Timberlake High
School in Boise makes riding a bike to school a bit safer
and easier. In addition to ample bike racks near the main
door, they have provided a small bike service area for students
as well. Tires low?, no problem. Use the air pump. Handle
bars need tightening?, you’re in luck. An assortment of hand
tools are available for use. Everything is attached to locked
cables and mounted on a permanent pole next to the bike racks.
Here's a First
Day Activity: Pass out envelopes or postcards and have students
self-address them. Keep them handy for sending postivie comments
and / or suggestions home during the year. Make it a point
to send at least one per student.
Designate a table
near the middle of the room for "office supplies".
On this keep paperclips, stapler, a good pair of scissors
(tethered), tissues, pencils, etc.
Eliminate the forgotten
pencil AND the pencil sharpener. Keep 2 large cans by your
door. One filled w/ sharp pencils, one for dull discards.
Have students pick up one as they come in and drop it off
as they exit. YOU can sharpen them from home w/ an electric
sharpener while watching a ball game. Eliminate the time waster
of students needing to sharpen pencils and eliminates the
forgotten writing utensil.
Along with adding
student choice on assignments, consider also including choice
on tests. For example students could choose 4 out of the 5
sections to complete, or "answer any 15 of the following 25
questions," etc. Or you could even have 3 different types
of exams and students could choose one to complete entirely.
When it was time
for my class unit test I was feeling a bit uneasy about the
preparation. Thinking we should probably spend a bit more
time I the topic, I told them that the test wouldn't count
as a test, but was really just to give me some feedback on
what they know and what we need to cover in more detail. Wow
- the scores were the highest ever! Who knew that simply removing
the stress associated with "TEST" would make my students smarter?
I'm going to re-think how I present the idea of tests now
going forward. - Conference participant, Toronto
On the morning
of a state standards of learning test, I take the entire grade
level into the gym for a 30 minute Brain Gym break. 20 minutes
of upbeat music and activities, followed by 10 minutes of
calming music and relaxing exercises. What makes this a de-stressor,
besides pumping all of those great brain chemicals to help
the students think, is that I tell them the state test is
more a check of how we teachers are doing in our teaching.
Test taking strategies are covered by the classroom teachers
and as the Physical Educator, I integrate movement into the
core curriculum. I believe classroom teachers and Physical
Educators (and administrators in the lead) have a golden opportunity
to unite for the common gain. As I like to say, the brains
can absorb only as much as the hind parts can endure. And
we are all in the brain business. -Mark Pankau, M.S. Ed.,
CMT, Loudoun Co., VA
In my math class
I break the class into teams of four and have them work the
practice problems out as a group. I sign them off as they
finish and we have extra points for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place
teams. Teacher workshop participant, Montana
When grading papers,
I use a green pen and check the correct answers while not
marking the incorrect answers. This provides encouragement,
as most teachers use red to mark the incorrect answers. Timothy
Bufford, Cross Creek High School, GA
Along with adding
student choice on assignments, consider also including choice
on tests. For example students could choose 4 out of the 5
sections to complete, or "answer any 15 of the following 25
questions," etc. Or you could even have 3 different types
of exams and students could choose one to complete entirely.
When assigning
math problems for homework, always send an answer sheet too.
Have students self-check after every couple of problems. Doing
20 - 30 problems incorrectly and not knowing until the next
day, does more harm than good.
On any test that
affects student's grade, write their current grade in the
bottom corner of the paper so they see immediately how current
test affects their overall course grade.
Each time you change
to a new unit, rearrange the room. Students are interested
as soon as they walk into the room.
Do physical exercises
or any movement requiring gross motor muscles while learning
and practicing new spelling words
In math class break
the class into teams to work the practice problems out as
a group. Give points for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place team.
School planners,
or agenda books, can be overwhelming to many students (especially
those with ADHD). An alternative is to have them simply write
their daily assignments on one sheet of paper, changing ink
color with each subject. Then they can cross them out as completed
Mark Pankau at Guilford
Elementary School in Virginia sent us this tip:
As the Physical Educator at my school, I assess all students
on their dominant eye and ear, and then give to the classroom
teacher for preferred seating. A right eye/ear dominant
should sit on the left side of the class if the teacher teaches
from the front of the classroom. Opposite for the left
eye dominant. Some will be a combination - sitting in
the middle. For eye dominance, student makes a window
shape with their two hands, extends arms straight and looks
at the teacher. Only the dominant eye will
show up in the window. For ears,tap lightly on a book or clipboard
and ask the student to listen to the tapping. They should
put one ear toward the sound.
Since I teach Math,
I have set up some class days in rows and columns, marking
the floor with painter masking tape as a coordinate graph.
As students enter the room they take a card with an ordered
pair which is their seat for the class. (0,0) would be the
last seat in the back row and the farthest to the left side
of class if facing the front of class.(5,5) would be in the
first row all the way to the right. -Shirley Hartwig,
Challenger Learning Center, FL
TEACHING TIPS
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