end of year

Internet-Free Activities for Middle and High School Classrooms, Any Subject

Recently, we experienced a school-wide Internet outage where I teach, and being without access to the World Wide Web really threw my students and me (along with everyone else in the building) for a loop. The days we were out of Internet, I had planned for students to make presentations that were stored in Google classroom, print papers to turn in, among other things that required Internet. It’s not the first time the Internet has gone down in our rural school, but going without really kicked my Plan B mindset into gear. So, I’ve put together a list of fabulous Internet-free ideas and resources for middle-high school in any subject that can be used in a pinch – or with some planning – when Ralph, or whoever, breaks the Internet.

1) Get Crafty or Build Something:

Collage projects are pretty much my go-to, hands-on activity when I need to grab something fast, plan for a sub, or fill some time. Even my high school students love to cut and paste and create, and I think it’s even a fun way to sneak in a little reading. I always catch them actually reading the magazines we use. Plus, reusing those old magazines is the best way to recycle them. In English class, I have students make character poems, character personality collages, book covers, social media posts, and the list goes on and on.

Theme collage after studying “Brave” and Malala Yousafzai

America dream collage after watching The Great Gatsby

Character collages for “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”

Character collages for The Great Gatsby

Coloring never goes out of style, and crayons have been around way before the Internet was born. Draw a scene from a book, illustrate a favorite quote, draw the plot, or draw a diagram of the solar system or various other subject-based topics that need to be reviewed through the year. I’ve been using these color-by-grammar or color-by-figurative language worksheets in a pinch forever, and they are always a big hit with my secondary English students.

If you teach secondary math, the Math Stop has a fun coloring-based activity that would be awesome in a no-Internet setting. Students develop their knowledge of graphing coordinate pairs, quadrants, and reflections about the x and y-axis with this fun and engaging art activity. Then, they make it personal by using the letters of their name to decode them into arbitrary numbers from a decoder box. In the end everyone has a cool and colorful design that represents his/her own name.

$Name Symmetry Art Math Activity$

2) Play Games or Conduct Experiments:

Old-fashioned board games can be very educational whether you are playing them purely for the logic or teamwork of it, or if you are putting your subject-area twist on it. That’s pretty much how I do it; everything has to be English-related. (Wink) When I found these ready-made game cards with an extensive bank of 144 CCSS-aligned grammar and literature terms and definitions by The Littlest Teacher, I thought I had hit the jackpot! If you teach middle or high school English, you are going to want these!

I don’t know a student who doesn’t love a good game of Trashketball! You can set up a trashketball review game for any subject with little to no prep at all, and you’ll be set. For all things trashketball, I turn to the OCBeach Teacher. She’s the coach on this topic, and she has ready-to-go ELA games set up, so I don’t have to do anything but enjoy the game! She has full instructions and links to her no prep ELA review games here!

Mazes, Puzzles, and Escape Games. Oh My! These are all the rage now. I think I write about them in almost every blog post I do with resource-related tips and ideas because they are SO much fun! I recently used one of EoLA Ruth’s kinesthetic mazes to review frequently confused words, and we had a blast. The kids skirted around the room as fast as they could to figure out the puzzles AND answer the challenges! She has a free one for Independent vs. Dependent clauses. Other teachers are raving about Carol Miller’s The Growth Mindset Escape Game. Every now and then kids need a little reminder to get back into that positive thinking routine. Her Growth Mindset Escape Room is the perfect challenge for middle and high school students to both teach the concepts of a growth mindset and to have fun. Students are given a scenario where their school is taken over by the evil Dr. Dread and only way out is to use their brain power before it turns to mush! If you teach secondary ELA, my collection of escape games is growing like crazy! Check out the entire catalog here.

Other ideas include taking time to have students get to know their classmates better like with this fun Spanish speaking activity that gets them up and out of their seats to “Find Someone Who” can answer questions about classmates’ families, pets, favorite classes, sports and food. Download it for free! Truth or Dare would also pique your students’ interest, and I love how Reading and Writing Have uses this game – and others – to help students review vocabulary words! Whether you’ve chosen words from literature, from test prep lists, from a vocabulary book, or hand-selected words you think your students should know, the exercises in this bundle will complement them perfectly. Designed to work with any Tier 2 vocabulary list, these activities, games, and practice worksheets will get your students thinking creatively… without the Internet!
Experiments and STEM projects always catch my attention. I think it’s because I secretly wish I were a scientist! That’s definitely not in my future, but I love seeing what other teachers are preparing for their students. When I saw this Pirate Coding activity created by Curiosity and the Hungry Mind, I knew it was a treasure. (The puns are always intended.) Plus, I have a major soft spot for Pirates. (Again, what I wish I could be when I grow up.) You’ll be able keep upper elementary and middle school students engaged in unplugged coding and STEM challenges with these cool activities!

This STEM project from Professor Doubter piqued my interest immediately, and I think your upper elementary or middle school students will want to dive right in, too. This lab activity challenges students to prove there is REAL IRON in cereal by designing and conducting their own experiments to prove magnetic fields exist between objects! The only materials you’ll need are a strong magnet, hand lens, ½ cup of dry breakfast cereal (Total® brand) in a small plastic baggie, and small beaker/container of water. Grab the instructions and files here, and let your little scientists get busy!

Last but not least, how about just going outside to play? From your middle school students to your high school students, everyone will be participating. Have students toss a ball around and review a point from the lesson. Write vocab words on the sidewalk with chalk. Misty Miller has her students go outside and play tag with math integers. Integers Math Tag Relay is a great way to practice solving problems with integers while having fun.

$Integers Math Tag Relay$

3) Write:

If you are in the middle of a writing unit, and the Internet goes out, you don’t have to stop what you were doing entirely. With every unit, my students benefit from analyzing sample papers. You probably have a few lurking in your file cabinets, and if you can plan ahead, I have several available in any mode, too. I like to put students in groups or set up stations and use task cards to guide their analysis. (See another post here or a video via Facebook for how I do that.) Peer reviewing and/or revising are also super important in the writing process, and if students have been drafting on paper or have old papers that have already been graded, you can have them pull out those copies and review. I use self-evaluation forms, task cards, and “sticky notes” to get kids reading, reviewing, and revising their writing.

Writing is such a big part of the educational process, and it’s really important in any subject. Just something as simple as having students write a fun narrative about “The Day Without the Internet,” or an expository essay explaining the effects of no Internet in school, or an argumentative letter to local legislatures persuading them to bring better Internet into the county – would be perfect. Have students read them aloud, and that will help with your grading! Science classes could write explanations of their most recent science experiment, and history classes could write summaries of an important event they just studied.

4) Read and Role Play:

I’m pretty certain every school has an old-fashioned library stocked with beautiful books just waiting to have their spines cracked. Take a visit! Also, our local newspaper delivers free copies of the weekly paper to our school. It came to my attention not too long ago that my freshmen hadn’t really ever read or picked up an actual newspaper. It’s hard to believe, but if you stop and think about it, that’s probably true. If you can get access to some newspapers, have students do a scavenger hunt looking for text features, main idea sentences, use of dialogue, etc.
Nothing makes reading come alive more than acting it out. Every unit I teach must include some kind of readers’ theater or role playing scenes because my students beg me for them. We either act out some scenes I’ve abridged or created, they create the scene by responding to a role playing prompt, or we just throw on some costumes and read the text we are studying!

Students responded to a role playing prompt and wrote “scenes” here for the play Trifles.

Here students got dressed up to complete a second reading of Patrick Henry’s speech.

Students reenact the famous scene from Act 4 of Macbeth.

5) Listen to a Podcast or Watch a Movie:

While podcasts do require the Internet, you can play them right from your phone and use a Bluetooth speaker to project them for your class. I love podcasts, too, because they are mobile. Grab your phone, speaker, blankets, chairs, hammocks, worksheets, and go! Get my ready-to-go podcast worksheets for any podcast any subject here, and take a look at my growing list of podcast suggestions here!

Movies never go out of style, and they are perfect in a pinch. You can find so many ready-to-guides for tons of movies, so you can just press play!

All this made me think about back in the day when we didn’t have Internet, at least not so readily available and at such high speeds. What did we ever do? Also, there are other times of the year when using the Internet might not be an option, perhaps if you are in a testing window at the end-of-the year, or if you are displaced from your classroom for various reasons. Teaching and learning must continue, even if it’s going to look a little different or if your main lesson is going to be on pause for a little while. Sometimes you can plan ahead, and other times, it’s unexpected. Basically, the show must go on, and we teachers know how to make that happen.

Sign up for my monthly newsletter – “The Plot Line” – that is delivered directly to your email inbox each month. Each month you’ll get announcements, tips for teaching, updates on new and revised resources, and, of course, an email-only exclusive FREEBIE!

First Name Last Name E-Mail Address

3/2019, Photos Taken by Julie Faulkner or used with permission

Keeping Kids Tuned in at the End of the Year

It’s getting to be that time of year when things get a little crazy – a little sideways. Students – and teachers – are starting to tune out! In a middle or high school English classroom, this is an excellent time of year to start that novel you’ve been wanting to teach or to try a new project. So hopefully, these ideas will make those even more creative for you! Plus, they are all student-centered and standards-based, so the kiddos stay engaged, and your job is easy! Join me for a fun recap of some ways to keep students tuned in this time of year.

1) Make It Real – When the CCSS started to roll out and there was so much emphasis placed on nonfiction, I’ll be honest – like many other “old English teachers” – I was nervous about giving up so much class time to those texts over my beloved classic fiction texts. Now, I love finding nonfiction texts that stand alone and/or that pair with my fiction. And, honestly, the kids LOVE it when they know it’s real. Sometimes I have them go searching on their own for real information – like in my mini research project on banned books in my Fahrenheit unit. Or other times, I’ll pair the info for them and have them dig into the material in class like in my lesson on the LeRoy HS outbreak after we read Act 1 of The Crucible. Also, take a look at several bundles of hot topics informational text lessons I have ready-to-go.

2) Make It Personal – We all know that secondary students can be ah hem… self-centered. So anytime they get to talk about themselves, there’s pretty good buy-in. My seniors just completed my Generational Interview project as part of their reading tasks for the last section of my Fahrenheit unit. They – and their grandparents – really enjoyed the projects and the kids learned so much about their families and themselves. This was an out-of-class assignment, but they did share in class. Now that’s an easy prep! Another way to make it personal and keep kids tuned in is with poetry that speaks to them. In my treating senioritis poetry pack, I’ve selected several poems that draw on students’ personal experiences and the follow up activities ask students to reflect on their past, present, and future.

3) Make It Interactive – I have to admit that I’d never used puppets in the classroom before with high school students, but now that I have, I can’t stop. I also have to admit that it was partly my students’ idea to conduct the first puppet show. When my seniors read The Canterbury Tales, I had made little cards with the characters on them. I wanted each student to read and research about that character to share with the class. One student was holding up her card and thought she was being funny when she said, “We should do this as a puppet show.” I said, “Actually, that’s a great idea. Yes, we should.” That night I glued Popsicle sticks on the cards and borrowed a puppet curtain my mom had made for my nieces. Voila! The next day we had a puppet show! After that, I let my emoji addiction get a little more out of control, and I made emoji puppets for accountable talk, review, point of view, and more! See my Facebook post about them!

Escape games are super hot right now, too, and you can find them in just about any subject and grade level. The end of the year is the perfect time to give one a try for review or just for fun. I’ve made full-length games for some favorite stories I teach, and I recently started to make mini escape games that last 30 minutes!

All of my games are designed so that you can use a physical lock box that you buy premade or make yourself or digitally with Google. I love using the physical lock box for students, and I’ve created a quick video tutorial just in case you’ve wanted to try it, but have been a little apprehensive about it.

4) Make It Project-Based – Projects don’t have to be a lot of work for you. Nor should they be a lot of work to prep. One year I wanted something new and fun for Earth Day, so I rummaged through my junk drawers at the house and had student create uses for the various items. The skills we covered? Propaganda, Info-Text Analysis; Speaking and Listening, Presenting. That project is for sale here! This time of year, my yearbook students also work on projects to keep them busy until the books come back. They would be excellent for a yearbook class, business, art, or technology class. I’ve also successfully done short research projects, and I have a ton of those available as well on a variety of topics.

5) Make It a Movie Day – Let’s be real for a minute. We can’t always show a movie, but if we are talking about getting tuned in, well, we can’t ignore the obvious. If you missed my post about how to incorporate media effectively, click here to go check that out. I will say that my seniors are going to be watching The Hunger Games next week. Why in the world, right? It was their idea – and it wasn’t because they just wanted to watch it randomly. In fact, they’ve been asking me all along our 451 unit if there’s a sequel to Bradbury’s magnum opus. (Can we pause to just say how awesome it is that they want to read MORE 451?!?!?) Then one day, it dawned on a student that there was quite a bit of intertextuality between 451 and THG. I had noticed the parallels before because I love THG! He made a pretty good case for it, so I thought this would be a fun way to end the unit. They’ll have to write something showing those parallels, of course. Plus, I’ve got you covered for tons of movies with ready-made, standards-based movies guides. All you need to do is get the DVD and press play!

Here’s to a great rest of the year! Share your ideas for ending the year strong below!

Sign up for my monthly newsletter – “Teaching Tidbits” – that is delivered directly to your email inbox each month. Each month you’ll get announcements, tips for teaching, updates on new and revised resources, and, of course, an email-only exclusive FREEBIE!

First Name Last Name E-Mail Address

Updated 2019

School photo created by freepic.diller – www.freepik.com

Tips for Surviving the End of the Year in a Secondary Classroom

It’s that time of year when things are starting to wind down. It’s after state testing, and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I teach juniors and seniors and that senioritis starts to creep in about March for the seniors who know their days in public education are just about over. Well, what if those feelings of apathy, tiredness, discontent, and general aggravation aren’t just coming from the students? What if you – the teacher –are starting to feel the summer slide, too? You know the symptoms all too well from seeing it in your students, so if you have that same diagnosis this time of year, here are a few ways to beat that senioritis bug and end the year strong. If you have any tips and suggestions that work, leave them in the comments below!

1) Clean. I don’t know about your classroom, but mine gets so dirty throughout the year with kids coming and going. I’m not talking about piles of papers here or general disorganization; I mean dirt and dust bunnies galore. My board is so smeared, and the desks are pretty much black. A couple times a month, I’ll take the time to wipe down the desks with a Clorox wipe, but at the end of the year, it’s a much better idea to go ahead and break out the 409 and paper towels and give them all a good scrub – mine included. I’ll even borrow a mop and scrub around the baseboards. I always feel much more refreshed after I’ve given my room a good wipe down.

2) Organize. Piles of papers. Folders stacked here and there. Graded work heaping up. Books waiting to be checked back in. This pretty much describes the scene in my classroom by May. A messy room and/or desk does nothing for my motivation to be at school, and it even makes me want to just throw it all away, which wouldn’t be a good idea since I would have to start all over again in the fall. I have a decent system for organizing and filing, but it just seems to get away from me this time of year while I’m working on closing out yearbook, finalizing grades, and planning graduation. Having a system in place is key, though, because when I do have a second to clean up, it usually doesn’t take too long. I think the major road block to getting organized and maintaining that organization is an over-complicated process. An over-the-top organizational approach eventually gets overwhelming, and in the fast-paced life of a classroom teacher, things need to be simple. When I think of classroom organization, my main concern is not cute caddies and containers for my pencils, tape, etc. (I do have a classroom design/style/theme that I love, though. You can see that post here). Rather, I think of my day-to-day routine, and what it takes for me to plan, teach, grade, and manage my classroom without chaos. I’ve tried many different methods for organizing, and after a while, I think I’ve got it down to what works for me. Even though I teach multiple grades – three out of three preps every semester – I still use the same system for everything. Here’s how I take my desk from chaos to clean in five easy tips that have truly simplified my life over the years.

Have a place for students to turn in work. I’ve seen (and tried) different folders for each class or each student even. I’ve seen accordion files or hanging files for students to turn their work in. I’ve tried having a different place for late or make up work. I can never keep up all of that sorting, and eventually, I just give up. What I’ve come to find is that the more places you store the “Grade Me” work, the more opportunity for it to get misplaced. And that method takes up a lot of real estate in the classroom, too. I’ve been using one basket as a place for students to turn in work for about three years now, and it has been the ONLY thing to stick – and work. Whether it’s make up work, late work, or daily work, it goes in the “Grade Me” basket. Whether it’s first period, second period, or fourth period, it goes in that one basket. Now, if I’m collecting work from one period, once everyone has turned in his/her paper, I’ll go ahead and paperclip all those together. If I have the answer key handy, I’ll even attach that to the pile as well. Then when I’m ready to grade, it’s all right there in that one place. Yes, make up work or work from other classes gets mixed in from time to time, but that’s ok with me. I know and kids know if their work makes it to the basket, I will eventually see it and grade it. It’s also simple for the kids, and we all know why that’s important. If they can’t figure it out, you can forget it.

Have a place to store graded work until you can get it handed back. You probably already have a space like this in your classroom, but again for me, it must be simple and not take up much space. I just use a magazine bucket, but a hanging file folder box would work well, too. All my classes do have a separate folder in that box, and when it gets full, I know it’s time to hand work back. Just be aware that students needing to do make up work, might go pilfering through that box for answers on work you’ve already scored.

Have a place for teaching materials that you are using on a weekly and daily basis. Again, this is something that I’ve struggled with for years and years, and I just now have a system that works. It also works for having materials handy for makeup work. It goes like this: one box, one hanging folder per class. The end. I think you might be noticing a trend. I like to keep everything in one place. This crate sits on the corner of my desk, and when I make my morning or afternoon copies, I drop them in the correct folders when I walk into the room. If I have multiple lessons going for one class – which I usually do in an honors class – there are smaller folders inside the hanging folders. And, I usually have a folder for the master copies (which came out of my binders and are in sheet protectors) and then another folder for the student copies. I actually have one crate for each prep, and the past few years, I have had three preps, so that’s three crates.

Have a place for master copies of teaching materials. I mentioned master copies in sheet protectors above. By master copies of my teaching materials, I mean one blank copy of any worksheets, etc. the unit plan overview, daily lesson plans, and the answer keys. These go in a sheet protector in a 3-ring binder by class: junior honors, senior dual enrollment, yearbook, etc. Any extra copies or ideas I find during the unit that I might use later go in a manila folder to be filed. As a side note, these sheet protector packs can get pretty hefty, so I use extra capacity sheet protectors that I get from Amazon. Those binders sit on the shelf behind my desk. When I’m ready to start a new unit, I pull out the sheet protector pack and move it to the daily materials box.

Have a place for teaching materials that need to be filed. Since I do have three preps out of three preps each year, this is probably the pile that gets the largest more quickly than any other pile. My “FILE Me’ box is big enough to fit file folders and several stacks of papers. Then, when I’ve finished a lesson and have extra copies or student work samples to file later – during my down time 🙂 – it’s all in one place ready to go in its long-term home in the filing cabinet. If I can, I’ll go ahead and pop it in the filing cabinet as soon as I can. But if it has to sit for a minute, at least it’s already in a folder.

3) Try something new and/or student centered. Now that you’ve completed those lessons that are tried and true to get your students ready for state testing, etc. try something you’ve been curious about all year. It’s easy to get stuck in a rut, which leads to boredom, behavior problems, and bad moods. I’ve wanted to try Kahoot – since last May – but I couldn’t fit it in during the year. Plus, I was just really uncertain of how smoothly it would go. Last week, I was not in the mood to do anything – specifically review for EOCs, so I decided it was time to shake things up. We still needed to review grammar before the state testing, so I decided to load some of my real world grammar fails images into Kahoot and just give it a try. Because I already had those made up, it was just a matter of loading those pics and adding the choices. It took me less than 30 minutes to prep it, and it was very easy to use in class. I put my students in groups and let them use one device per group to select their answers. The program basically walks you through the steps. You can also search public Kahoots for free and play with no prep at all! The kids loved it! I was in a much better mood after doing a little something different from the status quo!

More ideas for trying something new:

Another thing that gets me down this time of year being busy from bell-to-bell. At this point in the year, usually, there isn’t any new material to cover, but having nothing for kids to do – or giving them busy work day after day gets old. They eventually catch on and that leads to more problems. A student-centered short research project where students pick their own topic, manage their own product, and then present to the class is just what the doctor ordered. Check out my free Antiques Show and Tell Research Project.

Antiques Show & Tell Common Core MLA Research Project -Fea

4) Have a party. Kids beg for a party this time of year. I’m not against parties, but I do want them to be on purpose. I’ve shared about my Great Gatsby party before. Click here to see more on that idea. Last week, my seniors finished Fahrenheit 451, and we had a final party where all the food was red, orange, or yellow. These are the times memories are made, and, of course, some sweet treats are surely the perfect antidote for senioritis. Look at how creative my students were in preparing their “hot” dishes!

5) Plan ahead. What feels better than planning ahead and taking some of the pressure off those first few days of school in the fall? Where I teach, we don’t normally know our schedule or students until a couple of weeks before school starts, but I still always try to take time to reflect on what I did this year. If I have time, I’ll even ask the students to reflect and evaluate the class, so I have authentic feedback as I’m looking at next year. Take a look at ALL my planners – printable and Google-drive planners here!

Here’s to a strong end to the year and a great summer! Share your best end-of-year secrets below!

First Name Last Name E-Mail Address

Updated 2019

Sailing Into Summer: End of Year Ideas Blog Hop

I’m excited to be “sailing” along this blog hop with other fabulous teacher-bloggers. We hope you find loads of ideas to make your end-of-year experience smooth sailing!

1) Final Exam Idea – At the end of the year I am super busy
because I sponsor the yearbook and graduation. So extra time to grade papers or
final exams before grades are due is very limited. A few years back, I decided
I would do a project-based final exam, and I couldn’t have been happier with the
results. With the menu-style format, students
take complete ownership over their final exam from what project they choose to
what grade they want. All I have to do on final exam day is grade the presentation
and project with my rubric and then enter the grade. Easy peasy! Here’s a link to the direct FREE download!

2) An Activity I Want To Do Again Next Year – This year I began
using Classflow.com with my yearbook students for their yearbook-themed jump
starter activity. I absolutely loved
being able to send the daily tasks out to them on their comps at the start of
class. It made delivery and discussion seamless. I will for certain be using Classflow.com
again next year!

Yearbook Class 100 Days of Bell Ringer Class Starter Activities

3) Something I Want to do Differently Next Year – At
the end of the semester this month, I did a week of lessons that I called Beach
Week. It was a good way to bring in some final lessons at the end of the year
without being too much like work! Everything was beach-themed from info text to poetry to the final movie. I even decorated my room with a few beachy touches. It worked
out so well doing it for my second semester students that I thought I would
love to do something like that at the end of my first semester. I’m thinking Christmas Week. The plans are
still in development, but I know for sure I want to do a community service
project with my students.

4) Gift Idea For Coworkers/Students/Aids – I like to send my
students at Kids’ Church and helpers out each summer with a small gift. One year I made tags to go with frozen Popsicles. These tags are cute, easy to
use, versatile, and FREE. You can put them on a Popsicles, ice cream gift cards, and more! Click below to get the free tag!

5) Organizing Tip for Planning – The best thing I ever did for
my organization was creating a notebook just for planning. There are so many
notebooks available out there, but there were a few things that kept me from
buying one such as not having enough places for multiple preps, being specific
to only one year, and including too many “other” things I didn’t need for
planning. Once I finally went to just one notebook with ONLY planning supplies
in it, the results were terrific. Now
this summer, all I’ll have to take with me is my flash drive and my planner for
next year! No more loose calendars, pages of standards falling out, or extra
pages to flip through. Click below to get my NEW Tribal Design Planner.

Be sure to stop by the other posts in this hop!

An InLinkz Link-up

Ways People React to Test Anxieties That Might Annoy Others: Are You Guilty?

Testing
season is upon us, and with that comes test anxieties. Although, I’m not sure
who has more anxieties about the tests – teachers or students! Either way the
stress that goes along with testing is very real, so I thought a light-hearted
post was in order. This post was inspired by a conversation I had with my
students after they completed the state writing exam, which is timed and taken
on the computers. We aren’t allowed to
administer the test to our own students or discuss test’s content, but I always
like to ask them how they felt about it afterwards. My honors group had been very nervous, apparently,
because their senses were heightened to every possible distraction in the room. To say they were somewhat distracted by every
little thing would be a huge understatement.
I couldn’t help but laugh as they shared their testing room experience
with me. Perhaps their list of “Ways People
React to Text Anxieties That Might Annoy Others” will give you a little
chuckle.

1) Leg Shaking – Anxiety increases
adrenaline levels, and when adrenaline goes up, your body has a natural
“fight or flight” response.
Leg shaking must equal the need to get up and run out of the room for
dear life. It might make time pass more
quickly for you, but the person next to you feels as if they are on a bad
amusement park ride. If you’re a
leg-shaker, try to just wiggle your toes instead!

2) Heavy Mouth Breathing and Nose Sniffling – I almost laughed
so hard I cried when my kids mentioned this to me, but it’s a reality. When that adrenaline gets going, breathing is
a struggle. If you often find yourself short
of breath during testing, try to do a few breathing exercises before entering
the testing room so you have that under control!

3) Mumbling – What signifies mumbling, you might ask? Well, if
you are Goody Osburn (from The Crucible),
mumbling could get you condemned a witch.
If not, you might just be a testing room proctor who isn’t quite on her “A
game.” In this case, the proctor was mumbling to herself and hovering during
the entire test. When you are reading
and writing on the spot, every moment counts.
Being distracted by a mumbler, well, that’s not the charm you are
looking for.

4) Loud Typing/Writing – Machine guns firing. That’s what my students
told me it sounded like when people began typing their essays. (Teenagers love hyperbole.) In a room of complete silence, though, I imagine that
is probably true. While some students were still trying to read the text, others
were rapidly firing their sentences to beat the clock. Online testing… sounds like an efficient way
to collect and grade responses, but in reality, it might not be the best “bang”
for the buck.

5) Pen Clicking/Tapping – This is probably my biggest personal
pet peeve. It’s not band class and we don’t
need a drum roll, but some students/people can’t resist the urge to click,
click, click, rap, tap, tapping at my chamber door….. Oh, sorry. I forgot I
wasn’t quoting Poe. Yes, the tapping. If pen clicking is your go-to tick during
testing, perhaps take a long some writing utensils that aren’t so interactive!

Are you
guilty of any of these? You probably don’t even know you have these aggravating
habits, but it is probably driving someone else in the room batty! May the odds be ever in your *testing* favor! Click on the keep calm image below to download a free pdf version of this cute sign!