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Classroom Management | Adolescent and School Health | CDC

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This website provides a summary of the classroom management approaches and skills that research suggests strengthen school connectedness. It includes example strategies, tools, and templates school staff can use to apply these approaches in their face-to-face, virtual, or blended learning modes.

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Jan 20, 2015 - WeLearnedIt for iPad is a platform for educators, students, parents, and administrators that helps students learn outside the bubble. Available Now in the ap...

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PowerMyLearning | Learning Relationships | Education Technology

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PowerMyLearning is a national education nonprofit that strengthens the learning triangle between students, teachers & families.

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Open Author helps you build and publish Open Educational Resources for you and for the benefit of educators and learners everywhere.

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Groups provides a flexible environment to organize, create, share, and discuss resources with others in your network. Collaborate with group members, tag and add resources to shared folders, create your own collections, all within a public or private group.

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Search through collections curated by our digital librarians

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Projects, districts, states, and initiatives make use of Hubs to bring groups of educators together to create, organize, and share OER collections that meet their common goals. Explore Hubs

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Microsites are custom, flexible sites that include all the features available on OER Commons. Microsites allow your users to search resource collections using a custom taxonomy at a unique URL. Contact Us

Our award-winning OER Professional Learning programs support instructors and curriculum specialists to gain the necessary skills required to find, adapt, and evaluate high quality open materials.

In-person and virtual OER workshops help focus instructors to develop a "commons" mindset, to experience the benefits of open processes using the platform's tools, collaborative features, and workflows. This can include using Open Author for creating, remixing, and publishing shared curriculum.

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OER Commons is a dynamic digital library and network. Explore open education resources and join our network of educators dedicated to curriculum improvement.

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Go beyond PD day with comprehensive professional learning programs that work. Connected professional learning supports every educator, every day with the tools and resources they need to help all students succeed.
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Create Student-Centered Classrooms with Personalized Professional Learning

We know that students don't all learn the same way or on the same day, so why do we expect educators to? Support both teachers and leaders with a professional learning program that's built from differentiated learning experiences throughout the school year to create meaningful changes for students in every classroom.

Layered Experiences to Support Continuous Learning

Creating district-wide change requires buy-in from all stakeholders, differentiated support for educators, and a clear plan to continuously build upon pedagogical knowledge and practice.

Layering distinct phases into your professional learning plan provides educators with continued support throughout the school year. Educators will engage in in-person, virtual, group, and individual learning experiences that are all designed to help them make the jump from theory to ongoing changes in practice.
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Professional learning experiences should end with clear next steps for educators to take. Every BetterLesson learning experience is tied to a measurable outcome that gives educators actionable goals and a clear way to measure progress. Educators will work towards their chosen outcomes throughout the school year as they continually try new strategies, measure the results for students, and use that data to build the next stage of their plan.
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Professional Learning, Connected - BetterLesson

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Go beyond PD day with personalized professional learning that works. Connected professional learning supports every teacher, every day with the tools and resources they need to help all students succeed.

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Brain breaks are simple physical and mental exercises. They have a positive effect on learning by:

increasing engagement and cognitive functioning

supporting the brain maturation process

enhancing focus, mood and learning

increasing students' perceived competence

improving classroom behaviour

strengthening teacher-student relationships.

Furthermore, if the brain breaks are physical, they have the additional benefits of:

increasing circulation

increasing the oxygen in the bloodstream which leads to improved concentration

allowing the students to get out of their chairs!

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The first iteration of Indiana's new Graduates Prepared to Succeed performance dashboard, or Indiana GPS is now live! Together, our mission is to empower Indiana's families, educators, school administrators, and community leaders with a learner-centered, future-focused dashboard that displays how our students are building the important knowledge and skills that will empower their success after high school. Click here to view the dashboard!

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The first iteration of Indiana's new Graduates Prepared to Succeed performance dashboard, or Indiana GPS is now live! Together, our mission is to empower Indiana's families, educators, school administrators, and community leaders with a learner-centered, future-focused dashboard that displays how our students are building the important knowledge and skills that will empower their success after high school.

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Free Online Courses for Educators | Canvas Network

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Looking for free courses for educators? Explore The Canvas Network for classes taught by experts around the world

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Classroom Management | Adolescent and School Health | CDC

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This website provides a summary of the classroom management approaches and skills that research suggests strengthen school connectedness. It includes example strategies, tools, and templates school staff can use to apply these approaches in their face-to-face, virtual, or blended learning modes.

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Event Search Results for Common Sense Education

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Common Sense is the nation's leading nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of all kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in the 21st century.

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Everything you need to get started quick with Formative today. Get access to our help center articles, training center courses and live webinar events, Formative library and more.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpOL33QYeEY

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Shifting Your Classroom from Control to Connection Will Decrease Problems and Increase Learning

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In this module, you will articulate the differences between the original and revised elementary music TEKS for kindergarten through grade 5 students and make plans to revise curriculum, instruction, and learning experiences in order to align with the revised TEKS.

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Online collaborative music notation software - Flat

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Create, compose, collaborate, play, and print your sheet music using the world's most simple and intuitive web-based music writing and composition software.

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11 Music Lesson Plans For Elementary | Dynamic Music Room

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Need some inspiration? Check out these 11 Music Lesson Plans For Elementary.

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Written by Holly (Teach Starter)

Are you looking for quick and easy, yet purposeful visual arts lesson ideas for your classroom?

We've all been there... with such a crowded curriculum and the pressure to cover a number of topics within the school week, The Arts are often scheduled for a Friday afternoon. Sure, you can quickly search YouTube for a guided drawing video, often related to another subject area, and you are done! Whilst this is totally a purposful art lesson, doing this every week may not be extending your students knowledge of the Visual Arts.
Make your classroom buzz! Subscribe to Teach Starter and access thousands of curriculum-aligned resources and digital learning tools. Get Started

So, in the interests of helping busy teachers, we have put together some Visual Arts teaching posters and resources to help with your art lesson planning.

Art Elements Posters

Our Art Elements Poster Pack is the perfect starting point. Visually explain the different art elements of Visual Arts to your students with these beautifully designed posters for the classroom.

Art Activity Task Cards

Once you have discussed and even investigated and analysed famous paintings focusing on the different art elements. You can pick between 28 different art activities in our Art Elements Activity Task Cards.

This pack is available in both British English and American English, and includes four different activities for each of the art elements:

These task cards were created with the busy classroom teacher in mind. All materials and directions are explained in a kid-friendly way.

The materials have been kept to a minimum and use the kind of supplies that most classroom teachers will have in their art cupboard/shelf.

Crazy Hair Line Drawing Art Activity

In this art activity, students create a portrait of someone with crazy hair by experimenting with different types of lines.

All that is needed is a lead pencil, white card, a black marker, oil pastels and crayons.

Neverending City Art Activity

In this art activity, students create the illusion of a city that goes on and on by using different shades of the one colour.

Again, very few materials are needed, yet students will love creating this art piece. A lead pencil, white card, paints and paintbrushes are all they need!

For more amazing art activity ideas, check out our Art Elements Activity Task Cards.

Another fantastic art idea is for your students to learn about the history of Aboriginal art in Australia and the variety of techniques used.

In this unit plan - An Introduction to Aboriginal Art, students explore the traditional techniques of:

Aboriginal rock art

Aboriginal sand drawings

Aboriginal bark paintings

Aboriginal body painting

Aboriginal Wandjina artworks

Aboriginal x-ray art

Aboriginal cross-hatching

Aboriginal dot painting.

Art Work Display for the Classroom

Displaying students artwork is a critical component of Visual Arts within the classroom. Here's an idea we love, plus it will save you time at the end of the year.

Dedicate a wall in your classroom to display your students' artwork. Create a banner using our selection of display banners for the classroom.

Using our editable tray labels you can create a special section of the artboard for each student.

Hot tip: use manilla folders as the backdrop for each students' artwork and use manilla folder clip fasteners, each week add your students' artwork to the folder.

At the end of the term, you can simply take the folder down off the wall and send it home as their art portfolio.

For more information, check out our video:

Share your art activity ideas in the comments of this blog... we'd love to hear from you!
Make your classroom buzz! Subscribe to Teach Starter and access thousands of curriculum-aligned resources and digital learning tools. Get Started

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36 Purposeful Art Activities and Resources for the Classroom

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Written by Holly (Teach Starter) We've all been there... with such a crowded curriculum and the pressure to cover a number of topics within the school week, The Arts are often scheduled for a Friday afternoon. Sure, you can quickly search YouTube for a guided drawing video, often related to another subject area, and you are done!

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Our elementary librarians, technology specialists, art teachers, music teachers, physical education teachers and counselors have come together to provide weekly activities to supplement instruction provided by general education teachers. These activities will be updated before each Monday while schools are closed.

Rhythm

Learn about rhythm through this fun game!
Part 1 Part 2

Our art teachers have pulled together a bunch of different art projects for students to try throughout April, from 3-D sculptures to art made with non-traditional materials.

Monthly Activity Calendars
Espanol
Other Activities

Free Online Library

Capstone Publishing is an excellent resource to use during this time of distance learning. The company provides numerous digital books on a variety of subjects and levels. They have generously opened up their site for free.

Username: continue Password: reading.

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Elementary Specials Resources - Richland School District

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Elementary Specials Resources - Richland School District

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Starting out as a young adjunct instructor, I can painfully recall reading my lesson notes from index cards as my students sat passively with blank stares. Fortunately that didn't last long, thanks to a mentor observing my class. But I doubt my experience was much different from that of other emerging educators. After all, I had modeled these ineffective teaching practices after my own experiences as a university student.

Today, however, there has been a huge push in higher education to move beyond these passive methods of instruction that lead to less student engagement and low motivation. As Jennifer Stanchfield discovered, "More is learned through exploring and struggling than by being provided the answer."

It's harder than ever these days to keep our students' attention. But I have improved my approach over the past 30 years based on the simple belief that telling is not teaching. Because of this, I am continually exploring interesting and creative ways to engage my students.

I have identified some outstanding techniques, which I will share here, that have helped to enhance my students' engagement and motivation for learning. Many of these strategies have come from the book Total Participation Techniques: Making Every Student an Active Learner by Himmele and Himmele, which has truly transformed my teaching. So let's get started on transforming yours.

10 Engagement Strategies to Energize and Motivate Your Students

Before we break down specific strategies you can use to enhance participation, it's important to understand that there are five different types of engagement: social, behavioral, emotional, intellectual, and physical. As teachers, we may organically hit two or three of these engagement types, but some we are likely to miss, especially if we're not aware of them. I've struggled with ideas for how to get my students physically engaged, for example.

Below, I've categorized my top engagement strategies by these types to help you address all five. They have been designed for use in university classes and can easily be adapted for any area of study.

Social Engagement: Creating Connections with Students Through Collaboration and Sharing

Social engagement involves social interactions. The key to having effective social engagement is to help students get to know and trust you and other students early in the semester. The following strategies are designed to allow students to make these important connections as they help build a collaborative learning environment of support and trust.

1. Getting to Know You

Prior to the start of a new semester, I email my students a survey to learn more about their interests and preferences. Here are the key questions I ask:

What are your career goals?

How do you learn best?

Share five facts about yourself that will help me get to know you and best meet your needs.

What are your three favorite songs or musicians?

Is there anything else you would like to share that will help me better support your learning?

I also prepare a PowerPoint presentation that I use to introduce myself on the first day of class. I share personal and professional stories and family photos with the hope that my students will feel more connected to me and thus more motivated to open up themselves. I also love sharing stories about my latest connections to the country music stars I meet in Nashville (like that time I got a huge hug from Chris Janson in church).

I then have my students create name tents: They display their names on large, folded index cards to quickly familiarize the class. I also have them use this card to draw or write brief ideas about their interests, which form the basis for how they introduce themselves to their peers.

2. Find Someone Who . . .

I plan first-day-of-class activities that give students simple opportunities to get to know one another in a light-hearted way. For one such activity, I create a template with a nine-space grid in which various criteria are listed. Students must find a different person in the class who meets the criteria listed in each grid space (see Figure 1). For example, "Find someone who is an early riser."

As they circulate around the room, they must find someone for each grid space and fill in that person's name. This activity serves as a great icebreaker and helps students learn each other's names, which is important for helping them feel connected to their peers.

Behavioral Engagement: Establishing Rules, Routines, and Roles

Behavioral engagement deals with routines and behaviors that help promote learning. It is important to teach the routines and behaviors that you want your students to use to improve the quality of peer discussions and the efficiency of class activities. These strategies also help to create a sense of security as students know what to expect from you.

For example, before my students can enter the classroom, I have them wait until I open the door, as I want to be sure I have the room prepared for the day's activities. They also know that I will have a daily prompt posted for them to discuss with their peers as they arrive, which is designed to engage them in the lesson topic of the day.

Here are some other strategies for behavioral engagement.

3. Bounce Cards

With the "Bounce Card" strategy, I provide a card for each student that lists key questions or prompts I want them to discuss with a partner or small group. The questions can be generic so that the card can be used to discuss any topic. (For example, "Rephrase what your partner just said," or, "That's a great point because . . .") The questions are designed to help students strengthen their listening skills and deepen their conversations. The prompts require students to extend, rephrase, and ask follow-up questions to their bounce partners, rather than just give a simple answer.

For example, if I ask students to discuss a video clip, they might just say whether they liked it. But using a Bounce Card forces them to dig deeper. You can adapt the questions on the card to suit your educational purposes, but for the students who struggle with conversational skills, this can be a great template for helping them develop more thoughtful responses.

4. The Lecture T-Chart

You may have noticed that sometimes as students take notes, they don't seem to really be processing what they are learning. The "Lecture T-Chart" consists of a simple template where students record their notes on the left side of a page. Periodically throughout my lecture, I pause and have them use their own words to summarize the key ideas I've just presented, which they write on the right side of the template.

This pause-review-summarize process helps to strengthen comprehension and can be extended by having students share their summaries with others to further process the information through social engagement.

Emotional Engagement: Facilitating Joy, Connection, and Memories

Emotional engagement entails creating safe, positive learning experiences for everyone involved. Students will not be open to sharing their thoughts and responses in class if they feel they will be mocked or disrespected by their professor or peers.

One of the ways I create emotional connection is through music. I'll start each class playing a different student's favorite song or music video (based on what they told me in that initial survey). They love it and appreciate that I actually read their responses.

Here are some other strategies to emotionally engage your students.

5. The Ripple Method

Himmele and Himmele propose the use of the ripple method: Instead of just calling on students who raise their hand, you "ripple" your questions by first having each student respond individually to the prompt (either in their mind or in writing). They then share their responses with one to three peers before you open up the floor to volunteers willing to share with the whole class. This process ensures that every student has time to think of a response.

For example, I use the ripple method when I ask my students each week to share an "aha moment" from their clinical experiences. This relieves pressure for those students who are less motivated to engage in discussion. The students soon realize that their experiences are just as valid as everyone else's and that we are all in this together. They also realize that some of their perceived failures in the field become some of their most precious learning experiences.

Intellectual Engagement: Promoting Choice, Challenge, and Curiosity

Intellectual engagement involves curiosity and meaningful explorations. Whenever possible, give students choices in terms of tasks, topics, and strategies for demonstrating their learning. The more relevant and authentic the task, the higher the level of engagement and motivation.

Here are some activities to spur curiosity and meaning.

6. Drama, Please!

Consider using problem solving, role playing, and acting as ways of demonstrating learning. You will need to be specific about your expectations, but the freedom to explore interests and determine a mode of presentation of ideas will be motivating for many students.

In my teacher education class, I have my students roleplay parent-teacher conferences. I preface this by showing a video clip from the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. While the clip is humorous, it helps the students recognize the vulnerability of parents (and teachers) in these situations, which is an essential understanding when conducting an effective parent-teacher conference.

7. IQ Cards

IQ cards provide an interesting and efficient way for students to share insights about what they have learned, as well as raise questions after a lecture or class activity. Students write an insight (representing the "I" in IQ) on one side of an index card. This insight can be related to something new they learned during that class, or it can be a "so what" statement, indicating how this information can be applied in professional or personal practice.

On the other side of the card, the students write a question (Q) that they have about the information. Typically, I like to have students share their cards with their peers in pairs and then I collect the cards to gather informal assessment data about student learning. This works as an excellent closure activity as it reviews key lesson content and helps me assess whether students are grasping the material.

Physical Engagement: Making Movement Meaningful

Physical engagement involves some type of movement and is an often-neglected engagement strategy in the higher ed classroom. John Ratey, author of Spark (Hatchett, 2008), states that "exercise is the single most powerful tool you have to optimize your brain function." While time and space may be challenges to including physical movement in the classroom, small efforts to engage students physically help to keep them focused and may help change their brains by strengthening neuropathways leading to improved storage and retrieval of information.

While physical engagement can introduce novelty to your class, it's important to think about the physical and mobile abilities of your students, and to provide accommodations and make room for modifications when necessary.

The following strategies help to engage students in movement connected with their learning.

8. Whiteboard Splash and Gallery Walk

Whiteboard Splash (sometimes known as "chalkboard splash" or "graffiti wall") involves students responding to a prompt with words or pictures to explain an idea or concept by writing on the whiteboard (or large chart paper).

For example, I might ask my teacher education students, "What are the activities that should be included in the schedule for the first day of school for young children?" or "What are some strategies you can use to reflect on your teaching practice?" Students work individually or in small groups to illustrate their ideas. Then students circulate around the room for a "gallery walk" to view and discuss the displayed information.

To ensure that students don't passively walk by the work, have them write down the ideas they found new, different, surprising, or worth remembering. Students can then share the results and address additional questions.

9. Inside-Outside Circles

This is one of my students' favorite strategies for physical movement and social engagement. I have students create two concentric circles where each person is in front of or behind someone in the other circle. The inside circle group is then told to turn and face their outside circle group partner. I provide a prompt for the pairs to discuss (for example, "What are some reasons for student misbehavior?") and set a time limit for each partner to share a brief response to the question.

Students then take turns listening to their partner's response. Be sure to set a timer so students know when to end their conversations. Then I have the outside circle group move two places to the left so they are facing a different person. You can provide the same or a different prompt and the process repeats.

To hold students accountable, be sure to circulate and listen to the conversations so you get an idea of their level of understanding and interaction, which you can then use in conducting a closing discussion with the whole group. If space is an issue, consider using the hallway or go outdoors (weather permitting).

If you have students with limited mobility, you can conduct this activity with chairs (and wheelchairs) and students can still have rich interactions. Be sure to position any students with mobility limitations in the inner circle so just the students in the outside circle have to move during the activity.

For online classes, assign pairs of students to breakout rooms and give them a short amount of time (one to two minutes) to share their ideas with their partners. Then you can randomly assign them a new partner using a new set of breakout rooms.

10. Origami Review Game

Depending on your age, you may recall playing a game with origami paper creations with questions and answers on them. Partners can take turns telling each other's fortunes or quizzing each other. I use this often as a content review activity before exams. (You can find directions for the construction and implementation of this game here.)

Your role is to create eight close-ended questions that have simple (i.e., short) answers so they fit on the game board. (for example, "What type of engagement involves movement?" followed by the answer, "Physical engagement.") Each pair of students receives an origami paper creation (see Figure 2), and they take turns asking each other questions from the game piece until all the questions have been covered.

Keep It Fresh and Meaningful

Adding these simple but meaningful engagement strategies into my instructional practices has not only helped create a stimulating, joyful learning environment for my students, but it has also made me a more motivated teacher. I teach a three-hour class and the time now passes quickly for everyone.

Simply put: To keep our students motivated, we have to stay motivated. These strategies can help you avoid the rut of doing the same thing all the time. But keep in mind that even a clever idea can become stale if overused, so make sure to mix and match.

Just remember that novelty and fun are additional benefits of students' cognitive engagement; they are not the main focus of our efforts. So use your class time wisely by choosing meaningful questions and engagement strategies that are related to your learning goals. If you do so, I think you'll find that your students quickly get on board.

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10 Creative Ways to Better Engage Your Students

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Transform your teaching with these outstanding techniques that will enhance your students' engagement and motivation for learning.

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Indiana Academic Standard for Math and E/LA

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Indiana Academic Standard for Math and E/LA

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Indiana Academic Standards for Math & E/LA

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The 2014 Math and English/Language Arts Standards were recommended for adoption by the Indiana Education Roundtable on April 21, 2014. The State Board of Education approved the standards on April 28, 2014.

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Use Copia's curated content catalog to increase collaboration and engagement, helping you imagine your course in a new way. This ensures a streamlined learning experience that is available standalone or integrated into your learning management system. Take advantage of flexible purchasing options: Inclusive Access, traditional eCommerce or Enterprise License Management.

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Use Copia's curated content catalog to increase collaboration and engagement, helping you imagine your course in a new way. This ensures a streamlined learning experience that is available standalone or integrated into your learning management system. Take advantage of flexible purchasing options: Inclusive Access, traditional eCommerce or Enterprise License Management.

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Homepage | Read Write Think

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Not your everyday calendar, here you can find important events in literary history, authors' birthdays, and a variety of holidays, all with related activities and resources that make them more relevant to students.

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Not your everyday calendar, here you can find important events in literary history, authors' birthdays, and a variety of holidays, all with related activities and resources that make them more relevant to students.

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Pixton Comic & Storyboard Builder for Education

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Educators! Learn how to use Pixton in the classroom. Set up your classroom and begin teaching any subject in minutes through the super-power of comics.

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Create playlists of resources using the Collection Builder.

Design and organize personalized, standards-based curriculum with the drag and drop Curriculum Manager.

Deliver custom collections directly to students or share curriculum with colleagues using the Collection Player.

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Lesson Plans & Worksheets for School Teachers | Lesson Planet

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Create playlists of resources using the Collection Builder. Design and organize personalized, standards-based curriculum with the drag and drop Curriculum Manager. Deliver custom collections directly to students or share curriculum with colleagues using the Collection Player.

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Classroom Management Tools & Resources - Google for Education

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Enrich and personalize learning

Drive student agency with tools that meet students where they are - and build skills for their future.

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Classroom can be learned in minutes and serves all types of learners and educators, regardless of their tech savviness. Empower educators, and encourage adoption and proficiency with new tools and techniques, with a broad range of resources.

Teachers can immediately set up classes, easily create coursework, distribute it to the whole class, and grade it efficiently and transparently.

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Need more information about Classroom?

Bring all of your tools together with Google Workspace for Education

Google Workspace for Education empowers your school community with easy-to-use tools that elevate teaching, learning, collaboration, and productivity - all on one secure platform.

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Classroom Management Tools & Resources - Google for Education

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Get started with Google Classroom, a central hub for tools and resources designed to help educators manage classrooms and enrich learning experiences.

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PowerSchool K-12 Software & Cloud-Based Solutions

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Improve student outcomes, increase educator effectiveness, and enhance operational efficiency with cloud-based K-12 software that simplifies processes and helps you make sense of your data. Connect all your data to surface trends and make better decisions. Simplify teaching and learning by connecting instruction, assessments, and special programs management.

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Have you ever been in the middle of teaching a class, glanced at your students, and caught them staring into space? Just when you think you've created the perfect lesson plan or engaging activity, you may find that your students are unfocused and out to lunch. Yet it's essential that you find ways to keep your classes interesting so your students can absorb and retain the information that you present.

For decades, educators have been trying new teaching strategies to keep their students on their toes and get them excited about learning. Although some strategies have failed, others have been found to be quite effective. Explore 10 teacher-tested ways to keep your class interesting so your students will stay engaged all the time.

1. Incorporate Mystery Into Your Lessons

Learning may be the most fun for your students when they don't know what to expect. Try to incorporate a sense of surprise and mystery into your lessons. When you're about to unveil a new lesson, give students a new clue each day up until the last day before the start of the lesson. This is a fun way to make your lesson mysterious, and you may find that your students are actually looking forward to finding out what they'll be learning about next.

2. Don't Repeat Classroom Material

It's appropriate and essential to review classroom material, but try not to repeat it verbatim because this can make it less interesting for students. The next time you need to review material, try playing a review game during which you present the information in a way that's different from the first time you taught the students. The 3-2-1 strategy is a fun way to review and not repeat material. For this activity, students draw a pyramid in their notebooks and write down three things they learned, two things they thought were interesting, and one question they still have.

3. Create Classroom Games

Whether you're 5 or 25, playing a game can be fun. Games are also a great way to keep lessons interesting. If your students need to remember their spelling words, conduct a spelling bee-a contest in which participants are eliminated when they misspell a word. Or if the students need to practice math, have a math bee, which is similar to a spelling bee, but with math problems or facts instead of spelling words. Games make learning fun, and games in class are a prescription for happy kids.

4. Give Your Students Choices

One strategy that teachers have found to be effective is offering their students the ability to make their own choices when it comes to learning. Choice can be a powerful motivator because it helps to foster student interest and independence. The next time you're planning an activity, try making a choice board. Print out a tic-tac-toe board and write down nine different tasks for students to complete. The goal is for each student to choose three tasks in a row.

5. Use Technology

Technology is a great way to keep your lessons interesting. Children love electronics, so try incorporating it into your overall teaching strategy. Instead of standing in front of the room and lecturing, try using a Smartboard interactive display. Expand your cooperative learning activity lessons by connecting to a classroom in another city or country via videoconferencing. Use technology in a variety of ways, and you'll see the interest level in your classroom increase by leaps and bounds.

6. Don't Take Teaching so Seriously

Being an effective teacher is an important job, but that doesn't mean that you have to remain serious in class at all times. Try to loosen up a bit and acknowledge that your students may have different interests and learning styles than your own. It's OK to laugh at yourself at times and to have some fun. You may find that your students are more interested when you're a little more relaxed.

7. Make Your Lessons Interactive

In a traditional classroom, the teacher stands in front of the room and lectures to the students as the students listen and take notes. Unfortunately, this is not the most effective way to hold students' interest. Make learning interactive by creating hands-on lessons that involve students every step of the way. Try using the Jigsaw cooperative learning activity in which each student is responsible for his or her own part of a group activity. Or try a hands-on science experiment. When you involve students and make your lessons interactive, your class becomes more interesting.

8. Relate Material to Your Students' Lives

Try to create a real-world connection to what your students are learning. This will give them a better understanding of why they need to learn what you're teaching. If they're constantly asking you why they need to learn something and you're always answering with "because," you will soon lose credibility. Instead, try giving them a real answer such as, "You're learning about money because in the real world, you'll need to know how to buy food and pay your bills." By giving a straightforward answer, you're helping them make a connection between what they're learning in class and how they'll use this information in the future.

9. Flip Your Lessons

The flipped classroom has been gaining in popularity since the term "flipped" entered the broader education world in 2012. When it was first presented, the idea that students could learn new information at home and then come to school and use class time for critical thinking activities and reinforcement of concepts was unique. However, many teachers are using this strategy and achieving positive results. Students in a flipped classroom are able to work at their own pace (which is great for differentiated learning) and engage with their peers in a more interactive, meaningful way when they're in the classroom. Try using the flipped teaching strategy for your next lesson and observe the depth of your students' engagement.

10. Think Outside the Box

Lesson plans don't have to include worksheets or lectures during which students sit and take notes time and again. Try thinking outside the box and plan a lesson that's completely out of the ordinary. Invite a guest speaker, go on a field trip, or take learning outdoors. When you try something new and different, there's a good chance that your students will respond positively. When planning a lesson, try collaborating with another teacher or taking your students on a virtual field trip. Learning that engages students is the most effective. Your students will find it more interesting to learn when you present the material to them in a variety of creative ways.

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Have you ever been in the middle of teaching a class, glanced at your students, and caught them staring into space? Just when you think you've created the perfect lesson plan or engaging activity, you may find that your students are unfocused and out to lunch.

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How is it that some teachers seem to be able to manage their classrooms without ever needing to raise their voice? Is it some kind of magic? That's the question teachers have been discussing in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook: How can I stop yelling to get my class's attention?

Yelling, it turns out, is rarely worth the trouble anyway. "I never yell anymore," explains Nikki W. "My kids have had enough yelling in their lives and they learn to tune it out." So how can you get them to listen if you stop yelling? Check out these ten teacher-tested tips that really work instead.

1. Try a classic call-and-response or clap-back.

Jordan A. recommends an age-old teacher favorite. "Make a call-and-response. Something like 'Like a good neighbor' and the kids say 'State Farm is there' back and then get quiet. You have to teach it, but after a bit it catches on and works like magic." ( Get more fun attention-getter phrases here.)

Elisabeth P. likes to give them a physical action as a response. "I quietly say, 'If you can hear me, touch your nose. If you can hear me, cross your arms. If you can hear me, give me your best professor look, etc.' After the first few, all students have joined in.

Clap-backs are another fun alternative. "My kids love a clap off," says Gina A. "I clap different patterns for them to mimic. They always quiet right down and I always tell them how impressed I am with their ability to copy the hardest beats!"

2. Install a wireless doorbell.

This idea from sixth-grade teacher Heather M. is downright genius. "I bought a wireless doorbell and ring the bell as my quiet signal," she shares. "Sometimes I have to ring it ten times before they get quiet, but it keeps me from ever raising my voice. There are a ton of different sounds to choose from, so I switch the chime every month or so to keep them from getting used to it and ignoring it too much. I've had kids comment that I'm the only teacher who never yells, and I'm proud of that. I used to end up yelling all the time when I tried other methods to get them quiet. The bell really works for me!" (Check out this $12 option from Amazon to try it yourself.)

3. Teach them to respond to hand signals.

Rebecca S. notes that the time out signal (arms above head with hands making a "T" shape) works at every level, including high school. "The kids put it up when they see you doing it and they're supposed to stop talking. It takes a little while to get them into the swing of it, but it works."

Try expanding your hand signals to communicate other commands too. Christina M. teachers her kids basic words in sign language like Yes, No, Stop, and Sit. See more classroom hand signal ideas here.

4. Shut off the lights.

This is another classic teaching strategy. Stop yelling and just turn off the lights instead, like Valeria T. "I like shutting lights off; it's like they know to freeze and zip it." If you're in a classroom without windows and don't want to plunge into total darkness, try turning off just one bank of lights or flashing them on and off a few times.

5. Monitor noise levels with an app.

Carol T. tipped us off to classroom noise monitoring apps. Choose an acceptable noise level and let the app do the work! Display the noise meter on the classroom screen to help kids monitor their own noise level. If they can't manage to stay quiet, the app will warn them with a buzzer or other reminder. There are multiple free noise monitoring apps out there; we like Classcraft's Volume Meter and the very popular Bouncy Balls.

6. Count down to quiet (or set a timer).

Giving kids time to transition from one activity to the next, rather than expecting instant silence, can be helpful. Terri M. says, "I count quietly backwards from 10 during transition times. Anyone not in their seat and ready does have a consequence."

A countdown timer works too. "I use an online timer with a countdown buzzer for transitions," explains Brita L. "I hold up the next activity-like if it's a read-aloud, hold up the book. If they don't respond, try a secondary signal-walking to groups holding the book, and saying this is what's coming next, get ready."

Timers work both ways, too. "I sit quietly and get my timer out," says Nikki W. "However long it takes them to get quiet is how long they stay in [from recess]. Honestly I never even have to keep them in anymore because it ends up being like 20 seconds. They freak out when they see the timer and hurry up!"

7. Give them visual cues.

Make sure your students know what noise level is currently acceptable in the classroom. Create a voice level display using battery-operated tap lights and our free printable poster. Before you start an activity, tell your kids what noise level will be acceptable while they're working and turn on the appropriate light as a reminder.

8. Reward the quiet ones.

Elisabeth P. suggests, "Start saying thank you to the kids who are listening and are looking at you. In a normal tone of voice, say, 'Thank you, Johnny, for being the first one ready to listen. Thank you, Susie, for being ready to listen.' They LOVE being the first one to be noticed. Soon everyone joins them and looks at me for directions."

Fifth grade teacher Courney S. plays a code word game. "When I felt it was getting noisy (usually right before big holidays) I would bring in a candy or a privilege for the day. As I taught I would just say in the same volume as I was or a bit quieter the code word is _______. Then I would ask who heard the code word. I would have 3 kids whisper it to me for the team point. Whichever team won before lunch or dismissal got the mystery treat or prize. The key is to do it randomly and a few times each at a quieter voice and the class quiets down with you so they can win!"

9. Get quieter, not louder.

Tammy H. explains, "I was told a long time ago: If you yell, they will get louder to over-talk you. If you talk in a normal tone students will stop and listen. It works in my classroom." Chantel J. agrees, "It takes a conscious effort to do so but after a while it becomes habit."

Sometimes it's best to just go silent and wait. "When they're noisy and not listening," says Carolyn C., "I'll stand there and look at them, and then the clock, and then them, and then the clock... and I'll wait. It only takes a few kids to notice that I've stopped talking over them and then it's 'SHHHH! LOOK!! MS. C'S WAITING!!' and peer pressure takes over to do the right thing."

Paige T. showed her students how much her voice really matters in the classroom. "With a class that refused to let me teach, we went silent for a week, so they realized how much having extra help and instructions helped. After reading part of The Odyssey alone, they got the point."

10. Learn some new approaches to discipline.

If you still just can't seem to stop yelling in the classroom, explore some new options. Here are a few recommendations from other teachers:
What strategies have you used to stop yelling in the classroom? Come and share in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook. Plus, one teacher's success story of how she learned to stop yelling. This article includes Amazon affiliate links. WeAreTeachers receives a tiny bit of the purchase price when you buy through these links, but we only recommend products we really love.

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Yelling Doesn't Work With Kids. So What Should You Do Instead?

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How is it that some teachers seem to be able to manage their classrooms without ever needing to raise their voice? Is it some kind of magic? That's the question teachers have been discussing in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook: How can I stop yelling to get my class's attention?

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A lesson plan is the instructor's road map of what students need to learn and how it will be done effectively during the class time. Then, you can design appropriate learning activities and develop strategies to obtain feedback on student learning. Having a carefully constructed lesson plan for each 3-hour lesson allows you to enter the classroom with more confidence and maximizes your chance of having a meaningful learning experience with your students.

A successful lesson plan addresses and integrates three key components:

Learning Objectives

Learning activities

Assessment to check for student understanding

A lesson plan provides you with a general outline of your teaching goals, learning objectives, and means to accomplish them, and is by no means exhaustive. A productive lesson is not one in which everything goes exactly as planned, but one in which both students and instructor learn from each other. You may refer to an example of a 3 hour lesson plan here.

Before Class: Steps for preparing a lesson plan

Listed below are 6 steps for preparing your lesson plan before your class.

1. Identify the learning objectives

Before you plan your lesson, you will first need to identify the learning objectives for the lesson. A learning objective describes what the learner will know or be able to do after the learning experience rather than what the learner will be exposed to during the instruction (i.e. topics). Typically, it is written in a language that is easily understood by students and clearly related to the program learning outcomes. The table below contains the characteristics of clear learning objectives:

The Bloom's Revised Taxonomy of Educational Objectives () is a useful resource for crafting learning objectives that are demonstrable and measurable.

2. Plan the specific learning activities

When planning learning activities you should consider the types of activities students will need to engage in, in order to develop the skills and knowledge required to demonstrate effective learning in the course. Learning activities should be directly related to the learning objectives of the course, and provide experiences that will enable students to engage in, practice, and gain feedback on specific progress towards those objectives.

As you plan your learning activities, estimate how much time you will spend on each. Build in time for extended explanation or discussion, but also be prepared to move on quickly to different applications or problems, and to identify strategies that check for understanding. Some questions to think about as you design the learning activities you will use are:

What will I do to explain the topic?

What will I do to illustrate the topic in a different way?

How can I engage students in the topic?

What are some relevant real-life examples, analogies, or situations that can help students understand the topic?

What will students need to do to help them understand the topic better?

Many activities can be used to engage learners. The activity types (i.e. what the student is doing) and their examples provided below are by no means an exhaustive list, but will help you in thinking through how best to design and deliver high impact learning experiences for your students in a typical lesson.

It is important that each learning activity in the lesson must be (1) aligned to the lesson's learning objectives, (2) meaningfully engage students in active, constructive, authentic, and collaborative ways, and (3) useful where the student is able to take what they have learnt from engaging with the activity and use it in another context, or for another purpose.

3. Plan to assess student understanding

Assessments (e.g., tests, papers, problem sets, performances) provide opportunities for students to demonstrate and practice the knowledge and skills articulated in the learning objectives, and for instructors to offer targeted feedback that can guide further learning.

Planning for assessment allows you to find out whether your students are learning. It involves making decisions about:

the number and type of assessment tasks that will best enable students to demonstrate learning objectives for the lesson

Examples of different assessments

Formative and/or summative

the criteria and standards that will be used to make assessment judgements

student roles in the assessment process

Self-assessment

Peer assessment

the weighting of individual assessment tasks and the method by which individual task judgements will be combined into a final grade for the course
information about how various tasks are to be weighted and combined into an overall grade must be provided to students

the provision of feedback
giving feedback to students on how to improve their learning, as well as giving feedback to instructors how to refine their teaching

To learn more about designing assessment, click here.

4. Plan to sequence the lesson in an engaging and meaningful manner

Robert Gagne proposed a nine-step process called the events of instruction, which is useful for planning the sequence of your lesson. Using Gagne's 9 events in conjunction with Bloom's Revised Taxonomy of Educational Objectives ( link) aids in designing engaging and meaningful instruction.

1. Provide guidance: Advise students of strategies to aid them in learning content and of resources available. With learning guidance, the rate of learning increases because students are less likely to lose time or become frustrated by basing performance on incorrect facts or poorly understood concepts.
To find out more about scaffolding student learning, click here

2. Practice: Allow students to apply knowledge and skills learned.

Allow students to apply knowledge in group or individual activities

Ask deep-learning questions, make reference to what students already know or have students collaborate with their peers

Ask students to recite, revisit, or reiterate information they have learned

Facilitate student elaborations - ask students to elaborate or explain details and provide more complexity to their responses

3. Assess performance: To evaluate the effectiveness of the instructional events, test to see if the expected learning outcomes have been achieved. Performance should be based on previously stated objectives.
Utilise a variety of assessment methods including exams/quizzes, written assignments, projects, and so on.

4. Enhance retention and transfer: Allow students to apply information to personal contexts. This increases retention by personalising information.

Provide opportunities for students to relate course work to their personal experiences

Provide additional practice

5. Create a realistic timeline

A list of ten learning objectives is not realistic, so narrow down your list to the two or three key concepts, ideas, or skills you want students to learn in the lesson. Your list of prioritized learning objectives will help you make decisions on the spot and adjust your lesson plan as needed. Here are some strategies for creating a realistic timeline:

Estimate how much time each of the activities will take, then plan some extra time for each

When you prepare your lesson plan, next to each activity indicate how much time you expect it will take

Plan a few minutes at the end of class to answer any remaining questions and to sum up key points

Plan an extra activity or discussion question in case you have time left

Be flexible - be ready to adjust your lesson plan to students' needs and focus on what seems to be more productive rather than sticking to your original plan

6. Plan for a lesson closure

Lesson closure provides an opportunity to solidify student learning. Lesson closure is useful for both instructors and students.

You can use closure to:

Check for student understanding and inform subsequent instruction (adjust your teaching accordingly)

Emphasise key information

Tie up loose ends

Correct students' misunderstandings

Preview upcoming topics

Your students will find your closure helpful for:

Summarizing, reviewing, and demonstrating their understanding of major points

Consolidating and internalising key information

Linking lesson ideas to a conceptual framework and/or previously-learned knowledge

Transferring ideas to new situations

There are several ways in which you can put a closure to the lesson:

state the main points yourself ("Today we talked about...")

ask a student to help you summarize them

ask all students to write down on a piece of paper what they think were the main points of the lesson

During the class: Presenting your lesson plan

Letting your students know what they will be learning and doing in class will help keep them more engaged and on track. Providing a meaningful organisation of the class time can help students not only remember better, but also follow your presentation and understand the rationale behind the planned learning activities. You can share your lesson plan by writing a brief agenda on the whiteboard or telling students explicitly what they will be learning and doing in class. Click on link for tips and techniques to facilitate an interactive lesson.

After the class: Reflecting on your lesson plan

Take a few minutes after each class to reflect on what worked well and why, and what you could have done differently. Identifying successful and less successful organization of class time and activities would make it easier to adjust to the contingencies of the classroom. If needed, revise the lesson plan.

Bibliography

1. Ambrose, S., Bridges, M., Lovett, M., DiPietro, M., & Norman, M. (2010). How learning works: 7 research-based principles for smart teaching. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.

2. EDUCAUSE (2005). Potential Learning Activities. Retrieved April 7 2017, from EDUCAUSE website: https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/NLI0547B.pdf .

3. Fink, D. L. (2005). Integrated course design. Manhattan, KS: The IDEA Center. Retrieved from http://ideaedu.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Idea_Paper_42.pdf .

4. Gagne, R. M., Wager, W.W., Golas, K. C. & Keller, J. M (2005). Principles of Instructional Design (5th edition). California: Wadsworth.

5. Gredler, M. E. (2004). Games and simulations and their relationships to learning. In D. H. Jonassen (Ed.), Handbook of research for educational communications and technology (2nd ed., pp. 571-82). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

6. Richardson, J.C., & Swan. K. (2003). Examining social presence in online courses in relation to students' perceived learning and satisfaction. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks 7(1), 68-88.

7. Schuell, T.J. (1986). Cognitive conceptions of learning. Review of Educational Research, 56, 411-436.

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A lesson plan is the instructor's road map of what students need to learn and how it will be done effectively during the class time. Then, you can design appropriate learning activities and develop strategies to obtain feedback on student learning.

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Smekens Education Solutions offers top-tier PD courses, empowering K-12 teachers with engaging, strategy-packed training to strengthen readers and writers.

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REVELATIONS IN EDUCATION | Lori Desautels, Ph.D

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How May I Serve You? Revelations in Education

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Lori Desautels, Ph.D.shares educational content, thoughts, teaching experiences, life experiences and writing passages

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Online Math & Reading Programs for Students | DreamBox Learning

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Discover Engaging Online Math & Reading Programs For Students With DreamBox Learning. Foster Academic Growth & Success With Our Interactive Platform Today!

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Free Online Courses for Educators | Canvas Network

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Looking for free courses for educators? Explore The Canvas Network for classes taught by experts around the world