....A Contribution from our
Free Teaching Ideas Directory... OR
K-3 Authors' Clubhouse..




Early Finishers - eliminate the issue

by Warwick
(Newcastle, NSW, Australia)

The notion of early finishers suggests that more capable children are whizzing through the work and then left waiting for something to do.

Teachers should be looking at differentiation of the curriculum, making tasks more complex or having higher expectations of product for these students.

Use a tool such as "Blooms Taxonomy" to assist in increasing the cognitive demands of learning experiences. Think about things such as spelling lists and don't have children "learning" words they can already spell.

In maths problem solving, add an extra step to problems children are solving.

Comments for
Early Finishers - eliminate the issue

Click here to add your own comments

Sep 20, 2008
Differentiating the Curriculum
by: Alex

While I strongly agree that teachers are indeed expected to be incorporating many tools to ensure they differentiate the curriculum as much as possible, enabling all children access and opportunities to extend or consolidate at their point of need, it is also unrealistic to expect that there will not be some times when children complete their differentiated tasks at different times.

Many teachers, particularly graduates, simply seek ideas for how to manage those minutes effectively and to maximise learning opportunities.

Some ideas such as quiet reading, will be an obvious choice but other choices and ideas would be very welcome. Particularly in early years classrooms of p-2, children finish their tasks (differentiated or otherwise) at widely varying times, and it is simplistic, given their early reading and writing skills, to think they could always carry on to the next section of a learning grid or project without some adult input (Bloom, Gardner, De Bono or other). Especially during Guided Reading Groups where the teacher is in a focus group, effectively managing early finishers independently of him/her is important.

Sep 14, 2008
early finishers
by: Sue

Hi
I totally agree with you. Differentiation should be happening in our classrooms. Having early finishers activities that are out of the ordinary and reward driven can reinforce to those students who find the work difficult that they will never succeed. Also, the early finish activity can become the motivation at the expense of quality learning. As teachers our classrooms have to allow all children to succeed at their level, while continuing to challenge them.

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How?
Simply click here to return to Question of Month - Early Finishers






subscribe subscribe










Resource Search


Members' Info..

LOGIN Member Access Info Edit Profile/Renew






Bookmark and Share


Don't Miss Your..
FREE RESOURCE
EVERY MONTH..
Exclusive to Newsletter Subscribers
Email

Name

Then

I promise to use your email address only to send you K-3TeacherResources.com Newsletter.








education. yahoo





stay up to date
Stay Up-to-Date...

via EMAIL or
RSS






"Hi Donna I have just been into your site and it is FANTASTIC! I am a Support Teacher and to have these resources at my fingertips are great....and so easy to help teachers when looking for interesting ideas to inspire learning. Keep up the fabulous work!I am SO glad I found you and became a member."



Dear Donna, I just wanted to take the time to write to you and let you know that after 19 years of teaching and searching endless bookstores and internet sites for the perfect resources, I have finally found what I consider to be THE BEST WEBSITE EVER...YOURS!!!!!



More customer feedback...






© Copyright 2007 - 2010