Invigorating Your Classroom
Teaching is often an exhausting profession. With little time during the day for planning, who can blame teachers for relying on tried and true lessons? Once new teachers find their rhythm in the classroom, they begin filling their cabinets with lesson plans for every unit they teach. Unfortunately, these lesson plans often remain unchanged for years, and soon both teachers and students find themselves yearning for something a little more engaging. This week, we provide you with a few ways to inject some new life into your classroom.
This Week's Tips
Revamp Old Lessons (Monday)
Swap old lessons for new ones. Sift through your lesson plans and select a few of the oldest ones for revamping. Review learning objectives for relevancy, modifying them where necessary. Now begin to rethink the teaching of the concepts. Search the Internet for ideas, ask colleagues to share their lesson plans, or try connecting the lesson to the interests of your students. Incorporate new media into your presentation or students' presentations.
Add Internet Activities (Tuesday)
Incorporate at least one Internet-based activity per unit next year. Check with your curriculum specialist or technology coordinator for ideas. Review your lessons for themes that have a connection to the real world and search the Internet for related sites. You can also visit your textbook site to get ideas for these activities. Consider developing a WebQuest for the unit.
Develop Cross-Curricular Projects (Wednesday)
Design a cross-curricular project with a fellow teacher. First review your curriculum to identify at least three topics that lend themselves to a cross-curricular approach. Then, reach "across the aisle" to other teachers to find a colleague interested in collaborating on the project. Think about the ways that the project will help each teacher's students to reach their learning objectives for the courses.
Think Like A Student (Thursday)
See yourself from your students' perspective. Imagine that you are sitting in your class, doing the things you ask of your students. Are you bored or engaged? Why? How much teacher-talk is occurring? Now imagine that you are completing the homework that is assigned. Is it genuinely helping you to learn the subject, or is it simply busywork? Now move back into your role as the teacher. How can your observations help you to make your class more engaging?
Raise the Bar for Students (Friday)
Expect more from your students. Raise the bar for your students a notch next year. Plan for your students to achieve a higher level of mastery by incorporating more advanced content from the beginning. Students who know that your expectations are high will be more motivated and self-confident. At the end of the first semester, compare their performance with last year's to see if gains were made.
