Students never act how you think they are going to act!

I took over an algebra class in the high school. The class is the last class of school and the kids tend to be a little rowdy and do not follow directions very well. I was very nervous that this class was going to be out of control and not willing to participate in class discussion.

Much to my lack of faith, the students were very willing and attentive. I had volunteers to answer questions and they worked quietly when the class assignment was given. I had even noticed that one student that was taking notes, this is something that I had not seen when the actual teacher was teaching.

I made sure that I was confident in the material and was able to give instruction fluently so that the students did not have excessive time to get off task. Also, if they got off task, I made sure to get them back on task, it worked very well. So, I have learned to have more confidence and not judge what students are going to be like when they have never been taught by me. Lesson learned! Phew!

Daily Warm-Up Quiz!

The students always grumble and moan when they enter the room and there is a daily quiz on the board. The grumbling often dissipates and they usually start working on it quietly soon after they enter the room. Some tips for everyone out there that thinks they might want to do a daily quiz.

First, it is not really daily, maybe two three times a week depending on the content covered. More quizzes on the harder material to effectively see where everyone's understanding is. Material included can be one or two lessons prior to quiz, again depending on the content.

Second, make the quiz relatively short so that they may take 5 minutes to take and then a couple minutes to correct and answer any questions. To long of a quiz might run into your lesson.

Lastly, you can make it formal or informal, keep the students effort up by grading some or just see what material needs more review. This keeps the students honest and on their toes, also have them correct with highlighters, so the teacher can do a quick check and see how many problems are being missed.

Students like doing work on the board! Who Knew?!

I just taught an Algebra I class and used some of the same strategies that my cooperating teacher used. One strategy in particular is having students do homework assignments on the board. My cooperating teacher usually picks the students for certain problems, but I chose to ask for 7 volunteers and I was able to get volunteers better than I thought. There was less grumbling and the whole class was willing to go up and show there work on the board. They did very well and I then went over what went well and if there were mistakes I showed the class what the mistake was. The students did very well with this strategy, and I plan on using this type of instruction to help me see where the students understanding of the content is. Oh, and this was sort of the warm-up that started the class, very effective!

Strategies That Work

Just a heads up to all teachers out there. I know not all schools have technology to take advantage of, but when the opportunity presents itself, get on the bandwagon. Technology such as clickers and interactive white boards can be very effective in a classroom. I used the clickers to informally assess the students and I was able to get a much better understanding of where the students were. Also, the students were much more involved in the lesson. This is a great supplement to any curriculum. The uses are numberless and can be used across all content areas and grade levels. I have been very fortunate to have learned and used this technology in my classroom.