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Previous
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Tips Library
Browse hundreds of tips we've gathered over the years.
Works4Me Lounge
Meet other teachers and share classroom tips on our online discussion board
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Your Tips
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DISCLAIMER
Works4Me is a vehicle for instructional staff to share their ideas with other instructional staff. As such, it does not constitute an endorsement of any particular curriculum or teaching method by the National Education Association or any of its affiliates.
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Picture Lunch Count
From Pam Pickering (pam_pickering@gfps.k12.mt.us), a fifth grade teacher at Loy Elementary School in Great Falls, Montana:
"To save time at the beginning of the day, I created a quick way to take lunch count. I take a picture of each student the first week of school. I then print, cut out and glue the picture to a piece of felt. The sheets with a sticky backing work well. I place the pictures on a small bulletin board covered with flannel. The board is divided into three sections titled hot lunch, cold lunch and absent. When the students enter in morning, they move their picture to either hot or cold lunch. The pictures not moved are absent. A quick glance tells me what my counts are and even alerts me to absences. I have used it with students as young as second grade, and it has worked wonderfully."
PBS TeacherLine
From Fran Lo (franblo@sbcglobal.net), an English teacher:
"I hate driving off to take a class at night after a hard day of teaching, so I’ve taken courses through PBS TeacherLine. These classes are held entirely online, the cost is reasonable, and the time commitment is not overwhelming. You don't waste a moment driving, you can do the work at 3 AM if that's when you can do it, and you get to be part of a professional community which truly enhances your learning. Two caveats are that you need to be self-motivated, and you can't ignore the class for a week. You have to work several times each week, but you can do it in snippets of time from wherever you can use a computer. I even continued to take a class while on vacation by using the local library's Internet computers! They have rich offerings."
Question of the Week: School Lunch Week
From the Works4Me Worker Bees:
"National School Lunch Week is October 13-17. What type of nutrition programs does your school advocate to make sure that students receive healthy well-balanced meals? What strategies do you use to make sure your students eat a healthy breakfast and lunch?"
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Loud Groups
Heard Last Week in the Works4Me Lounge:
"I teach sixth grade. It's the fourth week of school, and the kids are a nice bunch but already just too loud. My district mandates that they be seated in cooperative groupings. We must have frequent cooperative lessons, which I think is a good idea, but they always go from whispers to loud talk no matter how many times I stop them and remind them about 12 inch voices. I've even shown them daily for the past week and a half how they can put fingers to their larynx and feel the difference between a whisper and the vibration of voiced talk, but again they start off with whispers and gradually go into loud talk. There are nearly 30 sets of healthy lungs in the room, and I can't take the volume. A few students have cited this noise as an excuse for underperforming, saying they can't concentrate. They are always a very happy bunch, but I need them to get more serious about this problem. It's really hard to tell exactly who's being so loud. Boy do I ever want to nip this problem in the bud!"
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Submit a Tip
We couldn't do it without you! Click here to submit a tip or reply to this email. Please contribute your own brief, practical, broadly applicable classroom tip to Works4Me. When submitting a tip, please include your full name, school, specific assignment (grade/subject), city and state. This newsletter is only as good as the tips we receive, so send your ideas today. |
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