Tricks of the trade

I stumbled upon two wonderful teaching strategies this past school year. They are not something you would use on a daily basis, but they are nice to have in your back pocket. 

Trick One: Go buy the most disgusting flavor of gum you can find at the store. I recommend Extra's Cinnamon Roll and Trident's Jelly Bean. When you find that a particular meeting is going longer than you would like, pull out the gum and offer it to those around you. Then sit back and watch as your colleagues wrap up the meeting as fast as they can. I came upon this trick during an IEP meeting. 

Trick Two: During the last two weeks of school things can get a little interesting. The amount of tasks that need to be accomplished can be overwhelming. Kids are typically losing their mind and finding interesting ways to entertain themselves. In hopes to finish packing up my classroom I decided to have a group of boys untangle a ball of twine. I had no intention of keeping the twine, but thought this might keep them occupied. Sure enough they worked on the giant knot for half the class. At one point they were spread out across the room creating a giant web of some sort as the rest of us maneuvered around each strand. This went on for several days.