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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

God’s World His Story -14 textbooks plus some teacher materials

Into All the World- 11 textbooks

North America is the Lords- 8 textbooks

Free with cost of shipping. Contact me if you have any more questions. Thank you! Hopefully someone can find use for these!

Large flashcards with illustrations for each verse, coordinating coloring pages, and Bible Memory plans. Twelve passages available.

https://swordandhoney.com/pages/teacher-deals

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

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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

The institute is planned for school board members, principals, and ministers—anyone involved with the overall planning and operation of our Christian day schools.

• 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

• Finding Ways to Get Them Excited: Going beyond the Lecture with Objects and Color - The Dock for Learning

• 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:

  • 10 PowerPoint Tips for Preparing a Professional Presentation

  • 10 tips for better slide decks | TED Blog

Sources

• There Isn’t Any Power If It Doesn’t Have a Point - The Dock for Learning