I've
been thinking a lot about the upcoming 2017 school year and how I
want to change to make our classroom more engaging. I co-teach in a
2nd grade classroom of about 25 children. I also pull a small group
of students out for a resource segment to provide intense
interventions in reading and math.
One
problem has become more and more prevalent the past 2 years, student
engagement. When my co-teacher and I are doing a whole group lesson,
many of the students are not paying attention. They are staring off into space, playing with pencils, drawing
and writing notes, or reading a book. And it's not just a few
students, its the majority! I have stopped instruction to do a
attention grabber, got everyone back on track, just to have them
drift off into their La La lands a minute later. The bottom line is
....
The
students are BORED!!
I've
learned from experience the majority of students want to work. They
want to work towards a goal. So with this in mind, I am going to
change some things.
1.
Goal Tracking Charts
We are
going to set some reading goals and math goals as soon as we get back
to school. The reading goals will be related to Accelerated Reader,
Sight Words, and Phonics Decoding. The math goals are with
Accelerated Math and Math Facts in a Flash.
2. Daily Task/Job Chart
Giving
students a visual always helps them stay more organized. So creating
this little To Do chart will help them prioritize what is really
important. It will also help me see who is on track and who needs
more support. You can find these Job charts at Dollar Tree. I just
taped 2 together to have enough room for 24 children.
3.
Technology
We
have an abundance of technological devices to use in our school and
the students LOVE to be on the Ipads/computers. So why not put 2 and
2 together and have them fully engaged (and in charge) of their own
learning. The 1st way I want to do this is by using Kahoot!
in the classroom to do informal assessments.
The
2nd form of new technology is to use TypingClub.com
to help my students with keyboarding.
I
think I will try to use Google Classrooms but I haven't finished
setting that up yet. I will give updates as I learn. :)
