Activities Bank
Jason Proctor
How to Use This Section
This section collects all ancillary activities included throughout the book into a central resource bank. Activities are designed to be flexible and adaptable, serving both as course-ready assignments for teacher educators and as self-guided learning experiences for independent teachers. Each activity follows a consistent format with purpose, objectives, process steps, reflection prompts, exemplars, and success criteria. Downloadable Word and Google Doc versions are also provided for easy customization or offline use.
For Teacher Educators
You may adopt activities directly into methods courses, adapt them for your learning management system, or use them as models to design your own. Because each activity is also embedded at the end of the relevant chapter, you can assign them alongside readings for immediate application. This collected section allows you to browse activities thematically, making it easy to select the ones that best fit your course.
For Independent Teachers
You can use these activities to extend your learning beyond the main text and apply chapter concepts directly to your classroom practice. The activities are written to be self-contained, with clear instructions and guiding questions. You may work through them sequentially as you read the book, or skip to those that match your current needs. Downloadable versions are included if you prefer to adapt them offline or keep a record of your work.
Classroom Norms & Procedures Activities
📘 Develop a Classroom Management Plan (Self-Guided Module)
📘 Develop a Classroom Management Plan Using AI
Teacher Voice Activities
Classroom Video Analysis
Effective teachers use their presence to assist in developing the classroom environment. A teacher can use multiple strategies to build a presence within the classroom, such as developing a strong voice, non-verbal cues, and teacher radar (Lemov, 2015). Whatever you call it, one thing you must realize is that your posture, facial expression, tone, and actions all influence the learning environment. To gain a better understanding of what your presence looks like, record a classroom session and track how you interact and communicate with your learners.
As you watch the video, note how you use gestures, voice, presence, and directions. Use the questions below to guide your observation and to help you organize/track what you notice.
- What kind of gestures did you use during the lesson? What are they used for, and what is the effect on learners?
- How did you use different voice registers at different stages of the lesson? Why was this important?
- How did you present yourself professionally through your behavior and interaction with learners? What effect was achieved?
- What overall atmosphere is there in the class? To what extent is your presence and manner contributing to this?
- What do you notice about the way you provide directions to your students? How did your directions align with the Principles of Key Directions described in the textbook?
* Inspired by the work of Matt O’Leary in Classroom Observation: A Guide to the Effective Observation of Teaching and Learning.
ðŸŽRole Play: Practicing Teacher Presence Through Tone, Posture, and Expression
Classroom Layout Activities
📘Exploring Classroom Layouts and Beliefs About Teaching and Learning
Teacher Radar Activities
Classroom Video Analysis
Effective teachers maintain the expectations for student behavior in various ways in their classrooms. One factor that contributes to student behavior is the positioning of the teacher during learning. To understand how your positioning influences student behavior, record a classroom session and track how you scan and move about the room.
As you watch the video, note how you scan and move about the room and correct students. Use the questions below to guide your observation and to help you organize/track what you notice.
- How did you use scanning and moving about the room to help maintain behavioral expectations? Why was this important?
- What do you notice about the layout of the classroom?
- How did the classroom layout assist or hinder you in monitoring behavior?
- How did the classroom layout support or hinder student learning?
- How does the layout align with the Principles of Effective Classroom Layout described in the textbook?
ðŸŽRole Play: Practicing Scanning & Circulating
Individual Student Correction Activities
Check out the self-guided modules from the IRIS Center of Vanderbilt University titled,
Classroom Video Analysis
Video can be a great tool to improve your teaching practice. After watching videos of their classrooms, teachers realized they did not have a clear sense of reality regarding what was occurring in their classrooms (Knight, 2013). Teachers can use videos of their lessons to set goals relevant to the immediate needs they notice to improve student learning and well-being. Consider practicing the art of using video to gain a clearer understanding of how consistently you are correcting behavior and the frequency with which you use correction and praise. After watching your video, outline a goal and action steps to address the behavioral focus you’ve selected to explore.
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- State any observed problem(s) that you noticed;
- Describe the importance of addressing this problem;
- Hypothesize possible causes/sources of the problem;
- Set a specific and measurable goal for improvement; and
- Explain what next steps you plan to take to achieve your goal.
*For specific templates related to analyzing the use of correction and praise in the classroom, check out the work of Jim Knight in Focus on Teaching: Using Video for High-Impact Instruction (2014).
ðŸŽRole Play: Practicing Nonverbal Classroom Interventions
Using Questions to Engage & Assess Activities
Classroom Video Analysis
Video can be a great tool to improve your teaching practice. After watching videos of their classrooms, teachers realized they did not have a clear sense of reality regarding what was occurring in their classrooms (Knight, 2013). Teachers can use videos of their lessons to set goals relevant to the immediate needs they notice to improve student learning and well-being. Consider practicing the art of using video to gain a clearer understanding of how you use questions in your teaching practice. After watching your video, outline a goal and action steps to address the behavioral focus you’ve selected to explore.
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- State any observed problem(s) that you noticed;
- Describe the importance of addressing this problem;
- Hypothesize possible causes/sources of the problem;
- Set a specific and measurable goal for improvement; and
- Explain what next steps you plan to take to achieve your goal.
For specific templates related to analyzing the use of questions in the classroom, check out the work of Jim Knight in Focus on Teaching: Using Video for High-Impact Instruction (2014).
Designing a Cooperative Learning Experience