Almost everything "they" should
have taught you in college!
I want you to know that I started out
this year taking all of your advice (teaching procedures, picking up
papers, etc.)
and everything has gone more smoothly than it has in my 8 years of
teaching. --Email from a teacher in Georgia.
You
are welcome to use these ideas in your classroom, within your science
department, within your school district, or to distribute to any
teacher who may find these lessons useful. I only ask that: 1. You cannot sell these lessons or make a profit on them in any way. 2. You cite the lessons original source, and do not white-out the copyright footer on the pdf files 3. Do not copy and paste lessons onto your website. A link to the original is to be used. 4. Do not claim these lessons as your own work. NOTE: This disclaimer is modeled after a couple of my favorite websites: The Science Spot and Middle School Science. Thanks, teachers!
MY
VERY BEST--MOST WORTHWHILE--ADVICE EVER:
This
comes from my
heart.
And over thirty years of teaching experience. As a new teacher, you
need
to understand that discipline problems are NOT
related to how well you can discipline, but to HOW
WELL YOU MANAGE THE CLASSROOM! HOW WELL YOU TRAIN YOUR STUDENTS TO
FOLLOW BASIC CLASSROOM ROUTINES!
Train your students from
the very first minute of the very first class period! I train mine to
walk in quietly, pick up the papers near the door on the Pick-Up Table,
sit down, and quietly begin the Bellwork. IF THEY DON'T, I
politely ask
them to go back to the door and try again. In severe cases, I
don't allow them to come in the room at all on the first day of school,
but make them sit on a
chair outside the door of my classroom. I have routines for just
about EVERYTHING. And I consistently
re-train
my students if they "forget." ABSOLUTELY
NOTHING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THIS!! NOT EVEN YOUR ACTUAL SUBJECT
MATERIAL!!!
I trained my student
teacher a couple of years ago to use this approach and she had NONE
of the usual first year teacher troubles with discipline. (Yes, I hired
her the next year!) She is a very quiet, mild-mannered gal, too. She
couldn't
understand why other new teachers in the building were having problems,
and was grateful that she knew what to do!
Click
here for a BIG file of the
actual transparencies I use as I train
my students. Click
here for the page I give my
students.
AND BUY THIS
BOOK! IT IS
THE END-ALL BOOK on how to do
just what I've
talked about here!
TEXTBOOKS: It
doesn't matter what
textbook you have! You don't need to use
it much. In fact, I've taught Science many years with NO textbook at
all! Just
use it for definitions
and major concepts and the order of your units. DON'T hand out the
first couple weeks. You want your students to associate science with
labs and activities, not books.
SEATING
CHARTS:
You need one for the first day.
The best I've ever seen has little picture tiles that stick to a sketch
of the room. Great way to effortlessly learn names. Photocopy last
year's yearbook photos. Laminate and cut out. Add names and use sticky
tack or repositionable double-sided tape for scrapbooking to affix to
seating chart. Click
here.
CLASSROOMRULES:
The SECRET
is
the students
already know the
rules! They just want to know if YOU know them! And if YOU care if they
follow them or not and if YOU will enforce them. Make an 8x11 sign for
each rule with graphics and post in classroom. More than five or six is
not
necessary.There
should ALWAYS
be
consequences for
breaking rules! HAVE
SOME!
CLASSROOMPROCEDURES: There
are NO consequences for breaking procedures! When a student strays,
repeat
the procedure aloud and have the student do it correctly. Hand out a
list of
them the first day. Make sure you drill all procedures during the first
week.
YELLOW
LEGAL PAD: Write
out every lesson for every day. Plan more than you
think you need for each day. Make notes in redon what
works and what doesn't. Keep them
in a folder forever.
OVER-PLANNING ALWAYS PAYS OFF!
BELLWORK:
Always
start every day with a short, quick bell on the overhead! Make them up
a week at a time and have transparencies made ahead of time, including
answers. Click
here and click
here. Hand
out the week's
Bells on Monday. ABIG
SECRET: Kids appreciate a
routine they can count on. Every
day can be different but the routine is the same. Click here for a
sample Bellwork Handout.
FIRST DAY
PROCEDURE: Teach
this first! "Enter room quietly. Pick up papers. Sit down. Number
pages. Put in notebook. Copy Homework on Homework Page.
Do Bell on Bellwork
Page. Take out
Homework that's due today."
How
to teach: Stand at door.
Welcome students as they enter. Motion towards Pick-Up Table. Tell them
to pick up papers, find their photo on class seating chart on podium,
sit down, copy homework on homework page and begin bellwork on
bell page.
NOTEBOOK
ORDER: Make
up
ahead of time. You may need to make changes, but that's okay! Hand out
on Mondays. Make
a
transparency to make corrections on during the week.
NOTEBOOK
DAY:
I hand out bright fushia pink run off papers
for the first table of contents of the Front Section. Place to write
their name. Then other colors for Study Guide Section, Worksheet
Section, Lab Section, and Project Section.
On NOTEBOOK DAY,
I put up
transparency of each Table of Contents and they copy onto their colored
TOC pages. Some kids are so efficient, they do this on their own using
the Notebook Order pages I hand out weekly. Reward these kids with a
piece of candy on NOTEBOOK DAY. <smile!>
HOMEWORK:
Give it every day! Doesn't have to be
much, in fact, it should mostly be small assignments. The trick is to
provide
classroom time every day for at least partial completion of
homework. Best
practice:
Provide a handout for
recording homework. Collect on Friday and give ten points. Parents like
this! Click
here.
FIRST DAY
NEWSLETTER: Create
a front/back newsletter for
the first day. Hand it out at the door while the students enter the
room, find their seat, and sit down. Put up a transparency with 3 or 4
questions about the newsletter. They should all be working on this when
the bell rings. Take roll using your seating chart, then put up an
answer transparency. Refer to the newsletter as you
proceed to
introduce yourself and the course.
SET UP
TEAMS:
Six or
seven
teams work best for me now. The best teams have fewer members, thus
more involvement. Pick them randomly the first time and then divide
with some of each ability level in each team. Keep track so you mix up
each time. Run a team
competition for about two weeks, then give prizes to the winning team
and start over with new teams. Click
here.
PICK-UP
TABLE:
Put a table by your door. Train students to pick up their own papers as
they enter the room. Saves you lots of time.
COLORED
CHALK:
Buy a big box of sidewalk chalk. Much better than the skinny stuff they
give you!
SCIENCE
NOTEBOOKS:
Having a Science Notebook is essential! Teaches organization and
responsibility.
FRIDAY
QUIZZES:
Kids
stay on their toes when they know they will be quizzed over the week's
material every Friday. Make it 25 points or less, if your Big Tests are
100 points. Remind them that the quiz points of the
quarter/term/grading period add up to a Big Test grade.
THE
SCHOOL SECRETARY:
This lady runs the school! Make friends with her! Be especially
friendly if she's the one who hands out the extra supplies.
THE
SCHOOL CUSTODIAN:
Traditionally not the Science
Teacher's best friend because of the messes we make. Train your
students to clean up after labs. Don't dismiss until all lab
stations are spiffy and for sure, until all paper scraps are in the
trash!
ACTIVE
LEARNING:
In
my opinion, actively engaging young people in the learning process is
the best way to teach! Gets the best results! Click
here. And click
here.
TEACHER
NOTEBOOKS:
Keeps
you organized! Use plastic sheet protectors. One per page. Put inside:
original, answer sheet, transparency and any extra notes.
Arrange in order of teaching. One Unit per notebook.
MANAGING
GAMES:
Active learning games can be chaotic but don't have to be! Train your
students well at the beginning. Games engage more students in learning
and result in better test scores! Click
here for details.
BONUS
WORK:
Our
Science Department allows a student to raise their grade by 3% using
BONUS POINTS. If you give one point per page, it takes loads of pages
to get that many pages. In the meantime, they've reviewed the course
content and know the material well! I try to put out a couple BONUS
PAGES every day.
BELL BONUS:
I have a
small white board propped in the chalk ledge. I change the Bell Bonus
Question every day. Sometimes a Challenge Question, sometimes a simple
review question. Students answer on scrap paper and must hand in right
after the Bell rings. Worth one point each! Encourages students to
arrive early.
GRADING
SYSTEM:
The
best grading system I know for a general science, introductory-type
course is: 50% Daily/Homework Points and 50% Tests, Quizzes. Add in
Bonus Points on the Daily Side. Weighted grades are not necessary. You
achieve some weighting by the number of points you assign. 10-25 points
per Quiz vs. 100 Points per test.
LIGHTING:
I like
lower lighting in the classroom. I only turn on half the ceiling
lights. Then I put smaller table lamps on the counters and add
torchieres to the corners of the room. Also fun: hang twinkle lights
along chalkboard top or around doors and windows.
DECORATIONS:
Hit
garage sales or your own seasonal decorations stash and decorate your
classroom! Kids really appreciate the homey feeling this gives a
classroom. Add cheery curtains to the windows!
HALL DUTY:
Make it a
habit to stand in the hall during passing time. Tuck a pad of passes
and a pen in your pocket. Greet your students with a smile. Write
passes if needed. Encourage laggards to hustle into class! Close the
door as the bell rings and look around expectantly for students to be
on task.Take roll while students do Bell. Your behavior makes a strong
statement!!
PACING:
Try to change activities every 15-30 minutes, on average. Especially if
you teach a Block Schedule. Labs run longer, of course, as do some
written assignments. But you could break that up with a game in the
middle! Go from quiet to noisy, from individual to pairs, to teams to
lab groups, and back to pairs or individual.
TIMER: I time
everything! Keeps kids on their toes. They learn more when they feel
obligated to hurry, believe it or not!
PLANTS:
Be sure to hang plenty of plants. Train
yourself to water on Fridays.
CHEATING:
Kids
cheat. Expect it. You can take a stand against it, but kids will cheat.
So, adopt practices that thwart cheating. Such as: Write four versions
of each quiz, write at least two versions of your tests, walk the room
during tests, keep a close eye on any test-taker who keeps a close eye
on you! I almost never collect homework. Instead, I give
Effort/Completion Points, then put up a transparency with the answers. NOTE:
The top 10% of your students will cheat the most because they have the
most to lose!
STUDENT
LISTS: Type
up student lists with blank columns to record Effort/Completion Points
and other Daily Points. Total up at the end of each week and record in
your gradebook as Week One Points, for example. Be sure to add Homework
Page and Bellwork Page Points! I also take points for
Objective/Learning Targets Pages.
