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Great ideas for teaching simple machines to elementary school students. By using movement, visual arts and technology, teaching students about simple machines can be fun and educational.

Great class to teach engineering and sketching that can apply to get development.

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Tips and techniques one elementary school used to help keep high achieving students engaged. Teamwork, cooperation and more are all key components to this unique school program.

#high achievers #teachready #gifted learners

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All we can say is WOW!! You HAVE TO WATCH Megan Bomgaars, a Denver youth with Down Syndrome whose forceful message of "DON'T LIMIT ME!" is a rallying cry for...

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Lesson 1 M1

What’s your What?

Directions: Respond to the following questions.

1. What’s your “what” when thinking about teaching?

Engagement is my “what”. I want students engaged in the different activities I plan in class. Each lesson in a S.Korean textbook for English focuses on a different theme, as smaller units of the lesson focuses on a specific language skill (1). Using drills,writings, reading activities and game activities, I want my students engaged. For students who are not engaged, I want to know what issues they are having in class and outside of class. Also, I want to find new ways to motivate them to be engaged in class through reward systems.

2. What’s your students’ what?

Students do not want to be board; thus, students want to be engaged for their "what" as well. Of course, sometimes learning a new skill takes work, but giving students to a chance to use those new skills in conversation, team, class and in-game activities helpsthem retain what they've learned in a lesson through having fun while practicing. Avoiding one-way interactions such as lecture heavy or never ending videos easily helps prevent boredom (2a and 2b).

3. What’s your students’ parents’ what?

Student's parents have expectations for their "what". This expectation is usually split between their expectations are usually measured by some type of student assessment for their child (grades, reports, etc.). This often can create increased pressure on teachers as parents in general really want their children to both succeed and receive praise for their hard work. If a student is doing homework for example, and both the student and the parent have a hard time understanding the assignment, they may blame the teacher for not giving enough instruction or feedback to complete the task; thus, not meeting an expectation of a parent can lead a parent to blame the teacher (3).

4. What one thing can you do in your classroom to fulfill your students’ what?

A lesson plan that contains a motivation activity, a skills building activity, a practice activity, and a social or game activity can keep students engaged. Having these types of activities keeps the class moving, and prevents students from being board as each activity accounts for different types of intelligences (spatial, social, etc. ) and learning preferences (audio, visual, kinesthetic, etc.). Most of my lesson plans last year with my co-teacher as each sub-section of our lessons focused on Listening, Speaking, Reading, or writing (4a, 4b). For individual assessment, we used "missions" to create this variety while being able to conduct individual 2-3 minutes tests.

5. What one thing can you do in your classroom to fulfill your students’

parents’ what?

If their children (a.k.a students) fall behind, parents want a clear plan for how their child can improve. I think in the "Continuous Improvement" model, having a plan with self-monitoring materials helps students improve, but also shows a clear plan for progress for both students and parents to follow (5). For English, it could be in any of the general four basic macro areas such as reading, writing, listening, or speaking, which could be broken down into more specific micro areas that relate to strategies or a targeted error related to phonemic or written production.

References:

(1) 5th Grade English Textbook Example

http://www.waygook.org/index.php/topic,79536.0.html

(2a) 8 Things Teachers Do To Cause Boredom

http://www.smartclassroommanagement.com/2012/01/28/8-things-teachers-do-to-

cause-boredom

(2b)Attention, Teachers! Why Students Are Bored

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/grant-wiggins/why-students-are-bored_b_4274474.html

(3) How To Handle An Angry Parent

http://www.smartclassroommanagement.com/2011/03/26/how-to-handle-an-angry-

parent/

(4a)Multiple Intelligences