| What tips do you have for keeping speedster students engaged and trouble free? My most challenging speedsters were the ones who routinely finished their work early yet hadn’t produced thoughtful (or neat!) work. Try as I might, I struggled to help these students understand the value and benefits of doing their best work.Is this a classroom challenge you face? What works for you?
Slow and steady, |
I was surprised this year to see my speedster was the oldest in my class. When she finished her work it was can I go play.
I eventually started saying no you have 3 more working minutes to go and she eventually did slow down and was more careful with her work. And it sure did show in the results.
When she did not ask to go play and carefully completed her work I was sure to praise her and make a big fuss over how hard she worked.
I set a timer and tell students this is the amount of time they must be working on the assignment before handing it in. I also give back work that I know is not a student’s best and have them fix or re-do it and I do this during their learning center time. After a few times of having to give up learning center time to re-do something they tend to focus more on doing a better job the first time around.
With my students who were not doing quality work and were finishing quickly, I would hand them the paper and ask them to fix the errors. They learned that speed would not get them to the “fun” activities, but accuracy would.
In general, I have a “Bonus Board” on the wall. I put enrichment activities on the board, and students can pull off ideas whenever they have time. This can be anything:word searches that support vocabulary, reading and doing a craft related to something we are working on in social studies, and playing a solitary or partner math game. This is a great way to express my creativity as well as keeping the students busy with activities that will encourage critical thinking skills.