Day 100 has passed, we’re well into the second half of the school year. We’re also getting to the point that difficult students are driving us crazy. So, what can you do as a classroom teacher? In this series of posts, I’m going to review a handful of tried and true strategies to get your classes back on track and maintain your sanity. Hopefully along the way we can return valuable instructional time. Starting class. The most important daily routine for middle level students is getting started as quickly as possible. The longer your students sit with nothing to do, the more likely there will be discipline issues. I set a mental note to always be teaching when the bell rings or class starts. This requires a few steps. 1. Always have a bell ringer or warm up exercise posted. Greet your students by name and direct them to this activity. 2. Start class with as positive attitude as possible, I’m not talking about playing unicorns and rainbows. But the incidents from yesterday are far away in students mind. This is a struggle for teachers because we don’t forget anything. I try to give the kids the benefit of the doubt each day. 3. Clip art does wonders to PowerPoints. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but kids will start talking if they see something that interests them. 4. Understand that 75% of kids will be ready when class starts, work on the 25% who aren’t. 5. Be ready to redirect off task requests. There are always a handful of students that their first act of class is to ask you to do something. Can I.. . Go to my locker Go to the bathroom Go call my parents Go to the library You can respond to these request in two ways, “NO” or “We can talk after class gets started.” I use both approaches, the ultimate goal is to get your students together and on track at the start of class. Many kids use this as avoidance behavior, which leads you to interruptions 3 minutes later when they return. Side note: if a kid is turning green I will tell them to go to the nurse or restroom. These are the rare exceptions where professional judgement tells you the kid is not feeling well. 6. Seating charts are a must. In classes that are difficult, we must provide structure. Removing the daily questions of who will I sit by reduces drama. Additionally, it’s one more variable you can manipulate to help improve students learning. We’ll talk about this on in later posts. If you are looking to refocus and improve the start of your classes, remember, it’s your classroom. We have a lot more control of what happens in the room than we think. Start with the little details and they rest will fall into place. Here’s an example of an activity I created for a particularly difficult group of students, Science Stackers. The goal was to get kids working on a hands on activity that engages lesson content. Best luck with your teaching!
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Google classroom has many benefits as a learning management system, but some features are more helpful than others. What’s my favorite? Assignments that automatically create copies or templates for students.
Why? Learning projects that push students to deeper learning are more complicated. As a teacher, I have two choices, create a rubric with bullet points to keep kids on track or create a template that guides students. Templates are far better because I can include video, instructions and tips in a format that’s easy for students to navigate. Additionally templates are editable for the students, making grading easier and final products more polished. How? Just open your Google Drive account and build a document that matches the requirements for your project. Add links, instructions, pictures and examples. Once you are complete, give it a descriptive name. The video below will explain this in detail. Now go into your Google Class and select the class you want to use and click the Google Drive Icon. By clicking recent, the last document you worked on will appear. This is a huge time saver because you don’t need to sort through and find your files. Google will ask you what options you want, by clicking “make a copy” for each student, it will automatically put a student’s name on the file. No more forgetting to put a name on your paper! This automatically creates a copy in the students Google Drive account that they can access either through Google Drive or Google classroom. These steps can be completed in seconds. This is one of the reasons why I believe Google Classroom is a leader in getting content to kids. Whether you are using it for class or making online copies for parents to access. This will save you time and energy when creating assignments.
These are lessons I use that can be used with Google Drive.
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AuthorWelcome to my Blog. This is my online home to share thoughts and life as a teacher, dad, coach, and instructional designer. Archives
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