Last week, I decided to allow my students to use their own devices in the classroom. At my school, students have to keep their cell phones put up unless they are needed and have been approved by the teacher. I developed a QR code scavenger hunt.
We began our state testing review early last week. We usually spend about three to five weeks reviewing. Students can get bored since we are not learning new material each day so I try to allow the students to compete and move around as much as possible. I keep track of group points and individual points throughout the review and then reward the winners right before state testing. For this assignment, I created QR codes using a free resource online. You can Google many different ones. I just put questions on the QR codes...all about the states of matter. Then, I hid each QR code around the classroom. I used two copies (so I actually hid twenty QR codes). This made the challenge a little more difficult. Students loved it! They were literally running around the classroom. I allow my students to work in pairs for activities like this in case someone doesn't have their own device. The first group to get me their answers were the winners...if all their answers were correct. Students left the classroom anxious to tell the other classes how much fun class was today. You can see the full lesson by clicking HERE.
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The principal walks in for an unannounced observation. You know that every post-evaluation conference brings up the topic of "how do you know that your students are learning what you're teaching?" We just know! Right? We teachers just know! I can tell you which students are engaged, which students understand the content, which students are copying off their neighbor, which students just nod their heads pretending to understand...we just know! We know because we are with them every single day. We are apart of the process. But, when the principal is in the room, they want to see the evidence. They really mean to ask, "How do I, the principal, know that the students are learning?"
My lessons are very fast-paced. I like to plan about four to five different things each day. During my planning process, I try to think of ways where the students can compete. I'm a very competitive person. How do the principals know that students are learning in my classroom on those observation days? We play games. I love using "assessment games" in my lesson plans. My students know them as "Rapid Fire, "First to Stand", or "Whoop Whoop". They are all three quick little games that students participate in from week one of the school year. They become "trained" on how to transition to and from these games early on so I can use them any time I need to throughout the year. The games can be changed easily so they can be used for any topic. Today, I'm introducing an Acids and Bases "Whoop Whoop" game. It's very simple to play and students love it. I divide my students into groups of four. I put all the playing cards into a cup and give each group their own cup. Students take turns answering questions. This is a great review! Click on the picture below to see the whole activity or click HERE. Wouldn't it be great if every student came running into your classroom excited about hearing you teach every day? It seems like a stretch...right? I know it doesn't happen every single day, but I do try to make my class fun and engaging.
I like to get my students excited about any new topics that are introduced throughout the school year. I do this by "advertising" the new unit about a week before we take a test on the current unit. It's good to hang up questions or pictures that will be used during the next unit. It gets the students talking about my class. Can you believe that I actually had students, eighth grade boys, meet me after lunch to "settle a debate" about a preview question that had been hanging on my classroom wall for two days? I try to make DAY 1 of a new unit very hands-on. It's the first impression. For our acids and bases unit, I set up 14 observation stations around the classroom. Students had to walk around tasting, smelling, touching, and looking at a variety of things that were either an acid or a base. What an engaging way to let the students explore science! I hadn't taught them a thing yet. They were responsible for making predictions after every experience. Towards the end of class, we met as a whole group and discussed the predictions. Then, we compared what all the acidic things had in common. Students came up with a list of properties that described acids. They were so excited to see if their predictions were right or wrong that they didn't even moan when they had to write in their interactive notebooks. Click on the picture below or click HERE to see the whole lesson. Teaching is my passion! I feel the need to start off by saying that because I am surrounded by people that like to teach, but it's not their passion. They often say things to me about the time I spend preparing my lessons. I take pride in what I create. My goal is to engage every type of student every single day no matter what specific topic I'm presenting to them. That means my class has to be fun...and sometimes...having fun is loud.
My classroom is noisy. As a first year teacher, I remember so many mentor teachers drilling how important having perfect classroom management was. It stressed me out. Every day I thought I had these great lessons prepared but I was so afraid of the noise level that I knew my students weren't fully engaged. I even had nightmares about being evaluated by administration and none of my students would quiet down. This was serious! I actually had an administrator tell me that I said "SHHHH" twelve times during one observation my first semester in the classroom. WOW! I had been cursed by the ineffective first year "Shoooooshing" strategy. I decided from that day on that I would no longer care about the noise level in my classroom as long as students were learning. Educators like to call this "controlled chaos". My students know that in my class, they will have the opportunity to make noise, move around, compete, think out loud, participate in discussions, and be heard. My classroom management has never been better. If you keep students busy bell-to-bell with fun, engaging activities, your relationship with them will develop. Having students relationships is the number one key to successful classroom management. I recently had my students practice the scientific method by making home-made duck calls. Yes, it was loud. Yes, I heard more than 120 students' duck calls by the end of the day. Yes, you could say it was annoying. But, I knew they were all practicing forming hypotheses, identifying variables, and writing scientific conclusions in the process. So...noise is okay! Click on the picture "A Duck Call Experiment" or click HERE to see the lesson. |