Icebreakers that Rock

‘Mindfulness’ defuses stress in classrooms and teaching The bell rings at 7:40 a.m. in a public high school in New Jersey, and science teacher Laura McCluskey begins the first of what she calls “five shows a day.” On some mornings, those shows are more difficult than others. That’s due in part to a heavy load of paperwork, something that consumes large amounts of her time and energy. Then there are the other, outside events that happen in McCluskey’s life. These can be stressful events that happen to everyone, such as family issues or health problems. In many professions, a person could stay in her office until she felt like interacting with people.

Icebreaker Activities for Arts Integration If you are starting to plan your first 6 weeks of school, in addition to helping the students learn the routines of the classroom and the school you will want to plan activities that: are highly engaging; let you learn about your students and help the students get to know one another; let students start playing with the arts before you start trying to integrate them with content later in the year. Here are a few ideas to help get students engaged, connected and ready for arts integration. And these icebreaker activities work for adults too! The resulting artworks can be shared if you so choose but just the act of creating will help facilitate connections between people.

What Makes a Good Presentation? – The Canswedian English Teacher So, you have told your class that they are going to do a presentation on something-or-other. You show them what should be included, how their Powerpoint should look, you even talk about how important it is to have proper grammar… But do we ever really teach them what it means to give a good presentation? I finally clued in to this last year. MAYBE I should be teaching them this important piece of the puzzle!

11 ways to bring out your students' super powers Helping students find their strengths — their “super powers” — can change them forever. Use some of these strategies to see big changes! (Photo via Nili Bartley / Take It to the Classroom) Arts Integration Icebreaker Games What student doesn’t love a teacher who gives them a piece of candy on the first day? As much as mine enjoy candy, I think they love that they get to paint in writing class even more. There are tons of ways to add icebreaker games into your beginning-of-the-year repertoire. Gummy Worm Poetry is a three part icebreaker activity that helps students and teachers get to know one another while incorporating low-risk poetry writing and simple watercolor techniques.

The Great Balloon Debate – The Canswedian English Teacher Sitting here in a super important meeting at school….so I decided to write a blog post. I just heard someone say it will go fast. We’re going on hour two now. Aaaanyhoo… The Great Balloon Debate is a great speaking activity/icebreaker for more advanced students (maybe grade 9). Map shows the most hated foods in America - INSIDER Courtesy of Hater The INSIDER Summary: Dating app Hater used data from its users to create a map that shows the most hated food in each state.Some results make total sense; others are weirdly specific.For example, Missouri hates the last bite of a hot dog, New Jersey hates gas station wine, and Tennessee hates foraged food. Back in July, the dating app Hater created a map that revealed what everyone hates the most in each state. Unsurprisingly, things like Times Square, polo shirts, and workout couples were among the hilarious and often weirdly specific results.

5 Edtech Trends That are Influencing Student Engagement In the not-so-distant past, student apathy seemed to be at an all-time high. Children would fill classroom seats but their minds weren’t engaged in the material, even during the lesson itself. When they left their desk at the end of the hour, they hardly ever considered the material again in their daily life. The paradigm is shifting as student engagement rises alongside the introduction of edtech into the modern, blended classroom setting. Are you curious which attributes have led to this significant shift to engaged learning? You’ll want to see these top five trends that influence student engagement.

6 Questions To Ask Your Students On Day One It’s that time again – time to think about that very first day of school and how you greet your class on day one. How will you begin to create an environment for risk and creativity? Will your students be greeted by rules and “thou shalt nots”, or by questions that set the stage for thinking and risking? Here are six questions you should think about asking on day one. ESL Speaking Murder Mystery Game Learn English with a Murder Mystery This is a 15 to 20 minute group work fluency exercise. Each person is one character. There are 12 characters in the game.

ndla Subject Material Published: 11.08.2009 (12:10), Updated: 20.06.2013 (13:11) Barack Obama's Inauguration Speech Barack Obama's Inauguration Speech