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Schools are often guided by test scores. This sobering reality impacts teachers and students alike and we likely feel powerless to change this. Teacher and administrator frustration, in this case, is incredibly valid. After all, standardized testing is rarely a local decision and drains valuable resources and time. However, student engagement remains a key component of any 21st century classroom.
The world around us is evolving at a rapid rate and yet our classrooms seem to be stuck in the past. We need to center our practice around student engagement. The answer to engagement is not creating classrooms that are fun. Instead, we should be designing lessons and explorations that allow students to be in charge of their learning. More and more classrooms are beginning to resemble Starbucks, rather than something from years ago.
Through flexible seating, students are taking control of their time at school. Despite the initial challenges of setting up the expectations, students thrive in collaborative open spaces. On a global level, students sit for an average of 8.
There is a small but enthusiastic group of teachers and administrators who believe that kids are destined to do more than just spend their school days sitting still with their knees tucked under a desk. The flexible seating movement allows students to choose their view and seating at school. Through choice and flexibility students take ownership of their learning and experiences at school.
Novice teachers and many well-meaning administrators are convinced that quiet classrooms are the best classrooms. We admire educators that have silent classrooms which are glazed with order. However, by limiting talk, we are also robbing students of the opportunity to converse on a deeper level with peers and adults at school. Workplaces and universities are loud and collaborative. None of us consider this to be offensive and yet classrooms that include talking are considered ineffective.
Talk is powerful when it is intentional and allows students to explore and share their thinking. The system my district provides is easy to use, but every site looks nearly the same. Then two years ago this past June, I stumbled upon Weebly for Educators.
Within 30 minutes, I had a class website up and running that I was proud of. Having my own class website has been a game changer in home-to-school communication, and that in my opinion, is the best reason for a teacher to create one.
Weebly allows an unlimited number of pages for your website. Parents in my class can always go to our class site to find the following and more:. For the past two years I have put my Welcome Back Letter to parents and students, as well as our suggested school supply list, on the site. This definitely saves paper and time spent at the copy machine.
When the school sends out the back-to-school email blast to our parents, all I need to do is provide a link!
They preferred listening over shuffling through papers and they liked knowing exactly where to go whenever they wanted to find information. I even included a video on the site for parents who were unable to attend. Divided by content areas, students can go there when they finish an assignment, and I know they will be working on something worthwhile. This is also where they go to log in to subscription programs and to find links for webquests or research.
This section of the site provides great peace of mind, as I know my students are surfing the web in a safe manner. While I thought the site would be a great tool to keep parents in the know, I never realized how far reaching the effects would be. As I've stated before, I teach in a very diverse area. Shortly after school began in , my first year with my new website, I noticed hits coming from India, Germany, Japan, and Alaska — all places where grandparents lived. In April, I received an email from an uncle of one of my students.
He told me that he had to move to India for work two years earlier, and thanks to my website, where he could look at photos and watch videos of the 3rd grade music performance and field trips, he felt as if he were able to be a part of his nephew's life. I had no idea my website would be a way for distant relatives to feel connected to the children in their lives, but it definitely was an unexpected benefit.
Because I am able to upload most of our weekly homework, students know they can no longer tell me they lost their homework or forgot to bring it home. I just say, " It was on the website.
To begin, visit Weebly for Education. The experts at Weebly have put together a guide to walk you through the process with very easy to follow directions. You can follow the steps in order by clicking on the links below: In this section you will decide on your site and domain name, and select your design template from more than a hundred different choices along with fonts and colors.
Elements are what you will drag and drop your information into. When adding images, do be careful of copyright infringement.