Improving Student Motivation with Post-it notes

-
     Last year several advertising companies in New York City realized that they could put Post-it notes on their window and communicate from one building to another and the idea exploded. 






I saw a Twitter post about this and was very excited to use this in my classroom. I first tweeted to the Post-it company and begged them for supplies. My current classroom faces a courtyard with over 30 classrooms. 

 My students and I came up with a saying and a design with a positive message.

 The Post-it company eventually sent us a really cool briefcase filled with Post-its.


I can't wait to get into school and get started...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Modeling Mitosis with Oreo Cookies 1e: Designing Coherent Instruction

-
Image
Oreo Cookie Mitosis The problem was: What do I do with the students the day before Winter Recess? We were about to finish the Reproduction and Development Unit but needed one or two days of review before the test.  I know a lot of teachers like to show a video but the way I see it you are essentially telling the students that "today isn't an important day, you aren't important to me, let's just take it easy." I was looking for a fun activity that would help the students review and would entertain them and keep them out of trouble for 40 minutes.  For whatever reason I ended up googling: Mitosis Cookies and found resources and ideas on the following websites: www.paec.org www.alopategui.com www.teacherweb.com www.amphi.com I then took parts from each site and created this handout for my 9th grade Biology students:  Click here for the handout oreo cookies provided by students They brought in plenty of c
Read more

Charlotte Danielson in Action

-
Image
Many of you may know that I am a Biology teacher and in today's society it is a very stressful and demanding job. Constantly (even during vacations and weekends) I am working to improve the entire school experience for my students and to streamline the entire grading, learning, and evaluation part of my job. Very soon I will be evaluated as a teacher with the use of Charlotte Danielson's Framework for Teaching (2007).  The framework places an emphasis on four different domains of teaching... http://www.roe13.k12.il.us/Services/KeriKorn/HND12/Trover/FrameworkTeaching.pdf Even if you are a great teacher, most of the stuff you do isn't always visible in a 40 minute observation especially if you are teaching online or using technology in the classroom. In these blog postings I hope to document all of the different techniques and tricks that I use as a teacher and to help give others ideas that can be implemented in their own classrooms.  We are much better te
Read more

Ugly Sweaters and Vocabulary Review

-
Image
So I was reading this blog yesterday http://www.meandmyinklings.com/index.php/2014/11/24/ugly-sweater-garland-with-free-printable/ and saw this cute holiday decoration where you cut out and color paper decorations of ugly sweaters (like the ugly Christmas sweaters that my mom used to wear in the 1980's) and thought it would be fun to do with my students..with a twist.          ​ So each student gets a handout that asks them to design and color an ugly sweater that is based on a vocabulary term that we have used in class this year. Can you guess the Vocabulary word I used for the example?       yep...photosynthesis. You can get the FREE handout at my Teachers Pay Teachers page... https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Amy-Balling/Order:Most-Recently-Posted#seller_details_tabs Enjoy! and Happy Holidays!
Read more