Teaching Practices To Take With You Into The New Year

It’s always good to try new things! Start this new semester with a fresh state of mind. Check out the best research-based pedagogical methodologies that you can take with you into the new year! 

1. SEL: Social-Emotional Learning

SEL helps students develop skills in dealing “effectively and ethically” with daily behaviors and interactions. These life skills are necessary to teach in school when helping your students outside of the classroom walls. That’s why all of our K-5 STEM curriculum includes SEL.

Here are two ways you can integrate SEL into your current teachings.

1. Have students monitor their academic progress and mental development.
2. When grouping students, allow them to feel like they are a part of a team by having them come up with a team name, logo (flag), and team motto.

2. Redesigning Classrooms

Redesigning your classroom space falls parallel with SEL. You can arrange your room in a way that provides students with peaceful areas they can use to calm down, specifically when they need to take a mental break from their studies. Additionally, your classroom can be structured in a way that stimulates student focus and engagement. Here are two ways you can redesign your classroom. 

1. Mix up the seating options in your classroom to give your students a variety of areas where they can sit and learn comfortably.
2. Create writable spaces in the classroom, whether it be on dry-erase boards or on the walls, to allow your students the option of expressing their creative ideas.

If you’re looking to redesign your classroom, we have the perfect furniture solutions for STEM that allow for efficient use of space and collaboration. 

3. Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP)

CRP focuses on “three fundamental pillars—academic achievement, cultural competence, and sociopolitical consciousness.” And, more importantly, CRP teaches them how to communicate these issues with diverse communities in a manner that gives them the “tools to transform inequitable systems.” Here are two ways you can integrate CRP into your teachings.

1. Bring in diverse guest speakers to talk to your students about real-world issues and to bring in a unique point of view.
2. Take time to learn about your students so that you are prepared to teach them in an equitable manner.

4. Arts Integration

Arts integration utilizes your students’ innate desire to express themselves creatively by implementing the arts into science and math, turning STEM into STEAM. Arts are less objective and more subjective, creating a new way of learning. Here are two ways you can integrate the arts into your teachings.

1. Create origami art as a way for students to see the shapes they’ve been learning about come to life on paper. Or use the Glowforge to create the origami art for you.
2. Use materials to build structures as you teach your students concepts on math and engineering. 
   • Our Build Smart kits are our favorite way to build while teaching STEAM concepts!

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