Making the Most of Extended Class Time (BLOCK)

Time is what we want most, but... what we use worst. 

                                                                         ~Willaim Penn

Break It Up

Most people learn best in incremantal progression. Divide the block into a series of short intense and chllenging activities.  Surround and separate, two 20 to 30 minute presentations with three or four 5 to 10  minute, active, hands on, and collaborative activities.  Extend projects over several days, utilizing a segment of time each day.

Utilize Multiple Instructional Strategies

Use at least three different types of activities each class period. Alternate between teacher centered and student centered.  Teacher centered activities could include lecture, Q&A or demonstration.  Student centered activities could include peer-teaching, cooperative learning, games, role-play, presentations, research, online simulations or project building.  Reach out to students to maximize the various learning styles to provide opportunities for each student to find a comfort zone in your classroom.

Create Possibilities for Movement

Develop methods in your classroom to allow students to change position of their own body but also in the classroom.  Provide stretch breaks, rearrange groups between activities, collect, gather, distribute materials, role-play are all means to get students active in the classroom.

Incorporate Multiple Media

Provide opportunities for students to listen to music, lectures, speeches, interviews, audio books, poetry or plays.  Use movies, video, pictures, You Tube, TED Talks, to bring the world into your classroom.  Allow students to create posters, models and simulations.  Store in your classroom, magazines, fabrics, various types of paper, paint, glue, markers, crayons, scissors, and colored pencils.

Use Passive Learning Opportunities

Provide passive learning opportunties as students are entering and exiting your classroom or when they are moving between activities in class.  Run PowerPoints of images, cartoons, quotes and ideas.  Provide a thought question on the board.  Create flash cards to display on a, PowerPoint, SMART Board or computer screen.

Make Use of School and Community Resources

Block schedules allow for excellent opportunities for class excursions both on campus and off.  Create interdisciplinary projects, integrate more technology and visit the library.  Bring in guest speakers, alumni to bring relevant content from the outside world into your classroom.

Allow Time for Students to Reflect

Provide time for students to reflect through a journal, thought question, quick checks to monitor their own progress, expectations and needs.  Encourage the students to take more responsibility for their own learning. These types of activities provide the internal reflection that overcomes,
"What did you do in school today?" 
"NOTHING!!!" 

Movie Sheet Data Base

Using video and Hollywood movies to introduce a topic, provide a visual refernece for a concept or intiate a discussion can be an effective part of any teacher's methodologies.  There are a myriad of great films and documentaries that can be incorporated into any classroom and all subjects.  The difference between this type of multimedia being viewed as an actual teaching tool as opposed to a simple time filler is how the educator incorporates the material into the lesson and provides opportunity for students to truly think critically about the subject matter.

To often students do not see value in viewing movies because they see them as simply time filler or something that is used when a substitute teacher is in the classroom.  Drawing students into the movie or documentary is the key to being able to utilize this tool effectively in the classroom as a learning tool.  One means of keeping students attention is to provide a viewing sheet to pinpoint students focus on the concepts and ideas that the hopes they will understand.  Movie viewing sheets provide an opportunity for both the student and the teacher to focus on the useful material in the film and provide value beyond simply seeing the film. 

There is a tremendous website available that provides viewing sheets for many of the videos, documentaries and Hollywood movies that are being used in classrooms all over the world.  MoviesSheets.com provides a data base of  these teacher developed viewing sheets, organized by subject matter, film name and grade level.  The sheets are available in multiple formats and easy to download and print.

I find anything that saves me time and makes it so I don't have to reinvent the wheel for everything I do, is of tremendous value.  Afterall, most good teachers are lesson thieves, they take ideas from other teachers, tweak it to fit their classroom and style, and make them their own.