Awaken Your Teaching

We talk about the importance of a Bell Ringer/Warm Up and I give several ideas as to how to create one so that your class starts smoothly and gets into the meat of the class without misbehavior.  

The Word of the Day is a "What are you reading" poster, and what a game changer this was 8 years ago when I reluctantly gave in to a persistent librarian.  The conversations it has generated since have been incredible for me...but also for those students who've engaged in banter about books.  

In this episode, we talk about a creative activity where the students make a Wanted Poster for a character they've been studying.  They could also make a Hero Poster, similar to a missing persons poster, where the hero has been captured and we want them back!  The students always have fun with this creative way to get more out their learning.

Our word of the day is Agenda.  Some call it the Objective...others call it crap they are required to do or they get docked on their end of year evaluation.  Let's talk about it here!

The Acrostic Poem is such a good activity to keep in your back pocket for those rare times that you need to have a great activity to fill in some gaps in time.  It also works well as a stand alone activity, but I've seen it best used as a filler.  It still results, when done well, in a great way for the students to extend their understanding and knowledge. 

The Behavior Intervention Plan is discussed and a brief overview is given. 

Here's a helpful article: How to Create an Effective Behavior Intervention Plan

This episode explores a versatile activity called the 321 Summary and how you can use it in your classroom.  It's simple and effective for helping students retain information in a unique way, and takes virtually no set up time. 

Grading tips are discussed with simple and effective ways of making your life easier while still maintaining structure in your classroom....Because no one likes to waste their days grading a fat stack of papers!

We talk about a useful activity that allows your students to easily show their understanding of a topic or unit.  The News Article is versatile and fun for the kids...and easy to grade!

Huge shoutout to Dina Zike, for popularizing the foldables in education.  I don't know where my career would be without them!  Make them...have your kids use them.  They are insanely valuable!

The Diamante poem is a great way to integrate ELAR into your classroom.  It can be used in several ways, but my favorite are to compare and contrast two people or topics.  

The Walk and Talk is a great way to bring Kinesthetic Learning into....well, out of your classroom.  This activity will get  you and your kids up and moving and making those neurons firing!

We talk about a Mural Biography that allows the students to be creative on a small scale individually and large scale as a whole group project.  

We continue our discussion of the Interactive Notebook I use in my classroom and what you need on the first pages of it!

The Activity of the Day is  the Sensory Figure.  This unique activity can help you analyze a specific character and/or person in a fun and different way.

The Interactive Notebook is the Word of the Day and how this tool can revolutionize even the most digital classroom.  

We talk about an activity that promotes the cross-curricular integration of writing in your content area called the RAFT.  Role, Audience, Format, and Topic.  

The IEP is a valuable and necessary document for students with disabilities, we get a quick refresher of what it is, who makes it, and how to implement it.  

We talk about a unique and creative way to check for understanding by using a Bumper Sticker!  

The Word of the Day is Formative and Summative Assessment and we talk about the differences between the two.