Strategies to Prepare for the Second Half of the School Year
Hello educators! I am so excited to be back with you this new year! I know you are going to have a fantastic school year and even amazing summer. Every week I want to highlight a teacher’s win. A win can be big or small. I want you to celebrate your wins, and we want to celebrate with you! If you have a win you want to share, email me at millie@myadventuresinesl.com
A few wins I have seen in my group My Adventures in ESL is taking action to plan for the upcoming Language Assessments. There are so many teachers that are actively planning and preparing for those assessments.
In this week’s podcast we will be discussing how you can take simple and effective steps to prepare for the second half of the school year. This is the perfect opportunity to renew and refresh your teaching practices for the remainder of the school year. A huge obstacle that educators encounter is unsure how to prepare for the second half of the school year. Many educators continue the cycle of the first semester, even though the strategies were clearly not working.
Let me dive into a personal story about how this happened to me this school year. There were a few strategie that I thought would be fantastic virtual learning strategies that ended up just falling flat. One of those strategies is how I presented my lessons to my Language Learners.
I normally have slides with checks for understanding and places where students can turn and talk. Since we switched to virtual learning that strategy was not working. While teaching, I was visited with awkward moments of silences and very little engagement from my students.
Throughout the semester I was constantly reflecting on how I could make a change. I was also noticing some patterns with my middle schoolers that had to be addressed. For example, some students were logging into the virtual learning environment and were walking away from the computer. I had others who showed signs of distraction during the learning environment.
I knew then I would design my lessons for the second semester where the students have to be present and engaged. If they are not for some reason, I will be able to immediately identify those students and address it immediately.
This is how it will look like in my classroom and in your classroom. Integrate tools such as Nearpod and Peardeck into your lessons. This will allow you to immediately see which students are participating in the lessons. Also, use live google slides or PowerPoint slides to have students interact. This could look like assigning each student a slide to do their assignment. This will also allow you to see who is completing their assignments and interacting in the lesson. Next, use a scope and sequence to plan your upcoming semester. This will help you stay on top of your lesson plans for the school year. It will also allow you with a clear roadmap for the remainder part of the school year.
Reflect on your first semester. Ask yourself this simple question:
- “What worked well and what changes do I need to adjust this upcoming semester?
- ”Think about incorporating tools into your classroom that monitor and encourage student engagement.
- Plan your scope and sequence for the upcoming semester. This will help you stay on track for planning lessons.
I would like to know how are you preparing for the second semester? Share your comments below.
