 |
|
||||
KNEA Members Featured in NEA's Works4MESome of the many brilliant teachers in Kansas get a tip published in NEA's Works4Me electronic newsletter. The competition is stiff because NEA receives so many great ideas, but KNEA members' tips are often chosen as one of the best. Works4Me is distributed weekly through e-mail to more than 24,000 subscribers in every state and several foreign countries, so these members' great ideas have been distributed far and wide.
1 pack of Smarties Candies - to boost your test taking brain power. For best results, combine with one night of restful sleep, one nutritious breakfast, and one positive attitude. Possible side effects are improved test-taking skills and good grades." Teaching Quotation Marks "In my class, we read novels out loud. I am usually the narrator during the first semester and the students read what is inside the quotation marks. I talk about how quotation marks tell what the character said. It's a great way to teach how each character has a new paragraph, especially in some books where it does not tell who is speaking. By the second semester, my students are writing stories with conversations." Math Modeling with White Boards "Working in groups, my physics students put preliminary graphs and the math model of the data for a problem on 24 x 32 inch white boards. I pick a student at random from each group to explain the results of the experiment to the class and to respond to questions from students and me. I assign selected problems from homework to be put on 12 inch square white boards and students take turns explaining their assigned problems. Through questioning about their presentations, I have uncovered misconceptions even though the written solution appeared correct."
Student Held Passes "I started using a hall pass to prevent my students from wasting time. They're only allowed two passes every nine weeks and if they want to leave the room they are required to use one of these passes. This also teaches responsibility because they must have the actual pass I handed out to be excused from the room. There's no bookkeeping on my part. The students who choose to stay in class receive five extra credit points per pass not used. They must have the actual pass to get the extra credit, though."
Recycled Lamination "Used laminating film makes great overhead sheets. I simply go into a Kinko's or any other store that laminates and tell them that I am a teacher looking for used laminating film. They can usually find some pieces in their trash that I cut into 8 x 11-inch sheets. Smaller pieces of laminated paper are used for letters, numbers, dice, dominos, and playing cards. The lamination is thick and sturdy. Best of all, I am recycling."
Job Interviews "I arrange mock interviews with business owners in our community for my students. I provide the business people with a copy of possible interview questions, the evaluation forms, and a stamped self-addressed envelope in which to return the evaluations. The students travel to the businesses by bus during the school day. Several students have found actual jobs in the community from these interviews and others learned about businesses they didn't realize existed. Positive comments about the students and the interviews from the business people have also furthered a more positive relationship between the school and the community."
Works4Me publishes tips each week year round to subscribers. The Works4Me library on the Internet includes tips that were sent out and tips NEA has not been able to send out yet. Here's where you'll find these tips: http://www.nea.org/helpfrom/growing/works4me/library.html. NEA also offers other free resources to instructional staff. You
can join a threaded discussion online to get acquainted, exchange
classroom ideas, ask questions about Works4Me and tell us how you
like W4M. Here's the Web address for the threaded discussion: SUBMITTING A TIP Please contribute your own brief, practical, broadly-applicable classroom tip to Works4Me. In addition to the weekly tip, we post on the Web the submitted tips not yet sent out to the whole list in our once-a-week format. To send in a tip, just reply to this message. When submitting a tip, please include your full name, school, specific assignment (grade/subject), city and state. If your tip is published, you'll receive a small token of appreciation from NEA as well as the satisfaction of knowing you've helped your colleagues in every state and several foreign countries. CONTACTING WORKS4ME You can communicate with NEA and the Worker Bees (two teachers) who administer this list by hitting your reply button. Please let us know how you like this service and how we might improve it. SUBSCRIBING/UNSUBSCRIBING Encourage your friends and colleagues to subscribe to Works4Me.
You'll receive a confirmation that your unsubscription has been processed. Others may subscribe by sending the message "subscribe works4Me" (without the quotation marks) to Lyris@list.nea.org. DISCLAIMER Works4Me is a vehicle for instructional staff to share their ideas with other
instructional staff. As such, it does not constitute an endorsement of any particular
curriculum or teaching method by the National Education Association or any of
its affiliates. NEA staff member Mary Ann Blankenship administers Works4Me.
You may contact her at: |
|||||
 Archives
|
 Printer friendly
|
 E-mail
|
 Subscribe
|
||
Copyright 2006 Kansas National Education Association
715 SW 10th Avenue, Topeka, KS 66612-1686
(785) 232-8271
KNEAnews@knea.org