Fall is my favorite time of year! The beautiful colors of our Utah mountains amaze me but it always leaves me wishing it would last longer. As teachers, one of the things we wish would last longer is that first week of school classroom environment! The students are glued to our every word, they smile and get excited with each new task, they follow directions and look for our approval and acceptance! Ohhhh….. the glorious first days of school. AND THEN…… what happens?
For so many of us, we feel like the environment loses its luster- just like our mountains. But does it have to??? And if not, then what can we do to keep that spark alive? Last year the teachers of Quest Academy participated in reading an excellent book titled Class Acts: Every Teacher’s Guide to Activate Learning. We were introduced to THE BIG 8 for maximizing student engagement.
EXPECTATIONS
TIME LIMITS
CUEING
ATTENTION PROMPT
PROXIMITY
SIGNALS
VOICE
TASKING
Personally, I enjoyed reading this book and then applying it in my classroom. I really learned a lot from such a short concise book! Pull your copy off the shelf and skim through it again. Refresh yourself so you can re-energize your students. If you do not have a copy borrow from a teammate or come get mine!
When you pair your fantastic explicit instructional skills with these student engagement strategies you will feel like the hills are alive with color! Remember to do your part by being EXPLICIT so that your students know what you expect them to learn!
Here are just a few key elements to keep in mind when you are incorporating Explicit Instruction-
Teachers should be conscious of delivering clear, dynamic instruction that is appropriate to students’ needs. Your presentations should include-
2) Teacher Enthusiasm – varied inflection, actively accepting student ideas and maintaining a high overall energy level.
3)Appropriate Rate of Presentation – diversifies opportunities to participate, requiring participation and adjusting to student understanding.
Here’s a little test to see how well your students really understand what you want them to learn.
ASK THEM TO RESTATE THE LESSON OR ACTIVITY OBJECTIVE BACk TO YOU IN THEIR OWN WORDS! ( if they can’t do it you know that “What we have here is a failure to communicate!” (Cool Hand Luke reference!)
Quest Academy has the most amazing group of teacher – everyone is continually trying to find ways to help their students be successful. Take a minute to think about your teaching style and how you might increase student involvement and activate and motivate those incredible minds in your classroom!
LearnZillion does a number on classrooms | Marketplace.org.
OK – TEACHERS-
Here is your weekend homework – click on the link above and watch the short video to learn more about the amazing FREE resource – LEARNZILLION!
If you have already used this tool in your classroom please leave us a comment here on the blog so that other teachers can benefit from your experience. If you have not had a chance to check out all that LearnZillion has to offer now is your chance! Go to http://learnzillion.com/ and register for the FREE account. Then just type in the search box the topic that you are planning to tackle in class next week. I just watched a great 8 minute lesson on rounding numbers at the 4th grade level and it was really well done. The nice thing is that as a teacher I can pause the lesson at any point to clarify or replay an important point! They are constantly adding new lessons so check back if what you need is not there yet!
Give it a try and see how LearnZillion can help your entire class or a small group of students who just need a little extra support!
Remember – leave a comment and have a great weekend!
Hello Teachers –
We really want to insure that our Quest students have great number sense. Take a look at these great daily activities to get your students thinking. Use one of these ideas or create your own for a self starter. These could make great warm-ups for intervention groups. The Common Core places a strong emphasis on number sense as we start the year. Give this a try and post a comment to let us know what works for your students!
The 2012-2013 school year at Quest is about ready to begin and with that comes this new blog specifically for our teachers. I am so excited to be able to now be working full time as our school’s Instructional Lead. Just exactly what this position looks like and sounds like is a bit of a mystery to me at this point but as the year unfolds I am looking forward to helping all of our teachers find and improve on innovative and effective teaching practices.
I have named this blog the Quest Teacher’s Lounge because I want it to be a place where you as teachers can come to relax and share. I want this blog to be a helpful resource – highlighting areas of focus and how to meet new challenges but also celebrating our successes along the way!
Get ready for a great year – lots of new team members, a brand new building-Quest 2.0, and Core Curriculum up and running!
Come back to this blog often for helpful hints and school info……. and remember-
Happy Day!
Suzanne
Wow – I can’t believe it is time to send my students on to 7th grade!
You are all so amazing and capable. I have enjoyed teaching you and sharing this reading adventure with you!! I hope that you have learned to love reading and sharing good books this year. Always have a book close by . I just fininshed reading Found by Margaret Haddix. Several of you recommended it to me and I really liked it. I am ready to read book 2. Reading can take you to new places and teach you so many exciting things.
Let me know how you are doing and what you are reading and have a great summer break! I will miss your smiling faces!
Mrs. L.
Over the past few weeks we have been focusing on our spelling skills. Earlier I posted the list of words that every 6th grader should know how to read AND spell. We finally finished our last quiz and I am adding the updated chart to show just how well we know these words.
Remember – BLUE means WE KNOW THIS ONE!!!!
YELLOW means WE NEED MORE PRACTICE!!
ORANGE means WE NEED TO STUDY THIS WORD AND TRY AGAIN!
We still have some work to do to be masters of the words.
Oh my! It has been ages since we have had a new book review but we have worked out all of the technological glitches and HERE WE GO AGAIN!! Have fun watching this review of Zombie Chasers by John Kloepfer!
Enjoy this great review of a book that just about every 6th grader wants to read! I know it is one of my favorite books! You’ve got to read it before the movie comes out!
Happy Day!
Suzanne
