How Many Times Do I Have To Say The Same Thing?

By creating a video of your instruction, not only do you perserve your voice and reduce that nagging question of "Did I tell this class?", but you also free yourself to engage with students.  By having the directions/review through video, you are able to conference with individual students to see their progress and close any instructional misconceptions.  What a way to increase timely feedback!

It's No Secret - I Love Station Teaching

Can it be a little chaotic?  At first...
Does it require clear communication of expectations?  Most definitely...
Do students need to practice how to perform in stations?  Yes...

Do you have to let go of control?  Yes...but that's because students are gaining control, taking responsibility for their own learning and remaining engaged in their learning when they see a purpose in each station's activity.  Take a look at station teaching in action...

 

The key to strong stations are clear directions and expecations.  Teachers should be able to facilitate student learning and involvement by circulating in the room.  It helps to have a system in place for when kids need help (i.e., ask yourself, ask a neighbor, ask the whole group, ask the teacher) so that you don't run ragged supporting students who want to skip the directions.

 

 

In this case, stations work great to use the computers to enter eValuate data, saving instructional time while providing great learning and practice opportunities.

Some things I found successful when using stations in the classroom:  1) don't be afraid to let them take multiple days; 2) have a system in place for students who have questions, as identified above; 3) have someone proofread your directions for clarity before giving them to students; and 4) have a variety of activities for differentiation and varied learning strategies.

If you have questions/thoughts about trying stations in your classroom, let me know - I'd love to help!

Engaging Students in Inferring Word Meaning

Students follow directions that include both academic and content vocabulary, using their context clues to determine what step to take next.  It's hard to see in the second photo, but....Look at that great strategy of identifying the words they don't know to begin deciphering them!

Jane and the Magic Commas

What makes this lesson on inferring word meaning so powerful are not only the great gestures, but also the focus on the "magic comma," a comma that separates the unknown word from its definition within the sentence.  Check that out - I just used a magic comma!

Look at this great slide where students practice figuring out the unknown word - they don't have the distraction of the word, but they do a great job of inserting appropriate options.

Emphasizing "Why we do what we do"

This morning in a Flyertime class, a teacher was using a video that emphasized the importance of why and connecting it to the Flyertime door contest.  He noted that by selling "why" we do what we do instead of "what" we do, we touch more people.  It's a great reminder to all of us to focus on why we have Flyertime rather than what we do in Flyertime.

If you're interested, here's the link to the video (be warned, it will require you and students to "infer word meaning" - feel free to use the strategies from Friday's PD): 

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html.  A short clip is all you'll need.