One of the biggest frustrations teachers experience is this: You teach a concept in October, your students do well on the test, and you move on. Then April rolls around… and it’s like they’ve never seen the concept before. (I’m talking about YOU, Significant Figures!)If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. This happens because students forget content that they don’t revisit regularly. When learning is concentrated in one unit and never practiced again, it’s easy for information to fade from memory. That’s why spiral review is one of the most powerful strategies you can build into your classroom.

What is spiral review?

Spiral review is taking intentional time to review old content by cycling it through your current content multiple times. It is usually the things that your students already understand but may need a refresher on.  You don’t want these things to become things that your students will need to be retaught.  Spiral review is typically student centered.  The biggest benefit of spiral reviews is that bringing up this material up again and again helps to force the content into long term memory.  You can get a free copy of my list of spiral review strategies here.  It’s a great thing to keep at your desk as you write your lesson plans.

Why Spiral Review Works

When students revisit information after time has passed, they have to actively retrieve that knowledge from their brain. Just the EFFORT of that strengthens memory. Those concepts have an easier time sticking around long term. You really want this happening every day in chemistry class considering its cumulative nature. Here’s the nuts and bolts:

• It helps with retention. Students are less likely to forget concepts taught early in the year
• It helps to build connections between chemistry topics. Ideas start to connect with ease.
• Reduces cramming. Both in your in-class year end review, as well as students working on their own. Talk about a confidence boost.
• Identify learning gaps sooner. You can catch misconceptions and misunderstandings before they snowball into something crazy.

It Doesn’t Have to Take the Place of Regular Review

I LOVE review activities. I think they are great, and certainly a useful way to spend class time. (There are many administrators that will tell you that spiral is an alternative to review days. “It saves time.” Phooey.) You can do one or the other, or you can do both. I think both is best. The problem with doing only traditional review days is that they often turn into teachers simply reteaching weeks, or even months of material ina cram session the day before the test. It’s stressful for everybody, and it’s not super effective.

If you are implementing spiral review in your chemistry class, students are revisting the old content a bit each day. PLUS they can get the massive content dump right before a test. But with that spiral added in, the review day is a lot more effective. That’s truly where learning gaps are filled and connections are made!

My Favorite Spiral Review Strategies: 

1. Incorporate old questions into new content.  This is usually happening on publisher made materials, but make sure to do it on things that you create for your students as well. 
2. Do Now or morning work is a great time to review some old content as you grapple with current content. I plan to piece together a year’s worth of chemistry bell ringers at some point for TPT! They will be spiral review focused!
3. Early finishers: any activities that your students do when they have extra time is a great opportunity to revisit old content. 
4. Sub Plans: absolutely leave review work with your substitute.  Then you don’t have to worry about the kids or the sub having any type of confusion with the content. 
5. Task cards: Old sets of task cards can be used again and again – reuse them! This is also a great way to use up the last 10 minutes of class when your lesson finishes a little quicker than you expected.
6. Unit Review or Station Review: any old activities, games, or stations that you use can be reused.  This works especially well with content that is built on past material. Chemistry example: Lewis structures and chemical bonding
7. Turn & Teach: I learned this method from Whole Brain Teaching and I love it.  Student A turns to Student B and teaches them what they know.  They take turns.  Give them a prompt that should be “review” in nature. 
8. Choice boards: A few of the activities can be old content, and some can be new. Choice boards are not my favorite. They feel like a lot of work. But if they work for you, integrate some old content!
9. Use of games: I love reusing an old review game, and so do my students! The more games the better. Here’s a blog post on ways to turn a boring worksheet into something more fun. “Games” doesn’t have to be a scary word for teachers.
10. Projects where the rubric focuses on both old and new skills as a way to test the new and keep the old fresh. I’m not really a “project teacher.” But if this is in your wheelhouse, then absolutely, go for it!

Again, don’t forget you can get a printable version of this list to keep at your teacher desk as you plan your lessons. 

A Better Way to Prepare for Final Exams

One of the biggest advantages of spiral review is what happens at the end of your school year. Instead of cramming in review sessions to your calendar, and your students scrambling to form study groups, there is a sense of calm. Your students have been practicing all year long. That means when final exam review starts, it feels very focused. That’s especially true if you give a practice final exam, or have been using my test score tracker all year long. Students can dial in on the few topics that are still a bit shaky for them instead of relearning all of chemistry in just 10 days.

By revisiting concepts throughout the year, your students learn more, retain more, connect concepts, and feel more prepared for exams. And most importantly, you can get away from the “teach, cram, test, forget” cycle and move toward deep understanding of chemistry.

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Why are we learning this? 

A lot of teachers take teaching too seriously.  Well, let me rephrase that.  They take their content too seriously.  So many of my students talk to me about how their teachers think their class is the most important class they take.  The kids are overwhelmed by the amount of work they need to do for this class.  They talk about how they don’t really like this class or the teacher.  And it makes me sad.

It makes me sad because these teachers are lying to our students. Almost none of our kids are going to use the Pythagorean theorem in real life.  I mean, maybe one or two of them will.  But we don’t teach the kids content because the content is important.  We teach stuff that can be found within five minutes of a Google search.

We are there to teach them some real skills.  In chemistry, I teach my students how to analyze data, read graphs, explain themselves in writing, solve problems and think logically.  Chemistry is the tool I use to do that.  

It’s important to be upfront about what you teach and why.  This will get the kids to respect you and your class.  They will work hard because they will know that they are actually there to learn something worthwhile in your class.  And it’ll help even more if you take the time to get to know them.

Identifying the real life skill that you’re teaching in a day can help your lesson plans.  This can help you with your delivery of what you teach each day.  And if your students know the VALUE you’re giving them, they’ll be on board, and thus, your class engagement blossoms!   

Check out my “Why are we Learning This?” posters I hang in my classroom.

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The most simple way for reflection for a lesson plan? Keep the same notebook as your students. 

There’s a lot of reasons to take the same notes as your students. I promise, the amount of work is certainly worth the amount of time you’ll save in the long run.  (This is a HUGE part of the All Star Planning Method!) It’s only a shred more work, and it’s totally worth it.  You may not even need to do this each year. Trying this just once or twice may be all you need, but there certainly is an advantage to doing this each year. 

Lesson Reflection and Pacing

Keeping the notes your students take will help you with your pacing.  You will be able to figure out almost exactly how much content to deliver each day.  I like to aim for one to two pages (without any math examples taking up space).  It’s sometimes hard to judge how much should be taught in a single day and it will change depending on the age and subject you teach.  

Easy Way to Help Absent Students

Keeping a notebook that students keep makes helping absent students easy.  You know that whatever notes are taken are legible and accurate. You can take pictures of these notes and email them to students are post them on Google classroom.

Reflection for Lesson Plan

If you have the same notebook you require your students to have, you can use for reflection for lesson plan.  You can write directly in your notes about how your lesson went.  If things are good, write them down so you do those things again.  If things don’t go well, you can write those things down and fix them.  Then, next year when you edit your lessons, you know exactly HOW to fix them next year.  This is my favorite way to detail my lesson reflection.  Learn more here. 

Watch Your Teaching Evolve

Last up, the reason you should have the same notebook as your students, is to see the evolution of your teaching.  If you keep everything year by year, you can take a look back and see how you’ve evolved.  This is especially true if you’re kind of mushy, like I am.  It’s nice to literally see that all of this work we do as teachers really means something and helps us to grow. 

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There’s really just one rule to easy parent communication for teachers. Do it early and often. The earlier you get in contact with parents, whether it is for good or bad news, the better. This lets the parents know that you really care about the student.  Nobody wants a surprise call about “the last straw.”  You should never let small problems grow into big problems and not communicate.  This blindsides the parents and then can lead to suspicious thoughts. Parents think their kid is a perfect angel and was provoked by some outside force.  This can lead to tension between you and parents that didn’t need to be there at all.  

Phone calls are great, but if your school does not have any way to record your phone calls digitally, keep a journal.  It’s a good idea to keep a note about who you called, for what reason, how long you spoke and what the follow up will be.  Sometimes you can read what other teachers write in the digital journal, so use that to your advantage with communication. 

Send notes home about the good stuff

I have some printables I use in my classroom (get a copy for free here).  I send these home with my students when they have a good day or a good week in my class.  My school went as far as professionally printing postcards to send in the mail. This is definitely my favorite form of easy parent communication.

Keeping parents in the loop can be as simple as sending out an email newsletter. Some of these things are only one way communication, like a print out.  But emails and Remind texts can sometimes go both ways. You can deliver unique messages about specific kids, or full class blasts.  This is a good idea for keeping people up to date with due dates and other announcements. 

My biggest tip for when you’re actually on the phone with parents is to use the sandwich method.  Deliver something nice to set the tone, deliver any bad news you have and then seal it up with something nice.  This again, lets the family know that you are totally on board with supporting this kid.  

Parent communication is so important. In the long run, it saves you time and frustration.  It prevents a bunch of parent meetings, long phone calls and problems in your classroom.  When you, and the parents, and the kids know that you care about them, and are invested in them, every day is a little bit easier. I know that you care, but it’s important to SHOW people you care, and proper parent communication is great way to do just that. 

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The only way to leave school at the bell as a teacher each day is to have some solid teacher routines.  I have a few things that I think you should incorporate into your daily teacher routines, as well as some weekly teacher routines. Yes, I’ve been teaching for five years now, but I’ve had something new added to my plate each year. I don’t think leaving school by the bell really has much to do with my years of teaching experience.  If anything, it has to do with years of building these routines into habits that I refuse to let go of. 

Leave school at the bell with these teacher routines: 

1. Prioritize your to do list: You will always have a million things on your to do list. Put the things with the closest due date at the top of the list.  Put big lengthy projects (with a decently close due date) toward the top of the list.  I use the app To Do Ist to help me keep track of what needs to get done and when. 
2. Put your phone in airplane mode: this will disconnect the phone from nearby cell towers and wifi.  This means you don’t get notifications and don’t get you distracted during your planning time. 
3. Keep the place organized: If you aren’t constantly cleaning up after yourself, then you can save yourself a bunch of time.  Learn more about my thoughts on classroom clutter. 
4. Pull out copies and write on the board before you leave.  This gives you some leeway if there’s traffic or something that holds you up in the morning.  In the best of circumstances it gives you time to wake up in the morning so you don’t have to jump directly into work. 
5. Reflect on your lessons.  Take a few notes about what went well in your lesson and what you’ll want to change the next time around.  This will save you time during your lesson planning next year. 

Here’s exactly how I spend my planning periods each week.  In this, I get myself on a schedule that keeps me ahead of my plans and gets me out of the building at the end of my contract hours. 

My Teacher Weekly Planning Schedule

• Friday: Each Friday, I write my lesson plans for, not next week, but the following week.  Then I get to go home and think about how I want to teach the week’s lessons (if I choose to.)
• Monday: On Monday, I work on the notes that I am going to give the kids.  In this, I am usually doing powerpoint  or Smart Notebook slides. I make sure that I cover all of my standards. 
• Tuesday: Tuesdays I create and curate the activities my students will do in class. It is a combination of creating classwork and homework, finding things online (both paid and free), and pulling questions from my textbook. 
• Wednesday: Each Wednesday I work on the answer keys for the things I collected on Tuesday.  I make sure that the questions are well written, have proper answers and that there aren’t any typos.  This is usually a pretty easy day for me.  Sometimes there is a little bit of leftover work from Monday or Tuesday that gets done here as well.  
• Thursday: On Thursdays I hit the copier and send everything through.  This is usually an easier day as well. I think it’s a good idea to do the tough stuff early in the week.  It helps me in case there’s too much to do and I need some extra time. After copies, I will either schedule or “draft” my digital stuff in Google Classroom. 
• Friday: Now we’re back to Friday.  I school at the bell feeling prepared because everything for the week ahead is scheduled.  I write some lesson plans for the week after next and they’re quick because of the All Star Planning Method.  Learn more about it in the All Star Planing Masterclass. 

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Getting to know your students is never a bad idea.  There are seriously only benefits to getting to know the students in your classroom that you’ll be with for a whole year. In some cases, you will see these kids for more hours than their families will.  It’s important that you take that responsibility seriously. Here’s how to do it

Let them get to know you. 

I have a “meet the teacher” letter I drop in my Google Classroom each year.  It has a photo of me and some things about me. It talks just a tiny bit about my teaching experience and education, but mostly about me outside of school.  I want the kids to know that I’m willing to open up about myself as a human being. It invites them to do the same.  Plus, families can get to see your face and learn about you if they can’t make it to any of the school events and meet you in person. 

Ask get to know you questions

I have 180 questions of the day (link here for FREE) that you can ask your students.  They can be done during attendance time, or be used as journal prompts.  Perhaps you’ll use them to group students, or when there’s just three minutes left in class and you don’t know how to fill the time.

Take an interest in what they do.  

When kids come to talk to you, try not to blow them off.  I know it’s hard because there’s a zillion things to do each day, but see to it that you take some time to talk to them about what’s important to them. It can be art, music, TV shows, fashion and other topics.  

Attend School Events

When your students are active in school events and activities try to go.  It certainly doesn’t always fit in your schedule, but it’s important.  The school is a community.  When you go to the art show, basketball game or spring musical, you are by default taking part in the community and taking interest in the things the kids do.  You may even find yourself in good graces with the other kids in the school building potentially years before they make it to your classroom. 

Get to know families and the community.

The more you know about the families and the community the greater your relationship will be with the students. It also helps with parent relationships when talking about students. 

And here’s why you want to do it:

It makes your job more enjoyable.  Parent contact is a lot easier because they know that you love and care about their kids.  The kids will care about you and let you be a human on the tough days.  The kids root for you and appreciate what you do for them.  They know that everything you do comes from the heart.  The kids will work hard because they know they are in a loving environment. Your classroom will be a warm, happy and safe place.  And potentially most importantly kids know that they can go to you for help when they need it. 

When you are planning lessons for people that you like, people that you know and people that know you, your job is SO MUCH EASIER.  Take the time for getting to know your students and I promise you won’t regret it. 

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Even though I’m going into my 6th year of teaching, I’ve had my days of feeling like a new teacher.  I’ve collected a bunch of tips for new teachers, or things I wish I’d known as a first year teacher during that time.  Why have I felt like a brand new teacher so many times?  Well, my first year I taught chemistry in a topsy-turvy school.  The second year, we threw in physics (which I’m not certified to teach).  Third was a new school.  Fourth was pandemic/at home teaching and fifth was hybrid and my first AP course. 

So every year came with something new for me to collect knowledge I wish I had as a first year teacher. So here are new teacher tips for you, because I want to help you with the awkward growing phase of teaching as much as possible. 

Get the Pinterest and Instagram classroom off to do list. 

Pinterest and Instagram are what magazines used to be.  They are the very highly curated and edited highlights.  I would argue that 99.99% of these classrooms don’t hold up and only look *this* good for a short time.  One of the most important new teacher tips, don’t get sucked into making your classroom look like it came out of a catalog.

You need a solid syllabus. (Episode 57)

Setting expectations is important, and having a solid syllabus or classroom contract and make that happen.  It allows not just the students, but also their families know what to expect this year.  And it helps you to get organized and have some kind of system in place.  I have a free syllabus template for you that includes around 50 questions for you to answer to get your policies set up. Learn more about the syllabus process in this podcast episode.

You teach humans.

This one took me too long to learn.  I was so focused on delivering the content, I forgot to acknowledge the sweet angels sitting in front of me. It seems really easy, but it’s not.  There’s a lot of pressure to do the job and do it well.  My first year schedule didn’t help the situation, but it’s my fault.  I let the stress get the best of me. I can’t turn this into one of the simple new teacher tips you were hoping for. You need to feel this one.  

Be firm but fair.

While we are preparing kids for the “real world” school isn’t the real world.  It’s a chance to learn.  Sure, some of my students do need to learn the hard way, and they need to fail in order to learn to work hard.  But I’d like to give them a chance to learn it the easy way first. Not every kid needs the same lessons to be ready for the “real world.” Recognize that, find what each specific kid needs, and do your best to get that to them. That’s how you’re fair.  But don’t let this become a chance for the kids to take advantage of your kindness and walk all over you. Show them grace, but have them learn respect at the same time. 

You need a lesson planning method. (Episode 50)

Once I got my lesson plans in order, I no longer felt the need to constantly working.  I didn’t stay up all hours of the night planning lessons or creating worksheets.  I actually was able to enjoy my free time. There is no pay raise that comes with the teacher grind. There’s no other job where people sacrifice their time and work for free (with no promise of a raise or promotion).  So why are teachers doing it?  Try out my All Star Planning Method to see if it works for you (I’d bet it will).

Call parents before you need to.

Nobody like to get the call that their kid was being a knucklehead in your class.  Especially when that’s the first time you’re calling.  You don’t necessarily have to call – send notes home to parents, send emails and postcards.  Make sure these aren’t all “blasts” and they are instead individualized.  When families know that you truly care about the kids in your room, they are much more willing to hear about the trouble their kid is getting into.  Plus, they know that this call is coming from a place of love or concern, not frustration. Another one of the really big new teacher tips: call early and often.

Set boundaries, say no, leave on time. 

First year teachers especially do not need any more on their plates.  When you are asked to take on some additional responsibilities that you don’t have to – don’t do it. Set a timer at the end of the school day and make sure you aren’t stay more than just a few minutes at the end of the day.  It’s important to get out of your classroom. Leaving on time is actually what you’re supposed to do.  Anything after the bell is working for free – don’t do that.  You wouldn’t take any other job that asked you to stay late after your shift had ended. What’s different about teaching? (Answer: nothing.  Nothing is different. You get paid for your time.)

Never ever yell at kids.

A silly new teacher tip: when you want to yell, whisper.  When you need to, step in the hall and take a deep breath.  Yelling at kids is NEVER the right answer.  That’s somebody else’s kid, and it just makes for a miserable day and school year.  If not for you, then certainly for the kid. 

Delegate to the kids. (Episode 27)

Get your students working.  Your classroom is as much yours as it is theirs.  Allow them to decorate.  Have them grade their own papers.  Have them grade each other’s papers.  Let them collect and hand out papers. They can learn responsibility and team work alongside your content. 

Take notes alongside kids. (Lesson Reflection Episode 16)

New teacher tips for saving time on lesson plans: take time for lesson reflection. There’s a lot of reasons for this, but my favorite is the fact that I can take notes about what went well in my lesson and I should continue doing.  And also I can take note of what was horrible and I should never do again.  And lastly, I can take note of things that went okay, and brainstorm ways to improve. 

Teaching should be fun.

If it’s not, there’s something wrong. There could be any number of things going wrong.  Maybe it’s the school, the community, your classes, your time management, your hours, your workload… The list goes on and on.  But IT IS FIXABLE.  This job is supposed to be fun.  Take a hard look at yourself, your day and your week to figure out what really is making this not fun, and choose to change it. 

The post 10 New Teacher Tips – Make Your School Year Simple appeared first on Kelsey Reavy.

There is no right way to go about setting up a functional classroom.  You can always change your set up as you go, so don’t feel compelled to set it up in a particular way. The students honestly don’t care that much about the classroom. They care a lot more about how you treat them and talk to them each day.  Whether they do it intentionally or not, the kids will destroy your classroom.  They will draw on your things, rip them, spill on them – you name it, it’ll happen. It’s certainly important to put effort into your classroom, but there’s no reason to take it so seriously. 

Setting Up A Classroom Quickly

The important thing is to realize there is no reason to set up a classroom before the school year begins.  I really don’t spend more than an hour each year setting up.  I am a real deal hard fan of the idea that teachers shouldn’t work over the summer while they are unpaid.  So I make sure to plan out my set up well.  I take a few minutes at the end of each school year to organize my “go box.”  Inside this box are the things that I know I’m going to want and need during the first week of school.  Everything else CAN WAIT.

I’ve also reorganized my classroom in the middle of the year (a LOT).  When things aren’t working the way you want them to, it’s important to recognize the problem. And then work to fix it.  This for me, a lot of the time, comes to the arrangement of desks, but perhaps that’s just a me thing. 

What to Buy For A Classroom

And another thing! You should not go out and buy anything for your classroom before talking to your school.  More than likely, they have materials for your room, like a stapler and pencil sharpener.  In my case, I got a box of Expo markers on the first day, and that was it.  So my first year teacher shopping was a little crazy… And after five years of teaching, and five years of classroom set ups (long story) I have the perfect list of things that you need in your room. 

Well the list has some things you’ll definitely need, some things you definitely want, and somethings you’d probably want.  Now, it’s not a shopping list, like “hey go buy these exact items.”  But it’s more like a checklist.  For instance, you are going to need some kind of turn in bin for the kids to turn in papers. I gave you a link to mine, but you don’t have to use mine.  You can use the lid of a paper box from the school copy room.  There’s two great parts to that.  One, it’s free, and two it’s easy to refresh every once in a while.

Here’s the list of things you definitely need for setting up a functional classroom: 

• Turn in bin
• Returning papers bin
• Absent student work system
• Stapler
• Hole Punch (Single) (Triple)
• Pencil Sharpener 

The important thing to remember is that when your classroom is set up and functioning, you can spend less time cleaning, organizing and looking for things. And that means you’ll be able to spend your time on the more important things. And that is one of the habits you’ll need to get yourself out of the classroom when the bell rings. Setting up a functional classroom doesn’t have to take over the entire last week of your summer. Take it easy, and know it’s not that big of a deal.

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Planning a new  course from scratch can be really tough.  This upcoming school year I will be teaching a new course, with new standards from a new state.  My new standards are very vague and open ended.  I’m having a hard time trying to figure out exactly what content needs to be taught for each standard. 

I will have a team of other teachers in this course – thank goodness.  I didn’t have that during my first year of teaching when I was the only chemistry teacher in the building.  

This year I will be organizing my standards thematically, checking for recurring standards, and doing some basic research.  I want to appropriately match the standards to content.  I am coming from very specific standards that told me exactly what I needed to do so this is fresh. 

In this podcast episode, I outline a few of the resources you can use to plan a new course. 

Other Teachers

People who have been there and done that will almost always be your best resource.  The reason is because you can ask questions! Reach out to people in your school or district.  Call the neighboring school.  Maybe even ask a stranger on Instagram.  Most teachers would be willing to help!

Textbooks

When planning a new course from scratch, textbooks are a great place to figure out the content of a course and how it matches your standards.  Use the textbook in your school building, even if you won’t use it with the kids.  It will show you some course organization. And remember, you don’t have to go in order of the book! Sometimes even just a peak at the Table of Contents can be a big help. 

Free Textbook Company Resources

During the distance learning, hybrid craziness, I was given two new courses.  And I relied heavily on the free resources from our textbook company.  I was given the PowerPoints, question banks, answer keys and even images so I could make my own worksheets with them.  It was a game changer! 

Final Exam

If your state or district gives a final exam, see if you can sneak a peak at it to get an idea of the course as a whole.  It will also give you an idea about the styles of questions to prepare your students for. 

Cheap Workbooks

Planning a new course from scratch is a lot easier with a lightweight workbook. It usually covers the same content as a textbook, but in a much more concise way. Plus they’re usually cheap and loaded with questions you can steal.  

Teachers Pay Teachers

 Even if you don’t go there to buy anything, there is plenty of opportunity to research!  The content was all put together by teachers so you know it’s going to be useful.  You can get lessons, units or an entire curriculum. There are also product previews and descriptions for you to check out if you’re just going to research. 

Learn more about my curriculum planning method in the All Star Planning Masterclass. 

The post Tips for Planning a New Course Curriculum from Scratch appeared first on Kelsey Reavy.

You need multiple lesson plan templates. There is absolutely no reason you should have just one lesson plan template. But you should have one base template that covers all of your observation criteria. Once you develop that base template there are a few other templates you should create. 

Creating multiple templates, in the long run, will save you time. The idea is to create a lesson plan template for each of the activities you and your students do.  Then for each activity you’ll already have a protocol written.  Of course, you copy in your standards from your unit plan.  So all that will be left are some super specific content details. 

Save Time with Multiple Templates

You’ll spend less time writing your plans. But you will also save time with your students.  If you have a pretty firm plan for your card sort activity, then the kids will know exactly what to do.  I do this especially with lab activities.  My students know I will always go over the directions and the lab safety rules. My plans indicate I walk around and monitor kids and ask some questions.  When I write this plan, I fill in a few questions I know I will ask that are content specific.  I may also be specific in the rules. 

My favorite hack for multiple lesson plan templates is to write more than you need in the template.  Then go back and erase what you don’t need. In my lab safety template I write all of the lab safety rules.  Even the ones for the Bunsen burner!  Then if it turns out we aren’t using flame, I’ll erase those rules.  It’s actually a lot easier to erase what you don’t need instead of trying to fill them in.

I talk a lot about this in my course, The All Star Planning Course because it’s part of my process for spending less time on lesson plans.  Click here to get a list of the multiple lesson plan templates I recommend you create for yourself. 

And don’t go crazy.  Start with the two or three templates you know you’ll use A LOT.  Then slowly add a few more to your collection.

The post Why You Should Create Multiple Lesson Plan Templates appeared first on Kelsey Reavy.

Yes, it’s time to talk about recurring standards.  You know, those standards that come up again, and again… And again.  How exactly should they be handled?

Well there’s two ways this happens.  You have standards that put on different hats and are explicitly taught in multiple contexts. Or you have more broad standards that you have to distinguish and separate on your own.  Either way, recurring standards are a pain to deal with. 

Specific Standards that are Very Similar

The first is that the same concept comes up a bunch of times in your standards.  For me in chemistry, that’s the concept of positive and negative attraction.  It comes up a whopping nine times in my course!  So I teach it, at minimum nine times (but usually a few more than that due to reteaching.)

Broad Standards that are Taught All Year

The second way is a super broad and vague standard that has to be broken down into multiple parts, or be progressively taught.  This means, you’d teach the easy part of the standard and consistently upgrade the rigor as the school year goes on. You’d want this standard to be integrated into multiple units.

Recognizing Recurring Standards

This may not seem like news, but when you recognize that you have recurring standards (unlike me) you can have better tools to deal with them.  When I teach my recurring charge attraction standard, I make sure to reference the other times that the kids have seen this standard.  In my classroom, we code the lessons so they can easily be referred to.  In recognizing recurring standards, I can direct my students to old lessons where they’ve seen the concept before. 

To me, the most important thing is being aware of the recurring standards.  When that happens you’re already 90% of the way there. 

Get a copy of the free standard sorting pages and use them to pick out your recurring standards.

The post How to Deal with Recurring Standards appeared first on Kelsey Reavy.

There’s‌ ‌a‌ ‌huge‌ ‌advantage‌ ‌reorganizing to have thematic standards. ‌When‌ ‌I‌ ‌went‌ ‌through‌ ‌my‌ ‌standards‌ ‌and‌ ‌changed‌ ‌them‌ ‌to‌ ‌thematic‌ ‌standards,‌ ‌I‌ ‌gained‌ ‌so‌ ‌much!‌ ‌First‌ ‌I‌ ‌went‌ ‌from‌ ‌5‌ ‌days‌ ‌of‌ ‌final‌ ‌exam‌ ‌review‌ ‌to‌ ‌five‌ ‌weeks‌ ‌of‌ ‌final‌ ‌exam‌ ‌review.‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

In‌ ‌addition‌ ‌to‌ ‌helping‌ ‌out‌ ‌the‌ ‌pace‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌curriculum,‌ ‌thematic‌ ‌organization‌ ‌helped‌ ‌my‌ students. I notice that when my course was reorganized, my students were able to learn better and faster. When each of my units connected to the last and the next, my students built knowledge better.

How‌ ‌to‌ ‌organize‌ ‌thematic‌ ‌standards?‌ ‌

You‌ ‌can‌ ‌organize‌ ‌thematically‌ ‌in‌ ‌one‌ ‌of‌ ‌two‌ ‌ways.‌ ‌You‌ ‌can‌ ‌either‌ ‌group‌ ‌your‌ ‌standards‌ ‌thematically,‌ ‌or‌ ‌you‌ ‌can‌ ‌group‌ ‌your‌ ‌units‌ ‌thematically.‌ ‌ ‌ ‌If‌ ‌you‌ ‌are‌ ‌going‌ ‌to‌ ‌organize‌ ‌thematic‌ ‌standards,‌ ‌you‌ ‌have‌ ‌to‌ ‌collectively‌ ‌look‌ ‌at‌ ‌all‌ ‌of‌ ‌your‌ ‌standards.‌ ‌Then‌ ‌you‌ ‌group‌ ‌them‌ ‌based‌ ‌on‌ ‌a‌ ‌particular‌ ‌underlying‌ ‌theme.‌ ‌Standards‌ ‌that‌ ‌are‌ ‌based‌ ‌on‌ ‌the‌ ‌same‌ ‌theme‌ ‌should‌ ‌be‌ ‌taught‌ ‌near‌ ‌each‌ ‌other‌ ‌in‌ ‌your‌ ‌‌curriculum‌ ‌calendar.‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

If you are going to organize thematic units, you have to look at all of them first. Then you want units that are of the same theme to line up in sequence.

My‌ ‌example‌ ‌of‌ ‌thematic‌ standards

My course used to be organized differently, but now they are organized thematically. Now my first semester of chemistry is considered micro chemistry. All of the units teach about the small parts of chemistry that we can’t see with our own eyes. The entire second semester is considered macro chemistry, which is the chemistry we can see in our every day lives.

When I organized my course thematically, I was floored at the amount of time I gained in my curriculum calendar. I was also surprised at how much my students were understanding compared to other organizations in other years.

When you get all of this time back, just from strategic sequencing of standards, you have so much more time to do this things you want in your classroom. You can get my standard sequencing pages for free here. It will help you to organize your standards and units thematically. You will also get an example of how I do this in my chemistry classroom.

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