Posts by techsupport
Light Exercise
Incorporate movement into your students’ day. This is especially important if physical education is no longer a part of your school’s curriculum. Teacher of core subjects can help teach students about fitness as part of their curriculum; even if it is just stretching. Getting in some movement before a long lecture or lesson helps students…
Read MoreLife Skills
Today’s teenagers are all about technology. However, there are some things students should know how to do that don’t involve technology. Provide instruction to your students for the following. How to write a check. It may seem obsolete with online bill pay and debit cards, but there will come a time when a check is…
Read MoreIntegrating Art and Literature
For many students, creating art is enjoyable. You can utilize students’ enjoyment of art to help them get more from a novel than they can by simply reading it. Here are some art activities that can be used to enhance students’ appreciation of a novel. Each of these activities requires that students think carefully about…
Read MoreRoutine Procedures
There are various procedures that you should establish with your students. Here are some important procedures you should rehearse with your students until they become automatic: entering the classroom quietly. turning off their cell phones. getting to work promptly. keeping their desks neat. checking out classroom materials. coming to attention when prompted. changing groups in…
Read MoreThe Countdown
You may not realize it, but your students have been conditioned to change their behavior when a countdown is introduced. Sports, games shows, and video games often use a countdown to mark the end or beginning of something important. Game theorists note the countdown strategy as one of the key ways that games manipulate players’…
Read MoreLesson Objectives
Lesson objectives are one of the most vital parts of an effective lesson plan. Objectives provide a guide that allows the teacher to make sure that all the information taught is necessary to the main goals of the lesson. They also help teachers measure what the students have learned and achieved. Here are some guidelines…
Read MoreFishbowl Reading Technique
Students must often master the concepts, ideas, and themes that are present in a novel. One of the best ways to teach students to do this is by using the “fishbowl” technique. Begin by splitting your class into groups of 4-5. These students will work together to create a fishbowl. Assign each group a separate…
Read MoreStudent Noise Levels
Classroom activities vary with regard to level of class noise that is acceptable. Here is a system you can use to control the amount of student noise in the classroom. Level ‘0’ means absolutely no communication with one another. This level should be used during independent work, reading time, and tests. Level ‘1’ allows students…
Read MoreActivating Prior Knowledge
Generally, students learn a topic best when they already know some information about it. A lot of the time the information is inside their heads, but they don’t know how to access it. It is important to help students activate their prior knowledge. Here are some ways you can help students acquire prior knowledge about…
Read MoreUsing Bulletin Boards for Teaching
Teachers of all grades should have interesting bulletin boards and visual displays around their classroom. Bulletin boards cover a number of different needs such as presenting students’ work, sharing important news or knowledge, and reinforcing key information and elements. The bulletin board needs to be an obvious place where all students can see it on…
Read MoreStruggling Math Learners
For students who struggle with learning math concepts, practice some of these teaching tips. Try looking at the problem in a new way. Many times students don’t “see” math problems the way that teachers do. For example, in their minds they may think of subtraction as “counting up” rather than “taking away”. If you approach…
Read MoreEncouraging Students to Read
In this day and age with TV and the Internet, students are reading less and less. It’s not surprising to learn that about the only books that students read are those assigned to them by their teachers. Here are some ideas for getting your students to read things other than assigned readings. Have students read…
Read MoreReplying to an Angry Parent Email
It happens to every teacher. You fire up your computer one morning and find a lengthy, scathing email from a parent, accusing you of treating his or her child unfairly, of not providing adequate assistance, or of some other offense. Resist the urge to fire off a retort denying exaggerations or inaccuracies. Follow these steps…
Read MoreUsing the Chalkboard
The chalkboard is an important teaching tool. Here are some guidelines you should follow when using this tool. When beginning a lesson, write the date and the lesson objectives at the top left corner of the chalkboard. This will help both you and the student to stay on track. Divide your board into a large…
Read MoreSeating Students
Ask any teacher you know and they’ll most likely agree that one of their least favorite tasks at the beginning of the school year is the seating plan. With older students, most teachers find the most effective way is to allow the students to choose their own seats in the beginning on condition that they’ll…
Read MoreTeaching Prepositions
It can be tricky to help students understand the concept behind prepositions. They know that nouns are people, places, or things; verbs are action words; and adjectives and adverbs are describing words or modifiers. What do prepositions do? Why do we need them? Explain that a preposition sits before a noun or a pronoun to…
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