But, unfortunately, kids can sometimes find it dry and boring. The best way online teachers can help remedy this is by making their students feel valued in the classroom. I'm Tanya (Ms. Marshall) and I help teachers get organized, save time, and teach more ... Sign up for updates delivered directly to your inbox. It's essential to give them a break now and then and be patient with them. Thank you! Sure Ruth, Thanks @makingasta, Back to School Read-Aloud Book Ideas with FREE Printables, https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Classroom-Procedures-Checklists-FREEBIE-Editable-Entrance-Exit-Procedures-3780932. Turn up the fun by playing music, chatting about a particular subject, connecting what you're doing to the real world, or just go to town on the drawing tool, don't be afraid to try different things with your students until you find something that works for them. by Terry Heick. It's a class that meets once a week for about an hour. In practical terms, this means to steer clear of lengthy explanations and slides with too much text! I incorporate this as a fun way to teach procedures by having students act out certain tasks. Especially when you consider that most teachers are covering LOTS of procedures during the first days of school. If you’re a civics or social studies teacher, then I don’t need to tell you how important it us to teach government and civics. Each student is assigned a number where they get to post their “tweets.”. For short-term progress checks, make sure you build continuity between lessons by doing quick revisions or quizzes on previous topics. It'll make a difference! Teaching online comes with its challenges, but it also put a whole load of really cool tools at your fingertips. Start some music before the class begins, so when people come in they get excited and pumped up about the workout. Are you looking for fun ways to teach grammar in your classroom? I use BrainPop Jr. often for learning topics. In the years I have been teaching novels this way instead of as a nine-week worksheet, I have come to love talking about books with my students. A one-note lesson will quickly become boring. Turn on the microphone, set up early and let the class know who the instructor is right away when they walk in. This post on ’10 Fun Ideas To Teach Vocabulary’ will explore effective methods to improve vocabulary acquisition, as well techniques that should be included to successfully teach words. Here are the goals I set at the beginning of each school year: So each idea below combines all three of these goals for creative and fun ways to teach classroom procedures! The other class does the same with their own set of books. I can easily see who understands the procedure and who needs more practice. Charades is a game where a person acts out a word or phrase without using words. This perennial classic is a fun way to get some phonics practice in. Most students are already familiar with the rules of these games, which is less prep and teaching for me. Once your class has narrowed down the list to just a few terms, you can switch gears into a more classic review session. Students can compare and contrast these lists with our classroom procedures lists. And, they'll be excited to log into your classroom. Finally, this might be stating the obvious, but make sure you can teach your online lessons from somewhere with a reliable internet connection. This idea may not seem as fun to students initially, but they will be HAPPY to have these! The goal is to work as a team to edit and re-write these procedures correctly. This is a fun language exercise for when your students have to practice their speaking. Your introduction may have been made quite easy by the warm up activity. 15 Interesting Ways To Start Class Tomorrow. I post a fun Twitter-themed board in my classroom that stays up all year. How many times would you recommend reshuffling and handing out the cards? Those same index cards I mentioned earlier where I type our procedures are the same cards I use with my board games. Whether you're teaching English online or a classroom teacher turned virtual, you may find that the mediums that work best in the real-life classroom, also work in an online environment. 5. You’ll LOVE these: Back to School Read-Aloud Book Ideas with FREE Printables. And what is true of Englis… Ask the class if there is anyone brand new to see if … Nothing will have students switching off quicker than a crackly connection that keeps on cutting out. Getting students out of their seats really helps them have fun learning classroom procedures. The key is to teach routines in a way that compels your students to perform them correctly—and without your input—every single time. Long, dense texts are challenging to read on a screen (see earlier point about breaking things into chunks ) And, silence just doesn't translate that well in virtual classrooms it provides the perfect excuse for a student's attention to drift elsewhere! Everyone has to guess what is being acted out. Read-alouds are an excellent fun way to teach classroom procedures! And that makes matters worse. Bingo is always a class favorite, and you can play it with any number of students. Students practice following our procedures for entering and exiting the classroom by following the checklist on their desk. And for online English teachers, there are plenty of free resources out there to get you started. To recap, here are the 8 ways to increase engagement online: We hope these tips gave you a great foundation for building better online classrooms, but don't be discouraged if you still need a little more help. In addition to using videos, incorporating technology can be a fun way to teach procedures as well. And that's just the first step! It’s long since been debunked that creativity is just about paints and pencils: this mode of thinking is thought to be as critical for those working in STEM industries as much as it is for those employed in the arts sector. We learn classroom procedures through our first days of school bulletin board crafts and activities. PLUS, they are practicing how to play games in our classroom! This is totally normal and okay! Make your students feel valued. Beth O., in Cornerstone for Teachers, tells her students, “Pop a marshmallow in.”Next she puffs up her cheeks, and the kids follow suit. The site also has fun back-to-school videos like this one. Bringing a bit of interaction and fun into a review can help loosen things up during exam time, when students and teachers alike are really starting to feel the pressure. So the good news is, just like in any face-to-face classroom, the real key to getting your online students involved is to find out what motivates them and give them their reason to be engaged in the classroom. Whether children are in a classroom or at home, it is important that they recognize boundaries and established rules so that they behave properly. #EfficientTeacherPrep! For example, you could use them as a reward (there is no kid out there whose eyes don't light up at the prospect of 30 seconds of free play on a drawing tool!) Since it’s printed for them, they have no excuse for not learning these procedures quickly! I have trouble coming up with content that sticks and is useful for the students in it. Another fun speaking exercise for beginners is this one. Remember that young kids sometimes don't have very high attention spans, so it can be hard for them to sit still and focus at times. If you need more help, you can always try our Online Teaching Strategies course to give you more confidence and ensure you smoothly transition into the world of online teaching. Mixing up the tempo of your lessons by adding a variety of activity types is also a great way to make the time fly by for your students. As the course progresses, the page will fill up with reminders of successes and proud moments for your students. So try changing the tone of your voice to introduce new activities or mix up the tempo of your class. Be sure to share this post on your favorite social media site to help other teachers! If your students can see you via a webcam, make sure that not only do you look presentable, but the location you're in does too. You can also make up your own. Craft a get-to-know-you cloudburst All teachers need to think about how they present themselves in the classroom. But online teachers might need to approach this slightly differently than in-person teachers. It's a basic one, but learn your student's name and use their name throughout the lesson, and make sure they learn yours, Follow up on what you did in previous lessons so your students know that you're on top of what they're learning (and they should be too), Find out about your student's interests and incorporate them into the lesson where possible, Give regular feedback on your students' work, Aim to be a positive, encouraging presence. To take a look at the exercise, click here. This board is our exit ticket board for just about everything we do in class. Adapt in-class activities to the virtual classroom. Online teaching is taking off, but for teachers who are used to the classroom, teaching from home can be an adjustment. Plus, they allow students to collaborate AND begin practicing academic content, like working on reading comprehension skills. If students can see your face, it's going to be 100 times more motivating for them if you look engaged and interested in what they are saying (even if sometimes this requires all your saintly teacher patience!). How to Quiet Early Elementary Students Novelty—such as the sound of a wind chime or rain stick—captures young students’ attention. Give them a short break every now and then. You can adapt it to say “I spy with my little eye something beginning with…” and say a sound rather than a letter. They move around the room to find their “procedure partner.”, For instance, one card will say “When my pencil breaks, I…” and the matching card will say “…Get a newly sharpened pencil from my pencil basket.”. Don’t be boring. They might think that no one will notice or care if they miss a class, or find it all too tempting to not log in to the classroom if they're feeling tired. If you are teaching kids, every time they achieve something, you can go to the achievement page and ask them to draw something that reminds them of what they've learned (you might want to make it an achievement tree they can add to or a trophy shelf.) Here are some ideas on how you can use read-alouds to creatively teach procedures and routines: Need book ideas for Back to School? How do I do that, you ask? Ur (1996) states that “the exact number does not really matter: what matters is how you, the teacher, see the class size in your own specific situation”.In the majority of private language schools in Ireland and the UK, it’s