The Teaching Tips Machine

Some of the most common questions I hear teachers ask are…

“How do I get my students quiet down quickly?”

and…

“How do I stop them from talking over me?”

and…

“What can I do to grab their attention?”

Well you’ll be pleased to know that I was recently in contact with Rob Plevin (Creator of Needs Focused Lessons & Needs Focused Classroom Management) and he has produced a brand new resource which answers these very questions.

It’s called Take Control of the Noisy Class and consists of a series of mini-videos together with a stack of very practical back-up resources. It really does cover EVERYTHING you need to know about settling difficult groups and controlling noise levels and incessant chatter.

Just take a look at just some of the contents…

* How to prepare for the challenging class
* Taking control at the door
* Getting them in the classroom sensibly and quietly
* Three types of lesson starters to get them settled and listening
* Attention-grabbing starter activities
* How to maintain lesson flow and keep them on task
* Managing transitions with minimal disruption
* Getting support from senior staff
* What to do when you get no support
* How to run successful group work sessions
* Multiple ways to deal with problems such as constant talking, lost/forgotten assignments, late arrivals, refusal to work, interruptions, rude comments, low level disruption, using cell phones, etc.
* Ending the lesson on a high (And why this is more important than you probably realize)
* Long term prevention – how to prevent this classroom management problems from happening in future
* The ‘Fresh Start Program’ – A step by step strategy for you to ‘start over’ with that particularly difficult group who won’t do anything you say…

Wow! That’s quite a resource! In fact, it’s one of the most practical and targeted classroom management resources for teachers I’ve ever come across.

For more information on this great classroom management resource click the below:
Take Control of the Noisy Class!

I guarantee it will be worth it.

Best Wishes,
Adam Waxler
Teaching Tips Machine, LLC

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As many of you already know I am a die-hard Survivor fan and tonight is the season finale!

In the spirit of the show I thought I’d pass along this email I received last week…If you’re a teacher (even if you don’t like the show) you’ll definitely appreciate this:

Next Season on Survivor….

Have you heard about the next planned “Survivor” show? Three businessmen and three businesswomen will be dropped in an elementary school classroom for 1 school year. Each business person will be provided with a copy of his/her school district’s curriculum, and a class of 20-25 students.

Each class will have a minimum of five learning-disabled children, three with A.D.D., one gifted child, and two who speak limited English. Three students will be labeled with severe behavior problems.

Each business person must complete lesson plans at least 3 days in advance, with annotations for curriculum objectives and modify, organize, or create their materials accordingly. They will be required to teach students, handle misconduct, implement technology, document attendance, write referrals, correct homework, make bulletin boards, compute grades, complete report cards, document benchmarks, communicate with parents, and arrange parent conferences. They must also stand in their doorway between class changes to monitor the hallways.

In addition, they will complete fire drills, tornado drills, and [Code Red] drills for shooting attacks each month.

They must attend workshops, faculty meetings,and attend curriculum development meetings. They must also tutor students who are behind and strive to get their 2 non-English speaking children proficient enough to take the state’s standardized tests. If they are sick or having a bad day they must not let it show.

Each day they must incorporate reading, writing, math, science, and social studies into the program. They must maintain discipline and provide an educationally stimulating environment to motivate students at all times. If all students do not wish to cooperate, work, or learn, the teacher will be held responsible.

The business people will only have access to the public golf course on the weekends, but with their new salary, they may not be able to afford it. There will be no access to vendors who want to take them out to lunch, and lunch will be limited to thirty minutes, which is not counted as part of their work day. The business people will be permitted to use a student restroom, as long as another survival candidate can supervise their class.

If the copier is operable, they may make copies of necessary materials before, or after, school. However, they cannot surpass their monthly limit of copies.The business people must continually advance their education, at their expense, and on their own time.

The winner of this Season of Survivor will be allowed to return to their job!

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As an 8th grade social studies teacher I have my students do quite a bit of content reading in class. Unfortunately, as we all know, much of that reading can be quite dry, or dare I say…boring. Therefore, I am always on the look out for reading strategies that are easy to implement in the classroom.

One reading strategy that I have always had great success with are Anticipation/Reaction Guides. These guides can be easily created and can be used for any type of reading.

All the teacher needs to do is create 5-10 statements based on the text the students are about to read and ask students to agree or disagree with each statement. Next, have students work in pairs or in groups to discuss their responses. All of this is done prior to reading. It is not until after students have discussed in their small groups that they can begin reading.

After students have completed the reading, the students then revisit the 5-10 statements and determine once again whether or not they agree or disagree. And, of course, students then share their response in their small groups followed by a class discussion.

I usually set up my Anticipation/Reaction Guides with three simple columns. The first column is a “before reading” column to agree or disagree with the statements, the middle column is where the statements are actually written, and a final column is for “after reading” for the students to, once again, agree or disagree.

This activity can address lower-level thinking skills or higher level thinking skills by simply changing the statements the teacher creates. For lower-level thinking the statement can simply be a true or false statement. This works well when the teacher just needs a quick activity to spark student interest and yes, this really does spark student interest as the students are eager to read just to determine if they were right. However, if the teacher would like to address higher-order thinking skills then the teacher simply needs to create statements that provoke discussion and initiate critical thinking. In other words, statements that do not necessarily have a right or wrong answer.

Either way, what’s great about these Anticipation/Reaction Guides is that it makes my students actually want to read, and as any teacher knows, that is more than half the battle.

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If you want to make your lessons more engaging, more interactive, more cooperative, and more fun then make sure to check out Rob Plevin’s Needs Focused Lessons. Rob’s Needs Focused Lessons can be used for any subject matter and you can sign up right now for just $1. Yes you read that right! Plus you get two great bonuses for FREE! For more information visit: http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?Clk=3728832

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Teaching vocabulary is something that every teacher needs to be doing regardless of the content being taught. The Word Sort Reading Comprehension Strategy is a simple reading strategy that effectively teaches and reinforces vocabulary. Words Sorts have students find meaning in vocabulary words by having them group the words based on some common characteristics.

The Word Sort reading strategy really only has three simple steps to follow:

1. The teacher makes a list of words from a particular lesson, unit, or reading passage.

2. The students then work in pairs to discuss the terms and organize the terms into different categories. The categories can be set up before hand by the teacher, but it is better to have the students create their own categories. For example, a unit on the Civil War could have the students creating categories such as Causes, Major Battles, and Effects.

3. Have students discuss their reasons for categorizing the way they did.

Word Sorts can be used before reading in order to pre-teach vocabulary and tap into students’ prior knowledge about the subject, or after reading as a closure activity or reinforcement activity. Words Sorts can even be given as homework assignments. Regardless of how you decide to do your Word Sort, it is a great strategy to use when it comes to teaching vocabulary.

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As a history teacher my students must deal with lots of opinions. As I tell my students, “There are not always right and wrong answers in social studies…what is important is how you back up, or support, your answer.”

By having students make an argument and support their argument, they are not only addressing higher order thinking skills, but it is also a great way to spark student interest in a topic. As teachers know, sparking student interest in a topic is extremely important, but can also be a great challenge.

Fortunately, it is sometimes the simplest teaching strategies that can provide students with the most success. A great, and simple, teaching strategy to help students support their opinions with facts is known as the Two Column Opinion-Proof Chart. This simple teaching strategy will address higher order-thinking skills as well as spark student interest in a topic. Not only that, by the Two Column Opinion-Proof chart can be a great tool to improve reading comprehension as well.

A two column chart can be easily set up by having students fold a piece a paper in half vertically (hot-dog style). Have students label the left column “Opinion” and the right column “Proof”. The teacher can then assign an opinion or have the students choose an opinion for themselves and write it down in left column. Students must then support their opinion in right column using whatever resource or resources the teacher chooses such as textbook reading, internet, video, or newspaper.

Not only does this teaching strategy help improve comprehension and spark student interest, but students can then use their Opinion-Proof charts to write persuasive essays, newspaper editorials, letters, or even set up classroom debates.

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Are you looking for more teaching tips?

For effective teaching tips that you can start applying to your very next class make sure read 52 Teaching Tips @ www.52TeachingTips.com

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