Future story choices |
All children love Roald Dahl stories.
If you give students a choice they may surprise you.
Practising past tense verbs |
We have regular training sessions out in Seoul within our districts and although they are good social events they don't tend to offer too much in the way of useful tips or advice. But the last one I went on did offer me something which I tried out in class and was pleasantly surprised.
So after having read 'The Twits' I decided to have a small recap and comprehension lesson. On the TES website I found some resources. I also made a worksheet for the students to complete. But, as per the advice at my training, I made 3 different types of worksheet; easy, medium and hard. During class I told the students about the three choices, and I gave responsibility to them. 'You can choose which level to take,' I was a little sceptical, and I also assumed most would take medium (because that's probably what I would do.) I was surprised when, more then I had anticipated took the hard worksheet and I had to quickly print off another batch. My pile of mediums sat there untouched. I was chuffed when a few students complained that the hard worksheet wasn't hard enough. I really didn't give my students enough credit.
Rewards are incredible motivation, whatever form they come in.
Lottery day comes but once a month |
In my 5th and 6th grade classes we have a lottery reward system. Every lesson, when a student raises their hand to answer a question, or wins a game or works very quickly, they are given a ticket. They write their name on it and we put it in their class box/bag. At the end of every month we pick two tickets from each class. The student who's picked get a lolly. Obviously the more tickets they have the greater the chance of being picked. It's a bit of a pain having to cut out hundred of tickets, but it gives me something to do in the afternoon. Only 2 tickets are picked, so essentially students are motivated by receiving a piece of paper.
This system is insanely effective. Today we were playing an UNO card game. At the end of the lesson it always takes ages to get the cards collected and brought to the front. This time, I told the students the fastest two people to get the cards together in an elastic band and at the front to me could have a ticket. I've never seen them move so fast. Brilliant.
Fantastic. Sorry grade 5 for ever doubting you. |
We also have all these easy oxford readers, but I don't know how I can use them in class. Anyone have any ideas? |
No comments:
Post a Comment