Averting the Spring Snooze

Learning Styles and Color Alignment:

Ah...Spring! Time of renewal and awakening. We were dormant for such a long time.  The students are sluggish and fatigued from benchmark assessments and lack luster lessons that do not move the learning target needle.  Time to change your learning environment and get the students out of their slumber and into their learning. 

When you peruse instagram for teaching inspirations much of what you see are activities that promote group work/team building simultaneously. I've observed lessons with all types of gizmos and pageantry. These lessons are well intentioned and promote the teacher "influencer" (still have a problem with this term), but nonetheless they sometimes strain you physically and financially. Think of your classroom as an incubator. Yes! You heard correctly. Students are in the same space but they are not all learning or absorbing content simultaneously. Students "hatch" at their own time. Not every student wants to be a paricipant in over the top experiments, dark rooms with neon signage or computer adapted drills. Depending on preferences and physiological/cognitive progressions (https://start-teaching.com/why-it-is-important-to-identify-and-meet-the-individual-needs-of-learners/), some students need to meet the learning targets in a small groups, pairing or individually. Think about your classroom as a public library with specific sections for work (individual desks station, research areas, group collaborations).  If you are an active hands on teacher you are in the RED zone (energy); but you must be vigilant to carve out areas for peer/pair work- Yellow Zone, reflective practice-Blue/Green Zones.  Remember that your students are not a one size fits all population. Some students have IEP's, some are undiagnosed with ADHD, many just want to do work with another student or by themselves at times and some have such performance anxiety(Gifted and Talented students),  that being on and displaying their knowledge aloud is not what they wish to do for every learning trarget/concept you are teaching.  Survey your room and start carving out sections this Spring to accommodate learning styles (differentiated instruction), and you'll catapult learning for the last leg of the school year.