TL;DR: Creating a culture of excitement leads to a positive learning environment that encourages collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. Excitement is contagious. Learn 7 ways to create an enthusiastic environment and 7 ways to create an enthusiastic lesson. Spend time laughing with your students; it is essential to creating a warm and positive classroom culture where students feel comfortable and … Read More
Game-Based Learning: Evaluating Math Games
TL;DR: Game-based learning is a great way to engage students in exploring a math concept in a new way. Not all free (or even paid) math games are created with equal care and research. Math games have an incredible opportunity to affect students’ mindsets about math, confidence in their abilities, perseverance, grit, and so much more. However, not all math … Read More
Maintaining Student Engagement in December
TL;DR: December will be a difficult month to keep students engaged, especially this year with a somewhat return to “normal.” Maintain student engagement by focusing on relationships and having fun. Have students participate in project-based learning and other activities to keep things interesting rather than focusing on the curriculum. For most educators, December can be a tricky month in terms … Read More
Engagement is Not a Unicorn, It’s a Narwhal: Featuring Heather Lyon
How do you define student engagement in your classroom? This week’s guest, Heather Lyon, shares a common understanding of what engagement looks and sounds like so that anyone can design and gauge instruction using this understanding. More importantly, with this knowledge, educators can make changes to instruction to truly increase student engagement. In this episode, we also discuss: Grading practices … Read More
Reconsider Your Expectations
TL;DR: Believing in students and setting high expectations for them can help them be successful. Find ways to get your students interested. Make sure the lessons and activities you are teaching are relevant. Know what your end goal is and makes sure it is clear to your students, too. Provide opportunities for your students to reflect on their own work. … Read More