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Maintaining Student Engagement

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  • Part of your job as a teacher is to not only present material, but to present it in such a way that it makes your students want to learn it.

  • Find ways to give your students tactile learning experiences, where they can interact physically with the learning material.

  • Consider students’ individual interests, talents, personalities, and motivation levels when planning instruction.

  • When choosing a learning activity, aim for one that involves students in a meaningful way. Avoid busy work or tedious activities for no greater purpose than filling time.

  • Student disengagement or behavior problems are sometimes the result of activities not being learner-friendly. Put work into creating interesting learning experiences that draw on students’ natural curiosity.

  • An overwhelmed child is usually an unengaged child. Be aware of the range of learning abilities in your classroom and be willing to differentiate activities as needed for students who struggle.

  • Tactics to keep students engaged:

    • Varying voice tone

    • Using humor

    • Varying the intensity of the lesson

    • Clarifying the purpose of the lesson

    • Asking questions

    • Brainstorming together

    • Having students work in pairs/groups

    • Assigning manageable independent tasks

    • Sharing personal examples

    • Doing role-play

    • Using visual aids

    • Keep students moving physically

  • Involve all students in answering questions by using small whiteboards or scrap pieces of paper. Instead of only hearing from the smart, confident students, this allows everyone to engage with the material and gives you as the teacher an opportunity to call on shy, hesitant students when you can already see they have answered correctly.

  • Don’t try to compete with distractions. At times, you may need to remove the distraction before moving on with the lesson (for example, a bee is flying around the classroom). Other times, you may need to pause for a moment and experience the moment together (for example, the first snow of the season is falling outside the windows).

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Using Powerpoints

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  • Programs such as PowerPoint, Keynote, LibreOffice and Prezi help teachers to emphasize important points and use visuals in their lessons. Their use is an art well-worth mastering.

  • If you need training in the mechanics of using presentation software, go to the library and get one of those “for dummies” books. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to PowerPoint is one such example. Training videos can be found online as well.

  • Remember that efforts to attract attention too easily distract attention. While most presentation software gives you the ability to add flashing, buzzing, excessive color, and movement, don’t overuse these features.

  • Presentations should focus the audience’s attention on each piece of information. Rather than cramming as much as you can onto every slide, devote each slide to a single idea, and remove everything that might distract from that idea.

  • Font size should be at least 28 pt. If the text is too small to read, it loses all value.

  • Avoid slides filled with too much text. The words on the screen should emphasize what you’re talking about, not be a replacement for or exact copy of the words you’re saying.

  • The following websites offer more practical tips on how to create effective visual presentations:

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Classroom Management

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  • Rules and guidelines are essential to keep your classroom functioning smoothly and to provide security for the students and structure for the class.

  • Establish early on with your students why rules are important. Discuss the rules so the students know what they are and what they mean. Give examples and scenarios to help in explaining the rules.

Rules Vs. Expectations

  • Differentiate between rules and expectations.

    • Rules are general and overarching. You will want to have around 3-6 stated classroom rules—they are the essentials of how you will expect your students to behave. They may include things like “Listen when others are talking,” “Be respectful,” or “Obey the teacher.”

      • Rules are intentionally general to encompass a wide range of behaviors.

      • State rules in the positive. For example, “Speak only with permission,” not “No talking without raising your hand.”

      • When rules are broken, there should be consequences of some sort.

    • Expectations are more specific and granular than rules—they are simply the normal way in which you do things in your classroom. A smoothly functioning classroom will have dozens of expectations in place, such as, “This is how we pass out papers,” “This is what we do if we need to go to the bathroom,” or “This is what we do if we have a question.”

      • As a teacher, you should determine your expectations before school starts so that you can communicate them clearly to the students. This takes time and effort but will pay off in the long run.

      • Model expectations to students, or ask them to show you the right way to do something (after the expectation has been clearly established). Students should see, feel, and understand what is expected of them.

      • If a student breaks an expectation, it is generally better to have them practice doing the behavior the right way instead of enforcing a punishment.

Implementing Rules Consistently

  • Rules and expectations are only as good as the teacher who implements them. What one teacher finds works for them may not fit with another teacher’s personality or preferences.

  • For repeated rule-breaking, consequences should be cumulative. The first offense may mean a warning. The next offense merits abc, and the third offence xyz, with each consequence level being stiffer. (The consequence sequence can start over at various intervals depending on the age of the student. It may be daily for younger students or weekly or quarterly for older students).

  • Be clear. Know in your own mind what the rules means. Know what you want your classroom to be. Think about the types of behavior you don’t want to see and decide how you will deal with them when they arise.

  • Be consistent. Students will tend to push against boundaries to discover whether the boundaries hold or not. If you as the teacher uphold rules infrequently, it will lead to more bad behavior. If you hold a line consistently, students will cooperate. Children crave security, and a consistent teacher sends the message that they are dependable and students can trust them.

The Goals of Good Classroom Management

  • Your goal in creating rules is to create an environment where learning is the reason for doing school. If there is disorder and distraction, students cannot learn.

  • Your aim is for the student to take responsibility for their own actions.

  • Pursue the child’s heart, not just right actions. Chronic behavioral issues do not come without a reason—unstable home environments, struggling academically, attention-seeking, impulsivity, peer pressure, lack of sleep, poor nutrition, etc. Look diligently to find underlying causes.

  • Keep the “why” of discipline in front of you. The goal of classroom management is not to create a herd of robots who perfectly do what they’re told without a moment’s hesitation. The goal is to be part of forming people with soft hearts that are turned towards the Father.

Developing Procedures

  • Some areas to consider in building classroom procedures:

    • Student desks—how will you arrange the desks? Traditional rows? All facing forward?

    • Specific arrangement of desk contents—How will students learn to organize desk contents? How often will they be asked to tidy their desks?

    • Morning routines—what 3-5 things do you want students to do every morning when they arrive?

    • Restroom plan—When will students use the restroom? May they go during class time? What behavior do you expect in the restrooms?

    • Moving around the classroom—Are students allowed to get up and move around the classroom whenever they want? How will they know when are/aren’t appropriate times?

    • Moving around the building—Do you expect students to walk in the building? Are they allowed to talk while in the hallways?

    • Water-drinking plan—When will students get drinks? May they get up for a drink during class time? Are water bottles allowed by their desks?

    • Leaving and entering the room—Will they line up before exiting/entering the classroom? What is your recess equipment plan?

    • Lining up—How will they line up? Who goes first? Who holds the door?

    • Hand/finger signals—Will students be required to raise hands to speak? Will you have signals for asking permission to leave their desk, sharpen a pencil, get a tissue, go to the restroom, etc.?

    • Handing in books and papers—Where will students hand in their work? When? How? Plan and label locations.

    • Lunch time—Where will they eat? What is your hand-washing plan? What about microwave usage?

    • Pencils—When will the sharpener be used and by whom? How will you make sure there are enough sharp pencils on hand?

    • Free time—What will faster students do when they finish their work? What if they rush through work to have free time?

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Correcting or Disciplining Students

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General Considerations

  • When it comes to discipline, remember that the specific consequences you give are not as important as the way you present your plan, the matter-of-fact way you handle infractions, and the consistency with which you enforce your plan.

  • Remember “little problems, little solutions.” If you deal with things while they are small, you will find that smaller consequences can still be effective. If you struggle to find the courage to talk to a student early on, you often miss the opportunity to stop a habit before it gets worse and worse and spreads to other students.

  • Effective discipline fits into the following categories:

    • Clear and consistent—predictable and uniformly applied

    • Developmentally appropriate—suits the student’s age and temperament

    • Growth-promoting—fosters self-discipline and encourages students to reflect on their actions

    • Teaches skills—imparts social and life skills

    • Prompt but not hasty—addresses issues quickly but thoughtfully

    • Logical—the punishment fits the crime, as much as possible

    • Respectful—don’t embarrass students in front of their peers

  • Keep the “why” of discipline in front of you. The goal of enforcing rules is not to create a herd of robots who perfectly do what they’re told without a moment’s hesitation. The goal is to be part of forming people with soft hearts that are turned towards the Father.

  • Beware of letting emotionally unstable students become scapegoats who unfairly bear blame in situations where other factors are at play. For example, a student may have an outburst that was triggered by another student’s subtle provocation or stress due to overwhelm. Investigate causes rather than solely punishing behavior.

Addressing Misbehavior

  • When addressing misbehavior, have the student tell you what he did wrong. Beginning with, “Can you tell me what happened?” leads a child to confession or wrong (a nice way of saying, “So what did you do?”) That question can be followed by, “And why is that a problem?” This usually leads to talking about which rule/concept was violated.

    • Asking an erring child the question, “Why did you do it?” rarely brings good results.

    • If two disgruntled students sit in front of you, your approach will need to be a bit different. Asking “Can you tell me what happened?” usually leads to accusations and blaming. Instead, it often works well to say, “I want each of you to tell me what you did wrong. For right now you may not talk about what he did, only what you did.” This places the onus on each child to take responsibility for their own actions.

  • As much as possible, frame consequences in terms of the student’s choices. You want to prevent a you-versus-them mentality from developing, and one of the best ways to do that is to make it clear to your students that they are being punished because of their own choices.

  • Involving students in their own process of growth will look different depending on what age of students you are teaching, but in general, it’s a good goal to keep in front of you when punishment is necessary. “This needs to change, and you have the power to do that,” is a wonderful phrase to encourage students to take ownership for their own actions.

  • Monitor your feedback to ensure that you are not always negative or critical of children with behavior challenges. The child should not be receiving the teacher’s attention and help only when he is off-task or breaking a rule. Balance your correction with praise.

  • Be specific in your correction. “You need to behave!” is not good feedback. Instead, give students actionable feedback. Make sure they know what action you are talking about and make sure they know exactly what is expected of them instead.

Methods of Correction

  • There can be a power in making the entire class re-do a procedure or practice an appropriate behavior, even if it was just one or two students who didn’t comply. This teaches students that their actions affect everyone. This also creates positive peer pressure that works to your benefit. For example, “Let’s recite that chart again with everyone helping,” or “We were too noisy as we walked down the hall just now. Let’s go back to our classroom and try that again.”

  • Have a “ladder” of consequences. When a child misbehaves, start at the bottom rung of the ladder, which is a simple and unobtrusive consequence, such as simple eye contact and a slight shake of the head. If the student continues to misbehave, move “up the ladder” to more and more serious consequences. Frequency of infraction and how long you’ve been working on that particular behavior will dictate the speed at which you climb the ladder.

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Teaching Math

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Reasons Why Teaching Math Is Important

  • Math is essential for practical life skills, such as budgeting, building, cooking, and any job requiring precise calculations.

  • Math fosters orderly thinking, logical problem-solving, and careful work habits.

  • Math reflects God’s character, showcasing His order, precision, consistency, and dependability. It is described as the “blueprint of the universe” and the “language of the universe,” revealing God’s glory through its patterns and structures.

  • Studying math allows students to “think God’s thoughts after Him” (Johannes Kepler).

  • Math is not neutral; it is a subject that can draw students’ minds to God’s attributes and foster a biblical worldview.

General Guidelines and Teaching Tips

  • Students should be given the opportunity to engage with real problems that require significant effort but are within their ability to solve.

  • Guide your students in rejecting fixed notions of “smartness.” There is no such thing as a “math person.” Instead, foster a growth mindset, encouraging students to remember that anyone can learn math with the right explanation and enough effort. Reframe “math is hard” as “math is challenging.”

  • Struggle is valuable for building neural connections. Let students struggle briefly with problems, but don’t let them struggle alone for so long that they get overwhelmed.

  • Normalize mistakes as learning opportunities, not failures. You can highlight “good mistakes” for discussion, avoiding shame and focusing on why errors occur rather than demanding corrections of all wrong answers.

  • Prioritize skills like logical thinking and conceptual understanding over speed in calculations. Focus on process and understanding, not quickly-gained correct answers.

  • Teach the concept before the skill. You will use repetitive practice to automate skills, but ensure conceptual understanding first.

  • Students often complain that “math is useless.” Whenever possible, use real-world examples to help combat this mindset. Also, emphasize that math develops the mind, fostering discipline and problem-solving. Those things prepare students for life, even if specific equations are never directly applied.

  • Group work can be a powerful tool for high-achieving and low-achieving students alike. Low achievers can benefit from hearing concepts being explained in a slightly different way, and high achievers strengthen their own understanding by helping those who are struggling.

  • Consider allowing students to do their calculations on graph paper, particularly for lengthy processes like long division. The grid helps keep numbers in a straight line both horizontally and vertically. This can improve accuracy dramatically for some students.

Elementary

  • Spend time and energy instilling strong number sense into young students. This often comes through lots of hands-on work with manipulatives as well as intentional focus on teaching the concepts of basic math. Only teaching rote memorization of facts with no deeper understanding of the concepts sets students up with a shaky mathematical foundation.

  • Use visuals and stories to help concepts stick. Incorporating imagination helps learning stick for young students.

  • Putting a particular focus on the following topics can help students obtain foundational skills that will be needed for higher-level math:

    • Long division

    • Fractions (especially multiplying and dividing fractions)

    • Decimals and percentages

    • Place value

Junior High and High School

  • In the upper grades, math fosters critical thinking and problem-solving skills rather than basic concepts. Emphasize that the purpose of learning math is to foster deeper-level thinking skills, handle complexity, and equip students to serve in God’s kingdom.

  • Require students to show all steps for multi-step problems. While mental arithmetic is useful, solving multi-step problems mentally builds a fragile foundation that collapses with complexity.

  • To manage workload, focus on checking key problems, not every one.

  • Teach standard notation (e.g. variables in alphabetical order with coefficients first) for consistency across curricula and readability in advanced math.

  • Award partial credit for correct processes in algebra, as the process is key.

Recommended Resources for Various Topics

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Teaching Literature

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Reasons Why Teaching Literature Is Important

  • Through literature, students gain experiences that are wider than just their own history or experiences in life. They are exposed to other worldviews, cultures, and perspectives.

  • Stories often help students understand things they know at a head level, but come to feel more deeply by experiencing it in a story. This begins to actually change their values and decisions. Literature fosters wisdom.  

  • Helping the students engage with a literary work can impact how they live their lives from that day forward. (Good literature will influence a student’s attitudes, thinking, or understanding in some way, even if they don’t always remember later that they’ve read it).

  • When you discuss literary pieces, it gives you opportunities to deal with things of substance that make life what it is, opens doors for discussion, develops the skills in students to talk about what they’re thinking, and helps students learn from each other’s insights.

  • Teaching literature helps to develops students’ critical thinking skills, which is part of building thoughtful Christians and kingdom citizens.

General Advice and Teaching Tips

  • Use questions to explore stories. This leads students to discover the truth for themselves (instead of you simply telling them what you think the meaning of the text is).

  • Some students struggle to understand what they’re reading. Teaching them the following tools may be helpful:

    • Think aloud

      • Model for your students how you can have an internal dialogue while reading a text. Project the first page of a story or a difficult section of a textbook. Read the text aloud, stopping often to share your thoughts. Point to the words in the text that trigger your thinking. Ask questions. Connect information from one concept to the next.

    • Mark the text

      • If a student has a personal workbook, the marking can be done directly in the book; if the student is using a shared textbook, the marking can be done on sticky notes and placed in the text.

      • Have students mark main ideas, background knowledge, or questions they have about the text.

  • Utilize pre-reading activities, which prepare students for what they are going to encounter in the text and get them interested in the story before they even start reading. Pre-reading activities may include:

    • Vocabulary—make sure that students are equipped to understand unfamiliar words or concepts.

    • Brainstorming—very quickly allow students to interact with a question that introduces the theme of the story.

    • Hooks—give a question that has no answer, share a personal anecdote, show a picture prompt, use an object that is related to the story, predict what may happen in the story based on the title, etc.

    • Graphic organizer—use something like a KWL chart (letting students fill in what they already Know about a subject and what they Wonder about. After reading, they can fill in what they have Learned about the story). Bubble maps or Venn diagrams work well also.

  • When it comes to vocabulary, be aware that there is a lot of academic-specific vocabulary that students will only interact with in the classroom. In addition, there will be a vast span in the known vocabulary of your students based on their language exposure up to this point. It is the responsibility of the teacher to address these discrepancies so that every child can understand what they’re reading.

  • Use literature class as an opportunity to develop the following skills:

    • Summarizing

    • Identifying the main idea

    • Inferring (reading between the lines)

    • Distinguishing fact from opinion

    • Applying wisdom principals to life

    • Narrating (retelling the story from memory)

  • Use a variety of oral reading methods to maintain engagement:

    • Round robin—students read assigned portions in order, going around the room

    • Pulling sticks—randomly select readers using popsicle sticks with names

    • Chain reading—set a timer (e.g. 45 seconds) for each reader

    • Readers’ theater—assign dialogue or narration roles

    • Fill-in-the-word—teacher reads, students chime in with specific words

    • Popcorn reading—students read one sentence each

    • Group/pair reading—small groups read together

  • Encourage deeper discussion through book clubs, literature workshops, Socratic seminars, etc., where students must prepare and study on their own before engaging with the content as a class

Recommended Resources

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Teaching English and Grammar

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Reasons Why Teaching English and Grammar Is Important

  • Language is powerful—it can be both a tool and a weapon. It is important that we use tools proficiently and use weapons responsibly.

  • Using correct grammar improves both verbal and written communication, which are essential life skills and kingdom-building assets. Some examples of these life skills include the following:

    • Proficient Bible reading

    • Ability to communicate in relationships

    • Church-building (clear, effective communication with fellow members)

    • Outreach (such as ESL teaching abroad)

    • Committee work (ability to write clear minutes or reports)

  • Various studies show that understanding grammar boosts a student’s reading comprehension.

  • Understanding the grammar of one’s native language is essential in learning a second or third language. Studying English thoroughly gives a huge gift to students with a future in mission work and Bible translation.

General Advice and Teaching Tips

  • If your students are struggling to enjoy grammar class, examine whether you are modeling enthusiasm for the subject. A teacher who shows passion and energy for the subject at hand makes that enthusiasm infectious (even if you are struggling to always feel it).

  • Think of teaching English like a jigsaw puzzle, where various topics you teach are different pieces of the puzzle. As students get older, they acquire more pieces of the puzzle and need help to fit those pieces together. When students receive a “new piece,” they need to be shown how it fits into the big picture, or the piece is likely to get lost.

  • Make sure your knowledge extends past your students’ knowledge, as you cannot teach effectively from the edge of the cliff of your knowledge. Consider personally working through the books for the next two grades beyond the one you teach to give you a better understanding.

  • Mix hands-on activities with lecturing. Be intentional about engaging different learning styles, such as audio or movement.

  • Incorporate games and other activities such as the following:

    • Read a story and have students raise their hands when they hear a certain part of speech

    • Do mad libs

    • Make teams and do competitions

    • Play an ongoing “penny, please” game for grammar usage at school

    • Let students identify parts of speech in a funny or interesting paragraph

    • Make up sentences about the students in your classroom or things that happened at school to use for diagramming or finding parts of speech.

  • Flowcharts can be an incredibly valuable tool in grammar class. They are a powerful visual that boost comprehension and retention and prevent students from getting stuck.

  • Acronyms, mnemonics, or other creative mental pictures help students to remember concepts.

Recommended Resources

Research Papers

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Teaching Writing

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Reasons Why Teaching Writing Is Important

  • Writing is a powerful way to record and share God’s goodness, truth, and beauty. Writing gives students skills to articulate their faith in powerful ways.

  • God values the written word and the telling of stories—this is shown all throughout Scripture.

  • Writing helps students understand truth. When they can explain something through writing, they will truly understand it. Whether it’s a deep theological concept or a retelling of something learned in history class, the act of writing forces students to develop a deeper understanding of a topic.

  • Our world is broken, and it desperately needs skilled writers to speak into the brokenness with a message of hope. In order for this to happen, we need to build writing skills in our students to enable them to share life and light through their words.

  • An age of technology and AI threatens originality, creativity, and imagination. Creative writing classes give students opportunities to exercise their imaginations at school.

General Advice and Teaching Tips

  • Emphasize flow over perfection when students are writing rough drafts. The goal of a first draft is output, and stopping to fix grammar or spelling works against that goal. If students are unsure of how to spell words, emphasize that phonetic spelling is perfectly acceptable.

  • Consider that intense editing of grammar and spelling should not be the norm. There are already entire class periods every day dedicated to those skills. In writing class, students should be allowed to focus on the skill of writing. Require students to read back over what they’ve written to make sure it says what they wanted it to say and catch the obvious errors. However, they should not need to feel the need to edit and rewrite most pieces, especially not at the expense of creative writing experiences.

  • Suggestions for helping struggling writers:

    • Fold a paper in halves or thirds—this can eliminate the overwhelming feeling of a big blank page.

    • Guide your students in brainstorming activities before they write. This means they don’t need to complete the demanding tasks of idea generation and writing simultaneously.

    • Showing students an example of the type of writing you’d like them to produce can provide a model for the less creative.

    • Play instrumental music while students are writing. Studies have shown that for many people, background music is effective in focusing their creative energy.

    • Ask students questions about what they are writing to help them better visualize what they are trying to describe. Some students may benefit from drawing a picture first, then describing what they have drawn.

    • Read this article for more suggestions and more details about the above suggestions: Do the Write Thing, Part 4: Engaging with Reluctant Writers - The Dock for Learning

  • Make writing time a priority. When writing is ordinary and routine, students learn to anticipate the class and mentally prepare themselves for it.

  • Remember that writing is personal. Each person has their own style and unique ability. Encourage the best in each student but allow them their own expression.

  • Don’t overgrade writing assignments. Focus your feedback with a mixture of encouragement (noting places that are written well) and suggestions for improvement (“try this . . .”) Be sure to give feedback on the actual writing, not just mechanics like grammar and spelling.

  • When grading is necessary, a rubric is an invaluable tool for assessing writing assignments which are, by nature, subjective. For guidance in creating and using rubrics, check out these resources:

Recommended Resources: Lower grades

Recommended Resources: Upper grades

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Teaching Spelling and Vocabulary

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Reasons Why Teaching Spelling and Vocabulary Is Important

  • Words are living, powerful, and important. Learning to use them correctly honors that gravity.

  • A word reflects the essence of a thing. Understanding the vocabulary we use is vital to comprehending and communicating.

General Advice and Teaching Tips

  • Studies have shown the importance of learning vocabulary words in context. Giving a list of words and definitions and focusing on memorization is the least effective manner of learning new vocabulary. Consider the following tips to teach vocab more effectively:

    • Have students write individual sentences for each vocabulary word (sentences must show the definition of the word in context)

    • Have students make synonym lists for each of the words.

    • Illustrate words instead of copying definitions. Students could make flashcards with a picture on one side and the word on the other.

    • Have students report whenever they hear a vocabulary word being used outside of the classroom environment, such as at church, on the radio, or in adult conversations. The student needs to explain the context/conversation in which the word was used. This could be paired with some sort of prize or motivational system.

  • Ensure that students are interacting with spelling words in a variety of ways, not simply writing out the list each day. Provide a combination of written and oral activities to help them practice.

  • Most times, by high school, formal spelling programs have stopped. Instead, students could keep a spelling notebook or stack of notecards on which they keep track of their own misspelled words throughout their daily schoolwork.

Recommended Resources

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Teaching Science

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Reasons Why Teaching Science Is Important

  • Science cultivates wonder, and a posture of wonder is a very Christ-like posture.

  • Nature declares God’s glory, and science class is a chance to explore those declarations.

  • God has commanded us to care for the earth and to love and serve our neighbors. Learning about the earth is part of caring for it well. On the other hand, ignorance about the way the physical world works can be harmful.

General Advice and Teaching Tips

  • Do not expect to inspire wonder in your students if you do not first engage in the preparation it requires to thrill yourself in what you’re teaching.

  • Beware of giving explanations too quickly. Instead, ask students “Why?” and let them puzzle over the answers before you explain things in detail.

  • Don’t shy away from doing experiments—students learn so much more when they see actual things being done rather than just reading it in the book (though reading it in the book is important, too). Make experiments easier for yourself by planning ahead. Before school starts, get a bin and collect everything that you will need to do the experiments, or at least look a few days ahead and get the supplies that will be needed.

  • Science sketchbooks are a wonderful teaching tool. Give each student a blank sketchbook with no lines. As you are going over the lesson, encourage students to draw (using colored pencils) and label the main points of what you are studying that day. Tell your students what to draw and model it for them on the board.

  • Go on nature walks. You can use this time to find examples of what you have been studying in science.

  • Consider assigning text reading as homework. This allows you to maximize class time for exploration and demonstrations.

  • It’s okay to admit when the full understanding of something is beyond your grasp—in fact, knowledge limits highlight God’s expansiveness. You can tell students, “I know it works, here’s what I grasp.”

Recommended Resources

Below you will find some general, multi-use application resources. However, the Dock contains hundreds of science resources shared by teachers, such as worksheets, study guides, tests, and more. Go to https://thedockforlearning.org/ and search for your specific theme or science curriculum—you may find that another teacher has shared something that can be useful to you.

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Teaching Civics and Economics

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Reasons Why Teaching Civics and Economics Is Important

  • Humanistic and materialistic values are subtly displayed in messages all throughout daily life. The goal is to disciple youth to recognize and counter this “invisible” saturation.

  • Anabaptists have a unique culture of strength from which to approach these subjects (e.g. prioritizing community over self and the two-kingdoms theology).

  • Giving students knowledge about these topics enables them to:

    • Pray and respect from an informed position

    • Determine their responsibilities relating to the law

    • Better understand current social problems and tensions

    • Develop critical thinking skills

    • Make informed financial decisions (personally and on a business level someday)

    • Understand how the past informs the future

    • Develop a calling of their duty to their community, nation, and humanity as a whole

General Advice and Teaching Tips

  • Instead of focusing only on rote facts, let your underlying push be to transmit truth across generations, using history and culture as identity markers. Make it your goal to instill Anabaptist identity without fostering egotism.

  • To keep a two-kingdom concept in mind while teaching civics, consider teaching rights and responsibilities through the lens of being “responsible aliens.”

Recommended Resources

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Teaching History

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Reasons Why Teaching History Is Important

  • The purpose of teaching history is to help students understand the world so they can more effectively serve God in it.

  • History is messy and many ugly things have happened. History class is a chance to dive into that messiness and see how God is working to redeem this broken world.

  • History class is a chance to teach students foundational truths about the world and about people, such as the following:

    • People are created in God’s image. They are intelligent, creative, and resourceful, and can be brave and compassionate. Humanity can do great things.

    • People and the world are fallen. Sin has corrupted humanity. People are idolatrous, vain, foolish, selfish, and stubborn. Sin has broken the relationship between humanity and the universe.

    • People act in their best interests as they perceive them. People do not act randomly; rather, they act according to their desires. However, human desires are corrupt and short-sighted, tending to lead to misery.

    • People set themselves in opposition to those they perceive as different, leading to war, genocide, and exploitation.

    • Very few of history’s conflicts involve the good guys vs. the bad guys. We have a natural tendency to look for narratives of good vs. evil, but it’s usually the bad guys vs. the other bad guys, and sometimes the bad guys vs. the worse guys.

    • God is redeeming the world through Jesus. God’s grace has been at work throughout all of history, and He promises to redeem the world fully one day. We can teach history with hope.

  • History class is a chance to explore topics like God’s sovereignty and His hand at work in world events.

General Advice and Teaching Tips

  • Keep the purpose of teaching history in front of you (to help students understand the world so they can serve God more effectively). Don’t worry about getting students to memorize every bold term in the history textbook. Instead, teach them how the world got to be the way it is. This teaching will include many of those bold terms, but they must be part of the story and not substitutes for the story.

  • It’s important not to bend history to fit into a narrative you are trying to teach your students. Sometimes people tend to learn what they feel like learning from history. Instead, it takes a lot of work to teach the skill of seeing what the past has left to us and drawing conclusions from that instead of imposing conclusions on it.

  • Suggestions for making history more engaging for your students:

    • Show actual pictures. Use drawings when pictures are not available.

    • Put the students into the scenario being studied. Guide them in using their imaginations to do this.

    • Embrace project-based, hands-on, and discovery-driven learning.

    • Use mnemonics to memorize facts.

    • Use primary sources when possible.

  • Beware of subtle messaging that may be present in history textbooks, even Christian ones. Christian nationalism, just war theory, and America-centric statements need to be addressed as contrary to the way of Jesus.

  • Strong history teaching requires preparation beyond facts. It’s important to also emphasize the following:

    • Cohesive worldview—a right view of God as sovereign and redemptive, a right view of this world as fallen, and a right view of humans as unique in God’s eyes but fallen and imperfect.

    • Development of skills—history class should offer the building of text-reading, geography, and research skills.

    • Storytelling—history should be seen and taught as a broader story, not an isolated telling of certain events.

Recommended Resources

Below you will find some general, multi-use application resources. However, the Dock contains hundreds of history resources shared by teachers, such as worksheets, powerpoints, study guides, tests, and more. Go to https://thedockforlearning.org/ and search for your specific curriculum or time period—you may find that another teacher has shared something that can be useful to you.

Sources

Teaching Music

The Dock

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Reasons Why Teaching Music Is Important

  • Music is something eternal, something worth putting time and energy into. There aren’t many things that all age groups in a community can do together, but music is one of them.

  • Music is essential in the kingdom of God, not optional. It connects to God’s heart, drives out darkness, speaks truth, and draws us to worship.

  • Songs impact us and stick with us. They shape our loves and desires. They are powerful influences in our lives.

  • Singing is a joyful, embodied experience—a way to love God with the whole self.

General Advice and Teaching Tips

  • Teach students to sing with their tongues up against their bottom teeth. This creates more resonance.

  • Start music classes with regular pitch-matching exercises.

  • Teaching students systems like takadimi and solfege hand signs is helpful in giving students concrete ways to work with music.

  • If singing is a struggle, consider doing it in smaller segments to keep everyone’s mood from deteriorating. If you are frustrated and it’s showing, it will undermine the good feelings and joy that singing is supposed to promote.

  • Consider trying to achieve the following goals through music class:

    • Students will have proficiency in reading music.

    • Students will have basic singing skills such as accurate pitch, the ability to blend to a unison choral sound, and experience in participating in group harmony.

    • Students will be able to lead singing.

    • Students will have an understanding of baseline theory (i.e. note names, rhythms, time signatures, key signatures, and accidentals).

Elementary

  • Help elementary students gain confidence in singing solos by making a game out of it. Have a few finger puppets and have students sing “as the puppet.” Another option is to toss a ball or beanbag to various students while standing in a circle. Whoever is holding the object sings a phrase of the song, then tosses it on to another person, who sings the next phrase.

  • Especially for younger students, incorporate motions and movement with singing. Singing is a whole-body experience.

  • Tips to help monotone singers:

    • Recognize that this is very normal in young students, and many will outgrow it by third grade.

    • Daily practice (very few people are actually tone deaf; many who struggle to match pitches just haven’t had enough exposure to singing).

    • Place struggling students near confident singers.

    • Have students match a pitch you sing on a hum, then note discrepancies (“You sang __. Try a little higher like this __.”) You can do this in pairs to make students feel less singled out.

Junior High and High School

  • Be aware and empathetic of the voice changes that students encounter through grades 6-9. Boys’ voices change, drop unpredictably, crack, and have a limited range. Girls’ voices often have a breathy quality during these years. Change your expectations during these years, perhaps focusing more on building rhythmic skills than in doing a lot of pitch-matching.

Recommended Resources

Sources

Teaching Art

The Dock

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Reasons Why Teaching Art Is Important

  • Investing in children’s artistic gifts can profoundly shape their life and service to God’s kingdom.

  • Art fosters innovative thinking and creative expression, along with building fine motor skills.

  • Art class may be a chance for certain students to shine, especially some who may not excel in athletics or academics.

  • Art is a way of creating, something that humans are uniquely gifted to do as made in the image of a Creator God.

  • It’s very valuable for students to be able to express themselves through the arts. Not every student will be a naturally gifted artist, but art class gives even those students an opportunity to learn about how others express themselves, as well as the ability to be able to read and interpret what they’re seeing when they look at art.

General Advice and Teaching Tips

  • If you are coming up with your own art projects (i.e. no curriculum), do some research of what artistic concepts and skills your grade level should be learning. Use that information to guide the types of projects you choose.

  • Try to give your students experience in a variety of mediums (e.g. pencil, chalk, pastel, paint, charcoal, sculpting clay, etc.)

  • Plan ahead before school starts

    • Get enough art ideas together for most of the year.

    • Make an example of each one.

    • Note any preparation that needs to be done before art class such as parts of the project that will be too difficult for your age level.

    • Make a list of supplies needed for the project.

    • Make a list of the art projects that you have ready to go so that you can see at a glance what you have available when art class rolls around. Make an educated guess about how long an art project will take and write that down as well.

    • Prepare any harder parts of the project that you need to do before class.

    • Go shopping and get enough supplies for the year!

  • Plan ahead the day before art class

    • Have an example to show the students.

    • Have all the copies made and supplies handy.

    • Think through the art class keeping in mind your students’ abilities.

      • What is going to be new for them?

      • On which parts will they need the teacher’s help? Will one teacher reach around for this project or should you ask someone else to come and help?

      • What is the best way to explain how to do this project? Can you just explain how to do it at the beginning of class or will you need to have them do it step by step all together?  Would this be a good project for working in pairs?

    • Have extra supplies ready so that they can practice a new skill before trying it on their project.

    • Plan to keep the students busy. Will you be able to keep twelve second graders busy the whole time with this project, or do you need another simple project that they can work on by themselves while they are waiting for the teacher’s help on a difficult part?

  • Plan cleanup time

    • For messy projects, it works well to put wax paper or newspaper on the students’ desks before they start.

    • If they are painting, have cups of water for the children to wash their brushes. Have rags handy to dry their brushes and wipe up spills.  You may want to have a dishpan of water and a towel in the room for them to wash and dry their hands.

    • Make students responsible to help you clean up. Give them clear directions about how you want them to clean up, where you want them to put their project, etc.

  • Plan ahead the day of art class

    • Give clear direction about what you expect during art class and stick to your word.

      • Are you going to ask them to be quiet, allow them to whisper, or allow them to talk?

      • Are they allowed to get out of their seats without permission?

    • Require your students to be quiet and pay attention when you are explaining something. It is no use talking if your students are not listening.

    • Encourage positive comments. Help students to compliment their classmates’ work and accept compliments graciously on their own work.

Recommended Resources

Sources

Teaching Bible

The Dock

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Reasons Why Teaching Bible Is Important  

  • As an educator, you have the creative position of a sculptor who shapes people who learn, ask questions, and grow skills in studying and talking about the most important text of their lives: the Bible.  

  • Faithful Bible reading and teaching is not only for adults with the spiritual gift of teaching. It is for everyone. You can help to normalize the process of reading, studying, and teaching the Bible so that it becomes part of the fabric of your students’ lives.  

  • The Word of God is living, powerful, and precious. Because of this, it is of inestimable value to have God’s Word become deeply ingrained in the hearts and minds of our children from a very young age. This happens through things like regular Bible class and required Bible memorization.  

  • When done well, teaching Bible class creates world-changers. It teaches students to be relational with God, humble doers, and equipped for kingdom service.  

General Advice and Teaching Tips  

  • Try to find the balance between academic rigor in Bible class (this is important; it should be treated with equal importance as other subjects) and keeping the curriculum manageable (frustration kills joy). 

  • Model the skills of reading, studying, and teaching the Bible in your classroom. Then give your students opportunities to practice and improve in the skills themselves.  

  • A big part of learning to tell Bible stories well is practicing saying it out loud to yourself first. You want to be able to engage with the students while telling the story, not be tied to reading from a book.  

  • Use maps. Point to them and show the students where things happened. You can also get little maps and have students color them as you are studying about that particular area.  

  • Have students read the Scripture passages aloud, one verse per person. Have them all open their Bibles and follow along.  

  • Make things practical to your students’ lives whenever possible.  

  • Show pictures or bring in items for every noun that is unusual. For example: leeks, pomegranates, shofar, ephod, showbread, oil lamps, etc.  

  • One helpful format for teaching a Bible passage is Hook-Book-Look-Took: 

  • Hook: Awaken hunger and interest with an evocative question, interesting prop, or startling statement  

  • Book: Read Biblical text together  

  • Look: Explore the meaning of the verses  

  • Took: Apply the passage to students’ own lives  

Elementary  

  • Study and discussion skills to model and cultivate:  

  • Use picture posters, a flannelgraph, or an illustrated book. Read several verses or a paragraph while showing the corresponding picture.  

  • Explain/narrate/interpret.  

  • Read the next section of verses while holding up its illustration.  

  • Display pictures as you go. When you finish the story, you’ll have a series (5-6) of pictures on the board. Or you can draw simple figures on the board to show characters, action, and story progression.  

  • Use this lineup of pictures to review key vocabulary and plot points. Ask them questions. Themes and important points will come out of this exchange of questions and observations.  

  • Have students summarize the story to a conversation partner. They can refer to the pictures and your review as they do.  

Junior High and High School  

  • As students get older and their minds develop, it is appropriate to move from factual, knowledge-based Bible teaching to deeper, heart-level issues.  

  • Focus on modelling and cultivating presentation and discussion skills.  

  • Assign students to share devotions or lead discussions. If you have too many students for each to take a turn to speak to the whole group, divide them into smaller groups and appoint several presenters to share simultaneously.  

  • Encourage students to study, listen, and interact with Scripture with others in community (i.e. their classmates).  

  • Complete an evaluation sheet for a student’s presentation and/or have them reflect on their own presentation and other students’ presentations. Reflecting, evaluating, and giving/receiving feedback is crucial because it offers perspective and interaction that the individual would have missed if reflecting only by him/herself.  

  • Requiring students to prepare before a discussion can greatly aid student involvement. For example, the night before a discussion of Acts 1-2, you could give students a homework assignment of writing a short paragraph in response to the question, “What is the importance of the ascension?” This gives students time to think about the topic beforehand, which especially helps those who need longer to think about a topic before they are comfortable contributing their thoughts. Also, if students are not engaged, you can call on them, knowing they have something to answer.  

  • Have students take a moment to reflect following a discussion. This may be as simple as handing out notecards and having them write down what they learned today.  

Bible Memory 

  • Especially for younger students, be sure to devote some time to discussing the meaning of the passage and explaining difficult words.  

  • Intentionally build systems into place that prevent students from a “cram it and forget it” mindset. Group practice each day is an easy first step in accomplishing this.  

  • Tips for helping students memorize passages:  

  • Type out the passage including clipart, various colors, and different fonts to help make it more visual.  

  • Split passages into sections of two to four verses and learn a section at a time.  

  • Make up motions for the verses.  

  • Model using good expression and voice inflection.  

  • Allow students to study with a partner.  

  • Give students opportunities to practice their verses throughout the day, perhaps while waiting in line or as a transition between classes.  

  • Give older students a sheet that has only the first letter of each word of the passage. For example, John 3:16 would be written ”F G s l t w, t h g h o b s, t w b i h s n p, b h e l.” This forces the brain to recall and is a very effective memorization tool.  

  • Consider the pros and cons of various ways of having students present the passage. Consider giving students a few options, as different individuals will prefer different methods.  

  • Have students recite it individually during class time such as handwriting, silent reading, or study hall.  

  • Have students recite it individually before or after school or during recess.  

  • Allow students to write the passage by hand. A variation of this would be giving the students a sheet that has a blank for each word of the passage.  

  • Allow young students to recite the passage in small groups.  

Recommended Resources 

Sources 

Teaching Electives

The Dock

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General Advice and Tips

  • Electives offer students as much diversity in learning as possible. With a small high school and limited resources, you may need to be creative in how you offer a variety of classes for your students. Not all electives can be traditional, teacher-taught classes. Some examples:

    • Homeschool courses

    • Online courses

    • Programs like Rosetta Stone or DuoLingo for language study

  • As a school, you will need to find the balance between offering diversity to expand students’ horizons and not stretching yourself too thin. There is a time to cut out what you’re not doing well and focus instead on what you can do well.

  • Another option is to offer not-for-credit learning experiences during lunch. They are optional and can change every quarter. They might include things like art, photography, foreign language study, fitness classes, etc.

  • Actively encourage extracurricular study in areas of student interest. Try to give students time to read, research, and explore the things they are wondering about.

Resources

The following are examples from various schools of how they implement elective courses for their high school students:

Sources

Special Education and Learning Struggles

The Dock

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General

  • Our classrooms are diverse places, full of diverse people. Our students have wide-ranging interests, ability levels, backgrounds, and cultures. We need to embrace each of their differences and what we can learn from them. The concepts of community, empathy, and caring for each other in spite of our differences are all things we should be cultivating in the context of the classroom.

  • Christians should be the biggest champions for acceptance of individuals with disabilities. Acceptance involves loving these students as they are and doing everything we can to help promote their maximum growth.

  • God has created each person beautifully, and they are unique and loved. Recognizing the reality of various differences and limitations in students is part of honoring their unique personhood. We do not expect the person who cannot carry a tune to be our primary song leader or expect the child with the broken leg to be able to run. In the same way, not accepting the legitimate limitations of those with neurodivergence is demoralizing and unloving.

  • When it comes to learning disabilities, recognize that there is a range from mild to moderate to severe to profound.

  • In order for an individual to be diagnosed with a learning disability, it needs to be significantly impacting their functioning in life or their performance in the classroom (compared to typical development).

  • Be aware of how you use labels. Labels don’t limit an individual or capture the whole person. They don’t define the entirety of who they are or enable them to have an excuse to not reach their full potential. However, labels are a beneficial tool to describe the reality of what is going on. It helps you to understand the student better and know where to look for resources to help them. Labels can be a profound relief to a student, giving an explanation to the incredible challenges a student may be facing and providing hope for a way forward.

  • Early warning signs that a child might have a special need:

    • Delayed language—by the time a child enters school, they should be able to speak in complete sentences and answer basic questions.

    • Delayed physical development—this can take on multiple forms, such as the following:

      • Impulsive/overflow movements such as head-banging desk when fatigued or other repetitive behaviors

      • Infant-like behaviors such as finger-sucking, drooling, easy startling, etc.

      • Ungraceful movements such as difficulty navigating stairs, unusual stiffness/rigidity, whole-body turns for balance, etc.

      • Gross motor gaps such as inability to skip, hop, bike, or swing by school age

    • Unmastered preschool concepts—if a child is struggling significantly with counting, sequencing, or basic concepts such as less and more, it may signal a deeper issue.

ADHD

  • What ADHD is:

    • A persistent pattern of inattention

    • Hyperactivity or impulsivity that interferes with functioning or development

    • Ongoing, continual, and interfering with the ability to complete daily responsibilities

    • A physical difference in some people’s brains that can be seen with brain scans

  • What ADHD isn’t:

    • An occasional feeling of restlessness you get after you’ve sat for too long or the reason why you feel like you need to fidget with your pencil

    • Regular forgetfulness, like not being able to remember what you wanted to get at the grocery store

    • A term to be thrown around jokingly (for some people, it is a real and serious issue that affects their lives deeply)

  • There are three main types of ADHD:

    • Inattentive—the individual is distractable, whether with external things or internal things. People with the inattentive style of ADHD will struggle with working memory, making it very difficult for them to remember what tasks they are supposed to complete.

    • Hyperactive/Impulsive—the individual is restless and keeps moving around or cannot stop talking. People with the hyperactive style of ADHD will make impulsive, rapid decisions without weighing consequences first.

    • Combined—the most common type, where the individual struggles with both the inattentive and the hyperactive components of ADHD.

  • It can be challenging to know if a child’s inattentive or hyperactive behavior is a part of typical childhood development or a symptom of ADHD. An assessment by a family doctor is required to diagnose someone with ADHD. Additionally, the following checklist could be used as a tool to help give you a frame of reference: ADHD Checklist - The Dock for Learning

  • ADHD is highly hereditary (75%). The other 25% is environmental, particularly triggered by stressful or traumatic experiences when a child is very young.

  • Some things that can help students with ADHD:

    • Provide a structured and routine classroom environment

    • Provide a few minutes of advance notice when an activity or location will change

    • Put a checklist on students’ desks that give a list of the tasks they need to complete

    • Incorporate regular times of movement into the flow of your day

    • Products such as a kick fix, wobble cushion, or time timer

    • Provide the option of “two offices,” one in a regular desk and one at an alternate spot in the classroom

    • Wearing earmuffs can help block out distractions

    • Reward good behavior and shower them with positive feedback

    • Plan to check in with them more regularly to monitor their work

    • Make curricular adjustments as needed

Dyslexia

  • Dyslexia is diagnosed when an individual has an average or above-average IQ, but below-average ability to read and write and spell.

  • Dyslexia is caused by a physical difference in how the brain processes language. This has been viewed using fMRI imaging.

  • Dyslexia is caused by a lack of phonological awareness, which is the ability to hear and manipulate sounds in spoken language. Children with dyslexia struggle to break the sounds of language into each of its individual pieces, right down to the individual sounds that make up words.

  • How to help children with dyslexia (this will vary based on the severity of the dyslexia):

    • Teach phonics very explicitly in the lower grades

    • Read tests aloud for students with dyslexia—this ensures you are testing their knowledge, not their reading ability

    • Provide one-on-one instruction with a tutor

  • Curricula that can help students with dyslexia learn to read:

    • Heggerty (whole-class instruction)

    • All About Reading (one-on-one for younger students)

    • Barton Reading and Spelling (one-on-one for older students)

  • Myths about dyslexia:

    • Students with dyslexia see things backwards. This is not the case, as dyslexia is caused by a problem with the way the brain processes sounds, not anything to do with the vision portion of the brain. Students with dyslexia may read saw for was, but they will also read house instead of home or horse. The problem lies with their difficulty in applying phonics to sound out the words.

    • Confusing b and d is a sign of dyslexia. Actually, when a child is first learning to read and write, it is normal to display some b/d confusion. This can persist through their first two or three years of learning letters, even for children without dyslexia. The time to get concerned is if they cannot verbally answer the question, “What is the first sound in ball?” by saying “b.”

    • Students will outgrow their dyslexia. Actually, as students get older, the gap between their reading abilities and their peer’s reading abilities will only continue to grow. The reading difficulty you are seeing in a young student will not miraculously disappear.

    • Students with dyslexia will always be poor readers. While it is true that those who start out struggling significantly compared to peers will always struggle compared to peers, this is only the case if they are given the same instruction their peers are given. That ends up being a key distinction, as there are many research-proven interventions that can help those with dyslexia learn to read. Brain scans have shown that Orton-Gillingham based programs (such as Barton or All About Reading) can actually rewire the brain and strengthen reading skills.

  • Often students with dyslexia have internalized lies about themselves such as “I’m stupid” or “I’m different in a bad way.” They may benefit from watching the following video that explains dyslexia in child-friendly language. Dyslexia: An Explanation for Kids - The Dock for Learning

Autism

  • Autism is a well-documented physiological disorder in which distinct changes in the neurons, gray matter, and white matter of the brain have been viewed with MRI brain images.

  • Autism is a spectrum disorder, meaning there is a continuum of ability levels within individuals with the disorder.

  • Every child with autism is different, but in general, individuals with autism might struggle with the following:

    • Difficulty reading social cues

    • Little to no eye contact when talking to someone

    • Repetitive behaviors

    • Sensory overload leading to overwhelm

    • Intense interests in specific areas

    • An unusually strong ability to remember information and share it

  • If a child with autism exhibits the same challenging behavior often or has outbursts at predictable times, start by thinking about what is happening before the behavior. Is it happening in a certain place, at a certain time, or when they’re encountering a certain challenge? If you can identify what is triggering the unwanted behavior, you know how to help the child work through it.

  • Children with autism benefit greatly from one-on-one teaching of specific skills. They often need to be explicitly taught how they ought to behave in social settings.

  • Suggestions for sensory therapy that may be able to be implemented at school: Sensory Therapy at Home - The Dock for Learning

Down Syndrome

Trauma

  • Trauma is when a person experiences or observes an event that triggers emotions like intense fear, helplessness, or terror. This could be from a singular event or ongoing circumstances.

  • Risk factors of a trauma response include difficult pregnancy or birth, early hospitalization, neglect, abuse, or separation trauma (such as from birth parents in adoption).

  • A traumatic event can significantly impact brain development.

    • The upper part of the brain, the cerebrum, is not wired at birth. It allows us to think, remember things, plan, regulate our emotions, and learn. It develops as we grow.

    • The lower part of the brain, the limbic system, is wired at birth, allowing a newborn to eat, sleep, drink, stay warm or cool, and respond using reflexes.

    • If a child experiences trauma, the lower part of the brain overdevelops and the upper part of the brain remains underdeveloped.

    • Particularly in the first year of life, if the child experiences trauma, their brain will develop a survival mode of operation in which they’re never really at rest and able to do the upper brain activities of thinking and learning.

  • Trauma memories can be triggered, activating the limbic system and causing the brain to go into survival mode. When this happens, the child is physically unable to use the rational, thinking part of their brain, instead responding with fight, flight, or freeze.

  • Children who have experienced trauma are often living in a state of constantly being on edge, meaning their emotions are much more difficult for them to regulate.

  • Tips for helping children with trauma:

    • Recognize the root cause of many of their challenging behaviors as being due to the way their brains are wired, not deliberate disobedience or rebellion.

    • Create a sense of belonging and community. Teach students to care for and listen to each other.

    • Keep a high level of structure and routine. Warn students about upcoming changes to schedule. This helps them to feel safe.

    • Communicate often with parents. Find out what are common triggers for the child and how you can help them de-escalate.

    • Administer consequences consistently and calmly. Once the child is in a workable frame of mind, require them to right their wrongs (e.g. if they destroyed property, they need to fix it; if they scribbled on their desk, they need to clean it off; if they threw things across the room, they need to pick them up, etc.)

General Resources

Sources

English Language Learners

The Dock

Essentials of Teaching provides a growing list of bullet-point summaries of content for Christian educators. Each guide can be downloaded, printed, or viewed as a webpage and includes links to the resources we used to compile the content.


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  • Whether a student has just moved into your area from another country and does not speak English or you are teaching in an area where English is not the first language for your students, teaching English Language Learners (ELLs) can be challenging. Here are some tips for approaching this unique challenge:

    • Determine what level of language the student has. Keep in mind that their listening skills, speaking skills, reading skills, and writing skills may all be on varying levels.

    • Use many graphic organizers and charts to help the student.

    • Have students use the language skills they already have, but keep building on those skills to move to higher levels.

    • Allow ELLs to work with student partners.

  • Make sure that assessment matches the language level of the ELL. Tests and quizzes may need to be shortened, rewritten with simpler terms, or given orally.

  • Be intentional about helping ELLs feel included and involved in all aspects of classroom life. Since they probably struggle to contribute academically, give them extra meaningful tasks in classroom and social life so they can still feel a sense of purpose and belonging.

  • Consider creating an individualized learning support plan for an ELL to clarify goals for the child as well as what accommodations will be given. Here is a helpful guide to creating a learning support plan: Learning Support Plans - The Dock for Learning

  • Online resources for ELL learning support: Online Resources for ELL Learning Support and Special Needs - The Dock for Learning

Sources



Gifted Students

The Dock

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  • How do you know if a child is gifted? A gifted child is one who gives evidence of high achievement capability such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or in specific academic fields. They think differently than other students and often think “outside the box.” Not all of them are gifted in all areas but rather some are in just one area. Often, they will demonstrate the following traits:

    • They learn information quickly and do their work very fast. However, their work is often sloppy and they become disruptive in class if not called upon.

    • They think independently and are self-motivated, but they tend to challenge authority and do not handle criticism well.

    • Prefer to work alone versus working in groups.

  • Gifted children, especially those who are not given space to thrive, often deal with various types of depression.

    • One type of depression comes from the desire to live up to standards that are set too high. These standards may be imposed by well-meaning adults or by the children themselves.

    • Another type of depression comes from struggling to feel accepted as a human by others, instead feeling that they are treated like a computer or only valued because of their achievements.

    • A third type of depression comes from worrying about the state of the world or the basic problem of human existence.

  • Gifted children may naturally gravitate to older students or adults for their social interactions. This is because they struggle to communicate with students their age, but don’t realize it. They need to be encouraged and guided in interacting with their peers.

  • Gifted children can struggle with perfectionism, sometimes setting standards for themselves that are impossible to attain. They need to be explicitly taught how to set attainable short and long-term goals for themselves.

Sources



Grading

The Dock

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The Purposes and Limitations of Grading

  • It is important to recognize how limited grades are in showing true learning. Don’t focus more on grades than you do on actual learning.

  • Emphasize to students the importance of evaluating their own work and learning from their mistakes. This will very likely mean not grading some assignments at all, instead focusing your time and energy on creating learning opportunities out of the students’ mistakes.

  • Think about the purposes of tests and quizzes. What are they for? We often default to giving tests because “It’s time to give a test” or “I’d better get at least one more test grade before the end of the quarter.” There may be times when these statements are valid, but perhaps the better thought would be “We are at a point in the study when it would be helpful to measure how much students have learned.”

  • Purposes of grading:

    • Shows a student’s progress (or lack thereof): An objective measure is needed to confirm learning. Early detection of gaps will make intervention easier.Reveals weak teaching areas: Grading reveals concept areas where overall student understanding is low, signaling the need for reteaching.

    • Provides feedback for parents: Grades are a way to inform parents of their child’s academic performance.

  • Grades must tell the truth. They are like a fuel-gage on a car—only helpful if actually accurate.

    • Make sure grades are explainable. There should be logic and reason behind a grade, and it should reflect reality.

    • Pre-establish standards. Beware of changing the metrics of what you are grading for as you go. Rubrics are helpful in this. Avoid adjusting grades post-grading.

    • Give partial credit when applicable. This is particularly true in math, where being able to follow a process is part of what students were supposed to learn.

    • Ensure you are basing the grade off the actual subject content. For example, taking off points for grammar and spelling on a history test is not giving an accurate grade of the student’s knowledge of history.

Formative Versus Summative Assessment

  • Formative assessment is assessment for learning. It’s a teacher checking for understanding of what a student has mastered/hasn’t mastered and giving nearly instant feedback so the student can correct gaps in their understanding.

  • Summative assessment is assessment of learning. It’s a broad assessment of days or weeks of student learning.

  • Examples of practical formative assessments:

    • Traffic lights—the teacher issues each child three craft sticks or stop signs: one red, one yellow, and one green. The student holds up the appropriate stick when asked to do so to represent his current level of understanding. Red implies that the child completely lacks understanding of the concept. Yellow means that he has partial understanding but would not be able to explain the concept to someone else. Green shows that he both understands the concept and could explain it to someone else. This could be tweaked for older students by having them label sections of their papers with the color that corresponds to their understanding.

    • Teacher chart—the teacher creates a chart for the entire class, labeling columns with dates and rows with student names. Throughout the time period assigned to learning a particular objective, the teacher observes each student briefly for the same goal, such as participating in class discussions or reading fluently. The teacher briefly notes the student’s performance and can track their progress.

    • Entrance slips—the teacher gives students a slip of paper at the beginning of class. It may ask a question from the day before, ask a preview question of the current day’s topic, or provide them with a chance to give feedback.

    • Exit tickets—the teacher gives students a question to respond to or a problem to solve related to what was taught in class that day. This allows the teacher to quickly check for understanding and can inform the next day’s lesson.

    • Assessment of objectives—go over the list of objectives for the lesson or the chapter and read them one by one to students. Have them rate their understanding from one to ten or give a thumbs up, thumbs in the middle, or thumbs down rating.

How to Approach Difficult-to-Grade Subjects

  • Rubrics are the teacher’s best friend for efficient and fair marking, as well as a wonderful tool to help improve student learning.

    • Rubrics are ideal for subjective assignments or performance-based tasks.

    • Rubrics provide transparency and consistency for students and parents (e.g. “This is a C because…”)

    • Rubrics enable quick, specific, and effective feedback without requiring hours of the teacher’s time.

  • A guide to creating and using rubrics: Grading with Rubrics in the English Classroom - The Dock for Learning

  • A method for grading penmanship or art: stack-sort by quality (best to worst), then assign letter grades in an appropriately descending fashion.

  • A document with helpful tips and methods for grading various subjective subjects: Grading Difficult Subjects - The Dock for Learning

Sources

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