DEAR DOROTHY: Today’s students tend to arrive at school with lots of pent-up energy and little outlet for that energy as they come straight to class when they arrive. Many don’t walk to school – instead crowding onto a school bus for a long ride to school – and some school systems have even nixed recess.

That often means a classroom full of students who, regardless of learning ability or skill level, have trouble staying focused for extended periods of time.

There are a couple of solutions that other teachers have tried with a fair amount of success. Two that I like are allowing teacher-approved focus tools and incorporating meaningful movement into lessons.

If you’re open to the idea of using focus tools, take a look at these articles for more information and a few ideas. Of course, focus tools don’t work for every student, or in every classroom situation, but an increasing body of research is finding that many students feel calmer and are more focused when they have something to do with their hands.

As I say in my workshops and seminars, “Children who fidget grow up to be adults who fidget.” My experience has been that it’s best to manage the behavior rather than trying to keep it from happening.

Movement in general can help almost every student, so incorporating short breaks or activities that provide opportunities to stretch and move can be a big help.

Some studies say that 10 minutes or so is about all most kids can do the “sit and listen” thing. So work some opportunities to move into your lesson plans. These “brain breaks” can be whatever activity you decide – stand up and stretch, move to a new activity or part of the lesson, pair shares to let allow for focused talking time, etc.

I like to use movement activities throughout the lesson so that students rarely have to just “sit and listen” for long periods of time. This includes high school students!

If you’re a teacher who likes to “chunk” lessons – teaching specific topics or implementing activities for specific chunks of time – brain breaks can be a great way to help students shift to the next part of the lesson. It also helps them burn off a little energy so that they can focus their minds on the lesson.

CLICK HERE to discover a wealth of teaching strategies and resources for maximizing student success!.

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Featured seminar – Reaching the Struggling Learners in Your Classroom

The post Dear Susan – Keeping Students Calm and Engaged with Brain Breaks appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

Dear Sarah: I use either a square of carpet—such as samples from a carpet store—or, yes, the non-slip mats that are placed underneath area rugs.
(Note: I received a follow-up from Sarah not long after my reply, and it was such a good suggestion that I wanted to share it with you! Here is Sarah’s follow-up, below.)

Dear Susan: I was able to resolve the squeaking issue with the class—I did this by putting it back on them. I explained that there was a difference between a little squeaking with motion and purposely trying to make “farting” noises. Some decided they didn’t care for them at all. A lot of them have opted to use them as back cushions instead.

The most popular thing in my class, actually, is the stretchy key chain bracelets. One parent messaged me that it worked so well, she went out and bought some for home. The problem is my students like them so much, they honestly forget they’re wearing them and walk away with them. Now I’m down to nine bracelets in my classroom. I may need to put a sign at my door like at the butterfly house at the zoo: “STOP! Check to see if you have stretchy bracelets on your person!”

Dear Sarah: How wonderful! I love your attitude. This is real life… and you are doing a great job.

CLICK HERE to discover a wealth of teaching strategies and resources for maximizing student success!.

Bring Susan to your campus!

Featured seminar – Differentiation Strategies to Reach ALL Learners in the Inclusive Classroom

Bring Susan to your campus!

Featured seminar – Differentiation Strategies to Reach ALL Learners in the Inclusive Classroom

The post Teaching Strategies – Noisy Fidgeting in the Classroom: A Solution to a Solution appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

You suggested remind.com. Many of my 6th graders do not have their own phones. Using the remind.com service with parents is spotty, as many of their phone numbers have changed or been shut off. Any help you could give would be appreciated. Thank you! – Krysten Smith

Dear Krysten: Sometimes, connecting student and parent, and getting parents to respond, can be difficult. And I agree, punishing the student for something the parent failed to do just doesn’t seem right. So, I brought the question to teachers who follow my Facebook page. I received some great answers, and they may help in this situation.

One teacher had students from an economically distressed area. Some parents worked two or three jobs and were so strapped for time that they couldn’t remember to sign papers from the school. Other parents didn’t seem to care. “We were able to find a lawyer who worked with our social worker. The kids were being punished for not getting papers signed. The lawyer drew up power of attorney for specific signing privileges between the parent and after school director, who was the one anyway watching over the kids homework, making sure kids were aware of the needs the next day.”

Another person suggested getting the parent-teacher organization to become more proactive. “PTO could be more flexible to work with these families or go to them! Some of our Esps go to them at a meeting place at night mainly for the kids but the parents too. They can’t just drop [the kids off] and go. The high risk kids in turn are doing much better at school.”

And a third noted that their school’s guidance counselors will often call to get verbal permission or agreement from parents if the parent is home during school hours.

Finally, multiple people wondered if the school could send the necessary forms via email or text, and accept a digital signature or confirmation reply. This would offer a multipronged approach—both paper and electronic versions of the documents that need to be signed—and give parents more convenient options to reply. Automated reminders could also be sent out to email addresses or phone numbers.

My thanks to everyone who replied! I sent all of the responses on to Krysten. We know that connecting student and parent is sometimes difficult to manage and I hope teachers who are dealing with a similar solution will be able to use some of the above suggestions, too!

CLICK HERE to discover a wealth of teaching strategies and resources for maximizing student success!.

Bring Susan to your campus!

Featured seminar – Differentiation Strategies to Reach ALL Learners in the Inclusive Classroom

The post Finding Better Ways to Get Parents to Sign Students’ Documents appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

This post is an open invitation for you to ask questions for me to answer via this “Dear Susan” column. Of course, you will remain anonymous! Sometimes I’ll address a question or issue that comes up often in my work so that issues are timely and relevant.

So, please, take a moment to email me or connect via the “Contact” menu on the website and share your questions with me! Please don’t leave your questions here on this article because I don’t get timely comment notifications. Any interaction sent via the contact form comes directly to my email inbox.

To better explain what this new monthly series is all about, I made a short video just for you!

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DEAR SUSAN! I loved your presentations at the Illinois Includes conference. You gave me lots of good strategies for classroom use and to use with my son who has ADD and struggles with executive functioning and organization. My son is finishing up seventh grade and needs to adopt strategies to help him organize assignments, organize information to study, and create strategies for retaining information. Can you recommend a program or book? – A Concerned Parent

DEAR CONCERNED PARENT: I sent my son to SuperCamp. It’s not cheap, with 2017 tuition starting at $2,495, but it is SO worth it. My son attended the Senior Forum, geared toward Grades 9-12. Their Junior Forum is geared toward your son’s grade level, Grades 6-8, and is a six-day program held at one of three locations: Stanford University, Villanova University, or California State University, San Marcos (There’s also a program for Grade 12 and incoming/current college students, the Quantum Forum, held at Cal State San Marcos). Working in teams of 16-20 fellow campers, students learn to define what’s important to them, why they learn the way that they do, and then learn how to apply the knowledge and strategies they gain in camp in order to improve their studying overall.

Also, the book, Umm Studying? What’s That?, co-written with my daughter Shivahn, is a great resource. It offers practical, research-based studying and test-taking strategies, written from the perspective of a teenager, and is aimed at middle school to college-aged students. The key is getting him to use the strategies. Of course, there’s lots of information on my blog as well.

There’s also this option for more teaching strategies: Landmark School: Skills+. I have no personal experience with Landmark, with the exception of attending one of their conferences and learning about Joan Sedita’s Notebook system, which I loved.

I hope this helps. Enjoy your summer!

For more information about study strategies for your student, see Susan Fitzell’s book, Ummm, Studying? What’s That?. Available in both print and electronic versions!

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