I wanted to share my new blog with all of you! Add it to your reader or follow it on google.  http://samcooltoolsfortheclassroom.blogspot.com/ Its all about cool and techy tools to use in the classroom. 

When you are grading, no when you are going over tests do you run through the problems on the board for all the students to see, even the ones who got the question right? No teacher has time to personalize feedback in math class.  Or do they?  If you record yourself when going through a test you can personalize each test as you go through the ...

A teacher in my school with 18 years of experience has an interesting technique to “enforce” discipline management in her class. Every incoming student has hand-outs on their desk which they must address immediately. No down time, no idle chitchatting before the lesson actually starts and transgressors of this rule are called to order without ...

My team teacher and I were standing in the hallway this morning when she walked over and whispered, “If I were a kid with all this testing, testing, testing, I wouldn’t want to come to school either.” Gasp! No, actually, I know exactly what she means, school has become the most boring place  in the [...]

The other day, I don’t remember why, we moved our desks. Instead of 6 groups of four, we ended up in two groups of 10. At some point during the day, my students asked me to leave the tables in two groups of 10. I took their request lightly, and began to dismiss it. But they pleaded, [...]

There’s nothing a teacher dreads more than being absent and having to prepare for a substitute. In addition to the preparations you have to make in advance, often while you’re sick, there’s always the fear that your students will go bonkers in your absence. I’m sure this has never happened to you, when you’re absent your little cherubs sit ...

More Classroom management topics! This is my favorite one! I divide the class into 4 groups and I assign a mini teacher in each group. But the role of the teacher is to be one! But what is the mini teacher’s role? 1- Make sure everyone in his group are quiet 2- If asked to turn to a specific page in a book the mini teacher has to make sure ...

Baggy Pants  – pants that loosely hug the hips or drop below the butt are calculated to display the wearer’s underwear allegiance to ghetto culture.  I’ve heard that the fashion originates in prison (where inmates are not allowed belts).  There seems to be some debate about whether baggy pants should be legal or whether ...