Teacher: My students need to be in alphabetical order when they enter the cafeteria for lunch. Should I assign student numbers by the alphabetical order of their last names so that getting in line for lunch is an easy procedure?

Uh, no. You only go to lunch once a day. However, you'll be using student numbers dozens of times in your classroom during the course of that same day. Consequently, you shouldn't allow the needs of the lunch room to supersede the needs of your own room.

I recommend assigning numbers based on the alphabetical order of your students' first names. After all, these are the names you actually use during the course of the day. So, build your system according to your needs and not the needs or requirements of the cafeteria.

To make the lunch line procedure manageable, though, a teacher offered the following suggestion:

Post a list of numbers--visualize a skinny scroll--near the door of your room that, if the students line up according to the list of numbers, will create alphabetical order by last name. Now that's problem solving the way it's meant to be done.

Learning journals as closure activity
(Suggestion offered during seminar)

After coming back from the first break, I showed a slide that talked about the effectiveness of closure in enhancing student retention of information.

I then asked the teachers in the group that day to come up with what they thought might be effective closure activities. Among a number of suggestions, one of the teachers offered this idea: Have your students record what they learned in a "learning journal."

Wow. What a great idea. (Thanks, Scott.)

pandora.com
(Suggestion offered during seminar)

Playing music in your classroom during independent activities can be very beneficial. The only hassle is having to find the right CD to play. Not any more.

A teacher told me about pandora.com. It's a web site that streams music--think radio station without the commercials or commentary--based upon the music you've asked for. That's right. You merely type in the style of music would you like to hear--Bach was the example that the teacher mentioned--and the web site will play it for you. Uninterrupted. Non-stop. For as long as you want.

link to pandora.com

I tried it myself and it works great. I started out by typing "U2" at the prompt for "what kind of music would like to hear?" After a brief pause, pandora played a U2 cut. It was followed by a song by the Police--harmonically similar--and then a song by Cold Play. A Nirvana track was next and then it was back to U2. Wow.

Give it a try and see what you think. (Right now I'm listening to Electric Blues as I work on this entry. Definitely my kind of music.)

Note: You will need to have a set of speakers connected to your computer--see the suggestion in Chapter 4 of Eight Great Ideas--in order for your students to actually hear the music being played.

Introducing 3R Club stamp to students
(Email question)

Teacher: How should I introduce the 3R stamp to my students?

Here's a thought: Hand out paper copies of the 3R Club seal to your students. (Click on the link below to download the blackline master.) Explain that the 3 R's represent a student pledge which addresses three basic standards of behavior: 1) Respect myself by making good choices; 2) Respect my classmates by treating them kindly; and 3) Take responsibility for all of my actions. Tell them that as long as they are abiding by the 3 R's, they'll be able to keep their stamped paper. However, if they violate one of the standards, they will need to give back their stamped paper.

At the end of the day, everyone who still has his 3R Club paper can write his name on it and deposit it in a container. The teacher will then draw a paper--or twelve--from the container and hand out a simple prize.

After that simple introduction, you could then begin to use the stamp the way it was originally intended: to decorate notes, letters, and student behavior progress reports.

Download 3R stamp blackline master

Sign language crib sheet for substitute teacher
(Suggestion offered during seminar)

During a discussion of the use of sign language in the classroom, one of the teachers offered a great idea. She thought it might be beneficial to leave some kind of a crib sheet of signs, along with the sub plans, so that any visiting teacher--the term our district used for substitute teachers since they seemed to think "substitute" was demeaning--would be able to decipher the signs being used by the students.

With that thought in mind, I've created a one-page sheet of signs and what they mean. Feel free to download the file and print out a copy.

Download the sign language sheet

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