Print Friendly, PDF & Email

4. Google provides their employees with 24:7 gym access and many other fun and crazy perks.*

Kids need play and fun more than anyone.  Remember to find the element of fun in your daily lessons.  Take brain breaks often to allow students to get up, move, dance, and be silly.  Be aware of the need for extra movement on indoor recess days and plan activities that offer students options to get up out of their seats.  Classrooms that are a place of fun will be places of learning.

Our world is changing.  Education is changing.  Teachers are becoming facilitators in the learning journey of our students.  This learning occurs when you have clear expectations and standards.  Teachers still need to have specific learning objectives and a plan for the year, but moving to a student centers classroom will open up doors and windows you never thought existed.  Many highly successful companies today use non-traditional methods to increase moral and productivity with their employees.  We can use these motivators too:  provide resources and freedom for student exploration and learning, create positive supportive environments for student risk and failure (which leads to learning), respect time outside of the classroom and at home with meaningful homework (if any), and have fun!  It is a changing world, but with strong classroom management and an openness to learning you can transform (or tweak) your classroom using ideas from some of the top ten companies this year.

 

*”Best Companies to Work For 2014.” CNNMoney. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2014.

**AOL, Jobs Staff. “Best Companies to Work For In 2014.” AOL Jobs. N.p., 17 Jan. 2014. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.

****All reviews from Glassdoor.

Lori Rice is a fourth-grade teacher at West Elementary in Wamego, Kansas, who has taught K-2 reading...

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.