Innovative Classroom Ideas

Creating new and interesting presentations in the classroom is a great way to help keep students engaged and invested in learning. Try some of these approaches in your own classroom and see what works best for you!*

Mastery Learning Mastery learning is making sure that your students fully grasp a concept before moving forward with the next one. Learning objectives are like building blocks; you must have a solid foundation before adding on the other levels. To practice mastery learning, take your curriculum and break it down into smaller segments. This is what you will base your assessment questions on. Try writing four test questions for each learning goal. Through this practice, you able to see what a student does and does not know. It may not be the entire chapter that a student is struggling with, but only a small section.

Stick Picking Have each student write their name on a craft stick. Group the sticks by class period, and draw a stick when you need to choose a student for something. This way, names are chosen at random and it keeps things fair. Replace the sticks after you draw them so that the student won’t feel like they’re off the hook after answering one question.

Seating Arrangement: Choose Your Own Try letting students choose their own seats, but in the order in which you draw their names from the craft sticks. You can switch this up every few weeks by making rules, such as students can’t sit at the same table they just left, or they can sit anywhere except with the people who were at their previous table. Make sure to reserve the right to refuse students their chosen seats if a conflict arises.

Grading System Try basing your grading system upon mastery learning. Nancy Foote, who has won the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, suggests that 80% of a student’s grade should be mastery of learning goals and 20% is for projects. Homework and in-class work does not count for a grade. This way, grades are based solely on what students know and what they don’t know.

Markerboards Give each student an individual markerboard when they walk into your classroom. When they need to work out a problem, have them do so on the board and then hold it up so you can look around and judge where the class stands with the topic you’re teaching. This is a great way for students to get into the habit of showing their work. This also encourages everyone to participate.

For more innovative classroom ideas such as a flipped classroom, extrinsic motivation and more, download this FREE whitepaper written by Nancy Foote!