Things to try to get students motivated

Flying Questions Write a question on a piece of paper. Fold it into an airplane. Fly it to a student. That student must answer it. That student throws it to someone else. The receiver adds a comment/more information, etc…. The plane continues for three throws (including the teachers throw) The last person stands and reads the paper.

Add a word Teacher gives a word to the class Class gives words to teacher and tells him/her what to connect their word to Teacher adds words to her word in concept map format

Guess what we’ll cover After students write down the days objective, have a student state what the topic of study is Have students silently think of 3-5 things they think they’ll be learning about Have a few students share

Cheating is Allowed Answer all you can on your own Compare with the person next to you You have 1 minute to get answers

Read Aloud Read aloud updated information from magazines, internet stories, etc….. Use to start and interest in a topic Let students ask “one important” question

ABC Have students write the Alphabet down their journal page Give them a time limit to write as many words as they can, starting with the letter, to show what they know about the subject

How much is your knowledge worth? Have students write a summary of what they learned that day Each word is worth .10 cents They need to spend between $2.50 and $3.00

3 truths and 1 lie Write 3 things about the subject you learned that are true Write 1 lie – make it a good one Choose students to read the facts and fib in any order to see if students can pick the fib Listening students should raise their hand as soon as they hear the lie

Initial Sentence Use your initials to write a sentence telling what you learned today Depending upon your name, you need to use the 2-4 letters of your initials to include words in your sentence that start with those letters. (they can occur in any order)

Pass the Power Choose an object for students to pass Choose a table, row, or group of students Have the students pass the object from one person to the next As each person holds the object, they must answer or add to the answer of the previous person

Let’s Move Give groups 1 minute to develop an action to be performed each time a vocabulary word is stated Groups will then share the motion, and vote on the motion to be used Each time the vocabulary word is spoken, during that lesson, the motion should be made

Pick a Number Have a student pick a number between 1-10; read selected question to class; give them think time; choose 3 students to share Of what has been discussed so far, what was most important and why? How does this information apply to you in your daily life? Give one example of what we just talked about. Summarize everything we have discussed in two sentences. Explain how this topic could apply to another class. Thinking of the topic we just covered, what do you think we may discuss next? Why? Ask the group a question you have about the topic we are discussing. Give an example of what a test question over this material could be. Share one way to help remember the information we are discussing. Share a hand movement that could represent a vocabulary word we just discussed.

You’re the teacher Have groups research the information and teach a lesson to the class Definite criteria given to students before lesson is taught (Rubric)

Like a toy Give 3 reasons how your toy represents anything you learned today.