Month: July 2017

An article by Richard James Rogers (Author of The Quick Guide to Classroom Management)

Illustrations by Pop Sutthiya Lertyongphati

A new academic year is fast approaching, and no doubt you’ll have some INSET or Teacher Training days coming up very soon. One of your first duties might be to do up your classroom and make it look pretty.

A warm, inviting classroom that’s colorful, fresh and light can really benefit your students. In fact, expansive research published by the University of Salford shown that well-designed classrooms can improve learning progress in primary school pupils by up to 16%.

This was the first time that clear evidence of the effect of the physical classroom environment on learning was established.

Oftentimes, teachers are stuck with the classrooms they are given. If your furniture is old, natural light is bad or the air-conditioning isn’t perfect, then it’s tough luck. One thing we can change, however, is the quality of our displays. Other aspects of the classroom environment can also be adjusted alongside this (See my article about this here: The Starbucks Protocol), so don’t neglect that side of the equation either.

So what are the best ways that we can create beautiful classroom displays?

#1: Display Student Work

Why?: 

• Provides kids with a sense of pride and accomplishment
• Acts as a ‘living demonstration’ of the excellent learning that’s going on in your class
• Provides a benchmark for all students to aspire to

How?

• Provide opportunities for students to complete large projects (groupwork lends itself well to this). 
• Make the output theme-based and creative (e.g. ‘Create an infographic about the events leading up to World War Two)
• Have very clear success criteria in place (e.g. The newspaper article should contain at least three neat paragraphs and two clear and colorful pictures)
• CRUCIAL: Select work to display based on the agreed success criteria

OPTIONAL EXTRA’S:

1. Get the students to select the best work to display
2. Display the brief of the task given and the success criteria
3. Display your comments on the work (or, even better. get the students to write two things they like about each piece of work and use sticky notes to attach to each)

#2: Display Student Achievements and Progress

Why?

• Can motivate high performing students
• A number of parameters can be celebrated: attainment on tests, sporting achievements, progress made on a project, etc.
• If done properly, it will develop a ‘growth mindset’ in your students, where they realize that they can always learn new things and make progress
• Creates ‘lifelong learners’

How?

• Try setting up an ‘Achievements Wall’, where examples of achievement can be constantly updated as the academic year progresses
• Maybe get the kids involved –  set up a plastic wallet for each kid where they can add examples of work or achievements they are proud of
• Hold an ‘achievement sharing’ afternoon or lesson, at the end of each term, where students can talk about each other’s achievements
• Include all of your students – don’t leave anyone out
• Possibly use this kind of display to track progress on a project the kids are doing (e.g. you could have a large column for each group, where each lesson one group member adds a few bullet points to summarize what the group did).

#3: Display key words and command terms

Why?

• Every subject has its own set of key terminology which is essential to understanding and expressing concepts, contexts, events, and processes.
• Regular exposure to the correct use of key terminology creates greater confidence in exam-prep classes
• Great for bilingual, ESL and EAL students
• Works with any subject

How?

• Display command terms and meanings for examination classes (e,g, ‘Explain’, ‘Describe’, ‘Outline’, etc.)
• Display different versions of common words for your subject (e.g. subtract/minus/take-away)
• Display topic-specific terminology when kids are learning particular units (e.g. Food and Digestion words might be ‘Stomach’, ‘Foodpipe’, ‘Small Intestines’)
• Use diagrams to display the key terminology for visual concepts (e.g. the parts of parallel electrical circuit)
• If some students in your class speak a language other than English as their mother tongue, then you can even make your terminology multi-lingual by getting those students to translate the words

#4: Use plastic wallets

Why?: 

• Plastic wallets keep work neat, they’re easy to stick up (only a pin is needed for each one) and they’re easy to update
• Plastic wallet displays lend themselves to being more ‘interactive’ than traditional displays

How?

• Fill plastic wallets with samples of excellent student work (see number 1 above)
• Put the exam syllabus, program of study and exam papers inside
• Students may wish to use them to store answers to quiz questions, clues for crosswords and puzzles and even revision cards for exam-preparation
• If you use them to keep key words inside, then this allows you a quick access point when playing learning games such as ‘Mystery Word’ (see instructions below)

#5: Display upcoming events

Why?:

• Students need to know their key deadlines and key events (such as coursework hand-in dates and examination days)
• They can be used to get students excited about a theme-based event, such as World Book Day, British Biology Olympiad or school Sports Day
• They can motivate students to get moving on their projects and coursework, such as their IB TOK Presentation.

How?

• If the event has a glossy poster that goes with it, then definitely display that
• Display the key parts of the event (e.g. the schedule for the day)
• Clearly display the instructions the students must follow to get ready for the event
• Display photos of past-students who were successful at this event last time (if available)

#6: Display Mission Statements

Why?

• When students are reminded of their school’s overall aims, theme, and focus, it gels the school together as a winning community
• When mission statements specific to courses are displayed, discussed and applied (e.g. the IB Learner Profile), they can provide students with valuable principles that will guide them their whole lives.

How?

• If your school already has a published poster/document containing their mission statements, then display that
• Think of ways in which the statements apply to your subject area, and display that (e.g. We are thinkers – ‘We critically evaluate our experimental methods and use the lessons learned to modify future methods).
• Displays large, colorful key words from the mission statements and get your kids to add ideas as to how they can be applied inside and outside of school

#7: Display biographies of famous people

Why?

• Provides inspiration
• Can be used to teach about the skills and personality traits the famous people have or had

How?

• Get large, clear photographs or paintings of the famous people and display those
• Try to make it subject specific (e.g. Science could be Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, etc.)
• Include a paragraph or two of each person’s story. Make the text large. Emphasize the fact that they all worked hard in the face of adversity.

#8 Display memorable events

Why?

• Events which have already passed, especially if used to reinforce a subject area, can provide students with useful triggers and memories than can help their exam performance
• Provides lots of talking points, which gels the school or class together as a community

How?

• Include lots of photos of the event that took place
• If the kids produced some kind of output (e.g. baking cakes, making scarfs, etc.) then display the work or photos of it
• Try to include student summaries of what they enjoyed about the event, and what they learned from it

#9: Display exam-style questions and model answers

Why?

• Reinforces the urgency and importance of the exams
• Provides a benchmark (again) of excellent responses to questions
• Acts as one way to teach students about exam technique

How?

• Print questions from past-papers (maybe as A3 sheets) which cover fundamental, key concepts in your subject area (e.g. A classic right-angled trigonometry question in maths)
• Get your students to fill in the model answers using exemplars you give them, in different colors
• Display the model answers yourself, but get the students to annotate the answers in colored pens with the marks given at each stage, plus reasons why. 

#10: Display revision summaries

Why?

• Brings all of the concepts together
• Provides a point of reference on the run-up to exams
• Provides stimulus material for student-led revision
• Provides motivation to revise

How?

• Use mind-maps, bullet point lists, infographics and checklists
• Display every page of the syllabus
• Split the class into groups. Each group produces a revision poster for a particular topic
• Display the URLs of websites that students can use for revision

#11: Display processes

Why?

• Many subjects have processes (e.g. T, F, A, R means Thoughts lead to Feelings, Feelings lead to Actions, Actions lead to Results)
• Can be used to reinforce moral or logical principles (e.g. the Four D’s of success: Discipline, Dedication, Drive, and Desire)
• Can be used to memorize physical actions (e.g. DR ABC from First Aid – Danger, Response, Airway, Breathing, and Circulation)
• Can be used for essential safety information (e,g, the Green Cross Code: Stop, Look, Listen)

How?

• Colorful flowcharts lend themselves well to this
• Display photographs or pictures of each stage
• Display instructions for each stage
• Show a completed template at the end (e.g. a completed scientific report on an experiment)

#12: Make it 3D

Why?

• 3D displays look impressive!
• They can often include materials from the topic being covered

How?

• SAFETY: Make sure no hard parts stick out too much. I once remember a display on the corridor in an old school where a glass trophy was displayed on a glass shelf, at about head-height. A partially blind student walked into the shelf and really hurt himself. 
• Paper is the best material for turning in 3D shapes – it’s cheap, available and relatively safe
• Students can make little boxes out of paper, attached to the display board, containing answers to quiz questions
• Pop-up images and ‘flip to see the answer’ type pieces lend themselves well to 3D displays

#13: Make it multi-sensory

Why?

• Tons of research shows the benefits of stimulating multiple senses during the learning process
• It makes the display interactive and attractive

How?

• Think of ways to include smells, textures and sounds to your displays (taste probably won’t work well!)
• Fabrics work well for textures. Sometimes you can use the materials discussed in the display (e.g. copper wires for a display on electricity, aluminum and steel cans for a display on recycling)
• Try to rig up a push-button sound system (e.g. an iPod connected to speakers with pre-loaded audio files installed)

#14: Display essential course information

Why?

• Vital for exam preparation classes – they need to know what % each exam paper counts for, what their coursework is worth, etc.

How?

• Include large, colorful titles of the course components along with their percentages
• Include exemplar work for each component
• Include real case-studies (e.g. Student X got 83% on Paper 1, 65% on Paper 2 and 71% on Paper 3, and ended up getting a grade B)

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An article by Richard James Rogers

Illustrations by Pop Sutthiya Lertyongphati

It’s finally here! You’ve worked hard all term, perhaps even counting down the days, and now it’s the summer vacation! If you’re teaching in a British or American school, or at an accredited International School overseas, then you’ve probably got a nice 6-8 week holiday to look forward to! Time to put your feet up!

Or is it?

Most teachers would agree that we need our vacations. We work so hard during term time and we only really realise the strain this has placed upon us mentally and physically when we do get the chance to have a holiday. It’s DEFINITELY important to rest now, but; and many experienced teachers will hate me for this: it’s also time to start considering your plans for the next semester/term!

This great 5-minute video summarises some easy things you can do this holiday to get a head start and acts as a supplement to this blog post:

In my debut book: The Quick Guide to Classroom Management, I include numerous case studies of teachers who got their time-management all messed up, and paid for it massively! For my next book: Marking and Assessment Strategies, I invited twenty educators from all over the world to offer their advice on time-saving marking tips. One common theme that permeates their advice is the productive use of holidays and break-times, along with great tips such as ‘live-marking’ and using peer-assessment strategies.

What do you plan do during this school vacation?

Take a look at this list. Could you find time for some (or all) of these? 

Top Tips for Time-Saving Teachers: Using your holidays to relax AND get a head start!

1. If possible, find out which classes you will teach next semester. Even if you only know some of them, start planning ahead. Draw up a curriculum map of the topics you will teach and the order you will teach them in. This will save tremendous time at the start of the new semester. You’ll be ahead of the game when everyone else is rushing around trying to figure things out!
2. Plan your marking! I talk about this extensively in my soon-to-be released book. Examine your syllabuses and long-term planning closely, and cross-reference it with your school’s academic calendar. Look for weeks when paperwork could get heavy (e.g. around the time when reports need to be written, parent consultations take place and when exams and tests need to be taken). Think about the assignments and homework you will set, and plan ahead so that you spread out your marking evenly over the whole year. This will save you many a future headache!
3. Read ahead! If you’ll be teaching unfamiliar topics then look them up, and make sure you can do the questions that you’ll set for kids. Subject knowledge acts as a great confidence base that improves and enhances your classroom performance. 
4. Gather your resources together! The last thing you want to be doing is fumbling around finding PowerPoints, Prezi’s, worksheets, assignments, and tasks whilst you’re on the job, teaching a full timetable! Get prepared now, and enjoy a happy work-life balance when you’re back in school!
5. Go to school the week before you start and get some printing done! Now, I know that many readers might not like the idea of this. However, when you consider the mad rush for the photocopier that will ensue in your first week back, you can see how it makes sense to get a head-start. 
6. Get your life back on track! Have you been skipping your gym classes? Too tired to do your morning run? Get your routine back in order and set your body clock to rise early and retire at a reasonable time. Keep up your new routine, and plan ahead so that you can keep doing it when you’re back at school!

Can you add any more items to the list? Please feel free to comment in the box below. 

Have a happy, relaxing (and productive) holiday!Check out Richard’s Pedagogical series of books here:

We welcome you to join the Richard Rogers online community. Like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter for daily updates.

richardjamesrogers.com is the official blog of Richard James Rogers: high school Science teacher and award-winning author of The Quick Guide to Classroom Management. This blog post is illustrated by Pop Sutthiya Lertyongphati.

A few days ago I was strolling through Em Quartier’s sprawling Kinokuniya book store in the heart of Bangkok. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular since I was already reading through three books simultaneously. I was just looking for anything that would catch my eye.

And then, something did.

On my way out of the store, I glanced over at the Special Offers shelf. I saw ‘Napolean Hill’ sprawled over the cover of what looked like a very unusually entitled book: ‘Outwitting the Devil’.

I finished the book in two days. It absolutely amazed me.

From the depths of despair

Napolean Hill sets the scene in his book by describing the recent pain, suffering and dread he was going through. He describes being totally broke after making a number of unwise decisions to leave behind businesses he had started. His interview with the Devil starts at his second peak of total despair in his life – totally out of money, sat in front of the Lincoln monument wondering what to do with his life.

Napolean Hill makes it very clear in his book that he really believes that the Devil came to him at his lowest point and answered his questions.

The entire interview was produced in manuscript form in 1938, but the entire Hill family were so concerned about the way it would be received by the churches, the education system and society as a whole, that they decided to keep it locked away.

The final book was published in 2011, and contains some very radical thoughts on education. Here are the three that resonated with me the most:

1. Reverse the present system by giving children the privilege of leading in their school work instead of following orthodox rules designed only to impart abstract knowledge. Let instructors serve as students and let the students serve as instructors.

In my article on differentiation, I describe a great technique for getting individual students creatively involved. The technique is talked ‘teen teachers’, and involves getting students to teach a sub-topic or topic every now and again to the whole class. Oftentimes this is done as a revision aid, rather than a way to introduce new knowledge to a class. 

Surely we can’t trust students to teach themselves! 

Or can we? 

Hill’s Devil seems to imply by this quote that students should be involved in the curriculum design and then decide how to teach it, with the teacher being a stimulator of ideas, facilitator and behaviour manager. 

Thankfully, we are seeing a move in this direction in a number of schools, especially with respect to getting students to be more involved in teaching themselves (the use of instructional software and project based learning for the International Baccalaureate come to mind). However, we’ve yet to see massive strides take place in the area of student-led curriculum design. Is this a good idea? 

Certainly, students would learn tremendously important skills such as collaboration, problem-solving, creative design and leadership qualities; all of which are vital in business and management fields. But how would all of this be assessed? Does it need to be assessed? 

2. Ideas are the beginning of all human achievement. Teach
all students how to recognize practical ideas that may be of benefit in helping them acquire whatever they demand of life.

The Devil makes the point time and again in the interview that successful people always have definiteness of plan combined with definiteness of purpose. 

When one has goals in mind and works towards those goals every day, ideas naturally come along in the process. These ideas should be written down in some fashion and pondered, say on a weekly basis, to determine which ones are valid and reasonable to implement towards the pursuit of those goals. 

How many students leave school actually knowing this stuff? How many kids have no clue what they want to do with their lives at age 18? 

All too often we quickly suggest that a clueless 18-year-old is just young and inexperienced and it’s perfectly normal and fine to not know where you want to go in life at this age. 

Napoleon Hill disagrees.

He argues that people without goals are ‘drifters’ – shaped by the circumstances they find themselves in rather than shaping those circumstances with their thoughts. 

How much goal setting actually takes place in schools these days? I’m not talking about ‘I’d like to get a grade C in maths’ goals, I’m talking about ambitious, long-term, life-shaping goals that are truly inspirational. 

3. Teach the student the basic motives by which all people are influenced and show how to use these motives in acquiring the necessities and the luxuries of life.

Since a young age, I’ve wondered why human psychology, conflict resolution, and human relations aren’t taught in any great detail in today’s schools. 

Surely these are vital skills, right? 

What’s more important at the end of 15 years of schooling – knowing how to perform Integration by Parts or understanding how to negotiate with people? 

We hear the saying “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” all the time, but how is this ever reinforced in the education system? 

Hill makes a valid point that knowledge of common courtesy, respect (for yourself and others) and good communication skills form the fabric and fiber of every successful person on the planet. 

Surely our students need to know this, right? 

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