40+ Bell Work Ideas for Every Class
Whether you call it morning work, bell work, or bell ringers, having a start-of-class activity can work wonders when it comes to helping class start smoothly. Not only does bell work keep kids calm and help them focus, but it also gives you time to take attendance, answer the same question for the 13th time,…
Learn MoreConnecting School Curriculum with the Real World
Teachers have long extolled the virtues of prepping students for the ‘real world.’ But what happens when that world is advancing at an unprecedented pace? As we moved away from a farming culture to a society of industrialized workers, our educational models naturally evolved, too. Now, with technological changes barreling forward at breakneck speeds, educators are…
Learn MoreHow to Use Project Based Learning to Engage Students & Unlock Their Potential
Listen as Vicki Davis (aka the Cool Cat Teacher) shares with us why project based learning is so powerful, how to get started, and tips to do so effectively: Subscribe to the Teach 4 the Heart Podcast. listen to discover… The hallmarks of the best projects Ideas & examples of specific project based learning activities…
Learn MorePlay to the Strengths of Each Type of Learner in Your Classroom
As teachers, we recognize that not all students learn at the same rate, and it can be difficult to navigate your way through the different types of learning. Many children struggle to learn from textbooks, but you can utilize a variety of different activities in your classroom to help bring out their strengths rather than navigate…
Learn More6 Ways to Build Rapport with Struggling Students: An Interview with a C- Student Who's Now a Professional Portrait Artist
Sometimes the student who doesn’t seem to care is actually just frustrated. This is one of my favorite takeaways from my interview with portrait artist Jon Kardamis. To say that Jon struggled in high school would be putting it mildly. History, math, and English just did not come easily to him. But he loved art. As we discuss in…
Learn More5 Easy Accommodations for Special Ed or Struggling Learners
Thanks to Alexx Seipp, Customer Experience Manager here at Teach 4 the Heart and creator of Genius Fishes for contributing this article. Subscribe to the Teach 4 the Heart Podcast. Differentiation, universal design for learning, accommodations, and modifications are huge buzzwords in teaching right now. Many districts are moving away from special education classes and putting…
Learn MoreSimple Solutions to Track Missing Work: End the Missing Work Confusion
Subscribe to the Teach 4 the Heart Podcast. Tracking & collecting missing work may just be the bane of many teachers’ existence. It can be so hard to keep everything straight & incredibly frustrating trying to hound students to get it turned in. Aside from simply throwing zero’s in the gradebook and moving on, there’s no simple…
Learn More8 Ways to Help Students Prepare for Exams
Subscribe to the Teach 4 the Heart Podcast. Cumulative exam time can be pretty intimidating for students, especially when they have one in every class. And for teachers, preparing kids for exams can be a bit of a balancing act. Not only do we have limited classroom time, but we also need to determine just…
Learn MoreWhy You Should Grade Homework (But Not How You Think)
Subscribe to the Teach 4 the Heart Podcast. There are quite a few different views about whether or not homework should be graded. Some say absolutely not; others definitely yes. And still others choose to just give a completion grade but not grade the work itself. I suppose I’ve actually fallen into all three camps…
Learn More8 Ways to Prevent Cheating
Subscribe to the Teach 4 the Heart Podcast. Cheating seems to be such a prevalent problem in our schools today. And it doesn’t matter what type of school it is – public, private, Christian – it’s something that’s happening. And it’s probably happening in your classroom. Don’t think anyone’s cheating in your classroom? Well, as…
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