Teacher Toolbox

Beginning of class • Bell ringers (i.e. grammar, vocab, • Retrieval practice

figurative language, response to o Non-quiz quiz
daily video, quotes) o Brain dump
o Think-pair-share revision of
prior day

The Back-Up Plan • Journals (Start at the beginning of • The classroom library (if you have
the year and give students a list of spare time, it can be used for
topics. When a rough class comes reading OR you can always ask
along, just have tell them to open students to audition books that they
their journals, pick whichever topic think should be added into the
they want, and write about it for ten library!)
minutes). • Anytime/Anywhere lessons (lesson
plans that can be used with any
novel that you’re studying)
Speaking • Debate • Warm up activities:
(Discussion) o Values Continuum o Think-pair-share
o Speed debating o Silent discussion
• Harkness discussions o Question pass
• Socratic seminar o Review activity (ex. 60
• Literature circles second wrap up)
• Fishbowl discussion (with optional o Search & Explore text
audience tweeters) (especially with students
• Discussion beach ball who struggle with citations)
• Speed dating o Soundtrack
• Panel discussion o MIQ = Most Important Quote
• Gallery walk o Give prompt to segway
o Journal entry
• Conver-stations
o Question contest
• Snowball discussions
o Roll ‘n retell
• Six hats discussion
o Write-around
• Talk moves o Create 5 Headlines

Speaking (Oral • Voice lessons • Expert query

Language • Hero worship • Choral reading
Activities) • Accidental power • Hall of fame
• Punch line • Retrospective talk
• Readers’ theatre • StoryCorps
• Storytelling • Creative drama:
• Value chart o Freeze-frames
• Partner probe o Chaos drama
• Change agents o Faces, hands, and feet
 • Trio tales o Verbal volleys
• Fishbowl o Costume drama
• Puzzlements o Personified poems
• Think-pair-share o Nonstop triad
• Poetry slam o When worlds collide
o Need students in o Dramatic monologue
committees: programs, o Party quirks
locations, food, drinks, who’s o Freeze!
judging, ballots o Four C’s improvisation
o Need to intro with videos o Forum theatre
that they score
o Slamnation, Def Poetry Jam
o Writing workshops (striking
lines and memorable
language)
o Performance workshop

Reading • Reader Response • Interpretive Community

o Personal triggers o At the point of utterance
o Suppositional readers o Jump-in reading
o Conceptual readiness o Communal judgements
o Synergistic texts o Defining vignettes
o Associative recollections o Readers’ theatre
o Collaborative authors o Assaying characters
o Imagine this o Psychological profiles
o Character continuum o Venn diagramming
o Character maps • Formal Analysis
o Focal judgements o Teachable moments
o Opinion survey o Formal discussion questions
o Verbal scales o Intertextuality
o Interrogative reading o Students write
o Jump starts o Authors speak
o Title testing o Teachers read
• Struggling readers • Critical Synthesis
o Think aloud o Small-group questions
o Prereading: o Jigsaw groups
▪ Activate background o Role-playing
information o Counter-questions
▪ Develop an opinion o Battle of the book critics
▪ Marking predictions o Layering critical approaches
(Tea party (225)) o For list of critical lenses see
o During reading: B.E. pg. 164
▪ Posing “I wonder . . .” • Response chart
questions • Story quilt
• Mobile
 ▪ Teaching to build • Guided imagery
inferences • Song search
▪ Talking to the text • Story drama
▪ Marking text • Impromptu drama
o Post-reading: • Reading between the lines
▪ Retelling • Classroom drama
▪ Somebody wanted but • Academy/Emmy awards
so (SWBS) • Imitations of life
o Pleasure reading • Double entry journals
o Setting purposes for reading
• Book tasting
o Scanning for information
• Literature circle
o Teaching text organization
• Reader response journals
• Art analysis (to teach literary
analysis)

Writing • Writers workshops • Apprentice writing

• Collaborative writing o Write out, draw in
• Sentence combining o Little snippets
• Vocabulary growth o Dictée
• Collaborative authors o Translation
• Environmental journalism o Official plagiarism
• Journal writing o Building conceits
• Elemental variation o The creature
• Teaching the writing process o Public parody
o Literary caricatures
• Write-around (discussion warm up)
o Emulate masters
• The high and low (write about what
• On creative writing: Makers
they loved about the reading and
what they hated)
• The coffee shop script
• Reading blog (Goodreads!)

Visually • One-Pagers
Representing
Closure • Exit slips • Questioning
o Today’s tweet • Two-sentence wrap up
o Clear or cloudy? • 60-second challenge
o 3-2-1 • High-five hustle
• Show what you know • 5-words or less
• What, so what, now what? • Exit gallery walk
• What “stuck” with you? • Be the teacher
• Parent hotline • Snowstorm
• Two-dollar summary • Paper slide
• Cover it • DJ summary
 • Sequence it • Question stems
• CliffNotes Jr. • Find a first grader
• Stoplight

Management • The Notebook • Getting attention:

• The chatty sign o Picture of the day on screen
• Shout-outs to reinforce positive o Call and response systems
behaviour o Countdown
• Assign responsibilities o Hand signal
• Condition behaviours with lots of o Sign language
modelling and practice • Establish procedures!!
• Use short phrases for a series of o Turning in work
combined instructions o Late work
• Restroom breaks at strategic o Bathroom breaks
moments not just anytime o Rules
• Handing things back at the end of o Participation
class o Use of phones
• Have students pass backwards or o How to enter the room (bell-
sideways rather than forwards ringer activities)
• The 2 x 10 strategy

Motivation • Relationship • Know when to use extrinsic rewards

o Dialogue journals (for boring, easy, task-oriented stuff
o 2 x 10 Strategy (!!): Spend 2 NOT for complex tasks that require
minutes for 10 days talking creativity, persistence, or tasks in
with the student about which there is already intrinsic
anything except homework motivation). Treats, privileges, and
and school punishments belong here!
o Classroom community • Fostering a growth mindset
builders • Students must see relevance to their
• Choice: 5 main areas: lives
o Time
o Seating
o Groups
o Intake mode
o Output mode

Ongoing • Article of the week

Brain Breaks • Div. II • Div. IV

o Mingle Mingle Group o Creating handshakes
o Name Moves o Pictionary
o Rock Paper Scissors o Charades/Charade relay
tournament o Fitness tic tac toe
 o Would You Rather
• Div. IV
o Animal roundup
o Clothespin samurai
o Opposite hunt
Transitions
Assessments • On making authentic audiences:
o Invite guests (parents,
principal, other students,
teachers) & students create
the invitations and hand
them out
o Submit to [journal,
newspaper, gallery, grant,
etc.]
o Blogs: Reminding them that
anyone can see it.
o Portfolios
o Skype audiences
o Add a performance element
o Making your students the
“expert” (present to younger
grades, video lesson for next
year’s class)
The Grand List of • What are the best ways to
Some Inquiry participate and bring about change?
Questions • Is social and political participation a
choice or an obligation?
• Is there an “inner self” at the core of
your being?
• Why is the presentation of poetry an
important skill learned?
• How can one utilize life experiences
as a foundation for creative and
expressive thinking?
• Are we governed by fate or free
will?
• How does poetry reveal what we
might not otherwise recognise?
• Does he media reinforce passivity or
promote action?
o Red hands
o Ball pass (with greetings)
(and with multiple balls)
• Instagram account for the novel
you’re reading
• Youtube channel for what you’re
reading
o Share most important
moments
o Share relation to own lives
o Video response to author
• Create (in-class) a study guide
throughout the unit, so at the final
it’s already prepared
• In-class creation of flash card (and
teach their proper use: must know it
3 times before it can be discarded,
and to not flip it over before you can
orally say the answer)
• Teach how to study
• Revision: literary jenga!
• Does everyone have equal and fair
opportunities to participate in
society?
• Is love a feeling or a choice?
• How do we decide what we choose
to share with the world?
• What does learning about ourselves
teach us about others?
• Is creative flair a learned process or
is it an inspired desire?
• Which is more important: to be
right? Or to find the truth?
• How do fiction writers keep you
interested? Keep you guessing?
• Does the media undermine critical
reasoning capacity or promote
thoughtful reflection?
 • [After looking at national news and
satirical news] Which outlet
presents the fullest account of the
story? Which seems the most
biased/the most objective?
• Is the mass media an adequate
source of public information?
Lame Duck Days • Low prep:
o Clean-up days
o Learn a line dance
o Thank-you notes
o The compliments project
o Go outside
o Play charades
o Philosophical chairs debate
o Group story/progressive
writing
• High prep:
o 20% time/Genius hour
o Community service project
o Student video project
o Survivor game
o Amazing race game
o Literature circles
o BreakoutEDU activities
o Student/Teacher
Unconference
o TED talks
Grading • Cut grading time:
o Give out a List of Deplorable
Errors at the beginning of an
assignment → When grading,
all you have to do is
reference the number
• Does the media falsify expectations
of life or create a sense of
possibility?
• Does the media corrupt cultural
morality or mirror it?
• What is identity?
• How does encountering obstacles
affect your identity?
• What role does culture play in
shaping a person’s identity?
• How can reading about the lives of
others change our own identity?
• How does self-perception and how
others perceive you define your
identity?
• How does one’s appearance
influence their identity?
• Med prep:
o Improv skits
o Found poetry
o Icebreakers
o Listen to podcasts
o Skype
o Colouring books
o Read aloud
o Board games
o Card games
o Minute to win it games
o Kahoot
o Mindfulness practices
o Open mic
• Sample DE List:
1) Writing a descriptive thesis that has
no argument
2) Writing in the first person
3) Writing in the second person
4) Wordiness, extraneous words
 instead of writing out the
whole issue over and over
o Can also use the DE list
during peer-feedback or self-
feedback!
• Delay the grade: give the feedback
first and then have them guess what
their mark is before giving out the
grade
• 11)Repetitive
Icebreakers • Blobs and lines
• Would you rather
• Toilet paper game
• The world’s worst
• Pow and wows
• Scars
• Blindfolded self-portraits
• Tattoo parlor
Decoration • Door:
o Instagram wall anyone can
add to
o Pics of students from first
day and add pics of projects,
performances through the
year
• “About me” section
• Inspiration section (travel pictures,
collage, trinkets)
5) Writing in the past tense
6) Trying to prove thesis with
statements of opinion, not text
7) Issues of quotation citation
8) Forgetting to include the author,
page number in citation
9) Citing dialogue incorrectly
10)Using abbreviations, slang,
contractions in formal writing
• Concentric circles
• Ball toss with questions
• Guess who games
• 8 post-its & stations
• Who am I
• Acrostic Pictionary
• Teacher as performer: Introducing
one another
•
• Bookmark collage of what books
students are reading
• Colouring station for early finishers
(can put up sheets around the
room)
• Use book displays
(recommendations)
• Hall of Fame of student work