The sit-and-get, one-size-fits-all model is disappearing. Taking its place are these 9 alternative models for teacher professional development.

I love teaching and taking creative workshops. I love getting to explore creativity in new ways, I love watching people learn, I love hanging out and chatting with people who love creativity. Creative workshops are the perfect way to do that. I had the pleasure of teaching an Introduction to Waterco

Free Time Management ice-breaker and team-building activity game to use for your workshops and training as a freelance or corporate trainer.

Teacher professional development leaves us feeling overwhelmed. Here are the 10 best types of PD teachers would love to see.

How to be a craft teacher in your community. How to get started teaching craft classes - what you need to plan, organize, and make happen before you teach your first class.

Are you ready to go back to school? No matter when you start back, there will ALWAYS be things that you have to do before the first day.

Make & Take projects are activities in a makerspace that use affordable materials students can take home to keep. They're great for boosting engagement.

Over the years, I've made more than my share of mistakes.... and many of them more than once! We all make mistakes, but we can learn from each other and at least avoid some of the common ones. Here are some lessons I've learned the hard way!

Good habits are essential to living a healthy fulfilling life. Making a conscious effort to create good habits can be extremely beneficial. As teachers,

STEM Elevator Challenge- Build a cranking elevator to lift a heavy load. A perfect challenge for Halloween, Easter, or any time!

Teaching writing can be hard, especially in Kindergarten! I have five tips for you to support your emergent writers in the drawing stage.

Dread planning meetings that are crucial to your success? We outline the qualities of a good facilitator for a great strategy planning meeting group facilitator

Workshop facilitation made simple. I take you through a step by step approach to planning, facilitating and managing your workshop outcomes.

Are there more creative ways, besides movies, to keep kids minds engaged AND get a little time back for ourselves?

We've all been there: one class is ahead of the rest of the grade level, it's the last day before a vacation, you're stressed/ tired/ sick and can't think straight to teach a regular lesson, it's a weird schedule day and the kids are spinning in circles, there's a last-minute change and you can't do the lesson you had planned... Whatever the reason, we all have days when we need to step out of our regularly-scheduled sequenced curriculum and do something different for one class period. Sure, you could throw on a movie or pull out some worksheets. But those types of classes can result in lots of behavior difficulties (and no wonder, the students are usually bored!). Here are my favorite ways to use those "one-off" class periods in meaningful musical ways. These ideas are ones that don't require too much thinking on my part, don't require advance planning to set up, can be done with large or small groups, and keep students engaged for an entire class period. 1. instrument merry go round I actually use this activity as a part of my regular "curricular" lessons as well, but it's a good one to pull out when I want everyone to stay focused and engaged but I know they're going to be antsy. I have every student pick out one instrument (usually I limit their options to small percussion on specific shelves in my room) and bring it to sit in a circle on the floor. Then I tell them to play when my hands are open, and stop when I close my hands. If they play/ don't play at the wrong time, they're out for the next round. Once they get the hang of starting and stopping, I have them leave their instrument on the floor, stand up, and move over one spot around the circle. Then they pick up the new instrument and repeat. Keep going around the circle and switching instruments! The great thing about this is I can use it to review a variety of concepts. Instrument names and playing techniques are obvious ones, but I can also teach dynamics by having them play louder/ softer when I hold up dynamic symbols or move my hands bigger or smaller, review instrument classification by calling out certain types to play on different turns, or practice rhythms by having them echo patterns instead of starting/ stopping. Lots of ways to change it up! 2. Musication I purposefully save videos from this awesome YouTube channel to use only for this purpose so that I know students won't get tired of them. They are most well-known for the play-along videos for Boomwhackers and hand chimes with color-coded notes, but there are also play-along videos for percussion (which is great for large groups and younger students), and even chord play-alongs (which I use with ukulele but could also be done with guitar, piano, etc). One other pro tip for these: you can slow down or speed up the videos on YouTube without distorting the sound by clicking on settings (the gear icon at the bottom of the video) and selecting "playback speed". This is a perfect way to keep classes engaged and "up the ante" by repeating the same song but speeding up each time! Of course switching the parts/ notes they're playing is another great way to change it up and keep everyone on their toes. 3. posters I don't do this often but every now and then, especially if I'm under the weather and I don't think the students will be too high-energy, I'll have the class make posters to hang up on the walls. Sometimes I'll have them make posters for an upcoming music event to hang up around the building, including reminders about concert etiquette. Other times I have them make posters about something they're learning: instrument families, a musical element, music vocabulary, etc. Bonus: it's great to have student work to actually display on the walls because most of our student work isn't visual, and administrators (and kids!) love to see that in the classroom! 4. soundscapes There are so many ways to do soundscapes- I've written an entire blog post just about all the ways to do them here- but the most basic one I pull out most often in this scenario is to write down names of places on slips of paper, fold them up and have students draw one from a jar, and then have small groups come up with a soundscape to match that scene using only their voices and found objects they have in the room. So for example if a group has the beach, they may make the sounds of waves by flapping a piece of paper, seagulls with their voice, beachballs getting hit by hitting a chair, etc. If you're reading this right now and thinking ha, I wish I had a sequenced curriculum laid out for me that I could even stray from in the first place! Don't worry, you're definitely not alone- I talk to so many music teachers every week who are planning their lessons week by week or even day by day from scratch! You can get my complete curriculum with all the plans and materials for the entire school year for K-6 general music here, or learn exactly how to make your own in this free e-course here. I hope these lesson ideas are helpful the next time you find yourself in one of those situations- I'll be using a few of them this week after I finish my concerts and try to finish the week until our vacation!

What is explicit teaching and how to do you use this teaching method in the classroom so that it is an effective method? Check out this blog post where I walk you through everything you need to know to help you make explicit teaching successful in your classroom!

The sit-and-get, one-size-fits-all model is disappearing. Taking its place are these 9 alternative models for teacher professional development.

Free and quick icebreakers for your training workshops, seminars, and meetings. Team building, ice-breakers activities for teachers & trainers.

The workshop model is a great way to differentiate your instruction for all learners in your classroom. This post focuses on workshop for gifted students.

ESL Vocabulary Workshop - Teach terms and more with different games and activities that will keep students engaged and invested in learning!

These fun and flexible areas can help students develop creative and analytical thinking skills.

Use these free shark tank lesson plans for middle school & high school, shark tank worksheet pdf, and Shark Tank project ideas to teach your students.

This 'cool' all about me cell phone art and writing activity is ideal for the first week back to school. Kids love cell phones and technology and respond enthusiastically to this creative activity. Teachers can learn more about new students in a fun way, and students can share about themselves with their peers. Construct a fold-out booklet-style 'art-phone', and respond to image-making prompts on the front cover and the written elements inside. Ideal for use as a back-to-school icebreaker and community-building activity. Please click the Preview Button above to learn more. 1. The front cover of the cell phone activity: Invite students to respond to and illustrate the 9 questions or prompts, with thumbnail doodles or drawings: • Age • My family • Best food • Favorite animal • Favorite color • Best subject • Dream destination • I love... • I don't like.... 2. The fold-out inside pages: ’Let's Chat', is designed in a text message style, and asks more investigative questions: • How will you achieve your goals? • What support do you need? • What do you like most about school? • What do you like least about school? ’More About Me’, prompts the following: • My top 3 goals • 5 fascinating facts about me • People like me because • Open-ended questions to complete, I aim to… I wonder if…I imagine that…. I feel…. Please note this activity includes 2 sizes of art-phone templates to choose from: 1. smartphone size 3.7x7.3 inches 2. tablet size 5 x 10 inches Students can also opt to do the one-dimensional cover or the full fold-out option with written responses, depending on time available, age and ability Templates with UK/CAN/NZ/AUS spellings for 'favourite and colour" templates are also included in the pack What materials are needed? • Use card stock for best results - the phones will be more robust! • Scissors and glue stick • Pens/pencils/colored markers for the artwork and written work • These templates are designed to print on US letter/A4 size paper Considerations and how to use this activity: • Encourage students to move beyond words, and 'draw their answers' • Consider the space around the images they draw • How do the 9 images look collectively? • Is there an emerging theme or style or color? • What colors do we associate with words? eg carrot: orange and green • How do students feel about the first week back to school? • It’s OK to express dislikes as well as likes, our fears along with our hopes The completed phones slip comfortably into a back pocket for play. Peg them up collectively as a classroom banner or decorate a wall, door, or your bulletin board Further activities included in the packet: 1. All About Usbanner 2. Abstract coloring activity, exploring warm and cool colors You might like to view my collection of creative Back to School resources or click on the resource links below: A Backpack About Me A Hoodie About Me A T-Shirt About Me Check out my Back to School and Seasonal Art Bundles! Save 25% with Seasonal Art Bundles Happy teacher feedback ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Jessie R says, “Was honestly surprised by how much my students loved this activity. They were super creative and it was something they could relate to in real life.” ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Catherine M says, “The 6th graders really thought this was a cool "back to school" activity. I displayed their work on the document camera as they shared! I learned a lot about the students as well, through the activity. It also made a nice bulletin board.” ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Morgan M says, “I love this resource. It is a fun way to start the beginning of the school year. My students really love that it looks like an Instagram page. I feel like it is a great way to connect with students in the beginning of the year and different than all the other All About Me pages they have done in years prior. ” Stay in touch! Website and Blog Pinterest Instagram You Tube Follow my store on TPT to receive notification of new products, where I will be offering a 50% discount for the first 48 hours after they are posted. Don’t forget to leave feedback on resources - you will earn points towards your next TPT purchases :-) Please contact me if you have any questions regarding this resource, I am always keen to help, Thanks! Diane Copyright ©The ImaginationBox/Diane Pagan 2023 All rights reserved by the author. Permission to copy for single classroom use only

Tick-tock, it's time for fun learning! Dive into engaging ways to make teaching time a blast for your students!

Academic Ways to Use the MaKey-MaKey in the Elementary Classroom: Fun ways to advance coding in the classroom!

Read this post for information, ideas, tips and activities to assist students with building up fine motor skills in the 2nd grade classroom.

Free and quick icebreakers for your training workshops, seminars, and meetings. Team building, ice-breakers activities for teachers & trainers.

This is a great small group lesson for anger management. It helps students understand what triggers their anger. It takes students through scaffolded activities that support their awareness of the types of events that make them angry and provide them with examples of those events to promote discussion. The activities use a weather metaphor to engage students. Perfect for 2nd and 3rd grade and with individual or small groups. Can be modified for the first and fourth grade. This product contains a facilitator guide, mini lesson, group activity, independent student activity, and exit slips. Included ✎ Facilitator Guide ✎ Storm Starter Poster (8.5x11) in Color, BW, and with blank areas to fill in. ✎ 48 Storm Starter Example Cards ✎ Storm Starter Histogram ✎ Storm Starter Craft ✎ Storm Starter Worksheet ✎ Exit Slips *********** ⇒ Click Links for Related Products ⇐ What Makes You Storm Counseling Game Coping Captain Workbook to Help Kids Practice Coping Skills I’m in Charge of My Anger A CBT Counseling Game *********** Customer Tips: EARN TPT CREDITS TOWARDS FUTURE PURCHASES Click to go to My purchases (you may need to login). Beside each purchase you'll see a Provide Feedback button. Simply click it and you will be taken to a page where you can give a quick rating and leave a short comment for the product. Each time you give feedback, TPT gives you feedback credits that you use to lower the cost of your future purchases. I value your feedback greatly as it helps me determine which products are most valuable for your classroom so I can create more for you. Be the first to know about my new discounts, freebies and product launches: Look for the GREEN STAR next to my store logo and click it to become a follower. Voila! You will now receive email updates about this store. TPT Store: Social Emotional Workshop Twitter: Social Emotional Workshop Pinterest: Social Emotional Workshop Blog: Social Emotional Workshop © 2017 Social Emotional Workshop

5 must-haves for a functional virtual teaching workspace: the essentials you need to help you teach remotely. Extra screen, planner, and more.

I’ve had numerous people ask me recently to teach them how to make worksheets for their classroom and products for TeachersPayTeachers. Being a visual learner myself, I decided to lay it out step-by-s

A recycled book art workshop is a easy, affordable project to do in your makerspace. Old books can easily be found from weeding libraries or at thrift stores.

Have you ever tried writing essential questions for your lessons or curriculum? Try using this ready-to-go list of essential questions that integrate the arts and the creative process.

Fun mindfulness activities for adults is another way to explore mindfulness in creative and inspiring ways. Check out the article to learn more.

Maybe you've always wanted to try PBL, but you just haven't gotten around to it yet. Here's a set of beginner-level resources to get you started.

Check out these top techniques for employing character building activities for students of all school ages!

Are you a middle school or elementary teacher who is frustrated by lines of students wanting your attention? You are going to want to check out this post containing an easy strategy that both you AND your substitute teachers will love! #classroommanagement #teaching #classroom #teacher

It's time for some truth telling.

This STEP-BY-STEP WRITING® IS A COMPLETE WRITER'S WORKSHOP PROGRAM with all the tools needed for the entire year. It is filled with standard-based engaging lessons (scripted), anchor charts, modeling, mentor text, interactive notebook pages, practice, and all the forms, graphic organizers, checklists, and rubrics necessary to teach and assess

Let me preface this by saying that this is a LONG post. But bear with me. There is a lot of information and a lot of useful stuff for you...plus a surprise at the end. It is worth it. I promise :) For me, one of my biggest summer stressers is getting my first day of school planned out. I always want to make sure that I have enough activity to keep the kids engaged and occupied, but I also want to set up my rules and set the tone for our year long classroom culture. It is tough balancing classroom management, rigorous academic pursuits, and fun. (I mean, I do want the kids to WANT to come back :) ) So over the years, I have tried my hardest to refine what I do on the first day of school so that we are productive and exciting, all rolled into one. What I thought I would do here in this post is lay out my schedule for you. I will go hour by hour, heck, minute by minute and show you exactly what I do on that all important first day of school. If you like this schedule, you can print it out here. Now, if you are hoping to read something mindblowing and amazing, you probably won't. I save the mindblowing for later in the year ;) I just want the kids to come in, feel like they are part of a good classroom, and set the tone for the 179 more days to come. Before school starts, I set out a pencil and a questionnaire on each desk. I don't have name tags out. I want the students to sit wherever they want. Why? One, it let's them feel sort of special that they can choose their own seat and two, it tells me who their friends are. I get a little, instant snapshot into my class from the first second of the year. 8:10 - 8:30am (20 minutes) Classroom Opening Students walk in, choose a seat, and begin working silently. As they are working on the questionnaire (you can grab a copy of it here), I walk around and take attendance. I generally look on the name portion of their paper but, as is usually the case, not everyone puts their name on it so I quietly ask names. I introduce myself at the same time. Making the visual name recognition matched to a face helps me to learn the kids' names a bit faster. If you have access to Google Docs on your first day, you can use this online version of the questionnaire here....and it is editable too! 8:30 - 8:45am (15 minutes) Morning Greeting After, I introduce myself and our morning greeting. I have written multiple times about this, so I will just leave it at that. :) 8:45 - 9:15am (30 minutes) The Important Thing About Me Next, I like to get right into academic pursuits before diving into rules. Since the kids are still in the "honeymoon stage" in the first hour of school, I figure it is as good a time as any to get them reading and writing. If you read my blog at all, you know how much I love The Important Book . I use is all.the.time. It is just a great, great book that can be applied to so many different things. So we started off the year reading this fast read and discussed what makes our own selves so important and unique. The students then create a circle map of the most unique and mundane qualities they possess. In the coming days, they will use that map to create a fun little "All About Me" type writing (you can read about it in detail here) 9:15 - 10:00am (45 minutes) Classroom Rules Finally we begin in on the classroom rules. I have the students brainstorm a list of things they think would make great rules in our room. They usually come up with all sorts of things, from no running to don't talk when the teacher is talking. "We" then decide upon the 5 "umbrella rules" that would encompass most of the little rules they came up with. I put "we" in quotation marks because, really, I have those predetermined. I just guide my students to think they came up with them. Tomorrow we will use the Circle Map to sort the little rules under the main umbrella rules. (for the full lesson, see this post here...you can also get the templates to use in your classroom.) 10:00 - 10:15am (15 minutes) Yard Rules After discussing class rules, we do a bit of yard rules. What is our play area? Where do we line up? How do we get into number order? How do we all play together? I don't go too much into it because 1) they are 5th graders and 2) again I want to see what they do. If all heck breaks loose, I will know that I need to get into my "make good choices" lessons tomorrow. 10:15 - 10:35am (20 minutes) Recess Time to breathe :) 10:35 - 11:00am (25 minutes) Calendar Math When we enter into the room, I introduce the procedures for Calendar Math. This is SUCH an important part of my math block. I get the kids started from day one on this. During recess, I place a blank calendar page with pieces blocked off that I don't want them to do. When they come in, the kids immediately get to work. I know they won't finish, but that is ok. I just want them to get into the routine. After about 10 minutes, we go over it together. Again, I show them the procedure of using a red pen and really correcting any mistakes. This isn't about getting everything perfect, it is about learning. 11:00 - 11:30am (30 minutes) Math Diagnostic Test A math diagnostic test is next. On the first day I want to make sure I get some semblance of where they are math wise before I start in with Math Rotations. This diagnostic is all of the 4th grade standards that they really should have mastered. It helps to give me little snapshot of their math skills so I can plan from there. It also helps to keep the day "academic". You can pick up the diagnostic test here. 11:30 - 12:10am (40 minutes) Classroom Economy Introduction On the first day of school I definitely get into my Classroom Economy. The kids are so crazy excited by it! I pass out their first dollars and then they buy their first wallets. We discuss earnings and fines, expenses and jobs. The first day is a basic overview but it really pumps them up for this classroom management tool. Once the "rules" are set in place, I begin handing out money for anything they do that is good and even start fining if I have to. 12:10 - 12:50pm (40 minutes) Lunch Breathe and eat. :) 12:50 - 1:20pm (30 minutes) All Hands In At this point, the students are given a large piece of white paper. I ask them to trace their hands, with arms. The kids then use the circle map to start drawing different aspects of their personalities on the hand. This really is the beginning of their first homework project. Here is the entire lesson if you wish to read it. 1:20 - 1:50pm (30 minutes) Clean Up and Homework Procedure We learn our clean up procedure here. I actually pass out the Procedure Manual for the first time and we head to the back where it talks about our 60 second clean up. This manual will be used in great detail in the coming days, but on day one, we just read this part. Then, I pass out the planners given to us by my school. The kids write their first homework assignment in it. Homework on day one is the following: Finish the All Hands In project Have your parents sign and return the parent forms I want them to have homework, but I like to easy into it rather slowly. Again, I want them to *want* to come back ;) 1:50 - 2:20pm (30 minutes) Read Aloud Once the homework is written, students head to the rug for our first read aloud of the year, There's A Boy in the Girls' Bathroom . (this is my affiliate link and will take you to the book to buy on Amazon) I always start with this one because it is fast, easy to understand, engaging, and has a great lesson that carries us the entire year. We read for as long as we have left before the bell rings. I always make sure there is sufficient time for this on the first day of school. 2:20 - 2:30pm (10 minutes) End of Day Dismissal Routine I share with my students our end of day routine, which consists of me standing at the door, dismissing the kids from the rug. They put their chairs up and head to the door where I look them in the eye and bow. It is a nice, calm way to end the day and still have a connection with each child. Sometimes I say, "It was nice to teach you today" or something to them. Sometimes it is just silent. Either way, the kids get a sense of closure on the day. Now, breathe. My first day is pretty filled. Sometimes I don't finish everything. Sometimes things take longer than I had planned. Sometimes I need to fill in extra minutes here and there with little mental math games or ice breakers or read alouds. But in general, the day flows nicely. Do we have full bulletin boards by the end of day one? No. Do we have every single rule memorized? No. Do we feel productive and like we are on our way to a great 5th grade year? Yes.

Try these middle school drama lessons and ideas.

Escape room activities are a fun and interactive way to work on the skills kids need. My favorite part about escape room activities is that they really encourage cooperation and critical thinking skills. Kids work together and use their collective brain power to solve a variety of puzzles and challe

Click to see how one teacher uses 1 book to launch writing workshop with a detailed breakdown of each day and a free download.

Classroom Reading Organization Tips for guided reading groups, reading lessons and how to make your reading instruction more than manageable!

I decided to take on my own challenge of incorporating a STEM activity every day for a week. It turned out to be a huge success where both my students and I had a blast. Here were the various …

Your new favorite teaching strategy: This pared-down version of learning stations keeps the movement, interactivity and variety while minimizing the prep work.