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Freshen Up with Inspiring Ideas
Spring time at last! The time of year when we can open our windows and let the fresh air blow in to help freshen up our homes, apartments and of course, our classrooms. Teachers are starting to head into the home stretch and even though there is still a lot to accomplish, the sweet vision of a long, lazy summer is in sight! This “Spring Break” time of year (I believe) helps us shake off winter blues and get our minds refocused on our goals so we can finish our school year, strong.
It is a great time to rekindle a little inspiration for your classroom!
Inspiring Ideas for the 21st Century Classroom is one of our most popular courses and can help teachers feel a little less over-whelmed and a lot more enthusiastic about being a teacher. Not only will teachers receive lots of inspirational strategies and resources, but they will also earn 18 professional development hours toward their license renewal.
Here is a quick clip from our course, Inspiring Ideas for the 21st Century Classroom…
Curious Activities
In 7th grade, my science teacher put a box of items on each of our lab tables and asked us to go through them. There were all kinds of crazy looking colorful plastic shapes in the box. We talked and joked about what they could be. A few of us tried to attach pieces together, others started pulling them apart. One of my peers held a cylindrical shape up to the light and could see something inside. We all watched closely as he pried open the pink plastic softball-size container. Inside was a slimy gel with yellow jelly-bean shaped pieces as well as purple strings flowing throughout and tiny blue Styrofoam ball. We all started grabbing the “slimy” softball pieces from the boxes to pry them open and see the stuff inside.
Strategy: Relevance
“Yikes!” My teacher yelled. “You are spilling out the cytoplasm of that animal cell. The nucleus won’t be able to perform all of the functions if the mitochondria and ribosomes spill out on the table.”
This was his introduction to a unit on living things. That lesson took place in 1983. To this day, jellybeans look like mitochondria (to me). I cannot remember how I did on the test or if I even took a test, but I can tell you that I did learn about the function of cells and almost 40 years later, that lesson is still fresh in my mind.
Honestly, animal cells did not mean anything to me before this lesson (in 7th grade). They would have had less meaning if the activity hadn’t sparked my curiosity. My teacher totally nailed the intro by igniting our curiosity with slimy plastic pieces and letting us discover the stuff inside. He kept us interested by making it important to us.
Student: “Why do we have to know this?”
Teacher: “Because it is going to be on the test.”
If your students ask you this (and mine have), what they are really asking is, why is it relevant to them. Think about the answer to this question before you design your activity. Why is it important? Then make sure your students know that not only is it important, but it is also probably the most important thing they will ever learn. (Until the next topic you teach them of course.)
Back to 1983…
My science teacher answered the question something like this:
“Cells are the basis of all life on Earth. Wouldn’t it be cool to find cures for diseases and help people who are sick with cancer or diabetes? We must understand how healthy cells function and detect the sick cells to be able to create effective medicines. This is what scientists and doctors are working on, in their labs today. Does anyone in this classroom know someone who had cancer? How about sickle cell disease? Has anyone ever broken a bone? How do bone cells heal? By better understanding cell function, we will be able to discover the answers to these questions someday.”
These comments and questions connected with us. We did know people with cancer, broken bones, sickle cell, diabetes, Parkinson’s, etc. (Personally, I didn’t even know there were different types of cells for different parts of the body! Bone cells?) We also felt privileged to be learning stuff that adults were learning in the real world. He made the information relevant by connecting the content to things that mattered to us.
Inspiring Ideas Projects to be Completed:
- Interview Question
- Happiness Activity
- Curious Activity
- 3 Activities for the Classroom
- Inspiration for Teachers
- Tezuka Analysis
- Dream Big Building or Classroom Design
- Personal Reflection
Enjoy more: Inspiring Ideas for the 21st Century Classroom.
The Teacher’s Academy helps teachers renew or maintain their professional licenses by providing relevant, convenient courses that teachers can complete quickly to earn their required hours, points, credits, etc.
Continuing education for teachers in many states across the country does not have to be difficult, as a matter of fact, it can be inspiring!
- Act 48 Hours in Pennsylvania
- CPE #902185 Clock Hours Texas
- Professional Development Colorado
- Professional Growth Points, Indiana
- Professional Development Points, Tennessee
- Professional Development Points Virginia