You've heard about it. Or read about it. Or tried it. Or brushed it off as a waste of time. Or maybe even use it regularly. What? you wonder. ...(I'm pausing here on purpose. Don't worry.)... ...(Getting a bit awkward, I know. Stay with me.)... Wait-time. (See what I did there?) Wait-time is giving students, particularly a large group of them, time to think before calling on someone to respond aloud. In my blog post on Ways to Get Kids Deeper Into Text , I call it "Pause with Intention." Here, I want to zoom in on this idea of wait-time and show you the power it can have on how your students think. We'll pair some simple techniques with that nice long paaaaaaauuuuuuse, and we'll look at the different effects it has on your class. The Pause By itself, when you pause your instruction or dialogue with your students, what happens? And I'm not just talking about a wee little take-a-breath pause. I mean a drawn-out, five-Mississippi...
If you have followed the discussion over the past years about "21st Century Skills" or have been on this planet long enough, you know that the ability to work with others is just as important as any "content" knowledge that we, as teachers, can provide. That being said, working "cooperatively" is NOT natural for all people, especially young children, and we have to make sure we are thoughtful about how we help students learn this valuable skill.  Today I thought I'd share three key things to keep in mind--and then offer a few suggestions to get your brain thinking about ways to incorporate more learning partnerships in YOUR classroom! Partnerships are the perfect "starting point" for cooperative work!  Think about how difficult it is for us, as adults, to get 4 or 5 of us to agree and be productive!  Young students simply haven't been around long enough to know how to do that "delicate dance" of sharing, contributing...
Having strong classroom management skills greatly increases a teacher’s effectiveness. The students have more time on task and more positive learning experiences when there are procedures and routines in place that enable the room to “run itself.” Consistency and clear expectations are the key to proactively avoiding most potential behavior issues. One component of an effective classroom management plan is having strategies to help modify student behaviors and encourage students to make smart choices. Most teachers have tried and true behavior management systems they have used year after year. However, different cohorts and individual children may require something different from the norm. This blog post will provide you with tips on what to do if your current classroom behavior plan isn’t effective. #1 Analyze why your current behavior system isn’t working. Sometimes the behavior strategies that worked great for a few years don’t work with your current class. See if you...
After teaching my math standards with project-based learning for the last 5 years, I can honestly say that I will never go back. My students have never been more engaged, and I've never had so much fun teaching!  Not sure what project-based learning is? Read this blog post first! PBL is easy to plan. With project-based learning, you don't need countless worksheets and activities for students to complete. You need a really high-interest topic and a few guidelines for where you want the project to go. The point is to make the activities as real-life as possible, so you won't need everything scheduled minute by minute.  When I plan my PBL for math, I sit down with my planning guide and my standards for math, reading, writing, social studies, and science. My goal is to make connections in all subject areas. From there I can plan a week of all subjects in less than an hour! Free download Your students will be engaged! Something I noticed about PBL is th...
                  I'm not gonna lie to you...Reader's theaters are a lot of fun! They're fun for my students and they're fun for me. But the best part about adding them to your reading program is that besides being fun, readers theaters can help your students in a number of ways. Here's how: 1. Reader's Theater Engages Students        Introduce an entertaining script to your students and magically, even reluctant readers are hooked! Most kids really enjoy being able to be involved in this "fun" kind of reading. 2. Reader's Theater Strengthens Fluency         One of the great things about reader's theater is that the very nature of reader's theater (practicing the script several times to perform it) allows struggling students the opportunity to re-read the same material for an authentic purpose. This repeated exposure helps develop the fluency skills that will allow students to focus less on the phonetics of reading an...