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Classroom Activators
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Classroom Activators
More Than 100 Ways to Energize Learners

Second Edition


October 2008 | 152 pages | Corwin
This handy guide puts a new twist on your teaching and training practices and shows how you can stimulate and invigorate learners through state-changing activities engaging techniques to help refocus the brain and create a receptive state of mind that enhances learning. Each section presents specific state-changing activities and the brain research behind them. While the strategies are geared for secondary classrooms, all can be adapted across grade levels. Classroom Activators illustrates how simple changes in delivering instruction or designing the classroom environment can help capture student interest and keep learners focused. The author examines state-changing activities within four categories: Energizing the Environment: examines ways to keep the learning environment fresh Getting Your Students' Attention: offers ideas to help students focus on the task at hand Energizing Your Students: presents techniques to use when the students may need a to refocus attention in the middle of a lesson Building Teams and Community: includes activities for community building, team building, and rapport building
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Author
 
Introduction
Brain Research and the Classroom

 
Using This Book

 
How and When to Use These Activities

 
 
1. Energize the Environment
The Right Stuff

 
Lighting

 
The Sense of Smell

 
The Effect of Ions

 
Musical Moments

 
Varying Your Instruction

 
Novelty and Surprise

 
Theme Days

 
To Get Volunteers

 
Visual Context

 
 
2. Get Your Students’ Attention
State of the Class

 
Feedback

 
Breathing

 
Hands and Arms

 
Voice

 
Cross Laterals

 
Heavy Jobs

 
Novel Movements

 
 
3. Energize Your Students
Getting Into Groups

 
Random Groupings

 
Get Students Up and Moving

 
Circle Games

 
Circadian Rhythm

 
Silence

 
Pre-Writing Activities

 
A Leg Up

 
Gross Motor

 
Eyes

 
Props

 
 
4. Build Teams and Community
Getting To Know You

 
Contemporary Variations

 
Group Challenges

 
Just for Fun

 
 
References

"A wonderful compilation of practical exercises and strategies designed to get and keep students’ interest and attention. Evanski shows how teachers can make their classrooms stimulating places of learning and offers specific ways of gaining the attention of even highly distractible students."

Allen Mendler, Educational Consultant
Teacher Learning Center

"Evanski does a wonderful job of boiling brain research down to effective and practical strategies that work for master and rookie teachers alike. The ideas in this book have helped me spice up my lessons and create a successful learning community."

Brent Vasicek, Fourth-Grade Teacher
Miami Elementary School, Clinton Township, MI

"Chock full of great ideas and easy to use! Whether you are a novice teacher or an established pro, there is a great deal of worthwhile information in this book. It’s obvious that the author has spent most of his life in the classroom. The strategies he offers meet the needs of any teacher."

Al Diver, Principal
Grosse Pointe South High School, MI

Sample Materials & Chapters

Introduction

Chapter 1 excerpt


Gerard Allan Evanski

Jerry Evanski has been a teacher and school administrator at all levels K-12. He has written several books and has taught at the university level for many years. He has been conducting workshops for Discipline Associations and for The Teacher Learning Center for the past two decades. He created and teaches the Brain Research in Education certification program at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. The video he created about the program won two Telly Awards in 2005. He is also a trained facilitator for Super Camp, which is an internationally known accelerated learning program. His current research is focused on identifying and... More About Author

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