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The Best of TYT: 8 Simple Ways to Create A Joyful Classroom

October 26, 2018 by Inspired Together Teachers 4 Comments

8 Simple Ways to Create a Joyful Classroom

Is your classroom a joyful place? Recent challenges have left some teachers anxious and stressed, losing their zest for teaching.

We understand that frustrations are real. Teachers have never been expected to do more with less. Curriculum demands much of children and leaves little time for spontaneity, fun and exploration. Mandates about what and how to teach have replaced teacher created curriculum based on student needs and interests.

Despite the many misguided reforms, high stakes tests and district priorities, we have to make time for joy in education. There are many good reasons to create a more joyful classroom.

Joy helps students love learning. If students love learning, they will be engaged, reducing the need for complex behavior management systems. Joy encourages creativity, which opens the door for creative problem solving. Joy encourages curiosity and self-motivated learning. It is only when students experience love of learning that they will become life-long learners.

Though much of your day may be filled with required curriculum and prescribed methods, there are many things you can do to make sure that students experience joy.

Here are 8 simple, actionable things you can do to make a more joyful classroom.

Smile

We learn better from those we like. Smiling makes you approachable and likable. Smiling is contagious, and the act of smiling can actually help you to feel happier.

Laugh

Laughing reduces stress. Look for opportunities to inject humor into the day’s activities. Offer to tell a joke if students line up quickly and quietly. Get a joke book if you need one. Telling a joke takes less than 30 seconds and adds fun. We all remember a teacher who told corny jokes. Notice that we remember that teacher.

Add Music

Music helps with retention. There are songs that fit into all areas of your curriculum. Check out You Tube for songs about multiplication or grammar from School House Rock. Better yet, let students work in groups to write and perform their own songs based on their topic of study. One sixth grade class wrote songs about world explorers set to the Sponge Bob theme song. A high school biology class wrote and sang a fact filled song about mitosis set to Queen’s We are The Champions.

Read Funny Literature

If you read aloud each day (and you should!) choose funny stories. When children have positive experiences with books they learn that reading is fun. If reading is fun, they will be more likely to do more of it. The more you read, the better you read.

Use Fun Reinforcers

You can quickly teach students to give themselves a “round of applause” by clapping while they rotate their hands in a circle. Another way is to stretch your hand up high and then reach back and “pat yourself on the back.” These are quick and simple movements that can add joy and a sense of satisfaction.

Use Fun Call/Response Attention Getters

Teacher: “One, two three” Students: “Eyes on me!”

Teacher ” Hey, ho” Students: “To work we go”

Teacher: “Ready set?” Students: “You bet!”

These simple commands are more fun and more effective than repeatedly asking students to pay attention.

Have a Goofy Class Mascot

One teacher has a skeleton who holds a sign with the objectives of the day’s lesson. He is also known to wear a holiday appropriate hat, a Valentine’s Day tie or a cape on Halloween. We have seen a stuffed orangutan who wrote notes and left them around the room- reminding children to pick up or take home permissions slips. Some mascots go home with a different child each night and encourage children to write a story about their adventures to add to a class book.

Give Students Choices

Students can’t always choose what they will do, but look for opportunities to give students a choice. When students choose, their engagement and satisfaction are higher. Can they choose their partners? Their seats? Can they choose a topic for their research report or the book they will read? Think of the content, the learning process, and products to show learning. Can you give students a choice in one of those three areas?

Joyful classrooms are less stressful, less anxious places. Neurological studies have shown that students’ comfort levels can influence long-term information storage and transmission. Teachers and students face many challenges in today’s educational climate. Living without joy does not have to be one of them.

Wishing you joy today,

Teacher Tricks for Triumphant Transitions

October 19, 2018 by Inspired Together Teachers 1 Comment

We recently had a question from a new teacher who is struggling with transitions.

“Whenever I have a transition time between activities, subjects or between lunch or special classes I lose the class. Then it takes forever to bring them back. How can I make these transitions easier and quicker? I feel like I spend half the day telling them to hurry up and I am starting to feel like a nagging Mom.”

We’ve got some ideas!

Here are our suggestions for easing transition times to get students back on track and focused quickly:

Make it a game.

Many students respond well to games and challenges. Give students a challenge such as “Let’s see if we can pick up and get ready for math in one minute or less.” Then set a timer on your phone or use a timer on your smart board. Make it fun by calling out a countdown 5-4-3-2-1 before you start the timer. If they are successful, challenge them to get it done in 45 seconds the next day! If you want to add some math, have students create a running graph or chart of their times.

Another example works well for very young children. When it is time to move to another place in the school, give them a challenge such as this: “We are going to line up and go to art now. Let’s sneak up on Mrs. Smith. We are going to be quiet as little mice so that she won’t even hear us coming!” Then lead the line in tip-toeing down the hall. You’ll earn bonus points for putting on a headband with mouse ears!

Even older students will respond to a contest such as, “The first table to get ready goes to lunch first!”

Remind students of the benefits of their work.

Older students often respond to requests when they understand what’s in it for them.

For example, when you need students to get to work quickly, remind them that the sooner they get started the more work they will get done and the less they will need to do for homework.

Another example is to encourage students to get to work so that they can have a chance to do an activity they enjoy. For example: “I know you really wanted to see our volcano explode again. If you get to work and finish your experiment, we will have time to set it off at the end of class.”

Use call and response signals.

Master teachers often have a repertory of fun call and response signals. You start a phrase and students immediately repeat the responding phrase. Mix it up to keep it fresh since students will eventually tune out if you use the same phrase every time. There are hundreds of possibilities. A few examples:

Teacher: Ready to rock! Students: Ready to roll!

Teacher: Hey class! Students: What’s up?

Teacher: Give me five! Students (hands in the air to countdown on their fingers) 5-4-3-2-1!

Teacher: Hocus Pocus Students: Time to focus!

Teacher: Ready set? Students: You Bet!

Teacher: Mac and cheese! Students: Everybody freeze

Ask for an action.

If you can hear me…clap twice.

If you can hear me…put your hands on your head.

If you can hear me…line up at the door quickly and quietly.

You can make this fun and silly while getting students’ attention. Even high schoolers will groan but join in by putting their left hand on the back of their right foot.

Whisper

Sometimes a great way to get attention is to do the unexpected. Instead of repeatedly increasing your voice, give directions in a very loud whisper. Mixing up your volume is a great attention trick as we are hardwired to focus attention on something novel.

Watch this clip from the movie Dead Poet’s Society where the teacher played by Robin William’s used volume, whistling, and novelty to great effect. If you haven’t seen the movie, it is a must for teachers.

Repeat a pattern.

Clap or snap out a rhythm or pattern. You can use popular songs, or familiar commercial jingles. The students stop and repeat the pattern. Use your school’s fight cheer or slogan!

Musical Signals

Sing a song or play a particular song to signal time to pick up or transition. You might have a song for pick-up time, a song for getting ready for lunch and even a song for lining up. Here is one we recently heard and loved:

Here we go just a walking down the hall singing do-a diddy-diddy-dum diddy- do,

We look good, we look fine, as we’re walking in our line.

When students are lined up and quiet, go!

Visual signals

You have probably experienced the old teacher trick of turning off the lights to get silence. Here are a few updates on the visual signal.

Have a light saber, magic wand or some sort of toy that lights up. You can also use your phone’s flashlight. When you hold up the signal, students become silent.

Create a stoplight using three pop up lights attached to the wall or your smart board. Hit the first to signal making a transition. Hit the second to signal get ready to settle. Hit the third to signal time to start the new activity.

If you know sign language, sign a signal and have students repeat it after you.

A high school teacher used a rubber chicken to gain attention. When he swung it in the air, students stopped whatever they were doing.

Try putting on a crazy hat or standing on a desk. Watch Robin Williams gain instant attention by standing on a desk in another clip from the movie Dead Poet’s Society.

Every teacher should have a bag of tricks to increase motivation and make transitions run smoothly. What transition tricks do you have up your sleeve?

Our best,

10 Quick and Easy Formative Assessments

October 11, 2018 by Inspired Together Teachers Leave a Comment

You know you should be using formative assessments, but perhaps you struggle with planning them into lessons. You don’t have time to find and prepare another thing! The best formative assessments are those you do in the middle of a lesson or in the last couple of minutes. It doesn’t have to be difficult or take a lot of time.

Remember that the purpose of formative assessments is to inform your teaching. Formative assessments let you see what your students are learning, and if what they are learning is what you intended. You adjust the next steps based on what you learn during a formative assessment.

Try out some of the following formative assessments and add them to your repertory.

Here are 10 simple formative assessments:

Thumbs up- thumbs sideways, thumbs down

This one works best when students trust you and will tell you their real opinions. Ask students to give you a thumbs up if they are following you and understand, thumbs sideways if they understand some things but are unclear about others, and a thumbs down if they are confused or lost.

White board responses

Give students individual white boards and a marker. Throughout the lesson, ask a question and have students hold up their response. A quick glance tells you who is right or wrong. If they are copying from someone else, chances are they don’t know the answer.

Stoplight

Give each student a green, yellow, and red card to keep on their desk. Ask them to hold up the green card if they understand and are ready to move on, the yellow card if they have some questions or confusion or the red card if they need to help. If you see a lot of yellow or red cards, stop and clarify before moving on.

Exit slips

At the end of class, ask students to answer a question or two or give a quick summary of what they learned. They hand it in as they leave the room. Use the responses to help you plan for the next day’s lesson.

Learning Logs

Students keep a notebook and each day write down things that learned and questions that they have. You can quickly review the books, drawing emoji responses 😊or writing notes to students. This is also a good place for a bit of on-one instruction for a struggling student or a way to enrich a student who could use a challenge.

Draw it!

Give students a couple of minutes to quickly draw or create a visual of something they learned. Then have them turn and share with a neighbor. Share several drawings as a class.

Headlines

Have students summarize a lesson by writing a headline that sums up the lesson. Remind them that headlines should be intriguing and interesting and grab reader’s attention. Share a few with the class.

Beach Ball Review

Get a plastic beach ball and a Sharpie. Write several non-content-based questions such as the following:

Tell one thing you learned today.

Connect something we did today to something you learned in the past.

Give an example of how you could use something we talked about today.

Ask the class a question about today’s lesson.

Make a prediction about what we will learn tomorrow.

Choose another person and ask them a question about today’s lesson.

Ask the teacher a question about today’s lesson.

What do you think the most important part about today’s lesson is?

Ask students to stand in a circle and toss out the ball. If you catch the ball, respond to the prompt nearest your thumb.

Super Summary

Set a timer for two minutes. Ask students to write a summary of the day’s lesson including as many things as they can in two minutes. The one with the most words wins.

3-2-1

Using white boards, a sheet paper, or a 3-2-1 half-sheet handout, have students write:

3 things to remember from today’s lesson:

2 connections I can make to something I already know:

1 question I still have:

Review their answers before teaching the next lesson.

We hope you will try a couple of new formative assessment strategies!

Our best,

If you would like a printable 3-2-1 handout , fill out the form below and we will send it to your e-mail!

8 Steps to a Positive Start in the First Weeks of School

August 17, 2018 by Inspired Together Teachers 5 Comments

There are many things to do in the first weeks of school and you will want to get things off to a positive and smooth start.

Here are eight things you need to do at the beginning of the school year:

Get to know students’ names as soon as possible.

Everyone likes to be called by name, and using students’ names when you talk to them is a sign of respect. Ask students how to pronounce unfamiliar names and if they prefer a variation or knick-name. Greet students at the door each morning using their names. Call on students by name. Seating charts and name tag tents on the desks may help in the first few days. Knowing names may seem like an obvious step, but making a real effort here shows students that you care.

Let students know a little about yourself.

Building good relationships with students will go a long way in making your school year run smoothly. Let the students know a bit about yourself. Tell a funny story about your dog. Talk about your favorite sports or activities. Share a read aloud from your favorite book. Students will respond better to someone they know, like and trust. You can share bits of yourself without oversharing or becoming a friend rather than a teacher.

Get to know students as individuals.

Building good relationships with students involves getting to know who your students are as individuals. Ask about their interests, backgrounds, families and favorite activities. Give students interest inventories or have younger students draw pictures of things that are important to them. Look at student records to find out about medical issues such as allergies or any other special concerns.

Get to know students as learners.

The more you know about students as learners, the better you can help them learn. Give students learning inventories, multiple intelligences surveys or ask them to answer questions such as “How can I help you learn best?” Other good questions are “Tell me about a time when learning was fun and easy for you,” and “Tell me a time when learning was a struggle for you.”

Be sure to check students’ IEPs and understand the type of accommodations you will need to provide. Ask for clarification if something is not clear.

Spend time building a classroom community.

Students who know, like and understand each other will work better together. Time spent at the beginning of the year can go a long way towards building a positive classroom community. Use community building activities that help students to get to know each other.

Here is one we like:

Get on the Bus!

Compile a list of questions that can have two answers. You can use general “getting to know you” questions or questions related to your teaching content.

Have students “Get on the bus” by standing in a straight line directly facing you. You will ask the question and students will move off the bus either to the right or left.

For example:

“If you prefer pizza step to the right. If you prefer hamburger and fries, step to the left.”

Or a content example based on a novel:

If you think Charlotte will open the door, step to the right. If you think she won’t, step to the left.”

Ask students to get back on the bus and repeat with a different question.

Tour the classroom.

Show students where things are in the classroom. Be sure to point out which things they can access and which things are off limits, such as your desk. This is also a great time to discuss expectations about moving things and returning them to where they belong. If students are new to the school, plan a tour of the school as well. You can create a fun scavenger hunt to help students learn their way around.

Help students understand how to succeed in your classroom.

Have a good discussion about your expectations, hopes and dreams for them this year. Ask them what kind of classroom environment they want and what it would take to create that classroom. Discuss procedures such as those for sharpening pencils, using the bathroom, and turning in work. If you have any non-negotiable policies or procedures, explain them as well as the rationale for them. Students who understand the reason for rules and procedures are far more likely to uphold them.

Here is a post about creating rules and expectations with your class.

Get students excited about the content you will teach.

You likely love the content you will teach. Share your enthusiasm. One of the most important things teachers can do is get their students interested in learning.

Plan a fun activity that relates to the content they will learn this year. Let them use books or technology to explore and find five fun facts to share. Hang up a huge sheet of roll paper and let them write a graffiti wall of all the questions they have about a topic. Read aloud a favorite book with chapter ending cliffhanger. Look through your teacher manuals for puzzles or group activities that get students involved in something active.

The first weeks of school should be fun, build relationships, set expectations for the year and start students on a learning journey. We hope your first weeks of school are fun and rewarding!

Our best,

“Smack Those Facts” Active Learning Game

August 9, 2018 by Inspired Together Teachers Leave a Comment

Smack those facts is a fun game shared with us by our friends at education.com.

We like this game because it is active, can be adapted to meet the needs of diverse learners and students love it! We’ve seen this game adapted using sight words for beginning readers, reviewing new vocabulary and practicing words in a new language. It can be used with students in multiple grades and in different subjects by simply adapting the content.

This game will increase students’ speed and fluency with words, and procedural fluency with math facts.

This example we’ve shared uses multiplication facts. You choose the facts and let your students “smack” the answers!

What You Need:

Markers
Chart paper
Flyswatter
Paper
Pencil

What You Do:

1. Determine which facts your students need to review and make a list of these facts.

2. Write the answers to the math facts on a piece of chart paper. Make sure to write the numbers large enough to see (maybe 2 inches tall) and give at least 2 inches of space around the numbers on all sides.

3. Hang the chart paper on a wall OR place it on a table.

3. Give students a fly swatter and let them know that their job is to “smack” the answer when you call out a multiplication problem.

4. Call out the problems in a random order and let your students “smack those facts”!

5. After some practice with this activity, you could set a timer for 30 seconds or one minute and challenge to see how many correct answers they can “smack” in this time frame.

This game can be adapted for small groups by having students take turns “smacking.”

We hope you enjoy this game with your students. We love to hear laughter and fun in the classroom.

Our Best,

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8 Simple Ways to Create a Joyful Classroom

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