strategies Archives - Page 18 of 18 - Inspired Together Teachers

The Magic of a Dry Erase Marker

December 3, 2015 by Inspired Together Teachers 2 Comments

We have been looking forward to publishing more posts that feature real teachers sharing great teaching strategies. Today we are happy to welcome a guest author, experienced teacher and instructional coach, Sarah Weber, who shares an easy, highly effective strategy that will work with any age, grade, or subject matter.

The Magic of a Dry Erase Marker by Sarah Weber

We all know “that kid.” You know, the one watching as his classmates answer question after question during your discussion. He sits back and lets his peers do all of the work. If you do call on him, you may get a shrug of his shoulder. He knows that if he waits long enough not answering, you will move on to someone else.

There are also those students that need extra “think time.” As you pose a question, her peers are quick to raise their hands with answers, and she is constantly two steps behind, never to be fully engaged in the discussion because it takes so long to formulate her answer.

Then you have your student with attention issues. He has a hard enough time focusing on the discussion, forget trying to formulate an answer in his head and remember it as you are calling on other students.

These are all types of students in your class that would benefit from the “magic” of a dry erase marker.

This isn’t rocket science, nor is it an expensive, prepackaged program. It is simply a dry erase marker. I started using this strategy back in 1999 when I was a first grade teacher trying to teach whole group phonics. I had a difficult time sustaining my students’ attention. So, during instruction, I would have the students use individual white boards to write down what I was doing on the board up front. It was great! The students all answered, they were engaged, and I thought I had solved the problem. At that point, I saw it as only a way to keep kids engaged when I taught phonics. Period.

Fast forward many years and different job positions later, I found myself back in a fourth grade classroom. What I had learned from my time out of the classroom as an instructional coach and observing, is the huge issue of lack of student engagement during whole group instruction. I was noticing this in my new class of fourth graders as well. I dug deep into my bag of tricks and started using dry erase markers again.

I started with large group reading instruction. I would pose questions about their reading and the students would individually answer with their dry erase marker on individual white boards. It worked beautifully. Every child had to answer and be engaged. But, I had noticed something more…

Students could no longer hide in my classroom. Every student had a voice. Even the quiet student, the one who rarely raised her hand, had a voice. I could see from what she wrote on her board what she was thinking. I could also see where my students were struggling in their thinking—and I realized, this tool was a key formative assessment tool.

I decided to start using it in math class and found the same results. I was able to quickly walk around the room and see how students were solving problems. Again, as a formative assessment tool, I was able to see, on a daily basis, how my students were solving problems. I didn’t need the test at the end of the unit to know if my students understood the concept. I knew immediately. With some students, I noted errors in thinking and used that information to pull groups of students that needed extra help on a concept. I was able to intervene earlier, prior to the test.

On the flip side, not only was I able to assist the students that needed help, I was also able to challenge the students that finished early. When students caught on to new concepts quickly, I was able to swiftly give them extension problems to figure out. They weren’t just sitting there waiting for me to help the students that were struggling. They were constantly engaged and challenged. It was extremely motivating for them to get “extra” problems.

Soon, I was using the dry erase marker in all of my curricular areas; reading, math, science, and social studies. It became my most powerful teaching tool. What I realized, is that it is SO much more than just a way to keep kids engaged in instruction. It is also a way to quickly formatively assess students, to help students that need help and challenge others. It gives every child in your class a voice….all with the magic of a dry erase marker.

What is your favorite teaching strategy? We would love to have you share in the comments below.

Sarah Weber has been in education for 22 years having taught kindergarten, first, second and fourth grades. She graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with a BA in both Elementary and Early Childhood Education, minor in Spanish Education and a Reading Endorsement. She also holds a Master of Arts in Teaching degree with an emphasis in Curriculum and Instruction from St. Mary’s University in Overland Park, Kansas. She is currently working in the Dubuque Community School district as an Instructional Coach.

Attention Issues: From the Other Side

November 16, 2015 by Inspired Together Teachers 6 Comments

As a new teacher, you may or may not have a history of working with children who struggle to pay attention. The label Attention Deficit Disorder, or ADD has been attached to children with alarming frequency and the lines of children waiting to get Ritalin from the school nurse are legendary. Though the label is applied with more discretion recently, many children, with or without the label, exhibit challenges with attention and are often unable to focus on their school work.

I have worked with many children who struggle with focusing. I have a toolbox of strategies to help them deal with the often frustrating inability to sustain focus. As with many teachers, I understand that lack of attention is due to some unseeable workings of the brain, not a lack of willingness on the part of the child.

I thought I understood attention and focusing issues. I didn’t, not really. Now, I understand the issue from the other side, from the perspective of one who has suffered from attention issues.

Recently I underwent a major medical procedure. The resulting hospital stay and lengthy recovery meant that I was taking a large number of pills- including four different types of pain pills as well as a nerve blocker. I also took several medications which induce drowsiness if not outright sleep.

I had a lot of plans for my recovery. I got a stack of books and looked forward to being able to catch up on all my reading. My friend, who spent several months with similar pain meds warned me that I wouldn’t be able to read. He was right.

I tried. The worlds swirled around the page. I tried later and was able to read a few sentences, though my comprehension was foggy. I thought I would try again, maybe when the morphine wore off. I could see the words better, but I was not able to concentrate. Reading made me tired.

It occurred to me that some children go through this process regularly. I have good coping skills, and within one day I was frustrated. I can imagine what they must go through.

Watching television was no better. I tried watching a movie, but it was a jumbled mess of indistinguishable characters and a plot that I couldn’t follow. I started to watch Scandal, but five minutes in, I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep up. I gave up on a basketball game. I saw a foul and heard a whistle, but by the time they gave us the penalty I couldn’t remember what the foul had been.

I was able to watch a marathon of Project Runway. One episode bled into the next, I slept through parts and it didn’t matter. Contestants were making clothes, that was all I needed to know to make sense of the show. The same thing happened with a holiday baking show. The contestants were making gingerbread houses. When I woke up they were making pies and there were fewer contestants. I wondered if the rise of reality television was built on the general population’s inability to sustain focus.

I kept thinking about children. I had attention focusing issues for a few weeks. I was not able to function to my usual standards or to use my regular coping strategies. How do we expect a distracted six year old to function well? If I am frustrated after a week, how do children not become overwhelmed with frustration after dealing with this for years? The sad truth is that some children do become overwhelmed and refuse to try or lash out with poor behaviors.

When it comes to attention issues, I understand that in the past, I have been too focused on the cause. It makes sense, that if we can figure out what is causing the inability to pay attention we can fix it. Except for that often, we can’t fix it. The cause doesn’t really matter. We should not focus on the cause of a child’s attention issues, we should focus on helping them to cope.

I have also been too concerned with trying harder- trying harder isn’t helping me. Telling myself to concentrate doesn’t help either. I can’t will it. Telling children to try harder, or giving them a prize or a smiley sticker isn’t going to help. Nor is a punishment for not being able to concentrate going to work.

What we need to do is to find out where, how and when children can learn best, and then let them use that knowledge. For example, I have found that I can follow a conversation better than a book or a TV show. Oral learning might work for me now, though reading has always been my learning mode of choice in the past. Reading is not the only way to gain information. We say we adapt to the child’s needs, but do we really give children a choice in how they learn?

I remember a few years ago, when a student in my class failed an exam. He had been in class every day, listening and participating regularly. He had turned in all of his homework. I was shocked by his low exam score. I called him in to my office, where he told me that his hands just couldn’t write the words in his head, the words got lost between the thinking and the writing. I asked him the questions and he told me the answers. The right answers, every single time. He went from an “F” to an” A. ” I wonder what school must have been like for him, how much he had struggled and how much harder he would have had to work than his peers who do not have attention issues.

I have also discovered that I need to function when and where my brain is working. I wrote most of this at 2 AM. The meds were wearing off, but I was not too uncomfortable. I was also hyper alert. I nodded off before I could finish or do a spell check. This morning, I noticed that I had an error on almost every word. Do we always allow children to use spell check? Do they get to finish later? I think about standardized tests and I cringe. The child has no control over time and place.

The inability to focus is also uncomfortable because you can’t see it. People who talk to me on the phone say how good I sound. I am up, in a chair, dressed and looking competent. If you were to look at me, you can’t physically see that something is wrong with my ability to think. Everyone understands my physical need to use a walker or crutches. You can see the bandage on my leg. It is far less easy to see that I need some mental crutches as well. It has become painfully clear to me that just because you can’t see it, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. I think about children with “invisible” challenges, and my heart goes out to them.

I expected the physical challenges associated with my surgery. I was not prepared for the mental challenges. I am in awe and humbled by the experiences I have had. I have gained empathy and an admiration for people who deal with attention issues on a daily basis. I have hope of recovering, and I know some people will live with attention issues their entire lives.

I wonder what well intentioned but ill conceived advice I have given children in the past. I am sorry. I can only hope that I will move forward with a keener awareness and a heightened sensitivity.

My best,

Michele

We would love for you to share your comments and experiences with attention issues in the comments section below.

8 Simple Ways to Create a Joyful Classroom

November 5, 2015 by Inspired Together Teachers 10 Comments

Is your classroom a joyful place? Recent challenges have left some teachers anxious and stressed, losing their zest for teaching. One Florida teacher, Wendy Bradshaw, recently gave up her teaching career and caused a media fire storm when her resignation letter went viral.

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,

How many of these ideas do you use? Do you have more ways to add joy to your day? We would love to hear your ideas in the comments below.

Q and A Feature: What Does Math Education Look Like Today?

September 23, 2015 by Inspired Together Teachers 8 Comments

Math education looks different today than when you were a child. You’ve probably seen funny Facebook posts about the ridiculous math problems children today are given. Today’s post is inspired by this parent’s question to a teacher:

What is going on with math? My son had to answer a simple math fact 6×6=___. In my day, we had worksheets with math problems. We filled them out. We memorized the facts. There were right and wrong answers. Now my son gets a math fact like the one above. He works in a group and spends a half an hour drawing pictures and playing with Lego blocks. He says they have to prove that 36 is the answer. This seems inefficient to me. Why can’t they just memorize the facts and then move on to more difficult math?

This is a great question and we would like to share some insight about how math is being taught today in case you aren’t one of the teachers teaching this particular subject. This parent is correct in noting that math education today is not just about memorizing the facts. Though there is still a place for quick recall of basic facts, there is much more emphasis today on understanding mathematical principles and using those principles for problem solving.

The teacher in the above scenario is teaching for understanding. By having students work in groups, she is allowing children to explore the relationships between numbers. They will use mathematical language, clarify their thinking by speaking out loud, share, and even argue. They will be solidifying their knowledge of the underlying mathematical concepts.

For example, it is possible to memorize 6×6=36 and not have an understanding of what that means. These children use different ways to represent that understanding. They will draw pictures, perhaps showing six groups of six. They might use the Lego blocks as manipulatives in order to count the objects and build understanding of why the answer is 36. They may take those same 36 blocks and show other ways to get to 36 such 12 x 3 or 9×4. They might also discover that 5×6 does not add up to 36. In doing these activities, they understand what it means to multiply. They are learning to reason mathematically.

Did you struggle with story problems as child? Imagine a follow up assignment. The children work in groups to design a bird house. They have to draw a plan and evaluate the amount of wood they will need. The wood comes in 36 inch pieces. The children design their birdhouses, which are all different, building an understanding that there is more than one way to solve a problem. These children are able to perfectly identify how many pieces of wood they will need, how they will cut them, and how much they will have left over. Not bad for seven year olds.

In today’s world, with easy access to phones with built in calculators, computation skills are not enough. Memorizing math facts is not going to help students use those facts in different contexts. Children need to develop the skills to analyze, reason, and solve mathematical problems.

How did you learn math? Do you see a difference in the way kids learn math today? Are you teaching math? If so, what do you notice about the way math is currently taught? We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Happy problem solving,

10 Dollar Store Deals that EVERY Teacher Must Have

August 13, 2015 by Inspired Together Teachers 8 Comments

Dollar stores are full of incredible deals for teachers. In order to save you precious time and money, we have found the top ten must-have materials, all priced at a dollar and available at a discount store near you. Each are applicable for any teacher from Pre-K to college professor.

1 and 2. Magnetic letters and a cookie sheet

Magnetic letters aren’t just for the little kids. If you ask a student to write something quickly in class, you can make it more interesting by having them spell it out using magnetic letters. The cookie sheet, with its raised edges, provides a spill-proof palate for your students to compose their literary masterpieces. Do your students really want to practice spelling or vocab words by putting their pencil to paper again or would they be more motivated to find the letters and then construct the words?

Brain research tells us that adding this tactile approach to the visual representation is more memorable and meaningful. What’s the capital of Wisconsin? Let’s grab our magnetic letters and spell it out! Or, would you rather write the word? Yep, we voted for the colorful magnetic letters too.

3 and 4. Hair gel and baggies

This is another match worth two dollars. Used separately these two items serve mundane roles, but together they make the perfect sensory tool for any child with sensory needs or any teacher trying to stay awake during excruciating staff development.

Open baggie, fill ¾ with hair gel, and seal. You may want to double baggie or duct tape the edges, although you can easily wash a little escaped hair gel out of clothing. Trust me about this sensory tool. It can relax you when needed or keep you awake when necessary. It is inexpensive and worth its weight in gold. We have a few sitting on our desks right now. We never force anyone to use them, but when offered, people almost always grab them. Vary the color of the hair gel and add glitter for a little extra fun.

5. Play Dough

You can buy an 8 pack of modeling dough/play dough for a dollar. For just a few dollars you can have enough individual mini-packages of play dough for an entire class. They are the perfect sensory tool as long as you establish ground rules. Kneading it in your hand is acceptable. Kneading it into the ponytail of the student in front of you is not.

Beyond its sensory capabilities, play dough offers the tactile opportunity some kids crave to demonstrate understanding of a topic. Think of a project/assignment in which you have kids draw their understanding. Could they build a three minute model instead? The possibilities are endless with play dough and it is reusable. Yes, you can make your own but buying 8 mini-packages for a dollar is potentially cheaper. In the words of a former student, “We are never too old for play dough.”

6. Dice

From large foam dice to tiny dice in a cup, these six-sided cubes with dots are versatile tools that every teacher must have. Need a math game? There are hundreds of ways to use your dice. Need to partner kids, form small groups or randomly assign kids to stations/classroom jobs/etc? Use the dice. Better yet, have the kids roll the dice so you don’t have to set down your hair gel baggy (see # 3 and #4).

7. Ice cube trays

The ultimate organizer at two for a dollar! Whether you put them on shelves to sort your magnet letters (two trays have a total of 28 holding spots) or have the kids put them inside their desks to organize their loose paper clips, erasers, and other random items, these multipurpose plastic trays are the perfect size for classroom mini-storage.

8 and 9. Clothespins and 1000 pack of stickers

These are the perfect combination for you to create self-correcting activities. On the front of a piece of cardboard (or cardstock) write several problems to be solved for your content area (these could be actual questions, vocab words, math equations, etc). Students attach a clothespin with an answer written on it to the corresponding prompt on the cardboard. To check if they are correct, they flip the manipulative over to check for matching stickers. If the stickers align they are correct.

Once you have created this easy self-correcting manipulative, disassemble and put it in one of your extra baggies (see #4). Each self-correcting material can be used repeatedly by different students practicing the same skill. Here is a sample we created using dollar store clothespins, stickers, and the top of a Dunkin’ Donuts box.

Here is the front view showing the matching task:

Here is the back view, showing the self correcting “answers.”

10. A composition notebook

Give this to the child who seeks attention repeatedly during class by blurting out to ask a question or tell you what they are thinking. Give him or her the composition notebook as a dialogue journal between the two of you.

Instead of blurting out and interrupting the flow of the class, encourage the student to write ideas in the notebook while class is in session. During non-class time you can read the notes and write brief responses back. It may take you a few minutes to reply in the journal, but it will save you time during class and will help your student get the attention he/she is craving in a better way.

These teacher tools can be found at any dollar store and are on our back-to-school shopping list each year. Use your imagination to decide how you will modify these handy purchases in your own classroom.

Please comment below with your additional dollar store treasures so others can benefit from your bargain shopping. Now, where did we put that hair gel baggie…?

Happy shopping,

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