Think back to your grade school years…What academic experience do you remember? Most likely whatever came to your mind was not a worksheet. You probably remember something that was taught to you because it was a project, experiment, or field trip–not a lesson that came from a worksheet. What does this mean? Well, it means we need to rethink how we teach content to kids.
Being a teacher for four years I know there is a lot of content to cover in a short amount of time. That can quickly lead teachers to burn out while trying to keep up. My suggestion is to use what you already have: the boring worksheets. Instead of handing each child a sheet to complete, turn it into an interactive activity the whole class can complete together or in small groups. You already have the information you need and you can start out easy by scanning the sheets into Mimio Notebook for a whole class lesson.
For instance, have students come to the whiteboard and use the MimioTeach stylus to circle the answer or to draw the correct shape (from a worksheet similar to this one).
Once you become more comfortable with the MimioStudio tools such as using reveals, grouping and layering, you can take that information and transform it into an interactive activity that students can complete in a small group while you work with students that need more individualized attention.
This is how you can make worksheets work in the classroom and this is how differentiation can take place each day. Need more ideas on how to use your Mimio in the classroom? Follow @LReas21 and @LE_Mimio on Twitter.
Signing off,
Lisa
Tags: classroom, interactive, interactive activity, interactive lesson, interactive whiteboard, interactive worksheets, Mimio, MimioStudio software, teaching, Twitter
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