Oxymoron?: A Practical Guide to Fun and Effective Teaching

By Matthew Bryant

Are you a fun teacher? Or has your teaching slid into the same old everyday routine? Jazz up your approach with the innovative techniques found in Oxymoron?, and transform your classroom from boring to exciting!

Through his years of teaching, author and teacher Matthew Bryant has discovered a need for teachers who are able to motivate students as well as pique their interest in learning. This strikes at the very heart of education and is something that numerous schools and teacher training programs lack. Many teachers know they are not fun, but they lack a solution to the problem.

Oxymoron? is a practical guide for any educator who is currently teaching grades kindergarten through high school. Using personal experiences from the classroom and recollections from when he was in school, Bryant focuses on how simple changes in an educator's routine can effect a student's perception about the teacher-and about school.

If you are not reaching your full potential as an educator, then Oxymoron? can help you transform your routine from dull to inspired!

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: May 15, 2006
• ISBN: 9780595830275

Matthew Bryant

Matthew Bryant has taught in both the public and private sectors of education for seven years. He currently lives in north Idaho, where he enjoys backpacking, reading, and sports.

Book preview

Oxymoron?

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A Practical Guide to Fun and Effective Teaching Matthew Bryant

iUniverse, Inc.

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Oxymoron?

A Practical Guide to Fun and Effective Teaching

Copyright © 2006 by Matthew Bryant

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any

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ISBN-13: 978-0-595-38646-8 (pbk)

ISBN-13: 978-0-595-83027-5 (ebk)

ISBN-10: 0-595-38646-6 (pbk)

ISBN-10: 0-595-83027-7 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

FOREWORD

Chapter One:

Chapter Two:

Chapter Three:

Chapter Four:

Chapter Five:

Chapter Six:

Chapter Seven:

FUN WITH FIELD TRIPS

Chapter Eight:

Chapter Nine:

Chapter Ten:

Chapter Eleven:

Chapter Twelve:

Chapter Thirteen:

Chapter Fourteen:

MULTIMEDIA (WAVE OF THE NOW)

Chapter Fifteen:

APPENDIX A

APPENDIX B

APPENDIX C

APPENDIX D

APPENDIX E

APPENDIX F

APPENDIX G

For Roger Record, Holley Leen, Wilford Starr, and other teachers who

have inspired me...

And for Paul, Sharon, and Andrew Bryant who have always supported

me no matter what.

Finally, for all of my students who have made my teaching a fun experience and a success, thank you.

Abner, Adam, Alex, Alicia, Allyson, Alyx, Amanda, Amy, Andrea, Andrew, Angela, Anthony, Audrey, Austin, Ben, Benjamin, Bethany, Billi, Bobby, Brandon, Cameron, Chad, Chelsee, Chris, Christy, Cody, Coli, Cory, Crystal, Daniel, David, Einar, Emily, Erika, Hector, Isaac, Jacquelle, James, Jared, Jason, Jenny, Jillian, Joel, Johnny, Josh, Justin, Kaeli, Kimberly, Kinsey, Kirsten, Koral, Krintin, Kyle, Krystal, Leif, Lexie, Logan, Lynee, Maggie, Marcus, Maria, Marti, Marvin, Matt, Megan, Melia, Morgan, Nick, Noe, Noylen, Sarah, Savannah, Sidney, Shastin, Shawn, Stacy, Tatenda, Travis, Weston, Will, Yeong, Zach,

Zanetta

FOREWORD 

Are you a fun teacher? Honestly? During my first few years as a teacher I would have had to answer this question with a no. I was trying to be fun, but I was going about it in all the wrong ways. I was giving extra recess. I was letting some students get away with things they shouldn’t have. All in hopes that they would like me and once they did, they would want to learn and not give me any discipline problems. As many teachers are when they begin teaching, I was naive.

I began writing this book in the hope of fixing a problem that plagues today’s education system, boring teachers. Don’t be offended. Most teachers at one time or another have been boring. This problem however causes our students to become apathetic and lackadaisical toward their own education. In my elementary, high school, and college years, I experienced several different types of teachers: those who were ineffective and boring, those who were effective and boring, those who were fun and ineffective, and those who were both fun and effective. Which category do you fit into? Hopefully you are a member of the last group, but if not use some of the ideas in this book and see what happens.

Throughout this book you will find practical ideas that you can use to make your teaching both fun and effective. In my years of teaching I have been in a pursuit to make my teaching fun, and through this effort my teaching has become more effective as evidenced by testing results but also through student interest. Everything in this book has either been practiced by me or observed through visitation in another teacher’s classroom. There are no theoretical ideas that may or may not work.

All teachers want to be fun. All teachers want to be liked by their students. All teachers want their students to enjoy what they are learning. But from many years of being taught otherwise by colleagues, or through the apathy of their students, teachers have learned that teaching is a boring process which students must endure simply because of state law. Change your methods. Find a passion for making learning fun and you will find a difference in your students’ attitudes toward you and toward the process of learning.

Chapter One:  

MAKE DISCIPLINE WORK FOR YOU

One of the most important keys to making your classroom a fun and effective place is through discipline. And of course this is exactly what every student would say is the least fun thing about being in school: the rules. Learning to present them in a positive way along with setting up rules that allow for individual freedom will help the students see that these rules are attainable and easy to follow.

The first key to an effective classroom discipline plan is to make it work for you. Many teachers will try to model their classroom management plan from another teacher that they may have observed or worked for. Early on in my teaching career, after watching several other teachers, I decided that my classroom should always be quiet...always...hands raised...students constantly on task. I didn’t realize just how unrealistic this ideal was. However, that didn’t stop me from trying to make this style of management work. Of course, the more I tried to get them to be quiet because that’s what I thought they should be, the more they rebelled. They would talk out of turn, discuss with their friends their favorite sports star or nail polish color, and in general ignore what I was trying to teach them.

It wasn’t that I was expecting too much, but it didn’t work to my style of teaching. It’s okay if your classroom isn’t as quiet as the one next to you. As you may have discovered, being quiet doesn’t necessarily mean they are learning. Some of the most productive times in my classroom have been when students are working in groups toward a goal, and the classroom is far from quiet. However, they are actively participating.

So there are some things that you need to decide before you set up your discipline plan for your students.

#1 What noise levels you are willing to tolerate and at what times?

#2 What amount of freedom are you willing to give the students?

#3 How you will respond to inappropriate behavior?

#4 What type of structure will most of your lessons follow?

Allowing the students to talk during different activities lets them be productive and think for themselves. They do need to be closely monitored to make sure that they are not off-task and talking about what happened on TV last night. If the activity is well planned however, there really shouldn’t be too much time for the students to allow their minds to wander. One thing that needs to be noted is that if you allow for talking during activities, you should have an attention signal that calls the students to be quiet. Otherwise you will have a really hard time getting their attention without yelling over the noise.

During some of my observation of different classrooms I found one teacher who used a musical attention signal. He would say Dum duh duh duh-duh (as in Shave and a Haircut) and then would expect the students to respond Duh, Duh. (Two Bits) This would always get the students’ attention because those who didn’t notice the teacher always noticed their neighboring students who did.

I always use a hands-up signal so that when I put my hand up, each student puts their hand up and they are to stop whatever they were doing. This is effective once practiced a couple of times at the beginning of the year. It does take a few moments for all students to notice but if you are patient, it is very effective.

Whatever creative or original way you use to get your students attention will work. Of course eventually the novelty will wear off for the students and this is the time to make sure that they are still following the attention signal, or it’s time to change the signal. Changing the signal once a quarter should keep the students interested in the new signal and should keep things from becoming monotonous. One teacher I observed in the lower level classrooms used a clapping technique where the students had to listen to the pattern and then repeat it. This was very effective since all the students had to listen intently to what the pattern was and if they didn’t hear it the first time they couldn’t repeat it along with their classmates.

The amount of freedom you are willing to give your students is also an important point in the discipline process. Of course, the ability to give them different freedoms also corresponds with their age as well. Obviously you wouldn’t want to allow first grade students the freedom to check their work with a partner in the middle of class. But