Activity that I tried, but was not as successful as I hoped.

I wrote an activity sheet for the students to complete. They had to ask a partner if they had certain characteristics. They would write down the response. I found our that my directions were not as clear as I hoped and I did not give them an example. Maybe a third of the students did it correctly. I think it was a good activity I just found out that I needed to make my instructions clearer. You have to treat them like little children whenever instructions are given and I did not know that.

Diaries

I like diaries as a starter. You can post something on the board or display an image and they will write about it. As the teacher you should also write something along with the students. This encourages them and in Spanish class I can give them examples and ideas with what I write.

Simulations

I have not tried this, but as I did the Matrix I come up with this idea. I think it would be great to create a market in Spanish class and have the kids learn the words and phrases through talking with each other in the market. They would take turns as the vendor and the shopper.

How do you manage the slower and quicker students in class?

I have had a problem with a group of kids that have been finishing assignments before the other students and are really chatty. My cooperating teacher has given me the idea of giving more work, but only grading the first part. This will allow the slower students to do the first part and keep the others occupied. When all have finished the required portion I will continue the class. I like this idea, but I was wondering if any else has other ideas of how to keep the whole class busy even though they do work at different speeds.

Authentic Material

I have been trying to use authentic material in my class more often. Recently I used some personal advertisements. The students seems to interact better and relate better when they feel like it is something that is real life and not just out of a text. I was wondering if anybody else uses authentic material. If you do how do you use it. Where do you get your authentic material. What I mean by authentic material is for example in science you could show some notes from a famous scientist. In Social studies you could show newspapers from that time period.

Effective group activities

I enjoy doing conversations or idea sharing activities. One that I enjoy is having the class form two circles. The outer circle faces inward and the inner circle faces outward. Each student pairs up with a student and you the teacher tells them to start. They can discuss any topic you assign them. After a certain time that you decide you tell them to rotate. You the teacher needs to walk around the room to make sure they are on task. If they are on task you can also join in conversations. This is a good way for the students to state their opinion and hear many opinions in a short period of time.

Do you have any other effective group activities?

Grading students that do not do the work but pass the tests

What are some philosophies and strategies of how to grade students that do not do the work in class and do not participate, but they get an A on the tests.

Should we move to a all performance grading system or should the students get dinged for not participating?

Please leave you ideas.