School Day Structure – Teacher’s Corner

by

0


Teacher’s Corner
Because August and September are school-starting months, our posts in these months will focus on things that help students get a good start at school. 
Students need structure in their school day to be able to function well. They need to know who is in charge, what the day’s agenda will be, what is expected of them, and what qualifies as a “good job.” Think what aspects of the school day your students could weigh in on – seating, wall postings, placement of materials, the order of an agenda, etc. Plan how to engage them in establishing parts of their daily structure.
 
The following are writing prompts and discussion topics you can use to let your students think about being back in school.
  1. Is there something about your classroom set-up that you wish you could help decide about? If so, why would you like to help decide about that?
  2. Do you like to know what you will be doing at school at different times of the day? Why or why not?
  3. When you have an assignment is it helpful to know what it should look like when finished, if it were well done? Why or why not?
Teachers, you can use this blog in classrooms. Here are two ideas about how.
  1. For middle or high school parenting or child development courses:
    • Use the blog for discussion topics
    • Require students to research the topics and agree or disagree with what the blog is suggesting.
  2. For all courses, especially English Language Arts:
  • Use the blog for writing prompts for paragraphs, theme papers, journal entries, class starters, etc. Have students read the blog and respond to:
  • Do you agree with what is being said about kids? Do kids really act, think or feel that way?
  • Do you agree with what is being said about parents, grandparents, teachers and child caregivers? Do or should they act, think or feel that way?
  • What would be your advice on this topic?
  • What was left out of this article?
  • If you were a parent, would you use any of this information? How?
Why can this blog be a useful teaching tool?
  • Students that see connections between their coursework and their lives do better in school.
  • Most students will either be parents one day or have children in their lives that they care about, so the topical information can help them build their knowledge about children and parenting and develop a positive image of the type of parenting they want to do.
  • The new core literacy standards adopted by most states call for frequent writing in all courses.
  • Newly developed end-of-course assessments to be used by many states will require that students demonstrate that they can think critically. These prompts help students practice critical thinking.
  • Newly developed end-of-course assessments to be used by many states will require that students demonstrate that they can analyze what they read. These prompts help students practice analysis.

What do you think?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.