Teaching Tips

The following tips are from a decade's worth of experience teaching and experimentation on what works best

Philosophy on Teaching, Engagement & Movement

I hate worksheets and do everything creatively to get students out of their seats and answering questions
I like to take questions, put them on slides, print them out, then hang them on a wall and then have students write on a student answer sheet to record their answers
I have a class set of clipboards for this exact reason and will even put up questions outside the classroom, if class behavior allows it
I also use teaching stations where students move to stations to do activities or answer questions

I have used a variety of vocabulary games but the two best I use frequently are Magic Numbers and 9 Vocabulary.
I also use Bingo as a way to review key vocabulary and concepts at the end of a unit

I use the online quizzes Kahoot and Quizlet and have used Quizizz as well
I made a set of questions and answers on Kahoot then the students play as an individual
I make flashcards for every unit in Quizlet and then play Quizlet Live as a team
After approximately 30 minutes, we do a matching test guide on a Google Doc
For some reviews, I also have the students answer the correct letter order on a Google Form as a formative learning check to see what got wrong (without giving them the correct answers)

One of the things I do not fight students over is supplies
I provide pencils for students so there is no excuse on doing work- they return it at the end of the period
- I will spend less than $20 on pencils throughout the school year
We are a Title I school so I assume that my some of students will not be able to afford supplies and therefore, I provide all supplies for every project I do in class
I use a class set of clipboards quite regularly for out of seat activities
I provide art supplies (markers, scissors, glue sticks) in a basket on every table
If we are doing a poster or LapBook, I provide the construction paper or folder