Teaching Aids Ideas
Successful teachers find creative ways to design learning environments that involve and inspire students. Prepare your classroom in advance with resources to enhance students learning.
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Student Centered Activities
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In a student-centered classroom, students actively participate in learning the material as it is presented, as opposed to sitting quietly and taking notes. Hands-on learning will help students build a better understanding of the lesson. A history and English lesson could be combined by having students divide into groups, write their own skits about a history lesson and then perform what they've written and learned.
Encourage Creative Thinking
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Post daily questions to foster creative thinking. Designate one place on the board for a regular question which can be changed to correspond with topics, lesson plans and current events.
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Integrated Activities
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Play a designated game regularly with your students. Pick a game that is fun but also has specific learning value and make it part of the daily or weekly curriculum, according to Robert Morgan of Creative Teaching. A simple game like Apples to Apples can be quick, fun and educational.
Show and Tell
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Many lessons have a few minutes left over at the end and this is a great opportunity to do something different. Keep on hand objects as teaching aids to educate as well as inspire conversation. Some teacher show-and-tell items could include old-fashioned toys, historical items, or a "mystery" object that students have to guess its purpose or function.
Discover
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Keep a box filled with simple objects, such as bubbles, basic toys like blocks, even a hula hoop and call it a Discovery Lab. This is a great resource for allowing students to participate in learning specific ideas or concepts.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Photo courtesy of Trabajando
