Trying+Something+New


 * Here you will find resources and ideas for trying something new in your classroom: **

If you have older students, let them be the teacher for the chapter! You can have them split into groups and assign them a section, or have each group do the whole chapter! They can organize their presentation however they wish! (Oral presentation, Power Point, Activity...) My students love having the power to teach! I feel they also learn a lot as they dissect the chapter for important facts and notes!
 * Don't feel like teaching a certain chapter?**

I have talked to one of my high school technology teachers, and a writer of academic text books spoke with me on how to run a classroom or group project as a business. Some ideas, for instance, would be to give each group a set budget that they have to work by. The ending amount of money they have left over is what determines their grade. Now, I don't know all of the details to how this works, but it sounds compelling enough for me to research. When you start the project, give each group ONE "Ask the Boss for Free" card where they get no budgetary deductions for asking the teacher a question. If they don't use this card, they get 10% added onto their final remaining budget. Fees should be set by the class before-hand so everyone knows the expectations and risks. How much to ask the teacher a question and have the teacher "guide" or "give" the answer would be different costs. If the students are observed arguing or not on task, other deductions are taken. If a group wants to kick another member out of their group, they can, but they have to pay a severance package of at least $3,000 and surrender all rights of the project to the individual leaving, so there is no copyright battles going on later. Yes, that means the group would have to make a big decision. Keep the money and find a way to work with this individual, or give up the money, give up all the work done on the project at that point, and start from scratch. Basically, the concept was explained to me that, we want our kids to work together and understand that in the work world, we are rarely paired with people we know or choose to be with. The dynamics of teams in the real world can be very diverse. A "soft" skill students must learn is how to positively work with difficult people, and how to listen to everyone's views and provide constructive criticism that refrains from insult, while encouraging thought and research by the group as a whole.
 * Run class or group projects like a business planning team**

Something that I use when my students are working with partners is that each student has a different colored pencil. It makes it easy to see what eash student wrote. The work seems to be neater and easier to decipher when the students do this. When completing math problems it seperates the steps that the students did clearly. It also makes nice dispays for around the room.
 * Have a hard time evaluating partner work?**