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One More Email?
“How can I start my teaching day inspired when you are asking me to fill my already overcrowded mailbox with one more email for me to read?”
Teachers, just trust us on this. This advice might just be life and career changing.
So much of teaching and life depends on one’s attitude. There are many challenges in education – keeping up with technology, maintaining certification, educating the whole student, adjusting to changes in Department of Education, dealing with budget cuts and layoffs. The list goes on. And… we are not even talking about the stresses of a teacher’s everyday personal life.
The focus for many teachers is to take items off their plate, yet we are encouraging you to put one more thing on it. But hear us out. Receiving one inspirational quote with a great visual his one could improve the mental health of you and your students. It also might add some great lessons to your toolbox.
If you sign-up at Pass it on.com, you will receive a motivational quote each workday. Each week has a theme. The quotes tie in wth the theme. There are many themes that can be used in a K – 12 classroom
How To Organize The Quotes
How can a teacher possibly process 180 quotes, 5 days a week? Some teachers might feel so overwhelmed, they won’t even register for the quote. Trust us. It is really pretty simple,
To tell you the truth, we failed at first, but, we stuck with it. We learned from our mistakes over the years. Originally, we created a document and added a quote each day. This was way too many to process. We tried another idea. We created a google slides with all the images and quotes. Once again, this was too overwhelming. Then, we figured it out.
#1 Create a folder in your Google Drive “Pass It On.” This is where it all starts.
#2 Create a Google Slides. Use the title “Theme Pass It On.” The themes will be the same year to year. The Foundation for a Better Life will add and delete the quotes. They also will present the same quote but use a different visual. This is no problem.
#3 The Title Slide: Just list the theme.
#4 Quote Slide: Create a slide for the quote. Copy and paste the image and quote into the slides. This is the first step. Each day, Pass It On will send you an inspirational quote with a motivational image. Have the students copy the quote in their notebooks or create a general worksheet for all slides. Teachers can also create a specific worksheet for a quote.
#5 Writing Prompts Slide: Create some writing prompts for students to answer. Questions can be open-ended. “Analyze the quote.” Teachers can also have specific questions. “Tell me what you think this quote means?” “Do you agree with it?” “Can you apply it to your life?” “Can you give an example of how this quote might benefit or harm society?”Teachers can use transitions within a slide to present the prompts.
#4 Rank the Slides: Remember, all quotes are not created equal. There are some quotes that you might not feel are appropriate to share with your students. There are some quotes that you just don’t like. Put these at the back of your slideshow. The set slides should be at the start of the slides. Make these “class ready.” These slides are ready to use.
Teaching Point: Start with ONE QUOTE! Don’t be overwhelmed. Create on slide and test it out with a class. Middle School and High School teachers who use this activity with several classes can consider the slide as a work in progress.
Presenting to the Students
Write Now: This is a popular teaching strategy at all levels. Starting the class with a Silent Sustained Writing activity is a great way to focus students. Students can write in notebooks or a teacher can create a work sheet.
Copy the Quote: Have the students copy the quote. This will give you some time to work on your side.
Silent Sustained (Timed) Writing: We feel timed writing prompts allow students to answer confidently while at the same time working on writing skills. During class discussions, students can zone out and not participate. Writing allows all students to share ideas. We like to choose random numbers and set a timer. Example 4 minutes and 38 seconds. We encourage teachers to list the time in the slides and adjust the time based on observing the students.
Class Discussion: This is another great way for students to develop public speaking skills. A teacher may choose to have a lively discussion on a quote.
Teaching Point: We are big fans of having two screens available for many lessons. A teacher can use two computers to be able to edit the slides on one, while using the other to project the slides on the white board. The second screen allows a teacher to edit or revise as the students respond to the quote and prompts.
Continual Motivation Throughout the Day, Week, and Year
Motivation and inspiration are important for a teacher’s classroom environment. Pass It On has done much of the grunt work. The quotes are inspiring and can initiate valuable reflection. Some students (and teachers) might really start to apply the quotes to school performance, extracurricular activities, and life. Students can have their minds opened to greater possibilities of things they might be able to accomplish.