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- This page is for teachers in SMIC to share their great teaching strategies with others.
- I will start with sharing the strategies that I have used in my own teaching and observed from other teachers' lesson.
- I will continue to learn different strategies and share on this platform.

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Turn any boring review time into a fun, engaging, kinesthetic game! It's just like completing a worksheet, except all students are eager to do it! :)

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- Simply set up behavior expectations and violations on ClassDojo.
- Give/Take away Dojo points depending on the situation.
- Avoid relying on Dojo points too much as too much would not help with intrinsic good behaviors.

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- Depending on the task, count down from a number (10).
- Try not to slow down the countdown too frequently as this would give students the impression that you would away wait for them while they get ready slowly.

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- In the beginning of the school year (or any time you want), assign students with different buddies on the clock. (You should know which clock buddy is good for which activities, e.g. 3 o'clock buddies can read together.)
- Simply ask students to find certain clock buddies for different acti

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- One part of our school's mission is to create a positive and student-centered education.
- By having this platform to share and 'steal', teachers will have more different teaching ideas/strategies that would meet our teaching needs.
- Students will take ownership of their learning in a student-centered classroom.

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I get so many emails about how I use task cards in my room, and one of the most common questions is "What is Scoot?" So I thought I would throw out a freebie and a little post on some things I've learned about Scoot along the way. One of my favorite ways to use task cards is by playing a quick game of Scoot! Scoot is so easy, and the kids love getting up and moving around. However, it can also be one of the most maddeningly frustrating games to manage if you don't set the stage up front.

**Disclaimer: Not all task cards are well-suited for playing Scoot, and I will be the first to admit that it is not the most fantastic way to differentiate (although it is doable), since all of the kids usually end up doing all of the cards. However, it's a great way to see where a student stands on a certain topic. You want to pick a set of task cards with cards that EVERY student can complete in about the same amount of time, and usually in one minute or less, unless you've got more time on your hands.

I'm sure there are many variations of Scoot out and about in the blogging world, but here is how we have played for the last 5 years.

You need a set of numbered task cards (one for every student in your class) that lend themselves well to a fast paced game, and you need a recording sheet for each student. If you don't have a recording sheet or you are like me and run out of copies midway through the month, students can separate a piece of paper into however many sections you need. They need a section for each card.

Place one task card on each student desk, in numerical order. Make it easy for students to navigate through the cards by putting the cards in order as best you can. Then, give each student a recording sheet and a pencil.

Now, each student completes the card on their desk and writes their answer in the number on their recording sheet that corresponds to the number on the task card.

After about a minute, the teacher says "Scoot" (or uses another signal) and the students quickly stand up, leave the card at their desk, take their recording sheet with them, and scoot over to the next seat with the next number and get started on the problem right away.

Now picture this: you've got 30 kids getting up and moving from seat to seat every minute or so. When I first heard about it, I thought it was a NUTS-O idea. Are you kidding? Getting my kids through 5 transitions for centers every day is enough stress. But, once I decided to do it, I knew I had to set some ground rules.

Management Tips for Playing Scoot

*Identify a Signal: Most teachers just say "Scoot" when they want the students to move, but some use a chime or a bell. Regardless, make sure it's a signal that everyone can hear and make sure they understand that as soon as they hear the signal, it's time to boogie.

*Early Finishers: Have a plan for early finishers. If it's math, I usually have them do an activity on the back of their page when they finish (write the first 100 prime numbers, create addition problems on the back, etc.) Same procedure for language arts (divide the back page and think of as many nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc. that you can). Whatever you do, have a plan so that you don't have students sitting and waiting with too much idle time. Similarly, if you think you have a student who won't be able to finish in the allotted time, have a plan for that as well.

*Scoot is Silent: SILENT, SILENT, SILENT. SILENT or the game is over, in my room. Sound harsh? If I let 30 kids talk and make noise while they are scooting, it's going to be a bear to get them to sit back down and get started right away. The kids are very motivated by a good game of Scoot, so it's not hard to enforce this rule.

*Take your pencil with you or leave it there?: Make a decision as a class ahead of time...is it easier to leave your pencil at the seat and only be responsible for taking your recording sheet with you each time, or would you rather take your pencil with you as you go?

*Find the first and last card ahead of time: Have the student with card #1 clearly identify the seat ahead of time (I usually have them stand up and shout "I'm number 1!") so that when the students come to the last card, they know where to find card #1.

*Make sure they understand where their answers go: Remember that only one student will be starting at seat number one, and therefore, only one student writes their first answer in box number one. There is nothing worse than doing ten rounds of Scoot and having a student realize they started writing their answers in box #1 when they started at seat #21. The first few times we play Scoot, I have EVERY student tell me "I have card #3, and I need to put my first answer in box #3." It takes about 3 minutes to do this before you play, but it's so worth it!

It sounds a little overwhelming when I list everything out like that. Never fear! I've got a set of FREE "Soaring Through Scoot" Task Cards for you to use during the first few days of school. I created the set with all of the things that can go wrong at the forefront of my mind. Students have to stand up and talk, tap pencils, hum songs...all the things they AREN'T supposed to do (We all know the power of a non-example). They are also explicitly told where to write their answers on almost every card so that they don't get confused. The tasks on the cards are simple tasks so that they can focus more on the procedure of Scoot rather than the content. Content will come later!

I tested these out with my husband, stepdaughter, and a group of neighborhood kids, and they are hilarious. I can't wait until the first day of school to do this with my students. Click HERE to print your own set.

On our second day of school, we are going to play Back to School Scoot to see how much they remember about the routines of Scoot (and to make a beautiful "getting to know you" bulletin board!)

These are NOT free, but you can download them here for your first few days of school!

If you have any questions, tips, or other suggestions for playing Scoot, feel free to leave them in the comments! Follow my blog with Bloglovin

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Getting Started With Task Cards: Play SCOOT!

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I get so many emails about how I use task cards in my room, and one of the most common questions is "What is Scoot?" So I thought I would throw out a freebie and a little post on some things I've learned about Scoot along the way.

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The beauty of attention-getters is that when used properly, you get an active class to cool down in seconds. Also, it is super easy to teach students, and they love it! :)

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- Group leader: to help teachers with passing out materials, keeping group members on task, etc.
- Co-leader: assist group leaders when there are multiple tasks.
- Speaker, writer, presenter and other roles to assign according to the activity needed.

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(my ABSOLUTE favorite!)

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Photo credit: goddess-arts via flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)

This week, I watched a science teacher use sticky notes in a very creative way. To check for understanding, the teacher gave each student a sticky note and asked each of her science students to give concrete examples of the vocabulary that they had learned in class. As the students exited the classroom, they placed the sticky note on the door. After the students all left the classroom, the teacher collected the sticky notes and was able to tell right away which students understood the concepts and which ones needed some targeted assistance.

This not only helps the teacher, but the students also were able to confront their exact understanding of what they had learned and intuitively they understand the clear message that what they did in class today was important and they are expected to learn.

This got me thinking of all the other ways we use sticky notes to help students learn. We give students "way-to-go!" recognitions on sticky notes. I find that the more specific I am with my praise, the more power it has to reinforce the behavior. I put a note on a student's paper that complements her on her neat writing, and the next day, this student was much less withdrawn and more active in her participation. As a principal, I have seen teachers respond positively when they receive a positive sticky note about something great that I saw in a walk-through observation. Even email and texting have not replaced a well-placed sticky note for powerful communication.

In the Spanish classes I taught, I would use the small sticky notes to provide extra credit points as a reward for student participation and effort. I took a rubber stamp of a toucan that said Bravo! and created my Bravos! right on the sticky notes. If students made attempts to speak Spanish, answered correctly, did something nice, or won a game I would give them these by pealing off a sticky and placing it on their paper. The competition to obtain one was often fierce. The nice thing about this kind of extra credit is that the students are the ones that have to keep track of it. Because they are sticky, all they have to do is stick them on a test or a quiz. I put limits (only five Bravos! could be used on any quiz or test), so they couldn't save them up for the final. I also frequently had auctions of stuff that I got at workshops and conventions that they could bid on with Bravos!

When reading difficult passages from technical texts, I have seen teachers encourage students to summarize what is being stated on a sticky note and then place the note in the margin so it sticks out a bit to make it easy to find in the future

Students use sticky notes to organize their folders, study cards and notepapers

Students storyboard their writing with sticky notes so they can be moved around. This matches the idea that not all of us think sequentially, and allows students to take advantage of ideas spawned out of order

Some students (particularly boys for some reason) when they get a pad of sticky notes seem to always want to draw the antics of stick men on the bottom of each one so that when they flip the pages, it appears that the stick men are moving. This actually requires planning and higher order thinking

Students comment on other student papers or work and give suggestions for improvement and compliments on sticky notes

Students sticky notes to identify things in the classroom, label items in a target language, or categorize items by type

Gallery walks in which students analyze poetry, quotes or philosophies by placing their responses on sticky notes

Teachers use colored sticky notes as disciplinary measures, green notes being exemplary behavior, and red ones warning of impending discipline if behavior doesn't change

Here's a recent Edutopia video that shows how one middle school teacher uses sticky notes to help her assess her students.

Some of the ways I've seen sticky notes used in classrooms:

Who would have thought that simply putting a bit of semi-sticky glue on the back of a small piece of paper could be so powerful for student learning? How do you use sticky notes in your classroom?

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Tools for Teaching: The Amazing Sticky Note | Edutopia

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Photo credit: goddess-arts via flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0) This week, I watched a science teacher use sticky notes in a very creative way. To check for understanding, the teacher gave each student a sticky note and asked each of her science students to give concrete examples of the vocabulary that they had learned in class.

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- Try to play some music for them during an activity.
- Slowly turn up, up, up the volume.
- When the music is really loud, stop the music.
- There you have it, students' eyes on you.

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Use the 'Random Group' feature on ClassDojo to group students randomly.

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ClassDojo helps teachers, parents, and students build amazing classroom communities.

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The Rock 'n' Roll Classroom: Using Music to Manage Mood, Energy, and Learning

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Pump up the volume to increase student learning! Picture this: a room full of boisterous students suddenly calms. A sluggish afternoon math or language arts lesson turns dynamic. Music pours from an inexpensive Mp3 player, and you m