The teams will each send one Swatter forward at a time. My swatters stand on the game line I made on my classroom floor with electrical tape while I am reading the clue. Once I read the clue, I say “go!” and the students compete to see whose fly swatter will touch the correct answer first.
Now the first and most important rule of this game is in the title. The yardsticks are never, ever to be used as swords. In fact, I had to tell the kids to start dueling just to get the cute picture above. This vocabulary game or review game is a modification of the Flyswat Vocabulary…
I’m on a quest for one hundred percent engagement. If our kids were more interested in what we do at school, then they will perform better in our classes. This vocabulary game is definitely fun, and it once again takes very little prep for the teacher. You can even have a student help organize the game and make the clue balls. Are you ready to learn how to facilitate Love it or Chunk it?
Common Core / Curriculum / Differentiated Instruction / Education / Engagement / English Language Arts / Kinesthetic Learning / Tactile Learning / Teaching / Vocabulary
For the next few posts, I will be discussing some fun vocabulary games that I use with my high school students before vocabulary tests that do not involve the teacher spending an unrealistic amount of time getting it ready. These games can easily be adapted to any kind of test review, and your students will…
My third design wound up being my choice of themes — I call it Steampunk Chic. Steampunk denotes Science Fiction and Victorian Romanticism with whimsy. It is an artform that celebrates the absurd and the different. It also relates so perfectly to the subjects I teach in Literature and Composition. I would be able to incorporate authors, poetry, sea monsters, and robots all in the same room. Chic denotes my desire to make it feminine and “me.” I spent the good portion of May debating the color. After surveying most of my friends around school, I decided to take their advice and paint it in my favorite color, so that being in this space would make me happy every day. I chose Coral Passion from Valspar. It does indeed make me happy every time I enter this space.
One of my favorite projects to teach and one of my students’ favorite projects to perform is a mock trial. They are competitive, can involve fun costumes, and have a real world connection. Students use a variety of skills to perform a mock trial, including public speaking, making an argument, and using evidence. Mock Trials…
Do you know that high schools by the hundreds are failing to keep students at school? Do you know why so many American school children have an attendance problem? Do you know that not all schools are welcoming and inviting spaces? Reality Check: Our kids don’t want to go to school. Problem 1: Schools aren’t…
So, who has time to spend all night grading? Let’s be real here. “Ain’t nobody got time for that.” This is how I do it that saves time. First of all, let me admit that above anything else I LOVE TEACHING WRITING. It’s one of the reasons I became an English teacher. I have a…
One way that I have really learned to save time this year is from incorporating some inquiry-based learning and have students help generate classroom expectations. This also helps allow students to feel empowered over their own learning. I taught a series of ten minute prep lessons with an inquiry-based component at the beginning of school…
I think I have been such a slack teacher lately. I’d love to be that Pinterest teacher or the Mrs. Frizzle teacher everyone loves, but right now I’m just trying to get through this semester. I haven’t even posted to my blog but once a year lately! I am teaching full time and working on…
To my fellow public school teachers, As you are aware, there is a vacancy for Secretary of Education in President Trump’s cabinet that should not be filled by his current leading applicant, who is grossly unqualified to serve. I know you are busy educating today’s youth for tomorrow’s future, but I invite you all to email…
I would like to personally thank each and every person who read my post last week that expressed my concerns about Common Core English. My regular teaching blog, which is normally a mode of sharing teaching strategies (and read by a handful of people), turned political last week for the first time. An edited version…
Below, in jargon-free, acronym-free terms, is my list of what I consider to be the worst of the worst with Common Core English. Source: The Seven Deadly Sins of the Common Core English Language Arts Standards
Below, in jargon-free, acronym-free terms, is my list of what I consider to be the worst of the worst with Common Core English.
Fair warning: This is not my usual type of post, but I hope you get inside my heart for a little while and get inspired. I wrote the majority of this post 2.5 years ago. I think I’m ready to share it now that I’ve got my inner Meredith back. This is the last day…
It’s Lit Time! 