"The Importance of Staple Classroom Activities and of Automating Some Grades" by Z. Sanders
Introduction
It’s possible to be so regimented as a teacher that students’ eyes glaze over due to the predictability of class instruction and activities. On the other hand, it’s possible to be so creative as a teacher that students and parents have no idea how students should approach class and prepare for class in order to do well and acquire the material. In item #2 in my “Top Personal Lessons” article, I discuss how I’ve discovered that hardly any education issues are black and white. There’s almost always a spectrum.
There are scores of awesome resources on teaching vocabulary, reviewing subject matter with students, etc. In addition, Smartboards have revolutionized classroom learning activities. The forms, procedures, and activities shared in this article are not listed because they are the definitive, best way for approaching bellwork, vocabulary, etc. The goal in sharing them is to inspire the inclusion of staple, recurring learning activities to round out and/or consolidate all the fun, creative learning activities that happen in class.
One goal outcome of having staple activities is to prevent the situation of not having any grades recorded (besides participation grades) after a week or two of lively, effective, creative class activities.
Another goal outcome is the creation of a certain amount of familiarity in your class for your sake, the students’ sake, and the parents’ sake. It can REALLY help many students to be able to periodically return to or count on familiar activities in class for which they can prepare. This enables students to be able to develop a work and study routine around these staple activities while anticipating the fun, creative learning activities that will also occur in class. Additionally, having a certain level of familiarity and predictability to some of the classroom activities can help with behavior and classroom management.
Click here to finish reading the introduction.
Click here to now go to the documents, resources, and information about class staples.