Homecoming week -- a time for fun! A time for the school to feel united! And unfortunately, this time of the school year is also tough to be a teacher.
I've had my fair share of problems with students this week, but I remind myself that this week is unique to the whole school year. My classroom is just a small part of what a child sees on a daily basis, and if the child seriously misbehaves, it's probably due to a factor beyond my control.
In any case, I know when a day is going to be crazy just from observing the students in the hallway before the morning bell rings. And, over the years, I've developed a short list of things in my back pocket to do if I ever feel I'm losing control of a class...
1) Partner activities -- make it social!
If students want to talk, at least let them do it in a pedagogical way. My favorite activities are dialogicals, battleship, and partner flyswatter.
2) Individual work activities -- easy for all!
Sometimes, students need to be told to quietly and individually for you to regain control and for them to learn best. My favorite activities for this are vocab puzzle cutouts and verb salad. Both use scissors and glue, and are a nice changeup to the usual worksheet.
3) Movie, movie, movie! Make it quiet.
Don't knock movies -- sometimes they are a great way to expose students to culture. My favorite activities for students to do during a movie or a video clip are for them to write and answer their own comprehension questions, or make a venn diagram comparing the target culture with their own.
And so, hopefully this list was useful for you, my good teachers. What other strategies of survival do you utilize?
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