Creative Review Ideas
When I plan my lessons for the next day, I occasionally include an activity or an object to reinforce the new concept, engage the students senses, and connect them with real life objects.
This list includes out-of-the-workbook ideas for reinforcing concepts and integrating hands-on learning in your classroom. They cover a range of grade levels and are presented in no specific order.
Math Facts
- Froggy Hop – Teacher lays a row of flash cards on the floor for the student to jump over when he says the correct answer. The teacher or student walks alongside the “jumping” student to ensure he says the right answer.
- Around the World – One student stands beside another while the teacher flashes a math fact. The student who says the correct answer first moves to the next student’s desk.
- Addition and multiplication graph – Make a graph with numbers 1-10 or 12 both vertically and horizontally. Each student finishes as quickly as he can, then records his time.
- Equations – Write equations onto the chalkboard, each student only solves one step.
___ + 8 = 56
6n + (23 – 1) – 13 = 11(3)
13 = n + 5
53 – n = 102
- Oral drills – Call out math facts instead of using flash cards.
Long Division
- Around the World – Form two rows of students. Each row gets a division problem to solve. Each student does only one step and goes to the back of the line. Small marker boards work well for this activity.
Formulas
- Find the area of real objects
Classroom, desktop, school property, sidewalk.
Frisbee, clock, protractor, microwave dish.
Doritos chip, slow moving vehicle sign.
- Find the volume of real objects
Classroom, lunchbox, desk, microwave, Rubik’s cube.
Soccer ball, golf ball, baseball, earth.
Ice cream cone, pylon.
- Flash cards – Have students identify the shape for the formula and dictate the formula for a given shape.
Reading – Oral and comprehension
- Choral reading – Reading all together helps the slower ones learn new words.
- Dramatic reading – Assign students to different characters in the story.
- Ask questions during story time – Helps students catch foreshadowing and analyze story details.
Parts of speech and their functions
- Oral – Call out random words and the students say the part of speech.
Teacher: “Capital.”
Student: “Noun.”
Teacher: “Wow.”
Student: “Interjection.”
- Write a sentence on the board to drill the functions.
E.g. “The capital of Canada is Ottawa.”
Teacher: “What does the word ‘capital’ function as?”
Student: “Subject.”
- Label sentences on chalkboard.
- Around the World – Use the oral method
- Sentence patterns
E.g. s | av, do A grizzly bear can smell food from a mile away.
- Diagram sentences
- Chant prepositions
- Define the parts of speech
Rhymes, poems, and songs
A noun is a person, place, or thing. As in farmer, market, or a pretty bird’s wing. -unknown
Public Speaking – Ideas to reduce stage fright
- Read stories to classmates
- Read with lots of expression
- Present a science project to class or school
- Sing a solo – Gets students used to their voice.
I’ve gathered many of these ideas while visiting other teachers’ classrooms.
All Is Calm (Or Not)
I turn the calendar page to December and sigh. My rather grinch-ish thoughts begrudge the unsettledness that the next month can bring to the classroom. My well-established routines, the lessons moving along like clockwork, the things that bring structure to our days, are about to shift. I prefer routine and structure and most of my first-grade students perform better when things move along in familiar patterns.
December can be full of disruptions for young students. Teachers like to add a little extra to their routines—maybe an afternoon to go caroling for the grandparents, maybe practice for a Christmas program, maybe a Christmas party or two, maybe a craft period to create and send cards to someone who needs cheer, maybe help with a community goodwill project or other service activity. And then, there are disruptions outside of school. Students may spend several evenings throughout the month caroling with their families or going to family gatherings. There are extra community happenings. Some students may be anticipating traveling in a few weeks. Students stay out later and get less sleep and so do teachers. December can be a tough month to keep our classrooms functioning smoothly and calmly.
And yet, there is an air of Christmas that we want to embrace and celebrate. December would be dark and depressing without understanding the magnitude of Christmas, the wonder of God with us—in human form, a helpless infant born of a common family—the beginning of the ultimate sacrifice.
Over the years, I’ve learned to bring Christmas into my classroom and yet not allow it to totally disrupt the routines and schedules. We can’t do anything about extra busyness outside school, but we can work to create calmness in our classrooms.
First, teachers, let’s start with ourselves. We can get extra busy, too, and then we bring our loss of sleep and our mounting pressures into school with us. Do we remember and meditate on the meaning and purpose of Christmas? Do we get the rest and nutrition we need? Maybe we need to look at our schedules and prioritize the necessary and needed. Maybe we don’t need a redecorated classroom. Maybe we forego a few of the outside-of-school activities, so we will have energy for school. Because we all know that “if the teacher ain’t happy, nobody’s happy”.
Many students, especially younger students, do not respond well to disruptions in their routines. Keeping regular structure in your day will help with classroom management and discipline issues. So, bring Christmas into the classroom in a controlled spirit. We don’t need to do every activity that would be fun to do. I like to read Christmas picture books for story time in the days leading up to Christmas. I have a simple Christmas bulletin board I reuse each year. It’s a growing board in which I put up a part of the Christmas story each evening until we have the whole nativity on the board. The students enjoy guessing which piece will go next. I also have a Christmas story flannelgraph that I use for devotions. Art classes involve art projects with a Christmas theme. Extra busy work may also have a Christmas theme. These all easily fit into our established routines and don’t create extra work for me or need extra time from the schedule.
We have a long-standing school tradition that on the last school day before the Christmas break, the high school students give a party for the elementary students. While we don’t do a public Christmas program, each classroom is asked to present a short song, poem, story, or skit as part of the party activity. The need to practice our parts can lead to disruption, but I’ve learned to keep it simple and not stress the details. It helps me and the students maintain a calmer frame of mind, both in the prior days and in the moment of.
Christmas can also be time for service activities and a time for remembering those less fortunate than ourselves. This is well and good, but it is also good to stretch some of those activities throughout the year. There is a small personal care home within walking distance of our school. So instead of going Christmas caroling for an afternoon, each classroom takes turns going to sing for the ladies every other week during the school year. If you are caroling for older people, they may enjoy having students come sing for them in January or February when their days will continue to be long and the other carolers have disappeared.
When planning an extra activity, think through the details. Is there a way to incorporate the activity into established routines? If the activity is outside of normal routine—such as decorating sugar cookies—be specific in what needs to happen. The less students are at loose ends and unsure what they are to be doing, the more they and you will enjoy the activity. If your schedule feels overwhelming, decide if the activity needs to happen in December or could something similar be done later when you need a break from the cold gray days of February?
December is a month to be enjoyed, appreciated, and savored. If we keep our focus on the priorities and not the extras, we will find a certain calm amid the busyness, even in our classrooms of bubbling excitement. May the peace and goodwill of Christ invade your classrooms and bring joy to all involved.
Photo by Alda González-Cuevas on Unsplash
5 Simple Ways to Boost Student Engagement
If we aren’t careful, our teaching can become a simple transaction of knowledge. The teacher gives information, the student receives it. End of story.
While there are some situations where this is the most effective way for a concept to be taught, it is generally not the most effective way to teach. Instead, we ought to be viewing our students as team members who are constantly involved and engaged in the acquisition of knowledge.
However, this can be tricky to do well all the time. It can be helpful to have some tried-and-true methods that you employ on a regular basis.
Here are five simple ways to actively involve all of your students in the learning process, easily adaptable for almost any lesson.
Popsicle Sticks
Instead of falling into the habit of only getting input from those students who raise their hands and offer answers, have an easy system to call on students at random. One simple way to do this is to write each student’s name on a popsicle stick and keep them in a cup. Ask a question, then pull out a stick to see who will respond.
Something to consider: sometimes this will work to keep students engaged only until their name is called (at which point they feel free to zone out because they know they won’t be called on again). One easy workaround is to return the sticks to the cup (although that does pose the real possibility of the same student’s name getting pulled several times and other students never getting called at all).
Another trick is to draw a dot at one end of the sticks. When you pull a student’s name, put the name back into the cup, but with the dot facing down this time. When you grab subsequent sticks, choose from the ones that still have a dot facing up. This can help to create the illusion that any name could get called at any time while ensuring that you’re calling on a variety of students.
Whiteboards
Individual whiteboards are a fantastic way to boost student involvement, and they can be used in almost any content area. Ask a question and have students write the answer. Have them write spelling words or solve math problems on them. Use them for diagraming sentences in grammar. Have students sketch a science diagram on their whiteboards. The possibilities are endless.
A huge benefit of whiteboards is that you can have students hold up their answers to show you, and you will get immediate feedback on which students understand a concept and which ones are struggling.
You can often find small whiteboards at dollar stores. Another handy option is to simply put a piece of cardstock inside of a page protector—it works the same way.
You can also buy a package of dollar store socks to use as erasers. Put a marker inside each sock for easy storage and distribution.
Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down
This is a quick and easy way to check for student understanding while also encouraging student engagement. Use this for questions framed as true or false statements or when you’re asking a question with two options. For example, “Carbon is one of the elements on the periodic table…do you agree or disagree?” Or, “What is the word for an animal that survives by eating other animals? Thumbs up if you say predator, thumbs down if you say prey.”
You can also use this as a way to expand on math problems. “Sarah says the answer is 345. Do you agree or disagree? Thumbs up or thumbs down.”
Something to consider: train students to hold their hand against their chests instead of putting it in the air. This makes it harder for students to lazily piggyback their answers based off the answers of those around them (because they can’t actually see those answers). It also keeps sensitive students from feeling anxiety that they will be the only one to get the wrong answer.
Plickers / Sign Language
Plickers is a great tool for reviewing large amounts of content and is especially effective if the teacher has done some preparation beforehand. It’s a system that requires printing a QR code for each student and having the Plickers app downloaded on the teacher’s phone or tablet. The free version has some limitations, and a paid version is also available (more details on that below).
Plickers is designed for multiple choice questions with four answers. Each student receives a card with a unique QR code, with each side of the card labelled A, B, C, and D. The teacher can ask or project their multiple choice question, and the students will hold up their cards, oriented so that the answer they choose is at the top of the card.
The teacher, with the Plickers app activated on their phone or tablet, will scan student’s responses. The data is recorded for the teacher to review (this allows teachers to see at a glance which questions students are struggling with, which is a huge benefit).
For a completely no-tech variation, teach your students the sign language for the first four letters of the alphabet. Ask multiple choice questions and have students sign their answers. This, of course, gives you in-the-moment feedback but doesn’t record student responses for you to analyze later the way the Plickers app does.
You can find more information and download the materials necessary at https://get.plickers.com/.
The free version is limited to asking five questions at a time, which you may find is inconvenient enough to make it not worth the effort. This link outlines the differences between a free account and Plickers Pro. https://help.plickers.com/hc/en-us/articles/360042744134-What-is-Plickers-Pro
For a completely no-tech variation, teach your students the sign language for the first four letters of the alphabet. Ask multiple choice questions and have students sign their answers. This, of course, gives you in-the-moment feedback but doesn’t record student responses for you to analyze later the way the Plickers app does.
Turn and Tell
Turn and tell is a way to get lots of students talking at the same time. Lay some groundwork by breaking students into partners and explaining your expectations. As you are teaching, you can then randomly instruct them to turn and talk to their partners. For example, “Turn and tell your partner one of the causes of the Civil War.” Or, “Turn and tell your partner how to use order of operations to solve an equation.”
You will want to ask a series of questions this way so that each student in the pair gets a chance to speak. You can prevent the most confident students from always doing the talking by specifying who answers first for a specific question. For example, “Turn and tell your partner one of the characteristics of a mammal. Those seated closer to the windows will speak first.”
The more often we can involve students in answering questions or responding to prompts, the more often we can be assured that their brains are actively engaged in learning. By making strategies like these a normal part of your classroom rhythms, you can help your students be active participants in the learning process.
Schedule, Schedule, Schedule...and the Secret Ingredient
This past month our teachers visited two schools, and we have had several visitors at our school lately as well. We have found that much of our questions and discussions during these visits revolve around the school schedule.
How can we keep our students motivated?
How can we intersperse active classes with less active ones so that our students are not sitting for prolonged periods of time?
How can we reduce the amount of homework students have?
The answers to all these questions are usually the same: schedule. If we have a good schedule, all these issues will be taken care of (somewhat effortlessly), provided we plan well, teach well, and stick to the schedule.
Our Schedule
Here is what has worked really well for our school for years.
8:00 – Morning Assembly
8:15 – Bible
8:45 – Math
9:45 – Break
10:05 – English and Spelling
10:50 – Choir (Monday & Wednesday)
11:20 – Reading/Literature
11:40 – Lunch and Recess
12:10 – Creative Writing/Journals
12:20 – Science
1:00 – History/Social Studies
1:50 – Physical Exercise (P.E.)
2:30 – Choir/Music (Tuesday & Thursday)
2:45 – Art
3:15 – Dismissal
Why It Works
There is a set time for everything. We stick to our schedule (pretty much anyway—there is always room for a little flexibility where we need it), and we believe that it is better to do art, P.E., and music every day for twenty to thirty minutes rather than every other day for a longer time. These subjects are more active and enjoyable, which prevents students from getting into the sit-in-your-seat-too-long doldrums. No teacher wants his students to be in the doldrums.
The Secret Ingredient
The secret ingredient is two-fold. The first part is accountability. We grade student papers at morning break and at lunch. If they have their math turned in by morning break (and almost all of them usually do), we can have it graded by the end of break, and they have time to do any fix-ups before lunch.
If they have their language arts and spelling turned in by lunch (and almost all of them do), we can have it graded by lunch, sometimes before, and they can have their fix-ups done before or right after lunch.
In the afternoons, we work on our science and social studies together as a group, discussing, answering, and filling out worksheets together. If we work hard in the morning, most of the more challenging work is done by lunch, and the afternoon is more enjoyable.
The second part of the secret ingredient is what I call the “positive-peer pressure-snowball effect.” The teachers keeping the students accountable causes the students to focus harder and to want to get their work done. It is an amazing thing to see the students begin to try hard to finish their assignments and make good grades.
What is almost more amazing is the influence this has on the other students. They see their peers staying on task and getting their work done with good grades, and they desire to do the same.If the atmosphere is positive and encouraging, nobody wants to be the only one not getting their work done, or the one who has to miss the first ten minutes of a break.
It doesn’t hurt to praise the students a little either. “Good work, everyone. We (team effort– not “you”) all got our work done with good grades. Now, let’s all get our work fixed up so that we all have 100s. Yay!” That, said with a genuine smile, works wonders, too.
A good schedule combined with some accountability and an encouraging environment does amazing things for school morale and students’ attitudes.
Thriving in Your Imperfect Space
Recently I enjoyed the opportunity to visit another school while classes were in session. I visited various classrooms and was able to observe a slice of the daily life of a school somewhat like my own. This school moved into a new building only a few years ago, and the whole place is modern, efficient, and beautiful. Things appear to run like a well-oiled machine. I watched a friend of mine teach her class of fourteen in a spacious, sunlit room considerably larger than my own little basement room where twenty-two students are stuffed into a space that might be ideal for a dozen or so. You can probably imagine some of the thoughts that were running through my head.
Let me tell you about the place where I teach. During the heat of early fall each year, my first task when I arrive at school is to empty the dehumidifier that has been running overnight. I deal with the daily decision of whether to put up with the heat all day or to wear out my voice by trying to talk over the noise of the air conditioner. One day a few weeks ago when we flipped a breaker (for the umpteenth time) while running the microwave at lunchtime, the students wondered why it keeps flipping. I said, “This is an old building. It wasn’t wired to run a bunch of microwaves and air conditioners.”
“When was this school built?” asked one student incredulously. “1993?”
“Actually, 1952,” I replied.
“Well, I was close,” he said. I suppose 1993 and 1952 are equally ancient to him. I hid my amusement and noted the need to keep teaching math skills.
Old buildings have their quirks, and living creatures find ways to get in. One of the many unexpected skills I have acquired as a teacher is dead aim with a fly swatter. I’ve had a student get stung by a bee in the middle of class (Lesson learned: When there is a bee in the classroom, stop everything until that bee is dead or is chased out the window). And do you want to hear mouse stories? Ok, it may be best if I don’t get started on those.
I write all this because my guess is that most of you who read this blog do not teach in state-of-the-art buildings, nor do you teach under ideal circumstances. As we deal with inconveniences, we can choose complaining and frustration, or we can choose gratitude, creativity, and a sense of humor.
Gratitude lets us focus on what we have, not on what we wish we had. I am immensely grateful for a positive school culture, a strong staff team, and a supportive school community. All these things are much more important than having the perfect classroom with all the latest teaching tools. I would far rather deal with flies and flipped breakers than with bad attitudes or relational issues.
Creativity helps us realize that even the inconveniences can be part of our students’ education. Those ants that literally come up from under the edge of the carpet and start building a home there provide a free science lesson. Being a little uncomfortable from the heat or from the crowded room does not hurt my students in the long run, and it may in fact help them build resilience. Creativity lets me find joy in fixing the broken flushing mechanism in the toilet with a paper clip or in finding that I can make the clock work by stuffing a folded piece of paper beside the battery to make it fit more tightly. We teachers can be masters of creativity when the occasion calls for it, and it is our privilege to revel in this ability.
Keeping a sense of humor is a good way to keep our sanity. After all, sometimes the ridiculous inconveniences make the best stories afterward, and it can be delightful to laugh over them with fellow staff members. I can tell you that experiencing mouse escapades together is a quick way to create some great staff camaraderie.
Plans are underway for our school to construct a new building sometime in the next few years. Though I look forward to things like a larger classroom and central air, I will miss some things about our old school. I hope that we will not take the conveniences for granted. No matter the space in which we find ourselves as teachers, we can choose to make the best of what we have and to teach our students to do the same.
Photo by Khay Edwards on Unsplash
How Were You Thinking? Calling Students to Think Deeply
Facing discouragement about my students’ struggle to grasp math concepts, I added a small space on an assignment requiring them to briefly explain the thinking that led to their final response. By asking “Explain how you got your final answer in the space below,” I figured that students’ detailed descriptions would allow me to see where their thinking was going awry. I hoped to use this information to maximize my reteaching the next day.
With great anticipation, I sat down at my desk that afternoon to begin reading the insightful responses, but what I found left me speechless and a little annoyed. Rather than describing their thinking, the typical response to my question was Because I did math. Needless to say, that is not very helpful to a teacher! I wanted to scream, “Of course you did math! But what did you actually do?” In reflecting on that situation, I realized that a misunderstanding of the math concept was not the root problem. It was an inability to slow one’s thinking down so that it may be described, analyzed, and modified as needed.
If you spend enough time around school-age children, sooner or later you will be tempted to use these classic words: What were you thinking? In my mind, I can hear the exasperation in a teacher’s voice as he incredulously tries to interpret a student’s work. In moments like these, I have found it more productive to approach the conversation about thinking from a different angle. Encouraging students to become more mindful of their cognition will support content mastery while also cultivating habits of mind that will support lifelong, independent learning.
The human brain is one of God’s masterpieces. Neuroscience has advanced rapidly in the last few decades, yet there remains much mystery around the way that a rather large hunk of organic matter between our ears provides us with all we need for a lifetime of learning. By observing the thinking habits of people, we note that:
The brain is wired for efficiency. You may have heard the phrase ‘Use it or lose it’ in reference to abilities or knowledge. This reflects the process of synaptic pruning in which unused neural connections weaken while those used more frequently are strengthened. This allows messages to travel more quickly among the different regions of the brain. The efficiency, however, does not stop there. Much of our everyday thinking happens at a fast pace, so our brain must learn how to fill in the gaps by recognizing patterns based on prior experiences. This is ideal for completing tasks that are both predictable and routine. Daniel Kahneman, a well-known researcher in the field of decision-making and judgement, describes this as System 1 Thinking (2011).
Our brain also has the capacity for slower, more deliberate thinking. This kind of cognition naturally requires greater effort and activates a different set of neural pathways, primarily located in the region responsible for planning and reflection. This ‘lower gear’ thinking enables us to more effectively evaluate information, consider and make judgements about multiple options, and make decisions based on evidence. This stands in stark contrast to the pattern-based thinking described above! Kahneman (2011) speaks of this skillset as System 2 Thinking.
Our automatic, pattern-based thinking helps us move efficiently through familiar tasks, yet deeper learning generally happens when we intentionally shift gears into slower, more reflective thought patterns. Developing this skill requires that we grow in our awareness of our thinking and recognizing which speed our varied daily experiences require. Students who have the opportunity to intentionally practice these metacognitive skills will develop powerful habits that will support both academic success in daily class content but also grow into lifelong, independent learners. Becoming aware of our thinking is a learning process that is not necessarily tied to any specific curriculum or school content area. My experience has shown that it takes the awareness of a teacher to help students develop this skill throughout the school day.
Incorporating intentional thinking routines into classrooms is an effective way to accomplish these objectives. To do this, we need to transition in our practice from considering thinking as something that only happens inside students’ heads into a practice that can be visually demonstrated for the teacher to see. Building in opportunities throughout the school day for students to make their thinking visible invites everyone to slow down, evaluate their reasoning, and reflect (Ritchhart et al., 2011). This allows you, the teacher, to be in tune with how students are thinking so that the appropriate feedback can be given. Here are some ways that you can begin doing this in your own teaching:
Use Protocols as Guides. For students just beginning to think about their thinking, it can feel abstract and difficult to achieve. However, providing a simple protocol or template can remove that hurdle, allowing students to constructively engage in both System 1 and System 2 thinking. One of the simplest ways to begin is the See-Think-Wonder protocol: What do you see? (Use observation to focus on evidence) What do you think is going on? (Use evidence as the foundation for interpretation) and What does it make you wonder? (Generate questions that stir curiosity and inquiry). Ritchhart et al. (2011) describe many other helpful protocols in Making Thinking Visible. Resources may be found online and in their book on the topic.
Model! We likely all have heard of read-alouds, in which a teacher reads a book out loud to his class. I suggest that teachers also engage in think-alouds. These are planned moments of the day in which the teacher audibly thinks through a problem for students to see cognition modeled that would otherwise happen only inside someone’s head. This is most effectively paired with solving problems in mathematics, analyzing text in English language arts, and processing observations in science. This activity shows your students that thinking can be an extended process and not just a final answer. You can maximize the effectiveness of this practice by also inviting your students to participate as well!
Consider Thinking as the Final Product. I have seen this done effectively in mathematics by giving students just a few problems (such as one or two) and encouraging students to explicitly describe each step taken in words, sketches, and/or calculations. Yes, achieving the correct answer is important, but encouraging students to slow down and focus on their understanding is just as important. This allows the teacher to provide feedback on the process and not just the answer. A similar approach can be used in different subject areas other than math.
When my students explained their work to the math problems in my opening paragraph, my first assumption was that their answers reflected their misunderstanding, apathy, or laziness. However, I now see these responses as evidence of students needing to cultivate an awareness of their thinking, permitting their thoughts to be examined, discussed, and (when necessary) revised. Perhaps we as teachers should reconsider our propensity for asking students the question ‘What were you thinking?’ and going no further. Modifying our approach to include the question ‘How were you thinking?’ will encourage students to make their thinking visible or audible. Nurturing this practice in our schools will equip students to think deeply while also preparing them to use their God-given minds to faithfully serve others in ways that make a difference in the Kingdom.
References
Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Doubleday Canada.
Ritchhart, R., Church, M., & Morrison, K. (2011). Making thinking visible: How to promote engagement, understanding, and independence for all learners. Jossey-Bass.
Photo by Fernando Santander on Unsplash
KJV Bible Memory Resources
Large flashcards with illustrations for each verse, coordinating coloring pages, and Bible Memory plans. Twelve passages available.
An open letter from the Education Committee
October 12, 2022
Christian greetings!
The Dock is owned by the Conservative Anabaptist Education Committee, and jointly operated between CAEC and the Resource Group at Faith Builders. Since its launch in 2017, The Dock has seen steady growth and increased demand. Its reach has expanded to include users in most of the world’s nations. The Dock is entirely funded by donations, and users like you can be an active part of its ongoing success. The Dock’s annual operating budget is $30,000, and your donations help not only to maintain The Dock, but also expand its offerings. You can use PayPal for single or recurring donations, or send checks to: CAEC c/o Mark Webb, 10555 Lew Jones Road, Rawlings, VA 23876.
Cordially,
The Conservative Anabaptist Education Committee
Gerald Miller
Mark Webb
Adin Stoltzfoos
Chet Stoltzfus
Matthew Peachey
Privacy Policy
How we handle your personal information
What personal information do we collect from the people that visit The Dock?
When you fill out a form on The Dock, or sign up for an account, you will be asked to enter your email address, information about your educational roles, and other details as appropriate to maintain consistent quality for all users of The Dock.
When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here. If you use Gravatar, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.
When do we collect information?
We collect information from you when you register on our site, fill out a form or enter information on our site.
How do we use your information?
To improve The Dock in order to better serve you.
T o ask for ratings and reviews of the content on The Dock.
To follow up with you by email or phone regarding a technical support or content question.
How do we protect your information?
Your personal information is contained behind secured networks and is only accessible by a limited number of persons who have special access rights to such systems, and are required to keep the information confidential. In addition, all sensitive information you supply is encrypted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology. We implement a variety of security measures when a user enters, submits, or accesses their information to maintain the safety of your personal information. All donations are processed through PayPal and are not stored or processed on our servers.
Do we use ‘cookies’?
Yes. Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer’s hard drive through your browser (if you allow) that enables the site’s or service provider’s systems to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information.
We use cookies to
Understand and save user’s preferences for future visits.
Compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interactions in order to offer better site experiences and tools in the future. We use trusted third-party services that track this information on our behalf.
How we use cookies, and how you can manage them.
If you close a pop-up or message bar on The Dock, a cookie is set to help us avoid showing you that message again.
We also use Google Analytics cookies to help us compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interaction so that we can offer better site experiences and tools in the future. These cookies do not identify you personally, but they tell us your location and, in many cases, your device and your demographic information.
If you leave a comment on our site you may opt in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me,” your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
You can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies. You do this through your browser settings. Since browser settings vary, look at your browser’s help menu to learn the correct way to modify your cookies.
If you turn cookies off, it won’t affect your experience except that your site preferences may not be saved and you may need to log in in order to use the Favorites feature.
Third-party disclosure
We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information.
Third-party links
The Dock includes links to third-party products or services as well as content embedded from third-party sites such as Vimeo. These third-party sites have separate and independent privacy policies.
Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
We seek to protect the integrity of The Dock and welcome any feedback about these links and content.
How long we retain your data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
For users that register on The Dock, we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except that they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
What rights you have over your data
If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
General safeguards
You should know that
You can visit The Dock anonymously.
You will be notified of any Privacy Policy changes on this page.
You can change your personal information by emailing us or by logging in to your account on The Dock.
We honor Do Not Track signals and do not track, plant cookies, or use advertising when a Do Not Track (DNT) browser mechanism is in place.
We do not allow third-party behavioral tracking.
We do not specifically target children under the age of 13.
Email privacy
We collect email addresses in order to send updates and respond to inquiries
For regular email updates from The Dock, we agree to
Not use false or misleading subjects or email addresses.
Identify the message as an update from The Dock.
Include the physical address of The Dock.
Monitor third-party email marketing services for compliance, if one is used.
Honor opt-out/unsubscribe requests quickly.
Allow users to unsubscribe by using the link at the bottom of each email.
Summing it up:
We have a strong interest in maintaining privacy. We never sell advertising on The Dock, and we will make it our goal to treat your information with the same honor we want our own to be given.
Contacting Us
If you have questions or concerns regarding our use of your information, you may contact us on the contact page or use the information below.
The Dock
28527 Guys Mills Rd
Guys Mills, Pennsylvania 16327
United States of America
dock@thedockforlearning.org
Maintaining Student Engagement
Part of your job as a teacher is to not only present material, but to present it in such a way that it makes your students want to learn it.
Find ways to give your students tactile learning experiences, where they can interact physically with the learning material.
Consider students’ individual interests, talents, personalities, and motivation levels when planning instruction.
When choosing a learning activity, aim for one that involves students in a meaningful way. Avoid busy work or tedious activities for no greater purpose than filling time.
Student disengagement or behavior problems are sometimes the result of activities not being learner-friendly. Put work into creating interesting learning experiences that draw on students’ natural curiosity.
An overwhelmed child is usually an unengaged child. Be aware of the range of learning abilities in your classroom and be willing to differentiate activities as needed for students who struggle.
Tactics to keep students engaged:
Varying voice tone
Using humor
Varying the intensity of the lesson
Clarifying the purpose of the lesson
Asking questions
Brainstorming together
Having students work in pairs/groups
Assigning manageable independent tasks
Sharing personal examples
Doing role-play
Using visual aids
Keep students moving physically
Involve all students in answering questions by using small whiteboards or scrap pieces of paper. Instead of only hearing from the smart, confident students, this allows everyone to engage with the material and gives you as the teacher an opportunity to call on shy, hesitant students when you can already see they have answered correctly.
Don’t try to compete with distractions. At times, you may need to remove the distraction before moving on with the lesson (for example, a bee is flying around the classroom). Other times, you may need to pause for a moment and experience the moment together (for example, the first snow of the season is falling outside the windows).
Sources
Effective Instruction in the Classroom - The Dock for Learning
Tips for Improving Classroom Engagement - The Dock for Learning
Using PowerPoints
Programs such as PowerPoint, Keynote, LibreOffice and Prezi help teachers to emphasize important points and use visuals in their lessons. Their use is an art well-worth mastering.
If you need training in the mechanics of using presentation software, go to the library and get one of those “for dummies” books. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to PowerPoint is one such example. Training videos can be found online as well.
Remember that efforts to attract attention too easily distract attention. While most presentation software gives you the ability to add flashing, buzzing, excessive color, and movement, don’t overuse these features.
Presentations should focus the audience’s attention on each piece of information. Rather than cramming as much as you can onto every slide, devote each slide to a single idea, and remove everything that might distract from that idea.
Font size should be at least 28 pt. If the text is too small to read, it loses all value.
Avoid slides filled with too much text. The words on the screen should emphasize what you’re talking about, not be a replacement for or exact copy of the words you’re saying.
The following websites offer more practical tips on how to create effective visual presentations:
Sources
6196 results found with an empty search
- Refreshments Will Be Served
Refreshments Will Be Served Arlene Birt July 20, 2018 Refreshments Will Be Served Blogpost 00:00 / 01:04 Download Download “Refreshments will be served.” Sometimes we hear this announced in regards to a meeting or event. Refreshments are not something I’m very good at. I don’t always think ahead, or I wonder, “What can I do quickly?” Serving refreshments can be a good means of fellowshipping or making the event a little more special. How about refreshment of the soul? I love my job and the work that goes with it, but it is good to have a time of refreshment. My mind and spirit need to be refreshed after a busy school year. One of my friends commented, “I’m sure you’re enjoying your summer break from school. It’s always good to have that time of refreshment.” I’ve been pondering this kind of refreshment. Yes, the summer should be a time of refreshing. What is this kind of refreshment? It’s easy to think, “Oh, I must do this—I need to get that done,” and just keep going with a busy schedule. One day during this summer vacation, I thought, “I’m tired. Maybe I’ll take a nap.” My next thought was, “No, I shouldn’t do that. I need to do ___________.” I stopped, and told myself, “It is summer vacation. I can take a nap!” So I did. I don’t mean to endorse laziness, but teachers do need to take some time for refreshment, for rejuvenation, for reviving. We work hard through the school year, and I had a goal of going strong until the very end. Now I need refreshment so I can be motivated to start the new school year well. I especially need the time of spiritual refreshment. I think of the verse from Acts 3:19, “when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” I am refreshed as I take time for prayer and Bible study. I am refreshed as I stop working outside, sit on the bench, and just enjoy the lovely evening with its vibrant colors. Praising God in song or prayer as I enjoy His creation is refreshing. How can I find times of refreshment? At one point today when I looked at the clock, I realized, “It doesn’t matter what time it is. I have nothing scheduled for today.” I think that is refreshing, to lay aside the deadlines and schedules, busy-ness and appointments, and just go through the day. I am refreshed by being outside and working in the dirt and with the flowers. I like to pull weeds (except for that poison ivy!) and plant flowers, and watch the growth in the gardens. Often in the evening I walk around the yard and look at all the blooming plants and enjoy my Father’s creativity. Being outside watching the sky, clouds, breeze, moon, sunrise and sunset, a storm rolling in—these are times of refreshment. I keep an “Inspiration” file and it is refreshing to look back on the notes, letters, stories, quotes, and verses that I have collected. I find it refreshing to organize my folders and files at school and find ideas that I want to try and to feel like I have it together if only for a few weeks! Now I will “serve” some refreshments, a list of ideas for refreshment for your summer! Physical activity: mowing the yard, doing some extra cleaning, taking the dog for a walk Work on a hobby: coloring, making cards, sewing, painting, woodworking, gardening. Listen to music, podcasts, video clips. Travel! See a new part of the country, interact with a different culture, visit friends and family, take a personal retreat. Help someone: babysit, do chores, share advice and ideas, do something extra for Sunday School. Work ahead on a school project (This might not sound like refreshment, but it is nice to know that I have this ready prior to school beginning, so that is refreshing!) Take a nap, and don’t feel guilty. J Go for a drive and notice the surroundings. Read a book that is not about teaching or school. Plan a new unit and gather materials for it. Test a new field trip destination. Reflect and remember from the past year: the blessings, how God brought me through, what I want to do better next year. Learn something new: a hobby, a different skill or strategy for school, a new recipe. Spend time with friends and family. Today was refreshing for me. I slept in a bit, caught up on a number of little odd jobs that don’t get done during the school year, reviewed some Bible curriculum, sewed, worked outside, read, made scones for lunch, and now I’m baking chocolate chip cookies. I’ve been home all day, which doesn’t happen too often, and that was refreshing. Chocolate chip cookie, anyone? Download Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Arlene Birt
- Wonder through Science
Wonder through Science Steven Brubaker March 22, 2024 Teachers Week 2023 Wonder through Science Audio, Video 00:00 / 01:04 Download Download Our interest here is thinking, how can in science class, can we help to maybe loosen the scales that are on our eyes and really see, really see the presence of God, the wonder of God in the world that he's made. So how can we teach science? How can we explore the created world that keeps that wonder, keeps that sense of awe, that sense that I'm small and this world is amazing that God is made. So, I asked the question, how can we, in our classes, take off our shoes? How can we cultivate this ability to see to where our jaws drop? And we say, "Wow. Yes. This is amazing!" And I'm going to suggest that, while the best jaw dropping is done in the context of seeing God behind it all, just dropping the jaw is in the right direction. So here are eight ways to take off our shoes. One: Look until Breathless Let's look and keep looking until I am breathless. So, this first one is about what we do as teachers. And I'm suggesting if we're going to inspire wonder, we have to feel wonder. And that means we're going to have to prepare. We're going to have to look. We're going to have to dig into our subject matter to the point where we come alive to it. If you want them to come alive to the wonder of the creative world, you have to really be alive to it. Marlene Lefever said this, "Becoming an effective teacher is simple. You just prepare and prepare until drops of blood appear on your forehead." You see, it's that kind of work that we need to do. You might say, "Oh, that's going to kill me if I do that." No. No. No. You have to push through the complexity before the simplicity comes. You have to push through some of the work before you really the scales drop off your eyes and you say, "Woah, this really is amazing!" We should not expect to inspire wonder if we don't thrill ourselves to what we’re teaching and learning together. Second, we need to identify a wonderful, a full of wonder, a wonder full focus or demonstration that can be do, that we can use. So here we're going to be talking about demonstrations. Some demonstrations have wonder built into them. I taught electricity and magnetism for many years. I've used Van de Graaff generators, which they can be, wonderful. I've made use of Tesla coils. I've used a variety of things, made little, small generators, or had the students make motors, a variety of things. But you know, I still, after years of doing that, the old (which I know many of you have seen this), but the old magnet in two is just a wonderful way of talking about electricity and magnetism. And in fact, it’s part of the reason what makes it so wonderful is that it's counterintuitive. Everybody knows that cardboard, there's no attraction between a magnet and cardboard. And now, this on the other hand is a what kind of tube? Looks like copper. It's a copper tube. Is a magnet attracted to copper? No. It is not. No attraction there. And we all know that when objects drop, they drop at 9.81 meters per second squared. That's the rate of acceleration. And if we drop that through this tube, it drops at that rate, 9.81 meters per second squared. And so, when we drop it through this, which is no different than the cardboard tube in terms of neither, subtracted to neither. When we drop it through this, it should also drop through at nine point eight one meters per second squared. But this time, I have plenty of time to catch it. See, that's a wonderful demonstration. And then we can go and talk about all kinds of things related to electricity and magnetism and so on. Two: Modify Ordinary Demonstrations And, you know, there there's lots of demonstrations that you can do. Just take common ordinary demonstrations, and by changing them up, adding features or whatever, you could turn them into something wonderful. Every child has grown up pouring vinegar into baking soda. I mean, that's just that's a right of growth or something for us. And so, you, but you can take that, and if you just did that, it would be, oh, what's the big deal? If you put it in a test tube, put a cork on it, and the cork spout it out, that would add some wonder to it. But you could also do things like... Let's just take a candle. So, what we're going to do is mix up some, you know, after we're talking after we've talked about the gas, carbon dioxide that's produced when we have baking soda and vinegar, we'll just mix them up into a container. Then we'll talk about how carbon dioxide is heavier than air and that it's a fluid, and you can pour it. And so, in order to demonstrate that we can pour it, we'll create some carbon dioxide, and then we will see if we can pour it down the trough and put out the candle. Since flames need oxygen, carbon dioxide covers it. So, I'd prefer to use a, a container like a I generally use a big gallon jar, but I didn't have one this time. So, I'm just doing it in a bucket. The bad thing about this is you can't see, the fizziness and everything. But it's producing some carbon dioxide in there. And now we will try to pour it down the trough, and boom. It's gone. Thank you. So again, you can just take some ordinary that they're used to and add some pieces to it to increase the wonder value. Three: Surprise after Content Third, content first, then the surprise. Once you have a reputation of giving discrepant events or wonderful dim full of wonder demonstrations, then you actually have some capital in the bank that you can spend by teaching content. So, if this is sitting there in front of your class, again, you can teach for an hour, and they're going to still be watching because they wonder, when are we going to get to the gun? And, but so what you do is you take, you know, your kind of maybe motion toward that a little bit, "What we're going to do today is we're going to talk about..." Maybe it's single displacement, double displacement reactions. Maybe you're just talking about balancing equations. But you can talk about, say, "Today we want to look and consider this equation and, see what's going on." We might label all of the different components. We might come along and say, well, "Is this a solid, liquid, or gas?" And so on. And so, we get in other words, we're just talking about a lot of things, maybe reinforcing, reviewing, or maybe I would take an equation like that and use it to teach a whole bunch of stuff, kind of build it around the one equation. We'll explore different parts of that. And so, calcium carbon, oh, we have some of that here. It's a rock-like chemical. And so, what are we doing? We're just putting it with water, and that's producing calcium hydroxide to form a lime. Of course, it's a base that we're producing. And then what is this thing? Has anyone ever seen it? Well, eventually, you can tell them that's acetylene, and someone will start to say, oh, we have that in tanks at our shop, and it burns. And it's okay. Well, let's see. Let's go ahead and take that gas that's produced, and this is a gas. So, acetylene we're going to take acetylene, and we're going to add oxygen to it. And what is that going to produce? It's going to produce carbon dioxide plus water, but also in the process there is heat. And we also know that, if we add a match and a fire to that, there's the potential for an explosion. So that's what this is for. So, you see the idea though is to be content rich. Talk about a lot of things, teach a lot of things, all hinting that something's coming. And what's the something? Well, we need some water. I have some water here. What we're going to do is put the water into the well. So that's going down here in this portion. And then we're going to get some of our calcium carbide. I don't want to introduce it to water too quickly. And so, we put some calcium carbide here in the... This is just a piece of PVC. Stick it in here. Now, when I turn that, that's going to dump the calcium carbide into the water. And that first equation will be descriptive of what happens, and it will be producing acetylene. So, I'm going to put... You'll notice this this cap has a little hole in it. That's where we can introduce the fire. And then, I'm going to... You may want to hold your ears when I put the fire here. It can be loud at times. So, if you're also a music teacher, you may want to hold your ears. Okay. So, we will, at this point, go ahead and turn that. Turn it a couple times and get it in. Hopefully, it's making some acetylene there for us. And then we'll see where it's pointed to. [loud noise] And there we go. There was the second equation. Now, if we wanted a little bit more excitement at this point, somebody would say, "Hey! Could we put some ammunition in this thing?" "Oh, we could try it again with that." There is enough explosive potential that you want to be sure whatever you put in here can get out or else other things will blow up and it won't be fine. So, the way it is, I generally just do not put something in just to make sure that it is reasonably safe in an indoor type of setting. Okay. So that was, content first. Four: Mystery, Discover, and Wonder Then the surprise number four. Surround your presentation with the language of mystery, discovery, and wonder. Part of being a science teacher is choosing language that that actually cultivates wonder. Back when I taught chemistry, with time I began to realize that the story of how we figured out that there are atoms and then something of what is in an atom, the protons, electrons, and neutrons, that that is a mystery story. And I started teaching it that way, and started thinking of it as a black box, and so on. And after a year or two of kind of playing around with that concept, probably the best compliment I ever got and as a teacher is when someone just came up and they said, you know, "This this is so fascinating. What we're learning about chemistry and the atom and so on. It's just like a great mystery story." And I hadn't said that that's what I was trying to do, but for them to feel that and recognize that was great. So, let's say that you are maybe you're working with titration, or, again, maybe a double displacement reaction or it's just kind of a hybrid. But, talking about this one and so we have an acid plus a base produce, in this case, sodium chloride and water. And you could do so the traditional way is to say, "It's an acid plus a base produces salt and water." And that's accurate. That's good. But see, you can also surround that with a bit more mystery, a bit more excitement if you've talked about how hydrochloric acid is the stuff that's used to clean bricks off. And if you ingest hydrochloric acid, you will cease to exist as a normal human being. And I mean, hydrochloric acid is nasty stuff. And then we talked about sodium hydroxide, and I could talk about the person that I knew that had swallowed some of that and how it ate through their esophagus before I mean, they were they survived it, but they had to put in an artificial... So, what we have here is a killer plus a killer produces believe it or not. What? Table salt! Salt water! I mean, you technically could technically you could do this equation in exactly the right proportions and drink the result, and it would be fine. See, that kind of interpretation of what we're doing helps to cultivate a sense of, of the significance of what is going on. When you can, when it is justified, make outlandish statements. Now be careful here. I've made some outlandish statements that I have had to retract because they weren't correct. And so, you want to be sure. But here's one that almost always will get high school students going, and that is, you say, you know, I have a toy gun or something. But you say, "If I have this bullet and I drop this bullet, it will take x amount of time to get from here to the ground. Now if at the same time I drop that bullet, I fire this gun. Or at the same time that the bullet leaves the end of the gun, I drop this bullet, and they're both at the same height, they will hit the ground at the same time." See, now that's an outlandish statement. That is not intuitive, and very few people... They’ll say, "I'm telling my dad." But there's when we find those things, and they're often there in science class, we can use those to kind of get the get the wonder bubbling. Five: Combine Demonstrations Fifth, we combine. Combine our demonstrations. Combine our studies with story. Include story. And these don't have to be elaborate necessarily. So, this particular... This is just a piece of glass that's been made into a mirror, but there's nothing special about it really. It’s slightly concave to keep this disc toward the center of it. This is just a piece of metal. Here's the story. Quite a few years ago, there was an engineer out in California, and he did not have quite enough work to do. So, he was sitting at his desk sometimes just kind of existing. And one day he got a quarter out and he was spinning it. Quarter was spinning there on his desk. And then he started to say, "I wonder how another, a heavier coin would spin." Then began to realize that when you spin something like this, it's actually not just spinning. It's rolling and spinning. And so, we begin to say, "Oh, well, that's actually scrolling." And that is a term. It's scrolling. It's not rolling or spinning. It's scrolling. And he got on the search for how, "I'd really like to find the optimal scroll." The way that the scrolling can happen that would maybe go the longest. And so, he tried different metals, different angles on his disc, different weights, different surfaces, and he found that this particular weight, size, and metal composition with a certain machining at the corner is one of the best. And so, we will scroll. You'll notice I didn't even really try to really spin it hard. [prolonged spinning] At this point, you would expect it to have been stopped. [ more spinning] So simple little novelty combined with story maybe can inspire things like, "Oh, what studies could I do? What could I experiment with?" Here's another one. This is a Tantalus cup. Also sometimes known as a temperance cup. Let's say, you can see it looks kind of like a wine chalice, perhaps. And if you look at it, you'll see there's some, it looks like the Parthenon, pictured on it some Greek imagery and so on. The Greeks, some say it was Pythagoras that developed this cup. And he did it in order to encourage temperance in your wine drinking. And so, the way this works is that for the person who was temperate in their wine drinking, say, you know, had a modest amount of wine, they could pour that into their cup, drink it, and everything was great. On the other hand, the person who was in temperate and they had a lot of wine in their cup, it would all drain out. I see all a little bit left there perhaps. Okay. So, you see, I couched that demonstration in just a little bit of a story about the Greeks and wine tasting and so on. But at this point, what I would actually, I might say, "Okay. Your test today is to draw what that cup looks like on the inside." And then we use that after we have discussed, air pressure. We've talked about siphons. We've talked about, yeah, basically in that arena. Use that as a test. Six: End with "Why?" Six. Sometimes ends with "Why?" See, teachers I have found, at least I know this is true about myself, is that when I have a good demonstration, I want to explain. And probably a big shift in my teaching over the last thirty years is to move from quick explanations to having the class explain what's going on. So, for example, if we have just been and we've been talking about density, I'll use this density bottle, and we observe that there's some kind of fluid, and there's white beads and blue beads, and then all we get there is shake it up and observe. [observing] Why? Describe it. I don't have to explain it if we have been talking about densities and so on and how that works. Again, I may just say, " Okay. I'm asking you now in the next five minutes to write a paragraph explaining why." Or maybe we're doing a unit on light and index of refraction. And then I bring this to the class [and] ask, "What do you see?" It's canola oil. But in addition to that, There's another beaker in there. Why does it disappear? Seven: Go Big. Get Dangerous. Number seven. Go big. Get dangerous. Another one of my favorite quotes is that "a good demonstration is one with the possibility that the teacher may die." That has a way of increasing wonder. So, for a long time, I did a little something with a ping pong ball and used a straw to blow past it and show that when you have high velocity in a liquid or a gas, that there's actually a lower pressure there. High velocity, low pressure. Low velocity in a fluid is higher pressure. And so, I might blow from a straw over a ping pong ball, and you'll see the ping pong ball rise to meet the air. Or go over to a faucet, you have water flowing. It's high velocity, but it's low pressure. So, if you take a ping pong ball on a string and bring it over close, the ping pong ball will be drawn over to the water. You can do it that way. Or you can go bigger. You can use this for your high velocity generator. And fortunately, it produces a ball for us, so we will see what we can do here. [leaf blower noise] Instead of blowing it away, it actually keeps the ball there. And we can move it a little bit because out here it's high pressure, and it's just pushing it into the low-pressure area, keeping it clear. Can you go higher with it? [leaf blower noise] Of course, we can go to the point where it won't stay in. You've probably taken, say, soda cans, put a little water in them and then heated them up so that things would expand inside, turn them upside down in water, they implode. Well, that's great. But then you think, "Oh, you know what? We could go big. We could get a gallon metal paint can and do the same thing with that." But you can say, "Oh, we could go big." And then you get a fifty-five-gallon drum and do that. So just be thinking bigger, Have you seen those air blaster? Forget what they're called exactly, where you can do smoke rings with them and so on. Those are great. But you can also get a big trash and create a mammoth one that will produce these humongous smoke rings. Go big. That has a way of increasing wonder, not just for high school students, but for teachers as well. I was at the garden sale here a couple years ago and found this. It's a martini glass, if you know it. A big one. You know, what a great way to do, color change demonstrations. So, in this case, I have potassium iodide solution in there, reasonably clear. In the cup, I have lead nitrate. So, this will be double displacement. We're going to produce potassium iodide. The potassium's going to mix with the nitrate, potassium nitrate, and we're going to have lead iodide. Lead iodide is coal. So, let's mix this together and see what we got. Now you could do that in a little beaker or something, and that's really cool, but there's something would you agree? It's a little bit more wonderful by having it larger, bigger, and so on. Eight: Point to God in Authentic Ways Finally, point to God in authentic, fresh, unique, creative ways. Now, I want to say again that the students having an experience is saying, "Wow. That's pretty neat. That's amazing! That's incredible! Wonder how that works? You know, that's really interesting!" That is in the right direction. You don't it doesn't always have to be directly connected to God. A posture of wonder is a very Christ like posture. It's a humble posture. It's the kind of posture that we need to be seeking to cultivate. But I find that there are ways in which, in those moments, you can point to God that's not tacky and it's not cliched, and it caps things off. So, I offered some questions. And where you get them thinking about, you know, what all is behind. So, ask good questions. Sometimes quotes can help you here. I'm going to give an example in just a moment. But there are some scriptures. But be careful here, folks, because we have this tendency to just tack a scripture on to something that really does not connect with hardly anybody. I remember seeing an I remember seeing an egg separator you buy at a Christian bookstore, remember seeing an egg separator you buy at a Christian bookstore, and it was, yeah, it was a real egg opener, you know, to kind of put the egg in, you put the thing down and puts in a whole bunch of pieces. And then she had a bible verse on it. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Okay. Let's avoid that. But say, like, the passage there in Deuteronomy 6, the Shema, "The Lord is one." I have found that passage to be so helpful in actually making connections. "The Lord is one." The heavens declare the glory of God. Psalm 19 And we could go on. And then, you know, I find that that songwriters often get this right. So, we've already mentioned, "This is My Father's World." "I Sing the Mighty Power of God." Some of the songwriters really have brought together the creative world and the creator in ways that I think we can use sometimes in our classes that might feel fresh. But above all, I would just say, to stay tuned to your students. What are the ways that authentically connect them to God? That that don't feel tacky to them, that feel genuine. And you're going to have to learn it. You might even have to change. I have to use a different language now than I did twenty-five years ago in order to do some of those things. We can look for ways to even sometimes obliquely turn the attention of our students toward not just the wonderful thing that we've done, but a recognition of the one who's behind it. If I were to do this in a classroom setting, I would lead a discussion on what are the five most important numbers in mathematics. And those numbers are zero, one, π, e, and i. And these numbers are the numbers that you could say are behind the major mathematical disciplines. [I] won't get into that, but I would talk about each one and how each one is absolutely phenomenal. It's an incredible number. And how numbers like π, you know, 3.1415927 ad infinitum forever number, amen, non repeating, non terminating. And then e, a similar kind of number, and I talked about, and and I can't. I want to. I wanna talk about e because e is so amazing. All of these numbers are amazing. And then after we talk about those four, then we talk about how i is even in kind of in a different league. It's in a different world. And and so we have these really strange numbers, and yet we can put all five of them together like this: e raised. We're using not multiplication, division. We're using we're using powers here. e^πi+1=0 Now, I need to build that up in order for us to feel the wonder of that. But that's amazing. And then you see, after we'd explored kind of some of that, then I would end with this quote. And this is a quote from an MIT professor, an atheist. He said, "There is no God, but if there were, this formula would be proof of his existence." That's an oblique way, and I think compelling way, a non cliched way to point our students to the God behind, not just science in the creative world, but mathematics as well Download Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Steven Brubaker
- Christian Perspective On Law And Politics: Student
Christian Perspective On Law And Politics: Student Kendall Myers November 15, 2017 Worldviews Class Materials Christian Perspective On Law And Politics: Student Document 00:00 / 01:04 Download Download Questions for students about what a Christian's view of the government should be. Bible verses are given. Download Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Kendall Myers
- Spanish Vocabulary Quiz 13-20 for Abeka
Spanish Vocabulary Quiz 13-20 for Abeka Enos Stutzman September 29, 2017 Quizzes for Abeka Spanish I Spanish Vocabulary Quiz 13-20 for Abeka Document 00:00 / 01:04 Download Download This quiz covers vocabulary from pages 13-20 in Abeka Spanish 1. Download Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Enos Stutzman
- World History 20A The Great War Part 1
World History 20A The Great War Part 1 Kendall Myers December 22, 2017 Supplementary Materials for BJU World History World History 20A The Great War Part 1 Document 00:00 / 01:04 Download Download Powerpoint showing key people, places and causes at the beginning of World War I. Download Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Kendall Myers
- Anabaptist Theologies of Childhood and Education: Child Rearing, part I
Anabaptist Theologies of Childhood and Education: Child Rearing, part I Unknown Contributor January 23, 2017 Anabaptist Theologies of Childhood and Education Anabaptist Theologies of Childhood and Education: Child Rearing, part I Document 00:00 / 01:04 Download Download In this series from a British Baptist journal, David Tennant examines the implications for education of the Anabaptists' doctrines concerning children. In this section, Tennant examines the practices of child rearing as they flowed from Anabaptist theology. Baptist Quarterly 30.8 (October 1984) Courtesy James Tennant/Baptist Quarterly. Download Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link
- The Church Comes To Life Notes on Powerpoint
The Church Comes To Life Notes on Powerpoint Kendall Myers September 29, 2017 Introduction to Church History Class by Kendall Myers The Church Comes To Life Notes on Powerpoint Document 00:00 / 01:04 Download Download Basic Powerpoint to help students take notes during the lecture on the church's beginning. Download Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Kendall Myers
- Job of a Study Exercise Constructor
Job of a Study Exercise Constructor John Swartz January 23, 2017 Job of a Study Exercise Constructor Document 00:00 / 01:04 Download Download This document contains two sections, one with general rules for constructing study exercises, and one with exercises to identify Bloom's taxonomy levels in questions. Permission to share via John Swartz. Courtesy John Swartz. Download Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link John Swartz
- Plant Reproduction Worksheet
Plant Reproduction Worksheet John Mark Kuhns July 31, 2025 Worksheets for BJU Biology Plant Reproduction Worksheet Document 00:00 / 01:04 Download Download In this worksheet, students will learn more about the processes and structures of plant reproduction. Download Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link John Mark Kuhns
- Creating Kingdom Citizens
Creating Kingdom Citizens Meghan Brubaker September 12, 2024 Creating Kingdom Citizens Blogpost 00:00 / 01:04 Download Download What if I told you the most important thing you can teach your students is not in a textbook? I believe this is true, though I hold learning in the highest regard. As a teacher, your job is to teach content, striving for academic excellence and robust learning. But that is not your only job. As a Christian teacher, your job is also to help shape your students to be lovers of God and lovers of others. This can happen through the teaching of academic content, certainly. But you’re also spending up to 180 days with young souls who need to be pointed to Jesus. And you are in a unique position to point them there. One way that a teacher can lead their students in following Jesus is by giving them opportunities to serve. This might come in in simple, organic ways as you have your eyes open to immediate needs around you. Did the wind blow the dumpster open, scattering garbage all over the school yard? Take a few minutes as a class to collect the trash. Did another class play outside in the rain and track mud all over the hallway? Get each of your students to grab a paper towel and clean one section of the hallway. Do the younger students need help getting their mittens and boots on before going outside in the winter? Have your students help them. But you can also give your students opportunities to serve beyond the random, momentary opportunities that will pop up. With a bit of planning and minimal preparation, you can create other ways for your students to be servants. Here are a few ideas to get your imagination rolling. Acts of Service Look into your immediate community for needs that your students can fill. Maybe you can do yard work for the neighbours. Maybe you can go door-to-door or to a retirement home and sing Christmas carols. Maybe you can make artwork for your nursing home aide friend to pass out at her place of work. Beyond encouraging your students to serve in their local community, you can also look for needs within your church or the churches of your students. Make cards for a shut-in, write thank-you notes to the pastors, or do yard work for the elderly. On an even smaller scale, don’t neglect to look for regular opportunities around your own school. There may be a maintenance or cleaning task that needs to be performed regularly that is within your students’ abilities to perform. Volunteer to have your class take care of it. Fundraiser Another great way to serve is to help your students conduct a fundraiser, then give the money to a good cause. It is so healthy for our students to learn how to work hard for monetary gain, then use that money to help people who are needier than they are. I’ve heard many stories of teachers who have found creative ways to raise money with their students, such as baking and selling Christmas cookies, selling chocolate bars or soda pop at a profit, making a hot lunch for the school body and charging per meal, or selling hot chocolate on a cold day. Once you’ve accrued enough money, students especially enjoy getting to have a voice in where the funds go. You could offer a list of ideas and let them vote. Or you could find an organization that lets you purchase things like cows, pigs, chickens, etc. for needy families in underdeveloped countries. Students love hearing about the ways different animals could help to change someone’s life and choosing several to sponsor. Encouraging Others Some of my favourite memories from my years as a teacher were what I called “Encouragement Days.” (The title wasn’t all that original, I admit). I taught sixth grade, so I started by talking to my students about how they are leaders among the elementary students. Then, we worked together to make little cards of encouragement for all the younger students. I had a few templates for them to choose from, usually with a simple drawing and a punny saying. (For example, a cartoon donut saying, “Donut give up!” or a cute fish saying, “You’re o-fish-ally awesome!”) Each of my students was assigned the names of several students so that all of the children in the younger grades were divvied out. They made a card for each of their assigned students, writing the child’s name at the top and signing it, “Your Secret Encourager.” This was the part that was especially fun. Children love to be in on a secret, and they love to be sneaky. We attached a small snack to the note, maybe a little baggie of goldfish crackers or a piece of candy. Then, I let my students leave the classroom one at a time to deliver their notes to the younger children’s cubbies. They would come back giggling and glowing, bursting with stories of how they “almost got caught” or had to duck to avoid being seen by someone. We usually did this at the end of the day, and it was pure delight to watch my students’ faces gleam with barely-concealed satisfaction at the buzz that permeated the school at dismissal as the younger students reacted with shock and wonderment at the secretive packages. The anonymous nature of this activity was intentional. Needing to be stealthy made the whole experience more memorable and fun, and I also wanted my students to learn something of what it means to do a kind act and not get recognized for it. Secret Agents of Good After the highly successful Encouragement Days, one year I decided to come up with another way to capitalize on my students’ delight in secrecy. That’s when I came up with “Secret Agents of Good.” I share this here not because I think you need to do this exact thing, but as one example of how you might use some creativity and out-of-the-box thinking to encourage your students in kind, servant-like behaviour. I divided my students into two teams and allowed them to come up with a team name (of course, because that’s more fun). For the purposes of this explanation, though, I’ll simply refer to them as Team A and Team B. In addition, I let each student come up with their own “Secret Agent” name. This was also fun and hilarious, as they ranged from things like “Sneaky Snake” to “Bob.” Then, each week, I’d assign them a secret mission. These secret missions varied, but were ways they could practice being thoughtful, kind, unselfish, or diligent. They were things like holding doors open, saying please and thank you often, letting others go before them in line, making only encouraging comments while playing sports, double-checking their spelling lists before handing them in—basically areas that I wanted them to work in developing themselves as a person. I’d write that week’s secret mission on pieces of paper and distribute them. All of Team A was given the same mission, and all of Team B was given the same mission. Their goal was to complete the action as many times as they could throughout the week, recording each instance in a little notebook I had given them. They would receive points for each time they successfully completed the mission. One week, for my own delight and pleasure, I gave both groups the mission of participating extra well during grammar class. I’ve never enjoyed teaching grammar more, and I dare say they had never learned grammar so well. The other way we made it competitive and fun was that they could also receive points for correctly guessing the other team’s mission. This meant that they had to be sneaky when they were completing their own secret mission so that the other team wouldn’t easily figure it out. And of course, I pointed out to them that the best way to keep the other team from guessing their secret mission was to do lots of other kind and thoughtful things as a decoy. They loved it. And I loved seeing them delight in doing good while also unconsciously making those actions a more habitual part of their lives. Church and Community Needs Don’t neglect letting your students offer suggestions for service. The more ownership they take of these acts of service, the more invested they will be. Ask them to come up with ideas of how to serve. Perhaps they know someone with cancer, or someone who just experienced a house fire, or someone who just lost a loved one. Brainstorm together how you could bless that person in the unique need they are facing. Your students are creative in ways you as an adult might not be. Use that creativity to bless others in beautiful ways. We live in a world that is increasingly individualistic and self-centered. As believers, we know that Jesus compels us to serve. But our sinful, selfish hearts get in the way. Our students may need help to think outside of themselves and their own little worlds. But when they are given opportunities to serve, they can start to experience the joy of becoming more like Jesus. Download Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Meghan Brubaker
- Teaching Students Gratitude
Teaching Students Gratitude Deana Swanson April 11, 2025 Teaching Students Gratitude Blogpost 00:00 / 01:04 Download Download I splurged last Christmas and got my students three gifts. One was free—a collection of about twelve different kinds of seashells and a shell identification guide. I collected those all myself during a rare vacation weekend to Florida in November. The second was a $3.50 laminated colored map of the world, which they all loved and many taped to the tops of their desks–with permission, of course. The third was my splurge. I bought each one of them a hardcover Merriam-Webster combination dictionary and thesaurus. I carefully placed one on each student’s desk and wrote “To _____ from Mrs. Swanson, 2024” on the inside front cover. I got one thank you note from a very sweet student who obviously was grateful. The student even informed me that it had already been useful. But, I had another student who walked up to me at the end of the day, with the brand-new hardcover book in hand, asking, “Do you want this?” Aghast but with a smile, I replied, “I bought that just for you.” “I won’t really use it,” was the answer. Imagine a junior high student not needing a dictionary. I figured it wasn’t the time for a lecture as I didn’t want that to be the student’s last memory of me for 2024, but it really hurt my feelings. G.K. Chesterton wrote, “Thanks are the highest form of thought; and gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” That is so incredibly true. My brightest students are the ones who are grateful and appreciative. And the ones who are often more difficult to deal with are the least thankful. I’m rarely content with a situation that I know can and should be improved, so I began to ponder: What can we as teachers do to teach our students gratitude? Here are a few of my suggestions. Model thankfulness yourself. In morning prayers, thank God for your church, school building, parents, and supporting churches. Show gratitude for the mothers bringing in a hot lunch or a snack. Teach it! Have the students write thank you notes to places you visit on field trips, or to the pastor of the church for letting your school rent their basement. Sing at nursing homes, rake leaves for widows, and donate coins to a Christian Aid Ministries project. Give the students opportunities to experience what it feels like to be unselfish and to think of others. Gently point out wrongs . We had a friendly discussion about what returning a gift communicates to the giver, and what it reveals about the receiver as well. Obviously, students either have not been taught or have not internalized these concepts, so use these times as opportunities for short discussions and lessons on gratitude. Don’t take selfishness or thoughtlessness personally . It is usually more a reflection on their ages and lack of experience. Use these moments for gentle correction, and point them in the way they should go. Sometimes teaching involves a little more parenting, and this would be one of those situations. Also, be thankful yourself, as you have the privilege to be involved in the art of teaching, assisting parents and the church in the all-important work of training up godly men and women for the church of tomorrow. That’s a noble thing to be doing. Photo by Alexas_Fotos on Unsplash Download Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Deana Swanson
- High School Chemistry Syllabus
High School Chemistry Syllabus Brian J Martin July 2, 2020 High School Chemistry Syllabus Document 00:00 / 01:04 Download Download Brian shares his objectives, texts, and materials for teaching high school chemistry. Download the syllabus or preview it below. Download Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Brian J Martin
- Encouraging and Blessing Your Teachers
Encouraging and Blessing Your Teachers Ernie Weaver June 16, 2022 CASBI 2022 Encouraging and Blessing Your Teachers Audio 00:00 / 01:04 Download Download Taking care of teachers is an important part of a board's job. Ernie Weaver reminds board members of the value of good relationships with their staff and gives practical ways to encourage and bless a school's teachers. Download Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Ernie Weaver
- Teaching in a Loud World 1: Healthy Habits
Teaching in a Loud World 1: Healthy Habits Joseph Shantz November 25, 2023 Teachers Week 2022 - Audio Teaching in a Loud World 1: Healthy Habits Audio 00:00 / 01:04 Download Download We are surrounded by the noise of a dysfunctional world. How do we not only survive but serve others in this world? Joey reminds us that the world not only produces noise; it influences our motivations. Are your habits making you the kind of person you should be? Download Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Joseph Shantz
- Principles For Personal Economics
Principles For Personal Economics Kendall Myers November 15, 2017 Worldviews Class Materials Principles For Personal Economics Document 00:00 / 01:04 Download Download Five basic principles for making and spending money. Download Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Kendall Myers
- Grooming a Story
Grooming a Story Jim Morrison March 5, 2020 Western Fellowship Teachers’ Institute 2019 Grooming a Story Audio 00:00 / 01:04 Download Download Why are some stories powerful, while others fall flat? Jim encourages us to tell stories with economy, empathy, universality, and tension--and offers plenty of example stories. This excerpt was taken from a longer talk, Stories that Teach presented at Western Fellowship Teachers' Institute 2019. Download Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Jim Morrison
- Loving Impartially
Loving Impartially Aquilla Martin January 7, 2022 Western Fellowship Teachers' Institute 2021 Loving Impartially Audio 00:00 / 01:04 Download Download Love considers others, even when we dont fully understand what others may be facing. Each child should be loved and cared for in a way thats best for their needs. Download Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Aquilla Martin
- Music 3
Music 3 Harold D. Miller December 13, 2022 Western Fellowship Teachers' Institute 2022 Music 3 Audio 00:00 / 01:04 Download Download Session three of a three-part series on teaching music. Download Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Harold D. Miller
- Hutterite Anabaptists
Hutterite Anabaptists Kendall Myers October 20, 2017 Anabaptist Church History Class by Kendall Myers Hutterite Anabaptists Document 00:00 / 01:04 Download Download Powerpoint with pictures of Hutterites today and a few from the past. Download Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Kendall Myers
- Incorporating a Missions Perspective
Incorporating a Missions Perspective Renee George March 16, 2018 Incorporating a Missions Perspective Video 00:00 / 01:04 Download Download You know if teachers could have that perspective of just seeing their students as workers in God’s kingdom in the future... Every Christian is called to be a missionary, whether it's here or in some foreign land. Why not raise up the whole crew of little people to come after you? Just some things that I do here to try to incorporate that missions mindset in my students are things like ethnic group day where we all dress up in costumes of people from different countries and just focus on learning about those countries that day. Also we do prayer groups once a week for the missionaries and I read them missionary updates to keep them involved and know what's going on in the foreign field. I love sharing stories about my experience in Africa with them and they love hearing them. If I would have taught school here before going to Ghana it would have been very different. With having that experience I've been able to put more of a world view perspective in what I teach—to just get them beyond themselves and just the “me” focus and to help them realize that there's a whole other world out there of people that have needs and who don't have the privileges that we have. Like in reading class—there are so many rural villages in other countries that would love to know how to read and especially they would love to know how to read the Bible and they just can't. Like one village I was in in Ghana that I would meet with the ladies there and share with them Bible stories and they were sad when I left because they don't know how to read the Bible and there was no church in their village so how can they really learn more? Even like in math—learning the metric system. When I was in school, I never really found value in knowing the metric system. Why? And going to another country made me realize that the metric system is used in many other countries around the world and so there is value in it and just all those little things. The importance of learning another language. So this year we're learning sign language and last year we learned Spanish. Even like geography—the value of knowing your geography. I didn't really see much value in it when I was in school and so I didn't know my geography very well. But just realizing that God actually has a heart for these people. There are people living in these countries. It's not just the name of the country and its shape and a couple facts. There's actually people that are living there today with real needs. And Bible class too—just God’s promise to Abraham that He's going to bless him and then through him all the nations of the earth will be blessed and how that was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. I didn't really know that before and so now teaching Bible class, I’m able to share that with my students and help them to see the big picture of God's redemption for the world. So it helped me to just see value in helping them to have that world view or expand their minds and like I said, get the focus off of themselves and on to, “What are people like in the rest of the world?” Download Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Renee George
