In response to all of the attention given to the flipped classroom, I proposed The Flipped Classroom: The Full Picture and The Flipped Classroom: The Full Picture for Higher Education in which the …
Download our classroom icebreakers printable and "go fishing" with your students as they ask and answer questions of one another.
Observation and concentration can get a fun workout with this page, where your child is looking for difference between the pictures.
I am so excited to bring you Tech Talk Tuesday! I just got back from attending the Georgia Education Technology Conference (GaETC) and I am in a techy mood! I am inviting all my educator friends to link up to discuss something you love pertaining to technology in the classroom! Maybe it is a teacher tip, maybe a student tip, or maybe it is just something amazing you hope to do one day! Either way, check out the links below and join the party!
Doodlr is a spin on Tumblr. Students make connections with words and symbols through doodling. This activity includes a parabola graphic organizer for students to label in relation to real-world scenarios. Available in printable form and digital for Google Slides.Add more iMath activities to the pho...
A Sample SLO for Art Teachers % %
Go over the German alphabet with your kid, learning together how to pronounce each letter.
Many people struggle to learning new things. But what if I told you the problem might not be with what you are learning, but with how you are learning it?
Introducing our new Phonics Coloring Worksheets for Word Families, which give kids practice finding & reading words with common phonics...
Differentiation and scaffolding can help students better understand and learn. Here are teaching ideas and tips to use in class.
Strategies and supports for executive functioning challenges can make all the difference, especially for students who struggle with task initiation. This is such an important skill, since it's like the motor in allowing us to get started on all tasks and assignments. When someone is struggling to in
On A Peach for the Teach on Facebook, I invited people to ask their most challenging behavior questions. We got some great questions, each of which really tied together. Dona asked, I have a student that comes to me from second grade (I teach 1st) for my entire reading block, who likes to shout out talk back and just shuts down when you ask him to do something. He then treats his 2nd teacher with severe disrespect when he goes back to class. Rebecca asked, I have a class of 25 this year. 1 student is below K level (I teach 1st grade), 2 are identified as ADHD, we are working towards another student getting identified as ADHD, and I have 2 students who have really disrespectful attitudes. I have tried talking with parents, I have changed their seating, I have tried encouraging them and pointing out the positive......nothing seems to be working. Ideas? Lindsay asked, I need motivation tips for kids who can do the work but basically refuse to... These are such common issues that teachers face daily. I think they all tie together and have similar interventions, which led me to write this blog post-- How to Help Calling Out and "Class Clown" Behavior. "If you put a kid in the position of choosing between looking bad or looking dumb, he will choose to look bad." - Rick Lavoie, Motivation Breakthrough When a student is performing at a level lower than his peers, he is often aware of that. That could be part of the reason for the acting out. Maybe the child is embarrassed and would rather be seen as a class clown than struggling. It allows the child a sense of control over a situation where he would otherwise feel out of control. Try giving him some control in a positive way. To intervene, start with an informal play meeting. Meet with the student individually when he is calm, to play a preferred, non-academic game at the beginning or end of the day. He may be more likely to open up honestly in that type of setting through informal conversations (e.g., favorite TV shows, games, etc.). Casually ask what he likes and doesn't like about school, and "admit" to him that you always had a hard time with [insert his least preferred subject]. Try not to make it obvious that this is the whole point of your conversation. He might give you some insight into what's causing this. It's also great for establishing rapport, which will help you to get the student on your side. Give him some sort of task with which he can be successful, and give him positive attention for completing it. Avoid patronizing him or making it obviously at a level lower than the other students. Instead, try non-academic leadership positions, like a class helper, teacher's assistant, etc. Maybe give him the opportunity to call on students with questions. "Class, today we are going to try something new." Next, set limits. Start by telling the whole class that today we are going to try something new. Starting today, the teacher will no longer answer any calling out. Explain that we need to practice raising our hands and not calling out. Demonstrate, practice, and ask for volunteers to show you what hand raising looks like. Establish a non-verbal cue (e.g., a cue card with an image of a hand, or simply hold up your hand), and completely ignore calling out. Instruct the class to also ignore calling out. Have students practice calling out while you ignore it. Explain why you're doing this, so the student knows it's not just him being ignored. Ignore the behavior, not the child. You might want to give one verbal cue, such as, "I'd be happy to answer you when you raise your hand." This is your new procedure that will happen every single time a student calls out. You could still say it in a positive tone of voice, but it's all you will say. Give a Little, Get a Little Use positive language to elicit positive language. If a student is using disrespectful language, being threatening will teach the child to talk back with threatening language. Think about your reaction when somebody confronts you with doing something wrong. You initially feel a little attacked, so you want to react. Give the student the opportunity to save face. For example, instead of, "How dare you speak to me that way?" try a, "Whoops, that sounded disrespectful. I know you could ask me using nicer words," and only respond when he uses nicer words. If he doesn't, say, "I'll be over here when you're ready to use nice words to ask me." Dodge the Power Struggle To nip disrespect in the bud, we need to avoid power struggles-- even when a student questions what we're doing. That's the part that really tricks even the most skilled behavior interventionists. We want students to believe in, trust, and respect us. When they question what we're doing, we want to tell them. Please don't. You don't need to justify yourself in this moment. You may be skilled with planned ignoring, but when the child asks, "Why are you ignoring me?" it's too tempting to reply with an explanation, but resist the urge. If you planned and practiced this procedure previously, the child already knows why you're ignoring him. He may try to get you to give him anything other than the ignoring. Stick to the ignoring, and he will eventually try using nice words to get you to reply. It may also be helpful to teach a lesson on the words "disrespect" vs. "respect." Teach the meaning, and explain situations and words that are unacceptable. Teach this with empathy, and practice it. If the child uses negative language in class, prompt with a, "Please use your nice words if you need me to respond to you." Completely ignore anything else. I know that using a firm prompt followed by planned ignoring sometimes feels like you aren't doing anything to stop the behavior, but that's the best thing about it-- doing "nothing" stops the behavior. It completely eliminates the power struggle and argument. The child will be forced to use kind words to get any type of reaction out of you and to gain access to his wants/needs. This also works with whining. I told my little ones that my ears can no longer hear whining, and they all stopped whining. Now if only I could use planned ignoring on messes to make my kitchen clean itself! Words of Caution Sometimes when implementing planned ignoring, the child may initially test the limits and engage in more attention-seeking behavior. This is typical and should pass when he sees that he won't get a reaction. I got a comment on this post that really made me think and add another word of caution about this strategy-- exercise caution when using this for students with bonding and/or attachment needs. We certainly do not want to intensify feelings of abandonment, and we want to be sure that we are responding to their needs. It is vitally important to make sure that we are ignoring the behavior, not the child. Give the child plenty of positive attention for positive behavior. Make giving positive attention during appropriate behavior part of your behavior protocol for this child. When the negative behavior ends and the child begins acting positively, give positive attention. No need for a lecture at that moment. After the Procedure is Learned Once you are sure that the student understands how he will appropriately gain access to wants/needs, you can begin to address the calling out caused by impulsivity and habit. Make a T-chart, and write the positive behavior on the left and negative on the right (e.g., "Called Out" and "Raised My Hand"). Instruct the student to tally when he does each. This alone is often enough to curb the negative behavior. Other times with more severe behavior, it helps if tallies are tied to reinforcement. For example, the student can earn [something preferred] if he has more positive than negative tallies at the end of each block. You could also set goals based on baselines. For example, if the student reduces his calling out by ___% or does not exceed ___% incidents of calling out, he can earn [something preferred]. Class Dojo is another fun way to track this! The teacher can track the behaviors throughout the day, or the students can self-monitor behaviors on their T-Charts and plug them into the Dojo at the end of the day. Establish a procedure that students must earn more green (i.e., "positive") than red (i.e., "needs work"), or a certain percentage of green, in order to earn a reinforcer, positive note home, etc. Another helpful strategy is bonus free time. It's often harder for a student with ADHD and/or behavior needs to attend to instruction for a given length of time, so plan three breaks in the day. I call them "five minute free time" to play with something fun, and I end each of my subjects with it. It gives me five minutes to clean up or correct work, and it gives the students five minutes to regroup. If you're strapped for time, you could have students complete exit tickets, assessments, etc., and give the student with ADHD the special free time. It also gives him something to word toward, as he has to earn the free time. If a student engages in negative behavior or work refusal, I ask if he is earning his free time or if he is to make up his work during free time. Never underestimate the power of a question instead of a demand. A simple, "Are you earning your free time?" is often enough to set the behavior back on track. An additional motivational tool is a task chart where students rank their tasks by preference. They earn little reinforcement for easy/preferred tasks and high reinforcement for non-preferred tasks. You can download that chart for free here. What are some ideas you use in your classroom to help calling out and "class clown" behavior? Do you have any questions about behavior challenges? Please share in the comments below! A Peach for the Teach
Most of us teach multiple grade levels. I teach 4 year olds through 94 year olds. I skip 12 year olds through somewhere in the 60's, though. I think that probably needs explaining, right? I teach Junior Kindergarten through fourth grade and also facilitate music and drum circles at an assisted living center every 2-3 months. The youngest were probably my most difficult age to plan for starting out as a brand new teacher and I continue searching for great material to add to my "collection". We all know how it is - in a singular 30 minute lesson with the younger kiddos we might go through 10-15 activities! Interestingly, my oldest sometimes seem the same! I seek materials from various sources; blogs, bools, fellow teachers, and websites. Several years ago I found a childrens music performer named Nancy Stewart. Each month she posts a Song of the Month! You can search by category, year/month, and alphabetically, and even better - all her songs are downloadable, some have visuals to download, and most have the sheet music to download - all for FREE! YES! There are songs for Eid, Christmas, St. Patirck's Day, Diwali, Valentines, seasonal songs and everything in between. Most of the music is original and I have found some really wonderful material! One of my favorites is the Rhythm Stick Song. Nancy so kindly gave me permission to share the song with you here - the mp3 is available on her site - click the link above. Hope you enjoy it - my kiddos do! We also make up additional verses - "With my sticks I run...", walk, hop, etc. My favorite rhythm sticks are the Basic Beat Combination Sticks pictured below. I love these - perfectly sized at 8" long, no splintering, and one is smooth and the other ridged. They are about $3.00 a pair, and an awesome investment! You can get them here from West Music. Have fun with these! Happy New Year!
Working with kids and young adults who are oppositional can be challenging. Being oppositional might mean refusing to do work, breaking rules, and engaging in other challenging behaviors. The truth is, many kids can be oppositional from time to time, so many of these strategies work with all learner
Introducing our new Phonics Coloring Worksheets for Word Families, which give kids practice finding & reading words with common phonics...
Oh so many phonics rules to remember! From remembering that vowels have two sounds to the more advanced rules- WOW! It’s quite a bit for our little readers and writers. As we teach the rules, it’s always helpful to incorporate visuals and stories. It gives our students something to anchor to when coming across a […]
This is a plan for teaching your students how to set and work on achieving SMART goals. This includes a step-by-step lesson plan.
I wanted to stop by today and share some a few of my “go-to” activities during the first week of school to build our classroom community and set expectations for […]
Hey everyone! I hope you had a great holiday and if you’re like me you’re definitely enjoying your time off school. Yes I love and miss the kiddos and have seen some updates about them on FB but I’ve really enjoyed no alarms, comfy clothes, Netflix, organizing my home, and staying up late. The joys ... Read More about Read and Recall Freebie Update!
Your ESL students have to write sentences following the example in the
Have you ever had a class that just tried your patience day after day? Have you ever felt like you could walk away from teaching forever tom...
Many kids and young adults struggle with executive functioning challenges. Some are easy to spot, such as when a student can't focus on a lesson or comes to class without their entire binder. Other EF challenges are less obvious, though. A learner might take two times as long on homework because th
Use the verbs given and write what the people are doing right now.
Are you looking for some real world practice to teach the Pythagorean Theorem? This set of Pythagorean Theorem practice is a great way to help kids see its importance and relevance in life. Kids do well with math problems that they can relate to, or at least ones that would make sense in their worldviews. This post shares some understanding of what it means and how to apply it to solve problems.
I LOVE saving figurative language until June - it's such a fun language unit ... and perfect for our "dreaming of summer brains". We finished up our EQAO testing mid week, and this onomatopoeia activity was the perfect break from testing. How fun is that??? Students chose two contrasting colours - one for the background and one for the word and border "bursting out of the page". They also needed newspaper (cut just a fraction smaller that the "bursting out of the page border" and glued the newspaper on top. They glued their word on top of that (we had brainstormed a lot of onomatopoeia words, but for some reason most of them chose SPLAT for their word). I also had them do a little shading under their letters for that little extra POP (see, I know some onomatopoeia words, too). ;) I had seen this awesome idea on Pinterest and followed it back to Artisan des Arts. Her examples are FANTASTIC!! We also wrote simile poems this week. I found a little template HERE for the students to use for their rough copies. When students were finished their templates, I had them write out their good copies, and illustrate a few lines with a small image. I hung these up, too ... LOVING our bulletin board switch up ... even this late in the school year!!! (I have two of these "smART class" bulletin boards side by side in the classroom. 15 more school days left ... I think I can ... I think I can ... Happy Friday!!!
Try out some new games to practice adding and multiplying doubles! A fun way to practice adding doubles. In this game, students practice their addition skills while moving along the game board. A printable is included to assess learning. This math game can be used for math stations/centers, partner games, or small group practice. This ... Read More about Slides and Ladders Games!
8 Effective Study Tips For AsLike many students, I do not have photographic memory and need to study hard and effectively to be successful in school. The study tips listed below has allowed me to ace classes and exams over the years and I hope that they will help my fellow students out there in the world.1. Make the material personally meaningfulWrite your notes in your own words and form various cue associations, such as images and experiences. Rote memorization can only go so far. 2. Use mnemonic devices & diagramsCreate a story involving large chunks of information or items or separate them into acronyms (Be as funny or as crude as you would like). For information that is hard to describe, try drawing diagrams and be creative with color coding to help you visualize. 3. Fill out or make the study guide.If a professor creates a study guide for you, trust me on this and fill it out the best you can. However, if they do not provide one, create your own. This requires you to go through your notes, consolidate them, and organize them in a way that you understand which is very valuable. 4. Test your knowledge.You can ace your exams by strengthening your brain to retain information. By practicing and self-testing, you will know the material by the exam days. Create flashcards, whether tangible or online (e.g. www.quizlet.com), and go over them regularly. They are excellent memory reinforcement tools and sites can offer games to help you stay engaged. Don't stress and cram the night before an exam. However, there is nothing wrong with light refreshers of the material.5. Minimize interferenceIt is very important to know the best environment that you can study in. Do you study better in a noisy or quiet place? Can you focus better with music on? Do you get distracted by the internet and social media?If distracted by sites, use a web extension that can block sites for a certain amount of hours. Also, put away your phone!!6. Find the best way YOU learn.I personally know that I learn better when I read and write the material I want to memorize over and over again. However, for my study buddy, she needs to hear and repeat material out loud as an auditory learner. Find out what your learning style is through the above diagram or the VARK Questionnaire (http://vark-learn.com/). 7. Take breaksOverworking your brain limits absorption of information. Taking breaks helps destress and focus. This does not mean for an hour or more, but take at least 15 minute breaks in between long study sessions. Eat some snacks and drink some water during this time.Another recommendation is using the Pomodoro technique, which is a timer that breaks down productivity into intervals and short breaks. There are various online sites and apps that offer this or something similar. 8. Get a study buddyIt's better to suffer together. Just kidding. Having a friend or classmate to study with can help you split up work or simply provide someone to review the material with. Additionally, they can explain information that you may not understand thoroughly and vice versa.
Need some brain teasers and problem solving for kids? They'll enjoy these free printable Crack the Code Puzzles featuring some silly donut jokes and punchlines.
We Leverage Sketchnotes to Synthesize and Simplify Ideas Enable Learning Provoke Thinking and Reflection Connect People With Ideas Facilitate Conversations Inspire Better Performance Why Visuals Work? We combine our "hands-on" leadership experience with visual tools like sketchnotes to offer: Visual Facilitation and Collaboration Value in organizations is created when people come together, collaborate and brainstorm
I finally nailed teaching symbolism! Using candy was both engaging and efficient - a major win that students remembered all year long!
Adding creativity to the classroom can seem like a daunting task, but it's important for making learning fun, engaging, and memorable!
Strategies and supports for executive functioning challenges can make all the difference, especially for students who struggle with task initiation. This is such an important skill, since it's like the motor in allowing us to get started on all tasks and assignments. When someone is struggling to in
When teaching a phonics skill it’s often helpful to use a key word and picture to help the students remember the sound to the letter combinations. For the oa/ow/oe phonics bundle, my fabulous artist created these “bubble” themed borders and game boards and they turned out absolutely adorable! I just love them! This phonics bundle contains […]
Synonyms and Antonyms Anchor Chart! This blog post contains the material to create this anchor chart, plus a FREE interactive notebook entry for synonyms and antonyms!
