Verb Tense and Reading Race

Works4Me presents weekly practical classroom tips from real experts -- your colleagues!

1. Tense Shifts

From Carla Winters, an English and speech teacher at Cobden Unit District #17 in Cobden, Illinois:

"I have tried to get my students to stop using tense shifts for years. I finally found a way: remove 'ing' verbs. This suggestion forces students to write either in present or past tense. Most scientific journals follow these rules and limit 'ing' verbs. It has worked with my freshmen and sophomores, and we have now implemented this rule across the curriculum. Try it, and be surprised!"
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2. Reading Race

From Donna Dinizo-Ruhl, a teacher at Roosevelt School in South Plainfield, New Jersey:

"To foster a love of reading, I show my class books that I am reading on my own time. They are thrilled by the size of them! In class, I made a large race track out of bulletin board paper and had the kids color in race cars that I printed from the Internet. I gave them all a sheet to keep track of how much time they read outside of class which the parents initial. Their goal is to make it all the way around the track, which is labeled by minutes. Once they have all made it around, we have an ice cream party. They can't wait to move their cars everyday!"
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3. Creating a Learning Environment

From the Works4Me Worker Bees:

"Are you great at setting up your classroom -- seating, bulletin boards, storage, display of student work, etc.? What suggestions would you give new teachers who are setting up their learning environments?"
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4. Spanish Conversation

"This is my first year teaching Spanish. I am having trouble with my Spanish 4 class. What can I do to get them talking in Spanish? They seem to like things more concrete and structured, like grammar and fill in the blank exercises. When it's time to talk and respond or give a report in Spanish, they just can't put it together. What can I do?"
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