I came across an article recently about January being the most depressing month of the year. It went a step further and identified the most depressing day of the year as the third Monday in January. (Or was it second? I can’t remember.)
Just reading the piece seemed to drag me down.
Since there will never be a life free of dull moments, I started thinking about what I could do to combat the winter blues? Because for teachers, our mood often dictates the vibe in our classroom. Kids can’t learn very effectively when it’s obvious that we don’t want to be there. So instead of succumbing to the dreary days and letting them dictate your mood, here are some easy ways to mix it up in your classroom so you can keep things fun and interesting for you… and your students!
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- Change your scenery. Make it your goal to take your students to a new location within your school’s campus every week. Celebrate and look forward to it like a weekly fieldtrip. Places you could explore: an outdoor classroom, the cafeteria, the auditorium, the gym, a nature walk on school property, or another teacher’s classroom. A little bit of planning ahead and a new environment can create substantial results.
- Incorporate humor. Start the day (or class period) with something light-hearted, upbeat, and funny. I once taught next to a teacher who streamed short videos (2 minutes or under) to start the day, every single day. It was amazing that one laugh started things off on the right foot. When he was absent, he instructed his substitute to play a certain video for his students. One day he was unexpectedly absent and because there weren’t any sub plans for that day, the humorous video wasn’t waiting on his students that morning. One of them came to my room about 30 minutes into the day and said they couldn’t sit in his classroom without a video for the day. I found one and helped the sub play the video. Ever since then, I’ve tried to incorporate humor into my students’ days. It’s amazing what a laugh can do for a learning brain!
- Mix it up. If you typically don’t incorporate group work, make an effort to find ways that students can work together. Allow them class time to complete (or start) an assignment they typically have to do at home. Incorporate lab work two days in a row. Just try to do something every week that mixes up your go-to instruction style. Not only are you reaching more learning styles this way, you’re also keeping them on their toes.
- Formative > summative. If you give a vocabulary quiz every week, surprise your students by skipping the quiz and playing a review game one day. You’ll be amazed at how much it’ll mean to your students. Come on, skipping one quiz won’t kill their intellectual abilities. (Plus, it’s less for you to grade!)
- Make it relevant. No matter what concept you’re teaching, strive to find something that helps your students see how it relates to the real world. It’s not always easy to do but you’ll be amazed that the extra work you have to do doesn’t feel as heavy once you see how much it inspires your students. Here are a few examples to get you going:
- Studying planets? Follow NASA on Twitter and let your students see the current discoveries.
- During a thermal energy unit, let students research the way their home is heated. How does the HVAC system work?
- See if they can find a connection between LCD television screens and states of matter.
- While you’re studying the earth’s tectonics (do this activity and then) let each student select an earthquake to research.
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Let’s beat the winter blues together! What’s your favorite way to stay motivated? Reach out, we’d love to hear from you!
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LearnEd Notebooks provides teachers and students with an innovative notebooking solution. We specialize in providing educators with a unique curriculum that allows you to break free from conventional methods of instruction and spend more time on labs and inquiry-based science. We provide the framework of an interactive notebook with the flexibility of teaching strategies that seamlessly integrate with each teacher’s own methods of instruction. Our complete programs include printed student notebooks, digital presentations, and access to teacher resources — each focusing on diverse learning styles and engaging instructional strategies.
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