Lesson Planning
January 25th, 2010
Most college students struggle with the vocabulary of our disciplines. In their various electronic exchanges, they do not use a lot of multisyllabic, difficult-to-pronounce words. And virtually all college courses are vocabulary rich – unfamiliar words abound. Most students know that the new vocabulary in a course is important. They use flash cards and other methods to help them memorize the words and their meanings for their exams. Two days later, the words and their meanings are gone
December 14th, 2009
College teacher preparation classes and years of classroom experience still haven’t taught me how to cope with the unexpected things that might crop up in the classroom. However, when a student has a seizure, when a visitor comes to the door, or when we have extra time, I always have a spare emergency sponge activity to soak up the unplanned time and use it toward learning.
Have these activities prepared in advance, complete with instructions. I put mine on the overhead projector, but you can store them on your computer to project or pass out in a handout, too. If you have a guest or substitute teacher, include a few of these in your substitute teacher binder. He’ll appreciate the help.
January 9th, 2009
Minnesota Public Radio and American Public Media have created Budget Hero, an engaging online game that challenges users to balance the federal budget (http://minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/2008/05/budget_hero/). The game relies on numbers and budget forecasts from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and offers users options for balancing the budget like cutting aid to foreign governments or increasing the retirement age to 67.
December 4th, 2008
Most of your students can tell you where they were on 9/11, just as a generation ago people could remember where they were when President John F. Kennedy died. Each generation has its pivotal moment; for the WWII generation, that event was Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941.
National Geographic has captured Pearl Harbor’s events in a multi-media timeline and map that would work well as a history mini-unit, stretching over one or two class periods. http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/pearlharbor/ax/map.html The site’s interactive timeline pulls up maps of the Hawaiian Islands with ship and aircraft movements. Clicking on Full Story reveals a paragraph about each event on the timeline, photos from the moment, and sometimes first-person testimonials about the event.
November 7th, 2008
The teacher returns to her classroom after a bout of the ‘flu. She’s weak, she’s tired, and her classroom desks are scattered like leaves on the ground. Her head hurt before she saw her classroom, but now it really hurts.
Here’s how to make sure that your guest teacher/substitute teacher has a good experience in your classroom and that you come back to happy kids and an orderly room.
Get How to Create An Effective Lesson Plan absolutely free when you sign up for FREE Inside the School Updates
We hate SPAM as much as you do. You have our promise not to sell or share your email address — ever!
Shopping Cart
My Account
