Battling Boredom, Part 2 (2^nd Ed.) Even More Strategies to Spark Student Engagement

Drive boredom out of your classroom?and keep it out?with the student engagement strategies in this book. In the first Battling Boredom, bestsellingauthor Bryan Harris offered strategies on beginning a lesson, ending a lesson, small group work, and large group work. Now in Battling Boredom Part 2, Harris teams up with technology integration expert and former teacher Lisa Bradshaw to provide additional strategies on new topics such as academic talk, feedback, writing, classroom technology, and more. You?ll learn how to:

• Increase the quality and effectiveness of feedback to boost student performance.
• Engage students in meaningful reflection with writing prompts and exercises.
• Reenergize a lethargic class using movement-based activities.
• Integrate technology to create a more enriching classroom experience for students.
• Encourage students to speak up, share their ideas, and talk about their learning.

With this toolbox of instructional strategies, you?ll have even more ways to end student boredom before it begins, resulting in class time that?s more efficient, more educational, and loads more fun!

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

Introduction

Part 1 – Academic Talk

Artifacts, Realia, and Props

Consultation Trios

Conversation Extenders

Finish the Thought

Flip the Brainstorm

Jumbled Sentences

Key Word Lists

Say It with Your Hands

Take a Stance–Change Your Hat

Turn on the Captions

Part II – Energizers

Ball Toss

How Many Can You Name?

Imagine That

Stand, Stretch, and Breathe

Stand When…

Strike A Pose

Table Top Memory

Telephone

The "Or" Game

Who’s Missing?

Part III – Feedback

A-Z Brainstorm

Anchors

Audio/Video Examples

Checklists

Conferencing

Course Evaluations

Find and Fix

Post-Test Review

Quick Quiz

Ticket In the Door

Part IV – Questioning

Focal Points

Here’s the Answer, Find the Question

"I wonder…"

Narrated Think Time

Open and Closed Questions

Powerful Images

Questions Only

Says Who?

What If…?

Who Am I?

Part V - Technology

Annotated Images

Backchannels

Camera Scavenger Hunt

Choice Boards

Clickers Without Clickers

Collaborative Sticky Notes

Collage

Digital Whiteboards

Explain Your Thinking

QR Hunt

Part VI – Vocabulary

Act it Out

Banned Words

Big Word Alert

Concentration Plus

Illustrated Vocabulary

Jump In Vocabulary

Magnet Words

Plus Two, Minus Two

Word Jar

Word of the Day

Part VII – Writing

Three-Two-One

Alter the Audience

Expand the Sentence

Fast Writing

One-Word Summary

Response Journal

The Week in Review

What, So What?

Write On

Write, Talk, Revise

Part VIII – Student Engagement Strategies that Don’t Work

Academic Decathlon

Answer Hunt

Anything with a "Robin" in it

Copying

Extended Lecture

Gotcha!

Name First

Rhetorical Questions

Who Wants To...?

References

Bryan Harris is the Director of Professional Development and Public Relations for the Casa Grande Elementary School District in Arizona.

Lisa Bradshaw is the Director of Information Technology for the Casa Grande Elementary School District in Arizona.