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Just adding technology to a lesson doesn’t make the lesson stronger or more valuable. Tech tools need to be intentionally integrated into the classroom.  Purposeful implementation and continual evaluation of the technology you use in the classroom will help you create a culture in which the use of technology is maximized to create high-quality learning experiences.

Here are three different ways to ensure that you’re cultivating an effective EdTech culture in your classroom—one that promotes both education and fun learning opportunities for your students.

Our Tips for Cultivating an EdTech Culture in the Classroom

Rule #1 About EdTech Culture in the Classroom: Be Clear With Rules

While technology can be fun for students, classroom tools shouldn’t be used for communicating with peers the same way Facebook, Snapchat or Instagram are—the focus should always be on education.

Avoid this potential pitfall by hosting a class brainstorming session, where students help create the technology rules. This process will give them a sense of ownership and empower them to follow the rules that they created, as well as encourage peers who aren’t following the rules, to do the same. Some basic rules to include are:

• Use appropriate language with your peers
• Use articles and resources to back-up discussion responses
• Remember: This is our online classroom community, not Snapchat

Write these rules on a large poster board and hang them in the class. You can also add them to your classroom blog or any other online community where notes can be left.

Rule #2 About EdTech Culture in the Classroom: Poll Students Often

While a tool may pass your initial inspection, it’s important to know what your students think of it. If they love the tool, they’ll want to use it more. When polling students about the tools they’re using, be sure to ask at least three basic questions:

• What is your favorite/least favorite feature of the tool?
• What is one thing you learned while using it?
• Did you like (insert specific feature that you thought would be valuable)? Why or why not?

Not only does this tell you how your students feel about the tool, it gives you a better sense of how they’re using it, while requiring them to think critically about something they consider a “game.” This creates an effective EdTech culture, where students are as critical of the tools they’re using as you are.

3. Assess Frequently (And Share Data With Students!)

EdTech tools make it easy for teachers to gather data about their students’ progress in nearly any subject. You can use this data to determine which tools are most educational and effective for you and your students.

For example, Accelerated Reader asks students to answer questions in multiple-choice format. While this tool is educational in that it’s holding students accountable for their reading, a similar tool, Whooo’s Reading, prompts students to answer open-ended questions, which requires a higher level of thinking. In this case, both products are valuable, but that one feature may make the latter platform better for your students.

To continue cultivating an effective EdTech culture, share the results of your data with students. Not only is it exciting for them to see how they’ve improved, but it also emphasizes on the educational value of these games and tools. Enhance this data sharing with offline resources that call students out for their great work, like:

• Reading certificates
• Award for highest overall test score
• Special incentive for using the tool x days in a row

Technology in the classroom is only as valuable as you make it. This means you should always be focused on purposeful use of tools, assessing progress, and getting feedback from students to determine what’s effective and what isn’t. Follow these three basic rules and both you and your students will reap the benefits.

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Jessica Sanders is the Director of Social Outreach for Learn2Earn. She grew up reading books like The Giver and Holes, and is passionate about making reading as exciting for young kids today as it has always been for her. Follow Learn2Earn on Twitter and Facebook, and send content inquiries to social@learn2earn.org.

Do you have a student who frequently forgets to bring materials home or hand in homework? Have you ever wondered why a student who seems to grasp a concept is unable to apply the idea to new topics? Do you worry that the chaotic state of your child’s room is the physical manifestation of his scattered mind? Chances are these students are still developing key areas of their executive functioning skills.

These neurological processes help us perform daily tasks that require organization and self-regulation. The ability to manage our executive functioning skills develops throughout childhood and the teen years and often needs to be explicitly taught and practiced. Don’t assume your student has mastered these essential skills; rather, look for opportunities to nurture them and help set students up for success in and out of the classroom. After all, executive functioning skills are some of the foundations for learning.

Our Tips for Building Executive Functioning Skills Throughout the Year

September: Time to Organize – Organizational Skills

Developing systems of organization from the first day of school is a crucial part a successful school year. Teachers and parents should think of themselves as organizational coaches and help students master basic strategies for managing materials and ideas.

• Backpacks are the mainstay of student organization from kindergarten through college. Help students develop the routine of emptying their backpacks at the end of each day and sorting materials into those that stay at home, those that return to school, and those that will be recycled.
• Provide time at the end of each class or day for students to fill-in planners. Many schools provide paper planners, but students who tend to lose materials may benefit from an electronic planner app.
• Provide time at the end of each week for students to clean desks and lockers.
• Checklists are wonderful tools for organization. Have students tape school-to-home checklists in their lockers or keep home-to-school checklists in folders in their backpacks.
• Organizing information is just as critical as organizing materials. Teach note taking styles like Cornell Notes and how to use graphic organizers.

October: Setting Goals

Students have been in school for a month, you know them a bit better, and parent conferences are on the horizon. It is time to set meaningful academic, social, and/or behavioral goals. Students should be included in the process of setting goals; after all, they are the ones striving to achieve them!

• Keep goals specific and meaningful. For example, “I will spend ten minutes at the end of each school day filling in my planner and prioritizing my homework,” is an achievable goal for a student who is struggling with remembering homework assignments.
• Guide students in setting goals and have them complete goal-setting worksheets. Have students review their progress on a regular basis.
• If achieving goals were easy, we wouldn’t need them. Be a role model by setting a personal or professional goal and sharing your achievements and setbacks with your child or students. Likewise, setting a goal as a class or family can model the process with the safety of knowing it is a group effort.

November: Make a Plan and Stick with It – Planning & Prioritizing

The natural extension of setting goals is seeing them through. However, it is one thing to set a goal; it is a different thing to come up with a plan to achieve it. With the increased expectation that students complete long-term research papers and project-based learning assignments, learning how to plan a strategy for completion and see it through is more critical than ever.

• Give students a few minutes at the end of each day to prioritize their nightly homework in planners by numbering assignments from first to last. Starting with the most difficult work is often a good choice so students are mentally fresh.
• Help students create step-by-step timelines for long term assignments. Encourage brainstorming and outlining prior to writing.
• Share scoring rubrics with students before they begin assignments. Rubrics provide a visual map of expectations and are perfect starting points for planning projects, writing assignments, and encouraging students to reflect critically on their work.
• Engage students with games and activities that involve strategic planning, like chess and capture the flag.

December: But I Don’t Have Time! – Time Management

Our children are busier than ever. They juggle full school schedules, sports, lessons, and clubs, not to mention friends and family. Mastering good time management strategies becomes essential as students move into middle and high school and demands increase.

• Students need to develop a sense of how long it takes to complete homework. Ask students to track the time each assignment takes by writing the total time they worked on an assignment in their planners next to each subject. This will enable students to estimate more accurately the time required to complete work and plan accordingly.
• Most schools adhere to a recommended time for homework each night, typically ten minutes per grade level. If you child consistently takes longer then the recommended time to complete work, even with good time management practices, consult with her teacher. A trial run of modified assignments, that either reduces the workload or grading only the work completed within a set time, may decrease student frustration and increase learning.

January: Procrastination – Initiating Work

Getting back into a routine after a vacation can be a challenge for any of us, but students who have weak task initiation skills may find it particularly difficult. Use these tips to help students avoid procrastination and get started on tasks.

• Ask students to write down the task they need to accomplish, estimate the time it will take to complete the work, and track start and finish time. Start with small tasks that are readily achievable.
• Use verbal and nonverbal cues to signal the start of new tasks. For example, prompt students with keywords like “now” or “first” and gently tap your fingers on their desks.
• Build in breaks. Let students know that after they have worked for a set time they will have a fun break activity. Younger students or those with attentional difficulties may need to start with short 5 – 10 minute effort times. Make brain breaks a part of your daily classroom schedule.
• Don’t punish students by taking away recess. Exercise is crucial and often students who struggle in the classroom need these movement opportunities the most.

February: I Can’t Take it Anymore – Emotional Control

It is the depth of winter and the novelty of a new school year has long since worn off. Many students, parents, and teachers alike have reached their breaking points. It is time for all of us to focus on developing our emotional control skills.

• Consult with the school counselor, most have some type of mindfulness training. Ask for classroom tips or invite her into the classroom to teach your students relaxation and anxiety reduction strategies.
• Dim the lights, get your students comfortable, and play a guided relaxation audio like this free one for children.
• Present typical scenarios where students may become frustrated or upset, such as playground confrontations, transition times, and test days. Have students take turns role-playing these situations and suggest simple go to phrases or methods for handling each scenario.

March: Bend that Mind – Cognitive Flexibility

Think back to your own student years where you were required to switch from subject to subject every fifty minutes, translate a math word problem into a numeric equation, then recognize a theme in a novel and write an essay using supporting details. All of these situations require students to shift from one way of thinking to another within a relatively short period, how exhausting! Those who struggle with cognitive flexibility are more likely to hit learning roadblocks and have difficulty finding alternate solutions to those problems.

• Give students the opportunity to shift their thinking by announcing transitions ahead of time, following a set schedule, and including them in decision-making processes about schedules and routines.
• Stretch their cognitive flexibility by asking children to think outside the box. Classroom warm-up times are perfect for challenging thinking with shifting activities including: visual word puzzles; word searches; optical illusions; puns, jokes, and riddles; board and card games like Spot It; and even some strategy-based online games.
• Always guide students in making connections between big ideas and details. Some of us are bottom up thinkers and others are top down, either way, recognizing the interconnectedness of themes and details across subjects is essential to learning.

April: Thinking about Thinking – Metacognition

Educating a child is in large part, about training the student to think. Metacognition can be a difficult skill to foster because it asks students to reflect upon their own work. All of us want to succeed and reflecting critically about ourselves can be a difficult and emotional process.

• Have students draft “How I Learn Best” letters to next year’s teacher reflecting on what they have discovered about their learning styles over the year. See to it that the letters make it into the hands of next year’s teachers.
• Requiring students to submit study strategy reflection forms with tests and projects encourages them to evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts and contemplate how they can adjust their tactics to improve upon work quality the next time.
• Encourage students to check over their work and require them to make corrections after assessments. Teach editing skills and require re-writes of papers.
• Reflect on your own teaching or parenting methods periodically. If a student isn’t progressing toward a goal as you would like, examine what you can do differently to support her in obtaining that goal.
• Praise children’s efforts, not their abilities. Carol Dweck’s book, Mindset, is a must-read for parents and teachers.

May: What Did I Forget? Working Memory

Working memory is the keystone bridging long and short-term memory. Students with weak working memory skills will struggle with retaining and applying the concepts they learn. As final exams approach, even those students with strong working memories may reach their upper limits of retaining information.

• Find the memorization strategies that work best for your subject and teach them to your students. Give students the time to practice and develop these techniques into habits. Read Help Teaching’s Memorization Strategies Checklist for some suggestions.  
• Permit students to write information, like mnemonics and key words, on the test before answering questions. This frees up working memory and allows students to focus on applying what they studied with the knowledge that they can still refer to the information as needed.
• Students with diagnosed working memory weakness may require classroom accommodations like the ability to audio record lectures, have copies of teacher notes, or access to word banks on tests. Parents and teachers should work closely to develop and implement these accommodations. 

June: Bringing it Home – Strategies for Summer Vacation

Routine, routine, routine. The structure of the school year has been removed and children, especially those with weak executive functioning skills, require predictability in their routines. Develop the routine for summer, from set meal and bedtimes to consistent daily childcare, and stick with it. Keep systems in place that were used successfully during the school year. For example, if your child does well with a planner, work together to fill out a family calendar at the start of each week with where she will be each day and what activities are planned. Simply giving your child the control of knowing what each day will bring will hopefully minimize meltdowns, anxiety, and disorganization. Mostly, praise your children’s efforts, acknowledge their progress, and enjoy your time with these fabulous people.

Be sure to check out our study skills worksheets to support your teaching needs.

It’s inevitable. You assign a paper or a project weeks in advance, remind students about it daily, and still they scramble to finish their work the night before the deadline (if they even finish on time). Unfortunately, procrastination also often leads to less than stellar work. Take these steps to help students to get assignments finished with plenty of time to spare.

How to Help Students Avoid Procrastination

Check In with Students

Perhaps the easiest way to fight procrastination is to require students to share their progress as they go. If you assign a project a month in advance, have students share their progress with you every Friday until the project is due. At the first check-in, students should be 25% finished with the project, the second check-in should show 50% completion, and so on. Require students who fail to show sufficient progress to stay after school for half an hour or e-mail their parents to remind them that students need to spend more time on the project.

Break Assignments into Parts

By breaking assignments into smaller parts with individual due dates, you held ensure students gradually complete an assignment rather than doing it all at once. For example, if you assign an essay, students may be required to show their outline one day, their introduction another day, and their first draft a third day. You can do the same with projects, reading response activities, and even review activities.

Teach Time Management Skills

One reason many students procrastinate is because they don’t have strong time management skills. Take some time at the beginning of the school year to teach students some basic time management skills. Some tips that may help students avoid procrastinating include:

• Write all assignments in a planner
• Create and follow a daily schedule
• Make a list of priorities
• Avoid time-suckers and other distractions
• Carry assignments with you work on during spare time
• Learn how to say no
• Set aside time to work on school work every day

Remind Students about Upcoming Due Dates

Many students have a lot going on in their lives and many are easily distracted. If you tell them a project or paper is due more than a few days in advance, don’t be surprised if they forget about it as the due date approaches. Give students regular reminders about upcoming due dates. You may keep a note on the board and change the number of days each day (for example, 10 days until your essay is due), add reminders to the top of worksheets, or even send out regular e-mail reminders through your school’s server or text reminders using a free service such as Remind. You can also encourage students to set up their own reminders in their phones or through a program such as Remember the Milk.

Give Clear Guidelines

Sometimes students procrastinate because they aren’t sure what’s expected of them and, rather than ask for help, they put off the assignment and throw something together at the last minute. When you give the assignment, make sure students are clear about what the final product will look like. Include a checklist or rubric to guide them. You may also choose to show students a few examples of what a finished assignment will look like. After giving the assignment, let students know it’s okay to come to you if they have any questions or need help.

Make the Assignment Realistic

Even if students know what to do, they may simply not have time to do it. If you teach middle school or high school, chances are you’re not the only teacher with a big assignment due. Collaborate with other teachers to stagger when you give big assignments to students. If you know the social studies teacher just assigned a 10-page report on World War II, you might want to wait to have students write a lengthy book report. Aside from collaborating with other teachers, take a close look at your own assignment. You might be able to complete it in a week, but is it realistic to ask your students to do the same? Students shouldn’t have to spend more than 30 minutes to an hour on the assignment each night to get it finished in time.

Make the Assignment Interesting

You’re not going to interest all students all the time and sometimes you have to give assignments that aren’t a lot of fun, but whenever you can, look for ways to make assignments more interesting to students. Do students really have to write a book report or can they create a video book report instead? Instead of writing a long research paper, can students write a shorter paper and also create a visual display or presentation to accompany it? The more interesting the assignment is, the more likely students are to complete it early or on time.

Give Assignments that Matter

If students don’t think an assignment is important, they’re less likely to make it a priority. To help fight procrastination, don’t just give students an assignment for the sake of giving them an assignment. Instead, focus on assignments that are really designed to build and assess students’ skills. Also take time to explain the importance of the assignment to students. If they know why they have to do a project, they’re more likely to complete it on time.

Enforce the Deadline

Experts have mixed opinions on whether students should be penalized for turning in work late. If they show they have mastered a concept, what does it matter if they do it on your timeline? While you may not dock students’ grades for turning in assignments late, you can introduce other consequences, such as assigning a detention or taking away a reward for every day the student’s assignment is late. If students know you’re serious about the deadline, they’re more likely to work to meet it. If you’re always giving extensions and accepting excuses, they’re more likely to wait until the last minute and take advantage of your leniency.

When you set the deadline, also take into consideration when you plan to grade the work. If you want students to turn something in on Friday, but know you won’t start grading it until next Thursday, then why not make the deadline next Wednesday? When students turn something in and don’t get feedback in a reasonable time frame, they’re less likely to respect the next deadline.

Reward Students for their Work

In the real world, do adults always get a reward for doing the job they’re supposed to do? No. However, they will occasionally get a note from their boss saying, “Thanks for getting this to me” or “You did a great job on this.” In the same way, motivate students to get their work finished on time by offering them a reward. That reward may just be a bit of positive praise or it may be something more enticing, such as an extra bathroom pass or a piece of candy (we know it’s not healthy, but it’s a cheap way to motivate kids and teens).

For more ideas on how to help students learn to manage their time, develop study skills, and curb procrastination, check out our Study Skills and Strategies worksheets and 5 Ways to Improve Study Skills.

How do you help students avoid procrastination? Share your ideas in the comments.

Many classrooms display student work and decorations, but often the power of the classroom as a tool for learning is ignored. From the arrangement of seats and availability of supplies to the use of wall space, every aspect of your classroom can help promote learning. Use these five methods to stimulate your students’ minds by improving the space in which they learn.

1. Use your wall space to educate.

Each unit that is taught in your room gives you an opportunity to use your bulletin boards and wall space as a learning tool. Write important vocabulary term as a word wall. List key questions or learning objectives and refer to them as you teach. Find items in the news that relate to what you’re teaching and make a current events wall. Help Teaching offers free early education printables that not only spruce up any classroom wall, they also focus on the important information to be disseminated to the students. This is also a good opportunity for your students to communicate what they took from your time together. As the culminating activity of your unit, allow them  to create a wall displaying the major themes in a creative manner. Find more ideas how to engage students in hands on activities in 7 Tips for Learning with Kids.

2. Set up a learning center using old school resources.

There was no internet until I was in college so my elementary and high school research included a lot of library time. Most districts can’t afford to put multiple computers in each classroom, but you can make your own inexpensive learning center with encyclopedias. EBay has a 2008 set of World Book Encyclopedia for $160 or a 2010 version for $290. Subscribe to Time, Newsweek, or other magazines and make a reading corner. Your learning center can be also be the home for your classroom blog. All it takes is one workstation and a schedule for student writing and the kids will learn the benefits of writing about what interests them and leaving a positive digital footprint.

3. Embrace Makerspaces and Genius Hours

Makerspaces use a variety of tools to encourage students to explore or create. Some makerspaces are high tech, while others use no tech at all. Whatever tools and resources you include in your makerspace, the goal is to give students a chance to enjoy open-ended tinkering, play, inventiveness, and exploration.

Another way to give students a chance to explore on their own is by bringing genius hours into your classroom. During a genius hour, students are given time to explore a topic or complete a project related to their own interests. This time is student directed and can be held a few minutes a day, a few hours a week, or a few weeks a year. It’s up to you. To make both genius hours and makerspaces successful, you just need to be sure students are aware of the expectations for the time before they begin.

4. Display student grades on the wall.

Students like to see their grades as they are posted in your grade book. By posting them on the walls (by ID number or some other cryptic way to maintain privacy), the students will be more aware of their progress and position in the class. It also can act as a motivator to continue to perform well or to begin to achieve better grades.

5. Mix up seating arrangements often.

Changing the classroom seating arrangement and style is a wonderful way to being an element of surprise to your lessons and to accommodate a specific learning objective. Plan a discussion by organizing desks in a circle. Have students edit each other’s work by facing two desks together.

Bonus: Set up stations around the room.

Sitting in a chair for 45 minutes a day for an entire year can be boring. For lessons that require use of sources, documents, or visuals, have the students work in small groups that walk around the room to different stations. Each station contains a different visual to be analyzed and discussed by the group members. After a set amount of time, each student cluster moves to the next station. Use the Help  Teaching activity Which Continent Am I? by cutting out the continent descriptions and placing them around the room, or have the class create a story with a different student contributing each facet as the walk to the different stations around the room using the Help Teaching story organizer.

Not every district can provide their teachers with the resources to make a classroom a technological center of learning, but with a little time and creativity any room can contribute to a successful lesson or unit.

While President’s Day is typically associated with Washington and Lincoln, the holiday lends itself well to lessons and projects on all of our country’s Founding Fathers. Pair these presidential activities with Help Teaching’s graphic organizers and printable worksheets for the full presidential treatment.

Presidential Puppetry

All you need is a Popsicle stick and a printed head shot of a president. Ask your students to write a script around an important concept or theme in American History, such as the writing of the Constitution, the debate over slavery, or even a silly dinner party at the White House. The students can use Help Teaching’s Plot Diagram to assist them in writing their script, or use the Story Map to develop the action in their tale.

Presidential Baseball Cards

Baseball cards show a player’s statistics over his playing career. A presidential baseball card shows the chief executive’s accomplishments by year, his biographical information, and political affiliation. Help Teaching’s Writing Box with Lines is the perfect vehicle for this project. Paste the president’s photo in the empty box and put his presidential information in the lines below.

Presidential Campaign Posters

Every president was once a candidate, and campaigning has been an American institution for over a century. Have your students research the issues of the day and create a campaign poster for their assigned candidate. Draw them in with a lesson on slogans, mottos, and campaign ads, showing them examples of modern day tactics from the campaign trail. Use Help Teaching’s Boxes and Bullets Diagram organizer to narrow down the most important issues of the candidate’s time.

Presidential Experts

Make each of your students an “expert” on one president. Put together a living museum with five students speaking as the commander in chief per day. Use a simple Web Diagram worksheet to dictate which aspects of the president’s term should be emphasized.

Presidential Bingo

Give students a list of 24 presidents and instruct them to fill one in each box of a Bingo card (Don’t forget to leave the middle space free!). Then read a brief description of one of the 24 presidents. Students will check off the president they think you are describing. The first student with five checked off presidents in a row on the Bingo card wins!

Presidential Quizzes

Help Teaching has a slew of worksheets to quiz students on the presidents of the United States. There are quizzes on presidents throughout history, just the early presidents,  and activities surrounding both the 2008 and 2012 presidential election results.

Presidential Videos

There are various YouTube channels dedicated to specific US presidents or the office of the president in general. Take a tour through “The American Presidents“, “Presidential Facts“, and the dozens of presidential libraries that offer YouTube channels.
There are also plenty of Hollywood films that will enhance any lesson or activity about residents of the White House. Films like 1776 show our Founding Fathers as they fought for independence from Great Britain; Lincoln, the recent awarding winning film starring Daniel Day-Lewis, is a gripping account of one of our greatest presidents; HBO’s miniseries on the under appreciated President John Adams has many interesting nuggets to share; Thirteen Days in a terrific film that captures the tension in the country during the Cuban Missile Crisis, under the stewardship of President Kennedy in 1963. For more tips on using film in your class, see an earlier post on “How to Use Hollywood Movies in the Social Studies Classroom“.

President’s Day is more than just a day off from school, and it is more than a day to remember Washington and Lincoln. Use the activities above to make learning the presidents fun and exciting and don’t forget to check out Everything Your Students Always Wanted to Know About Electing the President, but were too Afraid to Ask.

When I was in high school, I was fascinated by astronomy. I didn’t know much about it, but was curious to learn more about our universe. My school offered a program that allowed self-directed learning, where students designed and followed their own curriculum under the guidance of an advisor. I spent my senior year taking traditional math and science classes, visiting observatories, researching, writing, studying star charts and the night skies, and attending lectures. The most memorable was one taught by the late Clyde Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto. This all happened before online learning was available and the first exoplanet was discovered.

Adults are self-directed learners. When your boss asks you to take on a new project, you don’t toss up your arms and say, “I can’t do it.” Rather, you develop an action plan and get to work. If you encounter something of interest, you learn more by reading, watching videos, listening to podcasts, or interacting with others in person and virtually. You have learned how to learn.

Knowing how to learn is an essential skill in our lives as adults, so shouldn’t we empower our students and children to do the same? Given the right tools, guidance, and motivation, the potential for student success is limitless.

Encouraging Self-Directed Learning

Babies and toddlers are natural self-learners. They’re constantly putting together information to come up with their own conclusions about how the world works, but once children enter school they lose a bit of that self-motivation and instead focus on teachers and parents to show them the way. Self-directed learning places adults in the role of a manager or an impartial counselor rather than a teacher, asking questions and setting up activities to help children make discoveries on their own.

1. You can encourage children to participate in self-directed learning activities by:

2. Having students set learning goals at the beginning of the school year

3. Encouraging students to self-evaluate and monitor their academic performance

4. Setting up self-paced lessons for students to work through on their own

5. Assigning research projects where students choose the topic

6. Posing questions for students to answer

7. Presenting problems for students to solve

8. Letting students teach the class about something that interests them

Teaching students to ask “Why?” and to not accept “I don’t know” as an answer

For students to be truly successful with self-directed learning, you must provide them with tools to help keep them on track.

When students first start learning on their own, they’ll need a lot of support and encouragement. For students to be truly successful with self-directed learning, you must provide them with tools to help keep them on track. For example, they must have strong study skills and know how to set effective learning goals. As they develop these skills, you’ll be able to move further into the background and set them free to learn on their own.

Benefits of Self-Directed Learning

Whether you are looking to supplement your child’s education, find a new way to introduce or review content, or create a classroom culture of “can,” here are just a few of the benefits of self-directed learning.

Increase Ownership of Learning

With self-directed learning, students must be active participants in their education. At its best, this means students have the opportunity to wonder, ponder, and be creative. Students control the pace of their learning, allowing them to spend more time on what they need and want to learn. Students can focus on topics that fascinate them, then cast wide nets and explore topics they know little about.

Foster Metacognition

Becoming a successful learner involves understanding how you learn. This can be difficult for students of all ages as we must confront our weaknesses as well as our strengths. Part of the self-directed learning process should include setting goals and reflecting upon how well we achieved those goals. Through this process students come to understand the strategies that make them successful learners.

Develop Career Readiness Skills

Time management. The ability to work both autonomously and collaboratively. Problem solving. Strategic planning. Decision making. These are all skills required in the workplace and components of a well-planned, self-directed learning model. We ask our students to apply what they learn in the classroom to real-world situations. Self-directed learning can help students develop the real-world skills they will need once they leave the classroom.

Nurture an Appreciation for Learning

Ultimately, perhaps the greatest benefit of self-directed learning is gaining an appreciation for learning, turning students into lifelong learners. Some 1,800+ confirmed exoplanets since high school later and I am still learning about astronomy, albeit using more powerful technology. I didn’t go on to become an astronomer, but I still gaze at the night sky and marvel at the beauty of it.

Sites with FREE lessons: Help Teaching, Khan Academy, CK-12, PBS Learning Media, YouTube EDU, and TED-Ed.

Today’s students have access to a wealth of online resources for self-directed learning. Get started by checking out the Ultimate Guide to Free Online Self-Learning which includes great sites that feature free lessons developed for students.

Twenty years ago, schools had fire drills and tornado drills. Today, they’ve added drills for handling bomb threats and active shooters. In addition to these types of tragedies, students also have to deal with suicides, overdoses, car accidents, and other tragic events that take the lives of their peers. As parents and educators, we have a responsibility to help kids and teens handle tragedy and provide them with the support and resources they need.

See Our Tips for Helping Kids and Teens Handle Tragedy

Give Them Hope

We live in a world that is full of evil, but not everyone who lives in the world is evil. In fact, there’s a lot of good going on every day. Talk about some of the positive things students are doing in the classroom and in the community. Look at resources such as the Good News Network which highlight the positive things that are going on in the world. Draw their attention to the Random Acts of Kindness movement and talk about how they can spread kindness and do good work in their community every day.

Give Them Safety

When tragedy strikes, many kids and teens worry that it could happen to them. Take some time to reassure kids that despite the attention these events get in the news, they are rare and not likely to happen where you live. Explain some of the procedures you have in place to protect students should something bad happen and, if they are not convinced, encourage them to come up with some ideas of their own. Let them know that while you cannot promise bad things will never happen, you will do all that you can to ensure that students are safe and taken care of.

Give Them Relief

Often, kids and teens don’t know how to express negative emotions in a healthy way or are afraid to let them out. Instead, they bottle them up inside. Even if kids and teens are able to share how they’re feeling, the weight of those feelings can weigh them down. Recognize that when tragedy strikes, some students may need help shedding some of the heaviness they feel. During these times, extend a bit of grace to students. Give them an extra day to complete homework or even offer a homework pass. Overlook minor outbursts. Provide plenty of opportunities and activities, such as coloring pages, silly games, meditation activities, and brain breaks, where students can decompress and unwind.

Give Them Attention

“I try to talk, but no one listens to me!” Many kids and teens have uttered this phrase. Make it your goal to ensure students never say this about you. When tragedies strike, make yourself available. Be willing to listen without judgement and answer any questions they may have. If you don’t have the answers, offer to help them find the answers or direct them to someone who can help. If students do not want to talk, that’s okay too, but regularly check in with them and let them know your door is always open. If you work in a school, set up a safe space where students can go to talk or collect their thoughts during the day and let them go without judgement. Will some students take advantage of the opportunity? Yes. However, the benefits to those who need it will far outweigh the few who take advantage of the situation.

Give Them Support

As students talk and share their feelings, let them know that you are there for them and that you always have their best interest in mind. If students express needs or desires, take them seriously and try to offer whatever support you can. Don’t be afraid to ask students, “What do you need from me?” They may not have an answer right away and you can encourage them to share those needs with you when they arise. If a student says, “I just need you to lay off my case for a few days,” then respect that. If a student says, “I need you to be very positive,” then be that that person. If a student says, “I need you to understand that this a big deal,” then let them know that you recognize the magnitude of what they’re facing. Avoid phrases such as “get over it,” “move on,” or “let’s try not to think about it right now.” Those phrases downplay what kids and teens are feeling and can come off as very insensitive.

Give Them Love

Adults show love to students in different ways. Parents might want to give their kids extra hugs, tell them that they’re proud of them, and say “I love you” every day. Teachers may want to smile at students, write positive notes to give to them (or send home to parents), and incorporate their interests in class. There are many different ways to show kids you care about them.

Give Them Purpose

Tragedies often leave kids and teens feeling hopeless. Finding ways for them to help after the tragedy can help relieve some of that hopelessness. Students may write letters of encouragement and support to families who have lost loved ones. They may collect bottled water and toiletries to send to people affected by a hurricane. They may collect money to send to an organization that is providing aid. Organizations such as the American Red Cross often create lists of items that they need. News organizations and people on social media are full of ways people can help too. Before donating money or supplies, do a little research to make sure the request is legitimate. If it is, give students a chance to help. Doing so may help them work through some of the negative emotions they’re dealing with.

Do you have any advice for parents and teachers who are helping kids work through difficult situations? If so, please share it in the comments.

Every day at school, teachers and administrators remind students to behave properly and follow the rules. However, instead of simply telling students how to behave, schools should focus on modeling the right behavior and helping students see that negative behaviors not only break school rules, but they could have an impact on themselves and others in the future. When students begin to see their negative behavior in light of how it effects others and how it could effect them in the future, they are more likely to think twice before breaking another rule. Unfortunately, the school schedule does not often include much time for lessons in character education. That’s where classes like social studies come into play. Social studies content allows for character exploration as a reasonable tangent, making it the social studies teacher’s responsibility to incorporate it when possible.

If you’re looking for new ways to incorporate character into the social studies classroom, consider some of the following options:

Our Tips for Incorporating Character Education in the Social Studies Classroom

Teaching about the Holocaust

One unit that is a perfect complement to this discussion is the Holocaust as there are many lesson plans available to assist you in making your point. The Anti-Defamation League has put together a lesson using the pyramid of hate to illustrate how simple stereotyping and bullying can lead to harassment and violence. The lesson asks students to examine personal experiences with violence, anger, and prejudice, and later, analyze the experiences of Holocaust survivors to see how prejudices can lead to greater hate.

To express the notion that allowing hate to spewed without taking a stand is just as wrong as spewing hate yourself, you can discuss the quote by Martin Niemöller that says:

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out–Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out– Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out– Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me–and there was no one left to speak for me.”

To further this notion, use “The Hangman” by Maurice Ogden, or if your students are visual learners, there is a psychedelic cartoon version is available on YouTube.  Books such as The Diary of a Young Girl and The Kite Runner can also be good to use while teaching about the Holocaust.

Teaching about Colonization and Imperialism

The European colonization of Africa was another moment of historical greed and brutality that can be used as a character lesson for students. Independence leader Jomo Kenyatta penned a fable that exposes the European nations as animal bullies who pretend to help the technologically weak Africans, while stealing their land and resources. The moral is not to take advantage of those weaker than you or it may come back to haunt you later. There is sexual imagery and advanced concepts, so this may not be suitable for all student populations.

The concept of imperialism, Social Darwinism, and the “White man’s Burden”, has a connection to bullying. There are many resources available to educate students about the effects of bullying and places to get help. The film “Bully” follows five students who face torment every day. Anderson Cooper followed up on the movie with a town hall meeting on the matter. The tragic consequences of online bullying, which students often consider harmless because it is not physical or face to face, is briefly examined in the PBS Frontline episode “Growing Up Online.”

Sometimes we get caught up in making better students and forget we also have to mold better people. Character education is a worthy venture, even when high stakes test preparation dominates much of our class time. We must teach kids to be kind, have integrity, and bring goodness and love into the world.

Do you know any great character lessons to incorporate in the social studies classroom? If so, we’d love for you to share them in the comments.

About the Author

William Campione began his career in the New York City public school system before moving to a diverse suburban New York public school district. He teaches high school Social Studies. In his fourteen years in the classroom William has filled a variety of roles, including working with a co-teacher, in a consultant teacher model, and in a self contained classroom. He has taught all four high school grades, dealing with the stress of an impending New York State Regents Exam with freshmen, sophomores, and juniors, and the year-long battle with Senior-itis while teaching twelfth graders.

The United States Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, an event that is commemorated each year as Constitution and Citizenship Day. Americans are reminded of the opportunities provided to them as citizens, and the responsibilities of citizens participating in a democracy. This is a terrific opportunity to discuss civics and citizenship with students, while recognizing the living document that governs the nation. Here are some ways to commemorate this day with your class.

Elementary Students:

1. Scholastic provides numerous lesson plans surrounding Constitution and Citizenship, including asking students to analyze the impact of civic involvement. Students are also asked to critically view the Constitution, an essential skill for success.

2. iCivics uses role playing and real life scenarios to teach students about their responsibilities in government, while analyzing the role of the citizenry in maintaining democracy. Founded and led by Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the free resources provided by iCivics include lesson plans, printables, and digital interactives.

3. Patriotic songs are a great way to introduce students to the tenets of democracy and citizenship. Use Help Teaching’s Character Traits graphic organizer after reading lyrics and/or listening to songs about America to chronicle the roles of a citizen in America.

4. Start with Help Teaching’s KWL chart, and then use Constitution Facts for a Treasure Hunt of the history and details behind the Constitution. Encourage students to find out more about the living document to fill in the pieces of information they would like to find out.

Middle/High School Students:

5. Quiz students on major American historical documents using Help Teaching’s pre-made worksheets, including Creating the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. This enables them to review the history behind the creation of these seminal American documents.

6. Utilize the National Archives’ interactive Docs Teach, which provides various activities that allow student collaboration and creativity, all surrounding the Constitution. Each activity can be printed for desk work or completed online with terrific graphics and methods for student understanding. Docs Teach also allows teachers to create their own interactive work to better meet the varied needs of their students.

7. The Bill of Rights Institute provides lessons, resources, and videos for use in the classroom. One activity asks students to interpret which Founding Fathers were proponents for ratification of the Constitution and which were critics. Use Help Teaching’s Fact or Opinion organizer to group their responses and thoughts.

8. The National Constitution Center has an interactive Constitution that allows students to choose the section of the Constitution they’d like to view. Breaking down the document into smaller chunks makes it easier for students to comprehend each section, and allows for the teacher to use various strategies for analysis. Teachers may choose to participate in a Think, Pair, Share with the different sections, chunking the information even more. The National Constitution Center also provides a series of videos that explain the different branches of government and their role in supporting the Constitution.

9. Constitution Day isn’t just for history class. Use Help Teaching activities on the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence to reinforce important skills of vocabulary, context clues, and rhetoric. Cross curricular activities like these not only inform about facts and history, but can be a friend to the ELA teacher, as well.

For all students:

10. Constitution Facts is sponsoring a poster contest open to all K – 12. Previous winners are posted for inspiration. Good luck!

Constitution and Citizenship Day is a reminder of what makes America great. It also gives teachers the ability to use primary source documents to reinforce common core skills and activities. For more creative, patriotic activities check out Creative Ways to Teach about US Presidents.

When it comes to education, computer games often get a bad rap. Parents and teachers spend time trying to pull kids away from their computers and tablets in favor of “more educational” and “healthier” activities. What if instead of pulling kids away from computer games, parents and teachers embraced them? While it is good to set limits on how long kids interact with technology, parents and teachers should also recognize and welcome the benefits that come from playing online games! What are they, you ask? Read on!

They provide unique examples.

When teaching students, it is key to provide multiple examples of concepts. Not only do students have different learning styles, but they are also likely to use their skills in a variety of contexts as they go through life. Online games often provide unique examples and contexts in which students can practice their skills. For example, students can use math and logic skills while running a virtual pizza parlor, discover creative ways to solve problems when using a broken calculator, or learn about space while designing a space rover. These different scenarios can go a long way in helping students develop a deeper understanding of important concepts.

They allow for differentiation.

Students come into the classroom at many different levels and with different styles of learning. Online games make it easier for teachers to differentiate their instruction to cater to students’ needs. Some online games will appeal more to visual and kinesthetic learners who need to see and touch or move objects to embrace a concept. For example, kinesthetic learners can manipulate virtual tangrams to understand geometry and visual and kinesthetic learners can use how to count money through online money games. Teachers can have students play different games based on their individual needs.

They adapt to individual learners.

In addition to catering to different learning styles, online games often adapt to individual learners. Many games offer multiple levels of play, so teachers can have all students play the same game, but each student can experience that game at a different level. For example, students in kindergarten may all play the same addition game, but the game could be set to display different levels of addition problems. Some students may work on single-digit addition, while others may work on two-digit addition. A few online games start with a pre-test to determine a student’s level, and then automatically adjust the questions based on the answers thestudent provides.

They help with review.

Online games serve as a tool to help with review in the classroom. Teachers can use online games to help students keep their skills sharp during the school year or provide a more focused review at the beginning or end of the school year or before an important test. A wide array of math games have students solve basic problems to advance within a given activity. For example, in Capital Penguin, students simply match states with their capitals to move through the game, but the simplicity of the game does not limit the game’s ability to serve as a good tool for review. For more specific review, teachers can create their own bingo games to play with students.

They provide entertainment.

At the end of the day, the biggest benefit of online games is that they are entertaining. Getting students interested in the learning process can be difficult. Free math games have the ability to make that process much easier. One way is that students can choose games related to their interests. For example, some students may prefer to learn while playing sports-related games. Many games also offer multi-player features, allowing students to compete against one another while building key skills.

It’s true that not all games kids play online are educational, but there are many examples of valuable online games that have been used effectively inside and outside of the classroom. Teachers who choose to incorporate online games in the classroom will find that the games are entertaining and help them cater to students’ individual needs.

This post is a guest post from Math Game Time, a website that provides free math games and videos for kids in pre-k through seventh grade.

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Joe Pizzuto-Pomaco is an educator, writer, and editor who has taught in public and private schools 15 years.