Plan B

Oh, the joys of technology. 
We (the chorus teacher and I) do not have our classrooms for the next two days due to a middle school band festival.  It happens every year and gives my students a chance to research different aspects of theatre and dance instead of creating/performing.  I very much dislike report- reading them, grading them- UGH!  I have a very soft spot of compassion for all the English or History teachers that grade report after report-bless you!
I really enjoy www.glogster.com
Their theme is "poster yourself".  It allows students to interactive collages that can be emailed. Way cooler than a book report!  One problem- after using glogster for the past 2 years about 2-3 times a year, the site is now blocked by the county.  BOO.  I'm getting it unblocked tomorrow after stating my case, but what to do today?

Time for Plan B (so glad my improv skills in college are paying off!)
Today's assignment: Dance- research the style of dance, making a works cited page for cites used.
Musical: www.voki.com
Students can create an avatar based on their character and type in lines for the avatar to say.
Tech: Lesson as planned.

What's your "plan b" (or c or d) when a lesson falls apart?

What's your best Classroom Management Tip?

Thanksgiving is one week away.  How many of your students have already checked out on vacation? Have you?  To keep you motivated and your classroom running smoothly We Are Teachers are having a Thanksgiving-Tip-A-Thon. Click here to check it out.  You can give or get great tips to help with classroom management.  You can also give kudos to tips you like and help one teacher win an I-Pod touch. 
What's your best classroom management tip?

DANCE BREAK

Dance it out!
What do you do to manage your classroom? I know there are lots of organziation tips, but I thought this morning, if the students aren't motivated, how do you manage them? I love dance breaks. I feel like there are not enough of these in life. In my dance class I had students that would come in with all the gunk of life weighing them down and ask if they could just dance it off before class started.
So why not apply a dance break to life? I posted my tip below to weareteachers.com
Post yours for a chance to win an I-pod touch (or vote so my class can get one!).
http://community.weareteachers.com/t5/Classroom-Management-Tips/Dance-it-out/idi-p/1061

What is your best Classroom Management Tip?

Old dog/ New tricks?

My  mom, also a teacher, called me this morning.  To help her students grasp integers per their request she is going to rap.  My mother is a veteran teacher who is closer to retirement than I am and definitely was not a part of the "rap movement."  (I remember hiding my Vanilla Ice and Snoop Dogg cassette tapes from her.)  She asked my younger brother and myself for tips.  My father "dropped some rhymes" so the concept would make sense and match a beat.  She's nervous, but I think that's great she's still willing to go out of her comfort zone to help her students grasp concepts. Who says an old dog can't learn new tricks? 

She texted me this picture. I think she rocks (the sleeves are from a Halloween store, my mom is hard core, but not THAT hard core).  The kids went crazy!  She invited another math class in as well.  By the end of the class the students were singing the rap and knew the steps to solve integers.  Her English classes are jealous...so the brainstorming starts again!

What ways do you reach out of your comfort zone to help students reach understanding?

Do you have a new or creative way to teach concepts? Please Share!

How do you make your students smile?

I was reading an article from the We are Teachers blog about ways to make your students smile.  As my students were packing up, I was discussing whether these 10 things would work for them or not and what inspires them to be motivated.  One of my students said I motivated them because I always smiled at least once in class. That they could tell I enjoyed what I taught and I was excited about it and positive.  They mentioned some teachers they've had in the past complain about their duties or just lectured as the students took notes without even smiling.  They want to try harder in my class because they know I enjoy being there with them and sharing my knowledge and interests.
Who knew a smile could go so far?
That made my day, especially, since this past week I've felt as I haven't been the "bubbly encourager" my students view me as.
So from now on, no matter how many extra duties or last minute meeting are thrown on me I'm going to constantly remind myself- it's not my students fault.

How do you make your students smile?  How do they perceive you?

Memorization Techniques

My beginning students have been working 2 weeks on a monologue assignment.  They chose a monologue out of our text book, completed basic analysis information of the scene, and completed an in depth character analysis. They even started basic script scoring and starting to understand beats. They are having difficulties getting their text memorized.  I think they think there is a quick fix, but unfortunately with memorization the time and effort have to be put in for the memorization to actually happen.

I gave them the best memorization technique one of my professors gave me in college.

Write the monologue out using only the first letter of each word, including capitalization and punctuation.

So, if I were to write the previous two sentences of this post it would look like this:

I g t t b m t o o m p g m i c.
W t m o u o t f l o e w, i c a p.

Looks like a code, but actually it works. A majority of my students were close to being off book today after applying this technique.  Others only needed the letter paper. I told the students it was a process: from script to letters, from letters to memory!

What is a memorization technique you use to help students memorize lines or presentations?

Proverb for the Day

I was reading Proverbs and feel this applies to education and school as well.

 ²To know wisdom and instruction,
         To discern the sayings of understanding,
    ³To receive instruction in wise behavior,
         Righteousness, justice and equity;
    ⁴To give prudence to the naive,
         To the youth knowledge and discretion,
    ⁵A wise man will hear and increase in learning,
         And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel,
    ⁶To understand a proverb and a figure,
         The words of the wise and their riddles.
    ⁷The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
         Fools despise wisdom and instruction.