How about projecting or displaying some art for your students to observe?  I've found both classic pieces and modern artworks to be useful in sparking conversations.  After a 15-minute conversation, students are inspired to write the story to go along with it.  Listen for my explanation of the process.

Do your students tell you they have nothing to write about?  Here's an idea adapted from my own elementary school experience (back in the good ol' days).  Play some music, allow your students to draw, and then assign the writing.  I'll explain more in the episode.

In the past few years, I have collected lyric videos from YouTube.  Students love our "choral reading" by singing along with the words as they zip, spin, and flash on the board during each song, and I can immediately gauge how well they are participating.

In my workshop (titled Stop Not Reinventing the Wheel), I encourage teachers to use available items (especially music, art, and videos) in ways in which they were not intended.  In this episode of the podcast, I'll share the first of those ideas with the intention of getting you to think counterintuitive about the use of music in your classroom.

As a teacher, you've probably noticed that students do not always follow instructions.  That just might be because they don't know how.  Here are some practical suggestions for things to tell your students (and practice with them regularly) to help them (and you) get the desired results.

Kids don't always get along, but that could be because no one has ever explicitly taught them how.  In Episode 4, you will here about some of the steps to successful conversation that you can share and practice with  students. 

How do you get students to participate.  I mean, besides creating engaging activities and wowing kids with technology, how do you get students to understand the skill of participating?  This episode might give you some ideas about how to teach students about participating in class.

It's amazing to consider how significant the simple handshake can be to a classroom of students.  I've found that greeting others and sharing a handshake is uplifting and liberating.  Not only this, but student self esteem rises and spreads to other areas of the day, as well.

Do you post your objectives?  When do you you reveal your objectives to your class?  In this first full episode of Teaching, Simplified, I give you permission to "play with" your lessons, and make them your own.  Decide when and if you want to reveal your objectives to make them the most effective.

In the last 29 years of teaching, 24 of those years have been in the fourth grade classroom.  But mine is a different kind of classroom.  You'll get to know me more as we move forward, but here is a quick introduction, and a bit of philosophy, to make us all think.