Most of us are probably holding on to some super-fun activity that our students just love. Maybe it’s one that we’ve spent three years tweaking. As these new educational shifts encourage us to reflect on our practice we might start to think that perhaps the ratio of class time spent on an activity is not proportionate to student learning. Maybe the activity is actually more “hands-on” than “minds-on”. We may argue with ourselves that the activity is worth it when deep down we are questioning whether or not it is. Change is tough. We may say to ourselves that we’re smart, and it’s not like our intelligence is measured by our ability to change, or anything.

Except for the fact that a guy named Einstein once said, “Our intelligence is measured by our ability to change.”

Okay, so Einstein would probably say that we should adapt to the great many changes in the coming school year. But there are so many new standards, reforms, initiatives, and check-lists for teacher accountability, where do we start?

1. Embrace the changes and make it obvious

I’ve encountered some teachers who have fundamental disagreements with the changes occurring. I get it, especially if you’ve been teaching for a while. However, I would encourage all teachers to focus on the heart of the changes: more students learning more key information. Push through these changes with a positive attitude because students pick up on negativity. If they hear you bad-mouthing the new initiatives, they will be less bought-in and ultimately make your job more difficult. Find parts of the changes that you think are beneficial and share your enthusiasm with the students!

2. Get cozy with other content teachers

It can be easy for me to stay in my English teacher comfort zone, and I highly recommend designated planning time with same-content teachers. However, if we are trying to prepare students for the real world, we need to show them that all knowledge is interconnected. I might swing by the Social Studies teachers’ rooms and tell them we’re working on compound sentences. They promise to at least mention it in their classroom (ex. “I want your response to include two compound sentences”), and they’ll usually give me a nugget of information that I can mention in mine.

Posters work, too. In my English Classroom, I have the Standards for Math Practices on a poster, and we try to reflect on these at the end of class. This was confusing for the kids at first. I heard a lot of “Um, isn’t this an ENGLISH class?” Telling them that yes, it is, and yes, these practices are important for English shows that they are worth knowing.

Tip: Share what you’re doing on a Google Doc or weekly email. This is an easy way for teachers to support each other and share information freely.

3. Set high expectations

Treating your students like they’re at the next level by telling a kindergarten class, “today we’re going to be doing 1st grade work,” or a 10th grade English class, “some of my seniors are writing this type of essay, and I think you guys can handle it,” will create intrinsic buy-in and send a message that you expect only the best. Don’t pacify wrong answers with “Hm, well, you’re almost there, Trisha.” Tell Trisha that she is incorrect but that you want her to get the answer right, and then have her repeat the right answer. Call on students who aren’t raising their hands. Greet your students with a hand-shake. Use instructional technology to engage them with differentiated, high-level content that is complicated and interesting to them. Assign authentic projects that hit twelve objectives in a single bound but have to do with real-life.

4. Print out your standards and use it as a checklist

Student learning is the ultimate goal, and the standards are a road-map to student achievement on the part of their path that is our classroom. I’ve seen great teachers at my school who have printed it out and posted the CCSS on the wall of their room. Some even have a student put a tally-mark next to each standard as the students complete some sort of assessment (not necessarily paper/pencil test) on it. What a great idea to show the students what they’re accomplishing! To get student buy-in, though, you have to have a positive attitude towards the standards, going back towards #1 on this list. If you’re excited, they’re excited!

Note: following and checking off the standards should not be looked at as a way to impede creativity. it’s an organized way of achieving the standards — this can be done in a variety of creative ways!

5. Involve the Community

At the beginning of the year, I send home a letter to my parents with an outline of our units and a brief survey of what they do professionally or who they know that might be willing to contribute to our classroom. You never know who could come in as a guest speaker, who works with a organization in need of solving a problem, who needs a Public Service Announcement written for their cause. If you find that no one has any real connections, inviting parents into the classroom for productions, lab displays, or as professional panel judges for presentations puts the pressure on students to do their best, can involve parents in the success of the child, and creates a support system that is not easily broken.

I’m sure there are plenty of other things that can be added to this list, and I’d love to hear your ideas below! What’s your plan for adapting to the upcoming changes this school year?

Technology is intended to make our lives easier in the classroom. However, there can be unforeseen consequences! From social media mishaps to students who won’t get off of their smartphones, here are some ways to cope with — and avoid — the pitfalls of popular technology.

1. Educate your students and yourself

As tech-savvy as students can be, I find they often lack the most basic common sense about digital citizenship. But that does not mean that they can’t learn! Common Sense Media, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, offers lesson plans, units, and teaching tools for all grade levels regarding digital citizenship, including digital literacy. Teach your students how to be responsible technology users. This is not just a classroom skill but a life necessity!

2. Protect yourself

Be careful with social media. Even if your settings are private and your account is difficult to find, assume that anyone — including students, their parents, and administrators — can read what you’re posting. Many teachers have gotten into trouble because of their postings, and the media isn’t shy about reporting on these incidents. Be cautious, too, about your profile information on these sites, and the people whom you follow and follow you.

Do occasional searches of your name on Google and social media sites. You may find a past mistake come back to haunt you, and there may not be much you can do about it (though there is some advice here on what to do). You may also find identity theft. Several years ago, a Google search of my husband’s name revealed a fake profile on a social media site we had never even heard of. The profile picture was my husband, but it was a picture we don’t own. We contacted the site and had the profile removed.

Finally, should you find any evidence of bullying, threats, or illegal activity while on social media or hear of it from a student, you need to report it to the appropriate person in your building. In my class, Twitter in particular has been a source of student conflict. Although students know that public profiles are monitored, they still make unwise posts.

3. Make clear rules and consequences

From the first day of school, establish clear expectations, rules, and consequences regarding technology; then, consistently enforce them. Whatever rules you have, make sure your students fully understand them!

Plagiarism is another issue. I have a clear policy about plagiarism: it’s not tolerated at all. But I make sure that students understand what plagiarism is and teach them how to avoid it. Also, since I teach seniors, who must write a thesis paper as a graduation requirement, I use Turnitin.com. TurnItIn allows students to check their own work for plagiarism before the assignment is due, so it’s a learning tool as well.

4. Set a good example

If we don’t want our students on their phones during class time, we shouldn’t be on ours either. I keep my phone on vibrate and in an unobtrusive place. As the wife of a NYC firefighter and the mother of two small children, emergencies have happened. In those (fortunately rare) instances, I explain to my students why I need to use the phone. In turn, if a student has a genuine emergency, I’ll let him leave the room to use his phone. Students appreciate that I give them my full attention and thus, they are more likely to do so in return.

5. Schedule some technology free time

Sometimes the amount of technology surrounding us is overwhelming, and can even affect our health (carpal tunnel syndrome, eye strain, an obsession to beat a level on a game). Don’t bring your technology to bed (it can cause problems falling asleep).

And, every once in a while, it’s nice to be technology free. My family recently spent the weekend camping in Montauk. I begrudgingly left my laptop at home (I didn’t want it getting sandy or overheated in a tent or car). When we arrived, we discovered that our iPhones were useless, since there was little to no service. After the initial panic, I enjoyed it. So what if I couldn’t check my email, text, or tweet? I enjoyed simply being with my family in a beautiful setting that no device could rival.

It may seem obvious to most that keeping track of resources you’ve found online is helpful, but it took me a long time to realize that this was something I must do in order to prevent myself from reinventing the wheel every year. Sure, I have a file cabinet stuffed to the brim with handouts and things I’ve used over the years, and I sometimes I use it when I’m looking for a specific activity, but I usually hit the internet if I’m looking for something new to try.

There are endless ways you can organize yourself to keep track of things, but this is the system that works for me.

Step 1. Generate ideas

You will likely hit up the same sites for ideas on a regular basis. Bookmark them, or create a google doc with a list of your favorite sites. Pinterest is great for this. I frequent ReadWriteThink.org, PBS Learning, and Scholastic quite often so I have them all bookmarked. I use Pinterest more for collecting ideas I want to check out later (although it can turn into a huge time suck if you get caught up in all the cutesy stuff!)

Step 2. Save your resource or lesson for later

This can be as simple as punching holes in a print out and sticking it in a binder, or filing it away. But what if your lesson includes digital media? You should have a consistent method and system for keeping track of these resources that you have used and liked. You can also use Pinterest for this, if you have a specific board for each area of study, but I use it as more of an idea generation tool. For organizing resources, you can use a site like EduClipper, Evernote, or even a basic Google Doc. I have a Google Site where I keep links organized by subject, and it has worked quite well for me. Take the time to save what you like, you’ll thank yourself later. If someone gives you an idea, write it down, add it to your site as soon as possible. You will be so relieved that you already have a great video saved for teaching a particular standard, so you don’t have to scour the internet every year. Teachers spend so much time searching and vetting resources, it is worth the extra few minutes it takes to save something you may have spent hours finding. You may not always teach the same grade level, but there are events such as holidays that come up each year, regardless of your grade level. You won’t regret saving your materials even if you do switch grades.

Step 3. Be reflective

Every so often, go through your list of resources and delete the ones that have become irrelevant, or didn’t work out so well. You don’t want your list to end up like an over-stuffed file cabinet full of junk. Keep it fresh, and think about whether you will really use something again.

Communication starts with expectations. If you start the year with a strong, clear message about you, your classroom, and your expectations you can be on track for an incredible school year. Here are four suggestions that can get your year off to a great start.

1. Set up your mobile messaging group
ClassDojo Messenger is a web browser and mobile messaging service that will bridge the gap between home and school. ClassDojo Messenger allows you to not only send whole class broadcasts to parents, but also privately and securely message parents about individual students.

2. Record a video introduction
Introduce yourself to everyone via video. The goal should be to instill confidence and communicate your professionalism (as well as your 21st century skills.) If you have certain school supplies, communicate those as well with examples to show. If you want students to come to class prepared, even show them how to assemble their binder. Set expectations about the year. Not everyone will come to open house but many will watch your video.

Create a link to your video after you’ve uploaded it to YouTube or SchoolTube by using a link shortener like bit.ly or goo.gl. Use this link in your emails or letters home. You can also see how many people went to that link, which will help you decide if it is worth the time next year.

3. Create your email list of parents (and students)
While you may not have every email of every parent, if you can have some, prepare to send a message to your group. Use a service like Boomerang to schedule these messages now. For example, you can send a reminder the day you start preplanning that you’re at school and excited. You can go ahead and write that email now and schedule it to be sent on a certain day. Imagine the power of an email that says,
“It is 8:00 am on the first day of school for me this year and the first thing I thought about is my new students!”

4. Send a letter home to your students
Include information on signing up for ClassDojo Messenger, a link to your video, and mention the email list to your parents in a letter that you mail home. Mention any school supplies or other important procedures such as how to schedule a conference.

Set expectations for how you’ll communicate. If this is the only letter sent home for the year, emphasize how you will communicate: bookbags, email, text messages? Let parents know what to expect.

Whether you use these specific suggestions or adapt your own, you should have a plan. The first time families hear from you should be a positive experience where you demonstrate your professionalism, set expectations, and communicate clearly. This can set a positive tone for the whole year. Good luck and start well!

It’s that time of year again, back-to-school night is right around the corner! I know that parent involvement leads to student success, so how should I maximize the 20 minutes I have with parents to start the year off right? In the past, I’ve planned too much for back-to-school night. I always seemed to run out of time. Parents would be out the door before I even had a chance to go over my behavior management plan! This year is going to be different. I’m going to keep it short, sweet, and attempt to make better use of my time time.

Here’s my plan of attack:

1. Introduction! 1 minute

I plan to introduce myself and share a little background about myself. My hope is to come across approachable and passionate about helping their children succeed. My goal is to get parents on my side.

2. Give a BRIEF overview of what I have planned for the school year 3 minutes

I will inform parents of the general topics that will be covered in my class this year and any big projects I may need their help with down the line. However, parents get bored too — I will make sure to not go over every detail of my curriculum, that’s what a syllabus is for!

4. Go over behavior management plan: ClassDojo 5 minutes

Explain what ClassDojo is and how it will help develop positive behaviors in the classroom. Show parents what students’ avatars look like and what happens when students receive a positive or negative point. Explain how ClassDojo behaviors align with our school’s code of conduct.

5. Get parents on board! 5 minutes

We all know that parent involvement is directly correlated with student success. I plan on keeping parents in the know as much as possible through ClassDojo. At back-to-school night I will hand out parent codes so they can create a ClassDojo parent account. Here they can view behavior reports and communicate with me through ClassDojo Messenger.

6. Class “Wish List” 1 minute

Let’s be honest — teacher’s aren’t given much money to spend on school supplies. This is why I always show parents my “Wish List” at back-to-school night. This can include everything from glue sticks to construction paper. Anything you think you might need goes on the wish list!

7. Questions? 5 minutes

Leaving time at the end for questions is crucial. I want to make sure parents feel comfortable and excited about the year ahead. I’m hopeful that back-to-school night will give parents the information and tools necessary to stay as involved as possible in my class this year.

Fingers crossed! Here goes nothin’ 🙂

Research proves that children learn best from each other. Likewise, teachers learn best from each other as well. We all know that as teachers, when we teach a concept, we personally learn that same concept all over again. We internalize it, and learn it better as a result of teaching it! So why not teach each other? This encourages positive growth for all involved parties.

We have all had those moments in the day-in day-out throes of teaching – those “ah ha!” moments when some new or different tactic worked. When faced with an epiphany such as this, share it with others! We want all children to have the best chance to learn and the most benefit from learning possible, not just our class(es), right? After all, we are all in this together, striving to promote student success and the greater good as a team! As a teacher-leader or mentor, communicate with colleagues in various ways in order to inform, collaborate, and network on best practices to enhance student learning.

Teacher-leaders and mentors are constantly learning, growing, and sharing. They are never the same at the end of the year as they were at the beginning. They are in a “morphic” state as a direct result of their own personal love of learning.

How else can teacher-leaders and mentors be described? They have an extensive understanding of pedagogical knowledge, the curriculum, and the needs of students. They are constantly seeking to add to and enrich the curriculum; guiding others in that endeavor. They continually facilitate students’ engagement in learning, higher-order thinking skills, and the application of learning in current, relevant ways. They guide others to reflect on their own practice and progress.

Teacher role models such as this are charged with the task of encouraging others to set challenging goals for themselves, and tackle new ways to present challenging content. They lead others in the effective use of data to inform instructional decisions. Teacher-leaders continually demonstrate expertise and lead others to determine and develop a variety of assessment strategies and instruments that are valid and appropriate for the content and student population. They are constantly engaging in professional growth, and the application of the methods and skills learned. This contributes to the development of others as well as the well-being of the school community of learners.

Being a teacher-leader or mentor encourages success for all, including students and teachers. This leadership role fosters our collective goal of creating and constructing lifelong learners, which ultimately extends itself to a global community of learners. Serving as a teacher-leader and mentor to others in these capacities merits truly exemplary status.

During my first year of teaching, I made the mistake of making a phone call home to discuss the negative behavior of a student in my classroom. This was within the first few weeks of school, and I received a jarring response, yet one that I learned a lot from. This student was refusing to do work, constantly disrupting the class, and often using disrespectful language to other students and to me. It came to a head one day, and I made a phone call after school to his mom. The conversation went something like this:

Me: “Hi, this is Ms. Christine, your child’s teacher.”

Mom: “Oh hi, is everything ok?”

Me: “Well, actually I was calling to talk about your child.”

…I went to on to summarize recent behaviors.

Mom: “Well honestly, this is the first time I am even talking to you this year. I don’t know you, and my son is also probably trying to get to know you. I don’t like that our first contact is about something negative. I would have loved to first learn about how you teach, how you run your classroom, and what your expectations are, that way I could use the same language with my son and he would know that you and I are on the same team.”

The conversation went on, and I completely understood and respected what she was saying. I didn’t reach out to families at the start of the year. I had planned to hold off until Back-to-School night, which was after the first month. That first month is so crucial to building on the rest of the year, and in hindsight, I should have made a positive contact with each family earlier.

After my conversation with that parent, I made sure to check in with each family, and have an initial get-to-know-you conversation. Throughout the year, I referred to students’ families as being on a team with me, where their child is our quarterback. We all need to work together to support the student. Making that initial initial phone call, talking in person, or chatting over ClassDojo Messenger, has made a huge difference in my classroom support system.

Engaging students from the first moment in a lesson is an art form. In a day where students hunger for instant gratification and often require an entertainer as opposed to a teacher, this unique set of student engagement strategies fits the bill.

We as teachers experiment with many ways to capture student focus: counting down, clapping, raising our hands, and so on. With varied student populations at any age or level, in any setting, the “Whole Brain Teaching” call and response technique is truly a best practice. This is an effective attention-getter before or at any time during a lesson. Using call and response, the students respond verbally to the teacher with the same inflection and tone with which they were called. This strategy calls students’ attention to the speaker, allows them to speak while giving the speaker their attention, and requires their response and engagement. At the point of response, students are engaged and open to the information being presented.

For instance, when utilizing the “Class” call and response at any given point during the lesson, the teacher begins by saying the word “class” any way he or she prefers, and the class in turn is responsible for mimicking the teacher’s voice and volume level by responding “yes.” So if the teacher says, “Hey class!” then the students respond, “Hey yes!” Likewise, if the teacher says “Classity-class!” then the students say back to him or her, “Yessity-yes!” This strategy gives students the opportunity to respond appropriately, while giving them a needed verbal release during instruction, and allowing them to enjoy mimicking the speaker. The sillier, the better — student focus increases!

An additional call and response technique to increase and sharpen student focus is ”Hands and Eyes”. This strategy can be utilized at any point during the lesson as well. When students need to refocus, the teacher simply says, “Hands and eyes on _______.” Students respond in turn by focusing their attention on the chosen person or object (such as the board) and clapping their hands together, leaving them clasped in front of their bodies. At the same time, students are also responding verbally by repeating the words of the teacher in the same manner. This method, again, gives students the opportunity to speak out during a time when they are quiet and listening, and allows them the opportunity to have fun mimicking whomever is speaking, while focusing their attention in a novel way.

There are many other “Whole Brain Teaching” strategies to be explored and utilized within the classroom. These two call and response methods have been proven timelessly effective. In a day when capturing and maintaining student focus is increasingly difficult, these techniques are among the best practices in the educational realm. If you have more ideas, please do share in the comments!

A few years ago I was teaching four sections of AP Economics at Gunn High School in Palo Alto, a top ranked school in the nation. I needed to prepare my students for the Microeconomics AND Macroeconomics AP tests at the end of the year. Most schools only prepare students for one of these two tests so, needless to say, my students needed to learn many concepts in a short amount of time. Everyday my lesson was well crafted as I wanted to make sure to make full use of the 58 minutes of instructional time. I noticed that as major assessments approached, such as a unit test, a midterm, or the actual AP tests, my students weren’t able to learn at the pace and depth that I was hoping they would. I figured that perhaps it was due to stress or anxiety, but what could I do about it? I barely had enough instructional time to cover all the material that they needed to learn. I knew that if I trained my students to meditate regularly, my students would see tremendous benefits from it in the long term. But I still didn’t do it. I resorted to the very common excuse many of us teachers use: “I just didn’t have enough instructional time.” My students ended up doing just fine on the tests but at a great cost. I saw some very bright students work themselves up and question their intelligence simply because they had no mechanism or techniques to regulate themselves physically, physiologically, and psychologically.

I reflected over this the following summer and decided to give myself permission to meditate with my students for the first week of classes in the upcoming fall semester. I had some serious concerns.

What if my students think meditation at school is stupid?

What if their parents accuse me of initiating them into a buddhist monk cult?

What will my colleagues think of me?

And most importantly, how will I cover all the material that I’m expected to cover with less instructional minutes?

I told my students that for the first week of class we are going to meditate everyday for two minutes at the beginning of class. I remember their faces — sheer excitement and curiosity. They were surprisingly excited to try this out. Here are some of things that happened right away:

1. None of my students were late to class because they wanted to meditate or they were afraid to interrupt the meditation.

2. They thoroughly enjoyed this moment of peace and calm in their very hectic day.

3. By the end of each meditation, my students were fully there. Not just their bodies, but their minds and hearts as well.

With the 56 minutes of instruction that I had left, I was able to cover the amount of material that would take me 75 minutes previously. My students were more engaged, and willing to participate in our classroom discussion more readily. What their boyfriend or girlfriend told them during lunch was not in the forefront of their mind nearly as much (alas, you can’t eradicate that stuff completely), rather, the Law Of Diminishing Marginal Utility was what their prefrontal cortex was processing. At the end of the week I asked my students whether they wanted to continue meditating everyday. Out of 120 students, 118 wanted to continue meditating. And so we did. For the rest of the semester, we meditated every day before class for 2-5 minutes.

This allowed me to recognize the long term benefits of attention training exercises such as meditation. By November my students demonstrated real behavioral change because they were able to self-regulate and develop an ability to clear their mind from external events or internal negative voices. This skill obviously helped them intellectually, which deepened the discourse in our class, improved their ability to student and take tests, and allowed them to be more creative when working on their final projects. More importantly, this newly formed ability allowed students to build resilience and emotional intelligence, skills that are significantly more important for happiness and success in life.

Have you ever known someone who is constantly drumming, or tapping their pen? My brother, a percussionist, was constantly reminded to be still as a child. When asked to stop, leg bouncing became the next option. What my brother really had was a need to move, and so do the students in our classrooms!

Children thrive in a structured environment. Children also need to move. So why not incorporate rhythm and movement into their learning environment in a structured manner? This provides students with the freedom to move as well as the opportunity to interact with each other in a novel and unique way. Drumming builds a sense of community within the classroom as students eagerly wait, actively listening and focused, to positively reinforce others through rhythm, music, and movement.

The first step for implementation is to decide what type of drums should be used. This really depends on the teacher’s preference and budget. Djembe drums work well and sound great, but are more expensive than a simple hand drum. Djembes are ideal for the one or two drum classroom. Hand drums have a decidedly lesser sound quality, but are less cost prohibitive, and easier to store and manage. The lower price point also allows teachers to provide more students with drums if desired.

Drum management is key. Students are only allowed to drum at specific times during a lesson, when prompted by the teacher (or another student) giving someone positive reinforcement for a great idea or a thoughtful response. For example, if a student makes a connection between a text and the real world and the teacher subsequently praises him or her, drumming students would without hesitation give the contemplative student a drum beat.

Drums can be distributed to the entire class so that each child has a drum, or drums could be given to one group of students each day. This increases student focus and engagement exponentially, as students are literally sitting on the edge of their seats, waiting excitedly with bated breath for those key points in the lesson at which they can drum. Research has proven that music, movement, and learning are indelibly linked. Why not capitalize on that?

How do students know how long and when to stop drumming? That is at the teacher’s discretion. He or she must give “the signal,” and all drumming stops. It can be a look, a hand signal (like a snap), or whatever works best. The signal is an integral part of using drums in the classroom. Without this, students lack direction and structure, resulting in a loss of control.

Drums can be a great tool for classroom management as well. Utilize a call and response technique to get students’ attention and help get them focused and ready to work. Simply drum four beats of rhythm and wait for the students to mimic the rhythm on their drums. Students without drums may even drum on their desks, chairs, legs, or whatever is available. Continue to drum out and listen for a response until all students are participating and where they need to be. Students are amazingly energized and focused all at once.

Take several minutes for movement breaks throughout the day to rhythms the teacher or a student drums. Have students move freely through their personal space, or play a variety of sounds on the drum and have students mimic the sound with their bodies. Experiment with different dynamics and techniques by tapping, rubbing, striking, and scratching the head of the drum to keep things interesting. “Brain Breaks” such as this keep students fresh, energized, and ready to engage the next dynamic in the classroom.

The use of drums in the classroom as a focus, engagement, management, and community-building tool is definitely an “out-of-the-box” strategy. Well-trained drumming students benefit from the cultivation of a plethora of skills, the least of which include rhythmic movement, positive peer support, and enthusiasm for learning.