Out of Time
It can be difficult—sometimes impossible—to find time to learn and try new instructional strategies and technology. When you aren’t in the classroom, you are preparing lessons, filling out paper work, dealing with discipline, monitoring hallways, attending meetings and grading papers. Let’s face it; sometimes it would be easier if someone just did some of the work for you.
That’s where I come in.
Getting Started For You
While I can’t grade papers for you or teach your classes or attend your meetings or fill out your paper work, I can at least do some of the grunt work that otherwise deters you from trying something new. It was this sort of grunt-work offer that helped math teacher Tracey Moore incorporate the Classroom Performance System (CPS) into a recent review session. CPS is the clicker system you’ve seen some of your colleagues use.
Typing in rosters, learning the software, and figuring out the hardware were daunting enough to deter Ms. Moore from getting started with CPS, yet she was anxious to use it because she believed her students would enjoy it. I offered to prepare her rosters and her lessons. Ashley Hutchinson helped me figure out the software. Soon enough, Ms. Moore had a class full of Algebra students clicking in answers for a review activity, letting her know just how prepared they were for an upcoming test. I even printed her item analysis reports.
Her comment to me afterward was that it would have been December before she started teaching herself the CPS if someone hadn’t taken care of the basics for her, but now that those basic steps are out of the way, she’s ready to use CPS on her own whenever she desires.
My Offer
If you want to try something new but just don’t have time to get started, please let me help you. I can help you set up CPS. I can help you prepare a Smart Board presentation. I can help you use Thinking Maps. Or Study Island. Or behavior contracts. Or writing activities. Or projects.
If nothing else, you might just get me to do some of your work for you.
E-mail me. flinch.rose@pitt.k12.nc.us
