write the tattle down - both students. They really don't like doing this. It only takes about twice of this happening and they caught themselves about to tattle and stop mid sentence. I just about busted out laughing the first time this happened. It really works. I also love the idea about the ear, this works in Gina's class so well and the students get to stay up with what is going on in class at the time. If they have to go to the writing table to write they miss out on what the lesson being taught is, but they get some writing practice in.
Samantha Thorton
A great time saver for me has been having the kids help me with little things. In the beginning it was hard to trust them to do these things, but once I got over that, it cuts so many of the little things out that I have to do. They are great helpers and they love helping!
Samantha Thorton
One small thing I have had trouble with in the past was that I was losing my original copies and giving them to the kids, so I have found that just by writing on the top of the paper with a yellow highlighter I can show myself that its my original and plus it doesn’t show up on the copier!
Gina Penland
I have found this to be a problem also. I love your idea. I have a basket in my room that my assistant puts the original ones in after she runs them. This helps us keep up with them until I can file them away again.
Dianna Sneed
I too have had this problem. I do remember my mentor during my internship using the highlighter to mark her originals. I during my first year have just places all my papers- originals in one paper bin and at the end of the six weeks I place them back where they belong. This way if I have a question about what I have used or given my students, I have it on hand because they are all in the same place.
Penny Reynolds
The book, Tribes, has great activities that help build community in a classroom. The activities are quick and only take a short amount of time. They are fun and could be used through out the day as transition activities or part of the daily routine.
Grades 1- 2
Karen Taylor
Here is a website that is so cool and kid friendly - Whitehousehistory. org and then go to classroom and you can take your kids on a virtual tour of the White House.
April McNabb
One thing that has worked well in my class is a Home Reading record. I send a sheet home with a leveled book. Each night parents make a comment on the book. I have some parents write and tell me their child needs to keep the book another night, this book is too easy, hard, or just right. This is a great way to communicate with parents about their child reading and reading level. I'm not saying that every parent fills this out continuously every night but most of my parents do. I wish all of my parents would see how important it is to do whatever they need for their child to succeed. I got this from another first grade teacher and I love it.
Angie White
We have agenda books at SME and we write the reading assignment in the agenda daily and the parents are suppose to sign the agenda nightly so that we as teachers can see that they have checked it. It's a great way to send notes back and forth to parents and to let them know about any behavior issues.
Sara McClure
My school purchases " student planners." I really like these because the students know for the week what is expected for them. I give them 10 minutes on Monday mornings to fill out what is for homework for the rest of the week. They also right down their spelling words on one of the pages for the week. It has a place where parents sign that the homework was done. It is also a wonderful way of communication between parents and the teacher. This planner is a great way for the student to remain prepared if they are absent; they still know what homework is expected when they return. While these are probably expensive, it teaches the students responsibility and a skill that they will use for the rest of their life.
Angie White
I teach a 1/ 2 combination class. So I have a daily work folder for each of my students. They have morning work in their folders when they arrive to school. I usually meet with my first graders first and go over new concepts, review concepts and go over everything that is in their folders. While that is happening the second graders are working on their morning work. They are to do the work that they know and to skip and bring any questions to group. I then meet with my second graders after the first graders and we discuss new concepts, review concepts and go over all of their morning work. This also gives them an opportunity to make any changes when they return to their desks. It sounds complicated, but I've found that it works really well with my students.
Tiffany Berg
I also send home reading every night for homework with a Reading Log. The child is to read their book to their parents and then the parents sign it. I believe the reading log not only keeps the parents accountable for their child's homework, but it also is a big encouragement to the students. They love to look through their log and count how many books they have read. It also helps me keep a record of their improvement.
Amber Tippett
Each child in my classroom is assigned a number at the beginning of the year. This has helped tremendously with organization during the year. I only have sixteen students, so compared to some teachers I don't have near as much to organize. However, the students have opportunities to practice lining up in number order, filing their papers in number order, etc. I also have a neat game I play with the kids using their odd and even numbers that they enjoy. I want everyone to realize, however, that I use this as an organizational tool and NOT as a replacement for the students’ names or anything like that.
Ashley Montgomery
I also use numbers in my classroom. It makes it so much easier to organize your classroom. You can more easily call out a number than a name and the students seem to enjoy their numbers. We also do even and odds and we pick groups I use numbers.
Sara McClure
I LOVE the idea of assigning each student a number. I did this last year with my CT and carried it over this year for my classroom. Actually it was and idea that I stole from my mom ( a 33 year 3rd grade teacher). She numbered everything. School issued books ( textbooks), hooks for book bags/ coats, cubbies, mailboxes . . . everything. This works so well because at the end of the year when things are being stacked for inventory, you can look right on the spine of the book and see whose is missing. Also if there is a book left out, it is a quick way to get it put away.
Tammy Lambrix
We do daily oral writing! My class started out writing so neat and nice! I was amazed at how nice their writing was! I told them to stop from writing the sentence twice to writing it only once! The other day
I was looking through and thought wow my student's are really starting to slack on their writing! I told them that they are to begin writing the sentence twice again! Well it did not work the way I wanted it to work. So I got a totally different treat that they can only get if there are no mistakes on their writing. I have seen such great improvements from most of my children! They think that it is special to be able to have a special or better treat than what is in the candy basket! I am happy to see that such a little thing worked so well!
Angie White
When my students write sloppy in their DOL, they get it back and have to rewrite it. They are responsible for doing it before lunch time. I also give them alphabet sheets when their writing slacks badly. It gives them time to practice. Usually one time of rewriting or asking them if they need a handwriting sheet, they work harder on their writing.
Linda Mashburn
My class is usually pretty good about their handwriting, but on the days they are not I hesitate to give them more to do because more usually means that they will slow down and drag the morning out. The ones that are my problems are the ones that already have problems.
Molly Shaw
As positive reinforcement, our classroom has a popcorn jar ( a one gallon glass jug and lots of packing peanuts). When I, or anyone else in the school, compliment the class for good behavior they get ' a handful of popcorn' ( a handful of packing peanuts put into the jar). Let me tell you, they are fast to let me know of any compliments they get!!! Whether it be walking in line through the hall, at the gym for PE, sitting at the lunch tables, etc. etc...) It's a cool thing to hear them say, " Ms. Shaw, Ms. Shaw... We got a compliment!" When the jar becomes full, the students vote on what they would like their reward to be. As a group, we first brainstorm the options or possibilities and record them on the blackboard. Once the options are narrowed down to around 3, I write them on the board and each child's name is pulled out of the ' clothes pin name tin' and they come up to the board to vote, one by one, making a tally mark on the blackboard under their choice. ( This is a great hands- on math lesson! In so many ways; including, voting with tally marks-- Equal not equal, Who has the Greater number of votes, Who has the Least? OR Is the jar more or less than half full?, Estimation, etc. ) I love this form of reinforcement, the kids really get into it and have claimed ownership of their positive behavior as a ' TEAM'---" We are good stuff!" Plus, as a bonus, I get to teach all kinds of hands on math with it!
Vicki Parker
We have a marble jar in our room. I put marbles in when I see children doing things as they should be done - my assistant made the comment that I was rewarding them for things that they should do as a matter of course - but they do so much better when a marble is on the line! The children have all written a paragraph about what they think their reward should be - which was very interesting! I liked the voting method you described, Molly! I knew you would be a creative teacher! Vicki
Linda Mashburn
In our room I put stars on the board for extra special behaviors in the hall, lunchroom, or for good class behaviors. Our goal is fifty. When we reach fifty we have a special party. This time they have decided ice cream will be the treat. We are at 38 stars, maybe it won't be long.
Gretchen Hooks
I know what I am about to say sounds a little mean. I have had a hard time with my students touching each other as in not keeping their hands to themselves. Well enough is enough sometimes. I go so mad at my class one day that I told them the next two people that touch each other will have to hold hands all day long. Well sure enough two of my students tested me. Well they ended up holding hands all day long. Needless to say I haven't had a problem with my students touching each other. I made examples out of two students and that is all that it took. But as a teacher make sure to follow through with what you say you are going to do. Many students can figure out how to " play their teachers" in a heart beat.
Ashley Montgomery
I have a helpful hint that is really simple to do. At the beginning of each year, I make a folder for each child in my classroom. I put them in a plastic holder in alphabetical order. It makes getting graded work together so easy. After the papers are filed, all you have to do is staple them and put the child puts them in the folder. It makes the afternoons go much quicker.
Tiffany Berg
I do the same thing as Ashley with the children's folders. The folders are the same folders I send their work home in at the end of the week. I also put a place for the parents to sign when they have seen their child's work. This keeps the parents accountable and it's a good way to keep a record of who looks at their child's work.
Karen Taylor
Great idea! I did kind of the same thing but made pockets out of fabric. The first day of school the kids decorated their name tags to put on their pockets. Every afternoon they check their pockets and take their completed work home. This really does save a lot of time and they feel like they have their own little space.
Sara McClure
I borrowed the following idea from a team member: THE TATTLE BOX. I have so many kids that want to tell on each other every time they breathe - it seems. I made a tattle box out of an empty tissue box and put some slips of paper beside it. They are not allowed to come and tattle unless it is an emergency = someone is near death! At the end of the day I read the tattles and the ones that are relevant, I address and the others find their way into the trash. Most of the time they just have to say what they are frustrated about. Once they write it down it is over.
Molly Shaw
In other discussions, I have heard voices stressing a concern over loosing valuable teaching time to ' outings' that are out of our control. I try to salvage some of the time I lose in the scenarios ( on the bus ride) with independent reading. I pack up a bag with a wide rage of ' just right' books and pass them out to the kids to read while we are riding into town. When they finish and want a different book, they trade them out with me or each other. Flash cards and the change purse idea ( below) work pretty well, too.
I think it was one of Karen Taylor's ideas I modified on teaching/ practicing counting money... I carry a little Scooby Doo change purse around with me and have the children count money to me or each other during ' standing around/ down time'. For example, after school waiting for busses, waiting to get into the gym, after the kids finish their lunch, etc.
Grades 3- 5
Jessica McConnell
One thing I have been doing with some students is having a check list on their desk. When I walk by them I either have them check on task or off task. This is a very visual reminder for them to stay on task. Switching from third with a full time assistant to fourth where there is no assistant has been really hard on them. They have more responsibility. I don’t collect work every morning they are simply expected to turn it in.
Lots of students were having trouble completing their work, and this check list has really helped them. They know that when I come by they are going to have to make a mark, and they are rewarded if their card is full of on task, and has no off task checks. This was recommended by the EC teacher at my school, and I really like it.
April Mayes
Our 4th and 7th grade county teachers attended Thinking Maps training. I have found the tree map EXTREMELY useful in teaching writing. I wish I had used this all year. I also use the other thinking maps across the curriculum ( we have used the bubble map and double bubble map in science).
Allison Brown
I have been using a great system to help students keep track of their missing assignments. I have posted a desk calendar on the wall in my classroom and every assignment that I give is posted on this calendar, so when students receive their weekly grades and see missing work they may refer back to the calendar to find the missing assignment, when it was due, page numbers, etc. This has been a time saver for me really because the children can keep up with their own assignments rather than me having to keep up with them for them.
Sheba Brown
I have a folder in my room that I put all make- up work in. When a student is out, they know to go to the folder and get out the missing assignments. It works really well, too. They know it is due the day after they get back.
No excuses.
Von Loudermilk
This may or may not help on your storage problem. I have a small bookshelf.
This is where I store my reading books, Social Studies, Science and Math books. All the books are numbered, each child has a number. Each week two students are appointed to pass- out the books. They both pull the books and pass them out. At first they called out the numbers and the students would come and get their book. It didn't take long before each of the students knew every other students numbers. The routine is quick and quiet now. Also, I saw a neat trick in another teachers' classroom. She measured her chairs and designed a basic slip cover with an open back. The back pocket held two larger books and the sides had smaller pockets which held pencils, index cards, markers, etc. Maybe this will give you some ideas for space savers. Good Luck!
Sara Glotzbach
I also have a numbering system. Everything that the children use is numbered 1- 15 for my students. Each child is assigned to a number and that is assigned to them the first day of school. We line up in number order, which is rotated each week, so everyone gets a chance to be a leader. This has really helped things out because there is no more fussing about line order, it is already set. This is also great because next year I can reuse most items because they are numbered and not named to someone else. New batch of kids same numbers.
April Mayes
I had that same issue with the cubbies so I had them keep their bookbags on the back of their chairs and they only keep text books in the cubbies ( since that is all they hold).
Trudi Brooks Gunter
My students know all their assignments, for the week, on Monday. I have a weekly contract that I give my students that tells them exactly what their work is going to be for the week. I spend time teaching to the students and then I give the rest of the time to do the assignments on the contract. It works well for the majority of my class. There will always be some student that does not finish but most of the time it is because they did not use the time I gave them to finish their work. They thought it would be better to just talk and hang out instead of doing their work. My contract is color coded and is separated by subject. The students only mark off the assignment if they have turned it in. It helps my students learn responsibility as well as keeps me organized through the week.
Jessica McConnell
One really helpful tip I have is about posting homework. Parents are always coming to me saying they don't know what their child has for homework. Since I cannot go to each child's desk and write in their planners- I post my homework on the internet every night.
It only takes a few minutes, and parents love it! They know what their child has done during the day, and can ask them about it. Taking a few minutes to do this every afternoon really helps me in the long run.
My web address is http:// www. geocities. com/ mcsjessicamcconnell/
Amanda Sugar
One thing that I think is really helpful is making a newsletter every week. It allows you to write to the parents and let them know what will be coming up throughout the week. I also write what we hope to cover that week, so the parents can help reinforce those topics at home. I did this religiously in my second grade classroom and the parents loved it. I have to get better at doing it this year, it has just been really difficult with being a new teacher in the district and in state, and have had so much on my plate. Try it; let me know what you think.
I also have another idea that has worked really well with my fifth graders. I got this idea from my mentor who teaches kindergarten and I didn't think it would work well with 10 and 11 year olds, but it does. Every week, I pick out one or two students who have been on task all week, or who did really well in my class, and I give them an award. If a student does really well on a test ( 100%) they also get a homework pass, and the students just love that. It also makes a great way to communicate with parents on a positive note and not a negative one.
Sheba Brown I love the newsletter idea! I do it too, as well as some other 3rd grade teachers I teach with. Parents do love it! I include pictures that I have taken, upcoming birthdays, what we just finished covering, what we are about to cover, and the awards for the 6 weeks. I put it in the report card so that the parents definitely get it. I also have a web page that has a lot of the same info. If you ever get the chance, build a web page. It allows for parents to keep up with what is going on. Our county had a web page design class and I went to it, it was great!
Regina Gentry
Something that really works well for me is using a timer for transitions. My students know that they have 30 seconds to transition from one subject to another. I set the timer and this helps us move on quickly. In the first few days of school, I noticed that we were losing precious time when they took too longer than necessary. Also, since they only have 30 seconds to transition, there's not much time for unnecessary talking or misbehavior.
Regina Gentry
I use Easy Grade Pro to record my students' grades. It is a wonderful time- saver and tool for documentation. Every Friday, I print a Progress Report which lists every assignment with the date and grade earned. It also provides a current average for each subject and even breaks down what percentage is tests, homework, or classwork. I can also include any comments or concerns with each assignment. By keeping parents informed weekly of their children's grades, teachers can head a lot of problems " off at the pass". The weekly report allows parents to be informed throughout the six weeks and gives them the opportunity to praise their children or encourage them to do better. Too, when it's time for report cards, you can print every student's averages with just a few key strokes. I love it!
Allison Brown
We have been offered library two times a week this year and I have started going with my children one of these times and working with students who have fallen behind or need extra help. It offers some one on one and the other children continue with working on what they need to in library. It is so hard to find time during the day with all the other stuff this provides a little time to remediate.
Allison Brown
I have a student in my class who is hearing impaired and doesn't always here everything that I assign. To help alleviate this problem I have posted an extra calendar in my classroom that I use only to record assignments. I put daily work, classwork, and homework on this calendar as well as important dates for instance when important assignments or projects are due this helps not only my hearing impaired child but all the children. For instance, if a child is missing work they go to the assignment board instead of coming to me!
Grades 6- 8
Victoria Marraffa
Transparency tip - if you use transparencies on a regular basis. A good way to clean them is run water over them and then put them in a drying rack ( one of those metal racks that hold file folders) If you do that at the end of the day they will be dry by the next morning. Saves on paper towels and time just rinse and put on the rack or have a student do it!!!
Greg Clark
On the first day of school I introduced, ( The Sentence.) Since then, we have covered all 8 major parts of speech and many sub- groups of those parts of speech. Each week we built upon what we learned the week before. About two months into the school year I introduced our first grammar game. The kids loved it. Since then, I have come up with several variations of grammar games. Sometimes the students are the parts of speech themselves. I'll write a sentence on the board. The students will each be given a card with a specific part of speech on it. They will then have to create the sentence by standing in the proper order. They are timed in doing this. The students love it. The majority of my students have really learned so much by way of these games. They ask me every day when they can play the grammar game again. This is one method of teaching that has really worked for me.
Gianna Carson
Here is something a friend that teaches in Asheville shared with me. It has to do with your chalkboard, which I know may not be a big deal, but if you are like I am, then some days every little thing that works right is very important.
If you put a Kleenex with lotion around the bottom of your eraser when you erase your board, it keeps the chalk dust down and it erases cleaner so you don't have to use water and a sponge to clean your board.
Tim Kurr
One thing that has worked very well for me is a Review Basketball game that we play at the end of each unit. My units are typically 2 weeks long and the kids get very excited about the game. They have fun, and I think sometimes, don't realize they're going back over material that was covered 2 weeks ago. I find that many students don't retain information for a long period of time, which I'm trying to confront ( I'm wondering why teach material if they aren't going to actually learn it for their lives).
Other things that have worked well - Rick Smith's procedures: " R" sign for students to go to the restroom ( Gianna is also using this) and we also acted out procedures at the beginning of the year.
Grades 9- 12
David Peterson
I am an avid user of power point. This is helpful to me because I have the main points as the slide title and bullet points plus a graphic or photo added. Once I see the slide it reminds me to bring up certain points. I generally use 10- 15 slides per lesson. And once I make the presentation, I save it to use next time. This saves me time and help keeps me focused when I lecture. I also keep the lights low and this seems to keep the noise down.
Ginger England
Ditto to David's comment. I like to use PowerPoint, too. I agree that it helps to ensure that all talking points are covered.
Below are some things that I like to do, because I don't like to feel that I am swimming in a sea of paper.
I like to have everything on my computer - all worksheets, etc. They are all stored in a directory structure that corresponds to the blueprint for the course. Inside the lower level files ( competencies), I keep worksheets, PowerPoints, etc. that relate to that competency.
I have Microsoft Project on my personal lap top and I use that to create my pacing guide. That way when I change a day ( input a snow day, for example) or move a task around, my dates are automatically adjusted.
I use a spread sheet for my grades. Then, I can easily show a student if they make a certain grade on an assignment, how much that will impact their overall grade. I will continue to input formulas as needed. For example, I use a function to calculate absences ( count A's) automatically so it is very easy for me to track absences. Much will go away with NCWise, but all these help in the interim.
Kattia Higdon
I agree power point is very helpful don't know if someone else teaches Spanish besides me, but one of my students found a web site with a lot of power point, it has games like " Who wants to be a millionaire", Jeopardy, and you can use it over and over: tpduggan. tripod. com/ powerp. html.
Danette Webb
In my Technical Math class my biggest challenge is to captivate the students. I have 6 seniors with " senioritis". To review scientific notation and conversion factors, I let each student choose a planet. The student had to find the surface temperature of their planet, distance from the sun, diameter of the planet, length of the planet's day, length of the planets year, color of the planet and origin of its name. This exercise combined reading and computer skills with math applications. One student made a table of this information on posterboard. Next, each student calculated the surface temperature of each planet in degrees Fahrenheit and Kelvin. Each student converted distances from km to miles and AU. The students then wrote the distance from the sun in scientific notation. This exercise was different but effective. Then we lined up in order of the planets and ran around our sun!
Jason Bradley
Power point is one of my favorite ways to teach, especially history. I too, have found that if you lower the lights it does control the volume of the class, which is beneficial to the learning environment. One thing you might want to use is this. So the slides do not become repetitive, I use animations to spice up slides, bring humor to history, and use it to relax the students and ease the tension of " taking notes".
Ben Vanhook
To keep track of all my grades and all of my absences I have made an individual notebook for each class. On one side I keep the grades putting all homework grades in pencil, quiz grades in blue ink, and test grades in red ink. This allows me to quickly glance at a child’s column and see where they are lacking or missing grades. Along with this I also use the integrade pro system on my computer to average my grades for each class.
With the color coding already installed in my notebook I'm able to easily check and see that I have weighted each grade correctly. It’s simple but very effective when keeping up with grades.
Jodie Mathews
I don't like having to keep up with a grade book. I have a notebook strictly for absences and punishments. I have one sheet for absences and one for anytime someone makes a mistake and gets into trouble. I keep tallies for each time I have to call someone down, and every time I do after the warning, that constitutes a detention. I have spoken with some veteran teachers and I am going to assign only morning detention instead of afternoon because what student in their right mind wants to get up early to come serve detention?? I don't know how effective this will be but I am going to try it this six weeks.
Sounds good!
Stephanie Hennessee
I like to use PowerPoint whenever possible in my classroom. Like so many others have mentioned, technology is not readily available to most teachers. I have to borrow all equipment that use whenever I do get a chance to use the PowerPoint. I like to have my students do PowerPoint presentation when feasible because their senior projects require PowerPoint and the more practice they get now - then the easier it will be for them later on.
Ginger England I decided to post another tip. Something I have been doing lately is trying to find current events in the news that relate to my classes and then search for news videos to kick off class. Most of the news clips are around 3- 6 minutes and the students seem interested. I find that they like this more than me showing them an article on the internet.
Todd Drum
One thing I have noticed in my first year is that kids need to feel special or important. I try to figure out some personal aspects of each of my students and tie that my lessons. For example, I have a student who has a father who deals with horses. Any time we talk about cavalry or chariots or other topics, I make sure that I ask that particular student for his thoughts. I had another kid who was fascinated in Egyptology. When we studied ancient Egypt, he brought a mummy kit to school and presented it to the class. He felt important, the kids learned something, and I was completely satisfied.
Stephanie Hennessee
I like to make my students feel important. I have a hard time with names and my students catch onto this very quickly because I often look at one student and then call the next student I talk by the previous student's name. Anytime I see one of my students, I call them by name to assure them that I know who they are. Wherever I see them - they know I've seen them because I speak to them. Even hardest headed student will smile back at me and reply when I do this. I don't want my students to feel like nobody sees them - I see them.
David Peterson
When teaching earth science, I also use current events and weather conditions in my class like Ginger has already stated. It seems to help the students see how science can fit into their lives. Rather than recording the weather, I ask them to watch the weather report each day or check out weather. com on the internet.
Jodie Mathews
Something that I like to use a lot in my Tech Math classes is Numb3rs. This show is a godsend. It comes on Friday night at 10 on CBS and another teacher records it and the whole math department takes advantage of it. The show has some worksheets posted on the internet that goes along with it. This helps show the kids that there are many ways that math can be used outside of math class. The majority of the time it is statistical analysis and probability. I love the show and the kids seem to as well.
Jodie Mathews
We play some games like that in math review as well. I usually just take the first answer. I never thought to actually take all the answers. Do you give extra points for participating in the review and to the team who wins gets a little more??
We played Bingo the other day to review. I had some prepared questions and the answers already solved. I gave the students all the answers and told them to put the answers on a bingo board and gave them a free space as usual. They had to work each problem as I put it on the board and then find their answer. Obviously no two boards were the same but I took the first 5 who got bingo and gave them an extra 5 points as truly they were the only students participating.
Special Education
Jennifer Hunt
Something that has really worked well for me is the usage of the overhead. My kids respond so much better to this. Behavior is so much better when I can keep my eyes on my students. Another thing that has worked well for me is a reward system that includes free time for on- task behavior.
Doug Ward What has really worked well for me is accepting that as a first year teacher I'm not going to get to try and do everything I want. I am just going to have to do a lot of surviving and when I do get my energy bursts ( usually short- lived), I get the ball rolling on something I really want to do. I got a burst after Christmas and got inclusion for one of my kids in a 2nd grade class an hour a day M- R! It has been very successful and the joy and interaction between my student and the other students has kept me going pretty good even with having 2 grad classes!
Christy Rogers
Something that has really worked well for me in my classroom is read- aloud. Since I have multiple grades together, it is hard to find activities that everyone can do together.
Read- aloud allows all my students to come together and listen to a common book that I read for 15- 30 minutes a day. My students absolutely love it! They keep on asking me to read more whenever I get finished. They love it and it really helps with comprehension whenever I asked questions when I'm done reading. This especially works for those with multi- age, try it!
Erin Killian
I have been using a behavior checklist all most all year long. I begin it after I had a few behavior problems and needed something to monitor their behavior. It has worked great. The kids love getting their checklist and counting up the points they have. It is a very positive reward system.
Erin Killian
( Many of you may already do this or it may seem like common sense to do this, but I still think it is important to share.) A tip that is a good idea to implement in the regular classroom concerning EC students is partner work. Everyone knows about partner work but it is important to keep in mind that regular ed teachers try to avoid putting EC kids with children who are so smart, they intimidate the EC student or do the work for our EC kids. One way to avoid this is to partner them up with someone who they can work mutually with and help each other work through the assignment. There needs to be a balance between the students. One of my kids is working with someone just a little above his level; this makes him feel good because he gets to help the other student out too.
Doug Ward
Building on what Erin said. Taking a kid who is struggling with an area and using them as a peer tutor works wonderfully. Giving that child an opportunity to help someone who struggles with an area more than them is a great opportunity to build some self- confidence. You also can easily design the tutoring sessions to not only address the tutee's needs, but have the tutor working with their strengths in an area while building up their needed skills. For example in Reading, having the tutor do repeated readings of a text they will be working with the tutee or writing a script for a play along with some comprehension questions for the tutee can build reading skills.
K- 12 Certified
Sheena Kohlmeyer
One procedure that has worked well in my middle school art classroom is to have students " initial in" on a role sheet. They do this immediately upon entering the room. The sign in sheet for each class is kept near the bell ringer drawing folders for each table, so that each student makes one stop to sign in and collect the folder before sitting down. It has helped me to not have to look around the room and record the role in my gradebook. I had done that the very beginning of the year and it became such an added hassle ( a small one, but the small ones can really add up!) that I just stopped taking role for a few weeks. Then Ms. Haigler from Smoky Mountain High told me about her sign in sheets. So I modeled mine after hers. Using a sign in sheet all I need to do is replace the sheet for each class every few weeks and check the role occasionally to make sure everyone is signing in. This is definitely a procedure that has benefited me. Highlands School
4th Grade
Lesson Plan – 4th Nine Weeks
Teacher: Kristina Kirchner
Date: February 8, 2006
Objective: Students will be able to recognize and perform sixteenth note rhythms. Students will be able to recognize phrases in music.
Body: ( 2- 3 min) Review whole, half, quarter, and eighth notes and rests.
Review verse- refrain songs.
( 2- 3 min) Introduce sixteenth notes and rests. Student will be able to
locate the sixteenth notes in the song, “ Frog Went A- Courtin’”.
( 2- 3 min) Students will learn the words to “ 1, 2 Cock- a- Doodle Doo” and
“ Biddy, Biddy”.
( 5- 7 min) Introduce musical phrases. Students will be able to find each
phrase in the songs, “ The Old Sow’s Hide,” and We’re Off to See the
Wizard”.
Assessment: ( 5- 10min) While playing the game, Boys vs. Girls, I will assess how well the students understood today’s lesson by asking them questions from the information they learned today.
Accommodations: One student may have a harder time understanding each new concept as quickly as the others and will be uncomfortable participating in the game. Therefore, I will give him a worksheet where he must find all the sixteenth notes out of different sets of notes. This will allow me to assess his understanding of the lesson without the stress of speaking in front of the class.
Materials: Book 3 ( Green), pages 162- 169
Technology:
CD Player: FWAC CD4: 10, IRWRC CD4: 11, BB CD4: 12, OSH CD4: 14,
WOTSTW CD4: 17
Dana Anderson
LearnNC has been a great resource for me in lessoning planning for media literacy. They have lesson plans, and links to other interesting and help websites.
In my classroom we do warm- up exercises before I begin class. I may have them write in their journal about a television program or reflect on the commercial shoot we taped the day before. This exercise also gets the students into the room and in their seats - so
I can take role and settle them down to start class.
I also use a round table ( round seating) discussion area - for what I call " production meetings" this gives everyone the chance to look at the person talking. So far I feel that it has been a good way for the students to get to know one another.
Christopher Reynolds For all PE teachers!
PE Central is a great resource for all things PE. They have many lesson plans for each grade level as well as different objectives. I have found some great ones and some duds but at least they are a resource. There are many other sites that I have used and if you use enough different sources, you will find plenty that will fit your situation.
There are a couple of video sites too that are very useful. United Streaming is a great one. Our system has access to this one. You should check with your IT people to see if you can use it.
Carol Moss
Since I teach so many students each week ( close to 700) I have had the students sit in alphabetical order all year. Sometimes I have had to move one or two because of behavior or conflicts. Having the students in the same spot and calling the roll each week ( even though the students or the teacher tell me which students are absent) has really helped me to learn their names and put names and faces together. Sometimes I try to leave the roll open so I can refer to it if necessary and since they are in order I can find the student I am looking for. I also try to call names as often as I can. I might guess that I have learned about 75- 80% of the students' names but please don't ask for last names!
Rick Carter
I use the red light/ green light scenario involving the letters of the word music. Lose too many letters/ points, lose the end of grading period reward. I am also fortunate that the entire school where I am based uses a universal disciplinary system for all grade levels. Of course many individual classroom teachers use their own thing, but I try to learn what that is and refer the appropriate class to the matching teacher's method as a reminder and for reinforcement in my own room. Admittedly, it's hard to take care of 550- 700 students each week and remain consistent.
Vocations
Michelle Ballew
In my Medical Science 11 class we have skills that must be checked off before we can go to the clinical area. While doing these skills I formed a notebook, for both student and myself, so we can easily find the skill we will be doing that day. So, it saves time for more demonstration and will be easier to keep up with at the end of the semester, when I have to show where students mastered the skill.
Carolyn Crosby
I have a game I call " Tic- tac- toe, Five in a row. I have a grid ( about 20x20 small squares, that I made using the table form in Microsoft). When we study for a quiz or test, I put students into groups of 2- 3. I have students draw a question out of the bag and if they can answer the question, the get to color in a square. If they miss the question, they do not get to color in a square and it is their partners turn. I think that it works better than dividing the group in to 2 groups. Not enough people will get to answer questions. This way everyone gets to play.
Revonda Palmer
A lesson plan I like to do in Careers is allowing the students to research a career of their choice and make posters that list the career, requirements that need to be met in order to obtain this career, salaries, etc. They love this project. They get very creative with the posters and they love to learn about the salary range for the career they have chosen.
Revonda Palmer
I also like to do fun projects with the students. I believe after they accomplish the skills and concepts we can move on to more fun projects. My favorite is after the students learn database, we like to put together a cookbook and bring in a favorite dish and eat. The kids love to do this. This is like a reward for mastering database concepts and skills.