Set Up Your Elementary School Classroom
Posted by in Classroom Teaching on October 20, 2011
Teaching not only involves interaction with your students, but your classroom layout will effect the success of your students. Some school districts have guidelines, but most allow the classroom teacher the flexibility to be creative.
If you arrange your class to meet the needs of your children, you will be addressing the multiple intelligences, introduced by Howard Gardner. They are: kinesthetic/movement, visual/spacial, computational/logical, introspective, intraspective, naturalist, musical/auditory.
Students should be sitting at tables of six. If you only have desks, you may be able to place the desks in groups of six. The chairs or desks, should have space underneath for book storage. Each table or group is a team. You will be arranging your room like it is a corporation “brainstorming” room. You will choose the captain (facilitator), recorder, materials leader, for each group and the jobs will rotate around the group.
The responsibilities of the captain will be to keep the table’s students on task and will be in charge of reporting the progress of each lesson that involves the group. Another student will record who is doing what task for the project. This helps you, the teacher, see how to grade an individual student on that group project. When students sit at tables together, it is important to realize that they will “own” their table, so each table will become a “team.” It is fun for each table to create a team name. You will guide the class through the steps of the lesson and the material’s student at each table will be the only ones getting up for the objects needed for the lesson. Read the rest of this entry »
Teacher Tips: Improving Consistency of ADHD Student’s Performance
Posted by in Classroom Teaching on October 20, 2011
Thank you to all of our professional educators who dedicate themselves to our children! We know how difficult it can be working with ADHD children, so here are your teacher tips for the week, brought to you by the ADHD Information Library and ADDinSchool.com. This is a sampling of over 500 classroom interventions for your use at http://www.ADDinSchool.com. Here are some tips on Improving Consistency of Performance: Computers are great for 1 on 1 work and immediate feedback. Use them whenever possible. Establish routines and notify the child well ahead of time if there are to be changes in the daily routine. This will help the child to focus better. Report any significant changes in behavior or school performance to parents, school administrators, or school psychologist. Read the rest of this entry »