Busy Folder, Busy Student

Hi everyone! new post! woohoo. Ok, so, all of us have in our class those fabulous fast finishers. Sometimes we can get away by getting those students to help their classmates or even help the teacher. However, we can help those fast finishers and teach them to invest that little free time into learning more English, or whatever it is that you are teaching.

I am mentioning fast finishers in the post of "busy folder" since that is mostly how I use this awesome folder I made for my students. However, the busy folder can have many other uses and there are so many other variations of this teaching tool (busy folders, busy bags, file folder games) that you will be amazed. Below I posted some you tube links in order for you to see the myriad of options available  for teachers who want to create a busy folder.

Dr. Seuss busy folder (theme based busy folder)

Toddler learning folder (I used this one as the model for my busy folder)

Free Printable Preschool/Early Learning Homeschool Resources (awesome resource)

My very own busy folder is still in process of being completed. However, I have managed to include some of the most common topics I usually teach in class.

                             

     

 

Hope this is useful!

Gamification

Hi everyone! In this post I would like to share a teaching strategy we use in our classrooms: Gamification.

Teaching English in a country where it is not the mother tongue is not an easy task. Having students motivated and ready for the class is hard for us as teachers. The importance of motivation in the class setting is well-known, everybody who is involved in the educational field knows or should know how powerful it is to have motivated students eager to learn and interact with one another. As Benjamin Franklin had said it “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” The power of involvement should be taken as a tool to enhance learning and make students accountable of their own learning.

Throughout the history of education, teachers have been trying different methods to fulfill students’ needs. Gamification has arisen as a possible way to stimulate 21st Century students to perform better academically.

In order to apply the foundations of gamification in the classroom, teachers must be aware of the necessary elements to conduct a well-organized gamified class. Gamification is an approach that makes learning more interesting by encouraging students to participate more actively. It is a tool that uses game elements, mechanics and game-based thinking in order to achieve a goal.

Gamification consists of game design elements in nongame contexts. That means, game elements, mechanics and game-based thinking are applied in different contexts such as business and education. Even though, people might only relate gamification to the business world, it is also possible to apply the concept in the educational field.

Gamification is done to motivate and engage the learners, so that they can become active participants in their own learning process. It is the process of adding game elements to a non game situation. The integration of gamification in the classroom has added a more authentic manner to education.

Gamification is used to encourage a specific response or behavior. It promotes competition to engage students; it also helps students track their own progress. As stated, gamification is the process of adding game-like mechanics to non game activities. Another possible way to apply gamification in the classroom setting is to promote desired behavior. In other words, gamification works like grades, gold stars, trophies and certificates. Because students who perform a specific action in the game following the rules are expected to be rewarded.

What kind of games do you use in your class? Share with us.

Classroom Management Tips 2

Hi everyone! Last post, I wrote about some classroom tips that we used as children teachers and that have worked fine for us. However, there are other tips that were not included. We have used some of these and we saw other teachers using others. Below I will explain the use of grouping and reward system.

Grouping: Organizing students into groups is a great option for many reasons; students work together for a goal, they help each other, each student can be in charge of a role: facilitator, reporter, recorder, in this way everyone is held accountable, and when playing competition games students are motivated and engaged, it also helps decrease student's anxiety (shy students). This technique is great for children, teens, and adults. From a children teacher's perspective this technique has helped me manage large classes (30+ students) and it has worked perfectly most of the times.

When working with children it is important to let them know what group they belong to. I usually print out 2 sets of flashcards (using topics already studied in class) and I paste 1 set of the flashcards on their tables and use the other set on the board. For example: I paste a triangle on one table, a square on another, and I have the same ones on the board. In this away students know what gorup they belong to because they can SEE it.

Rocket race: this grouping technique is great and can be used for small and large classes. When students are divided into groups teacher assigns a "rocket" to each group (the rockets are all of different colors). The goal is that whenever students finish an assignment or achieve a goal they go up in the rocket race (to the moon or earth) and whenever they misbehave their rocket goes down. This is incredibly motivating, especially for children who love space!

Reward system: This is a very broad technique and can seem to some people a bit behavioristic. However, we are all free to try different techniques with each group of students and see which techniques work better with each class.

One kind of reward system I usually use with little kids (along with the grouping technique) is the use of stickers. I either buy stickers or just draw happy faces or stars on sticky paper and give it to them at the end of the class. This technique works wonders! However, students can get used to these and we, as teachers, must always be consistent and have some extra stickers after each class.

 



Another reward system is the "traffic light" I saw the picture below on Instagram yesterday and thought it was super cute. I personally haven't used this techniques but have seen other teachers use it and according to them it works great. This traffic light system is very easy to use. Green would mean "good behavior" yellow "attention, not behaving very well" and red "bad behavior, remove student from group, or talk with the teacher."

great and easy way to let
students
know how they are behaving

a variation of the traffic light

In order to use these techniques as well as the ones mentioned in the previous post it is VITAL to let students (children, teens, adults) know WHAT is expected from them. With children it is very important to use visual cues of what appropriate behavior looks like as well as inappropriate behavior. And last but not least, this is something to be reviewed ALWAYS. Remind students of the rules as many times as possible and be CONSISTENT with them.

Classroom Management Tips

Hi everyone, I am sure tha more than once in our teaching life we have come to work with great groups of students as well as with other students who make our lives a bit more difficult. However, it is the difficult student who makes us better teachers! (at least that's what I think).

In order to manage a class of 10 or more students and have them learn English in a fun and engaging way there are some tips that can be followed. Sadly, there is not one recipe that fits all classes and we must constantly look for different strategies and activities in order to keep our classes managed. Below are some of the things we have tried in our classes and have worked fine.

These signs are extremely useful when giving instructions to young children. They do not only hear the instruction but can also see them and teachers can also use these (after some practice) by only showing them to the class or a student in particular, no words necessary.

These are some other instructions (homemade) that are attached to a clip so the teacher can always have it at hand.

Another important tip is too keep a class schedule that students CAN SEE. When working with any age group, a routine is important. Moreover, when working with children a VISUAL routine is even more important. Being able to see what is coming will help children relieve some of the class anxiety and also get ready for a change of activities. The picture below is a homemade version of a classroom routine used in class.

What you see here is the weather, a teacher activity, a transition. Some other activities can be added such as: craft, story time, math time, snack time, hello, good bye.

Another very useful tool is https://www.classdojo.com. Class Dojo helps you keep track of students behavior and progress and also connect to parents.
Another tool which was mentioned in a previous post is https://bouncyballs.org/. Bouncy balls lets you control the noise in the class. Let students know that the more noise the more bouncy the balls will be. It sometimes works in class, some other times it doesn't. Try these and let us know how it goes!

Got other suggestions? Let us know!