SPRING FORWARD after the BREAK: Examine areas of your teaching that feel "static."
Here's a great book to check out -
Battling Boredom: 99 Strategies to Spark Student Engagement
by Bryan Harris
You can also try the tips below!
Warm-Ups: It is easy to get into the habit of asking the same kinds of warm-up questions every day. But do kids have to commit paper to pencil right away? What if you shared a picture or a song and asked students about the connections they could make between it and your current topic of study? After the whole-class discussion, students could generate their "final" answer for the warm-up question of the day.
Vocabulary: A powerful quote about learning comes from Jerome Bruner: "Knowing is a process not a product" (Bruner, 1966). Here is an indirect instructional strategy whereby students derive meaning about a word/concept through the use of pictures and structured inquiry. See the attached PowerPoints for more information. The first PowerPoint models how to teach the concept of conflict. The second is an elementary version showing number relationships.
Battling Boredom: 99 Strategies to Spark Student Engagement
by Bryan Harris
You can also try the tips below!
Warm-Ups: It is easy to get into the habit of asking the same kinds of warm-up questions every day. But do kids have to commit paper to pencil right away? What if you shared a picture or a song and asked students about the connections they could make between it and your current topic of study? After the whole-class discussion, students could generate their "final" answer for the warm-up question of the day.
Vocabulary: A powerful quote about learning comes from Jerome Bruner: "Knowing is a process not a product" (Bruner, 1966). Here is an indirect instructional strategy whereby students derive meaning about a word/concept through the use of pictures and structured inquiry. See the attached PowerPoints for more information. The first PowerPoint models how to teach the concept of conflict. The second is an elementary version showing number relationships.
| concept_attainment_lesson.ppt |
| conceptattainment-2_teacher_and_student.ppt |
Assessment: A powerful tool for increasing understanding is to assign activities that call upon students to compare, contrast, classify, and use metaphors and analogies. Check out such a "connection" activity below from a history class that is easily adaptable for all contents.
| review_unit_cm_web_assessement.doc |
See the link Vary Your Planning for a generic processing activity and additional resources.
Here's a great reminder of the most impactful teaching strategies, according to Robert Marzano in What Works in Schools: Translating Reasearch into Action (2003).
| power_tools_for_powerful_teaching.doc |