1. Exit Slips Note taking Error Analysis Self-Assessments Journal Writing
These are a quick and easy way to:
Check for understanding
Check to see how the students feel about the material
Get them writing!
Taking class notes helps the students retain the information better, they also make great study aids, or have an open note test to encourage students to write notes
After a test, during stations, or for homework, have students correct their mistakes by going back through the text and writing down the text evidence to support the right answer.
These can be used at the end of the lesson, each day, every other day, or weekly, you choose!
Self-Assessments
Exit Slips
Self-Assessment
Journal Writing
Note Taking
Error Analysis
Journal Writing
Have students think about how:
They are doing in class
They are feeling about the material
What they can improve on
What they do really well
These can be used at any point throughout the year.
Journal entries can be free writing or students can be given a prompt to write about. Set a time limit for the entry and have students write until the buzzer sounds. These are great bell ringer activities, small group stations, or used weekly to check for student understanding.

2. Tech in the Classroom
Knowing current technology is vital to preparing students for the workforce or college. In today’s society, everything is technologically based and requires students to know more tech than ever before. Some ways to include tech in the classroom are:
Laptops
This option seems obvious but there are many classrooms and schools today that don’t have devices for students to use outside of their computer classes. Using laptops are great for small group stations because there are so many research-based learning sites for students to use. They are also great for typing up any class notes, research papers, or essays.
2) SmartBoard
A SmartBoard enables the educator to write directly on the board with a special pen so there isn’t any whiteboard space taken away but it also has the benefit of being able to connect to the internet and whatever sites might be needed in the classroom. There are fun activities on some websites that enable the student to practice reading fluency games using the board and pen. It keeps the students engaged in the learning because it is fun.
3) Grammarly
Grammarly is a free tool that can be added onto any laptop and it will correct any spelling or grammar mistakes it finds. It not only finds and asks the student to correct them but explains the grammar rule to the students so they know in the future what they should do.
4) Cell Phones
While many educators might have a love/hate relationship with cell phone use in the classroom, I find that as long as the rules for its use are clearly stated and constant supervision ensures the cell phones are used solely for academic purposes, they make great tech tools in the classroom. Celly is a free site that enables educators to set up a private electronic “room” where students who are too nervous to ask questions out loud can post them. This gets them actually thinking about the subject matter, what questions they would like to ask, and most importantly WRITING them down.

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