Take a Minute: Stand Up Meetings

Stand-Up Meetings

Question: Can you have a productive staff meeting in just 15 minutes?

Having staff stand for meetings keeps them quick—15 minutes, max—and efficient.

Take a Minute: Whiteboard Relay

Whiteboard Relay

Question: What gets kids jumping out of their seats to show what they know?

The team competition is fierce in this informal assessment activity, in which students have to work together to win.

Take a Minute: Flash Philosophy

Flash Philosophy

Question: What's a simple activity to get kids thinking?

In this quick warm-up that sharpens critical thinking, students wrestle with moral and ethical questions—while also gaining communication and writing skills.

Take a Minute: Attendance Question

Attendance Question

Question: How can you use roll call to connect and check the vibe?

Transforming a mundane task like roll call into a chance to connect and share a moment with students makes the start of class more joyful.

Take a Minute: The Last Question

The Last Question

Question: How do you get kids to keep thinking, even when the lesson is over?

When time is up at the end of a lesson, there’s one last question teachers can ask to get students to reflect on their work—and how they’d improve next time.

Take a Minute: Inerview Assessments

Interview Assessments

Question: How can you better gauge student progress?

A face-to-face chat provides an alternative for students who struggle to show what they know on tests.

Take a Minute: Guided Meditation

Guided Meditation

Question: How can you help kids self-regulate during the school day?

A short contemplative exercise can help students calm themselves and get ready to learn.

Take a Minute: Cooperative Learning Roles

Cooperative Learning Roles

Question: How do you get all kids in a group to really participate?

Giving students randomly assigned roles in their group work helps ensure that they all participate.

Take a Minute: SLANT Listening

SLANT Listening

Question: How do we teach students to be engaged listeners?

A simple strategy encourages students to give their full attention when listening to others.

Take a Minute: 3 Noses

3 Noses

Question: How do you make a math warm-up fun and collaborative?

An active math warm-up that is inclusive and fun puts students in a positive frame of mind—and gets them ready to learn.

Take a Minute: Talk Detectives

Talk Detectives

Question: How do you encourage good discussions in the classroom?

Improve the quality of class discussions by giving young kids a checklist of key things to look for when their peers talk.

Take a Minute: Peer Review

Peer Review

Question: How can students learn to exchange feedback independently?

When students take charge of their own feedback, they learn to work with others in the room—and not just their friends.

Take a Minute: Participation Cards

Participation Cards

Question: How can every student contribute, even in a large class?

A quick formative assessment tool also encourages all students—even shy ones—to participate in discussions.

Take a Minute: Daily Intentions

Daily Intentions

Question: How do you help students build good habits around goals?

By making small goal setting part of the everyday routine, teachers help students build the skills they need to achieve larger and longer-term objectives.

Take a Minute: Traverse Talk

Traverse Talk

Question: How do you teach kids to argue well?

This 60-second straregy demonstrates a  fun classroom activity that helps students find their voice by teaching the basics of debate in an accessible way.

Take a Minute: Community Circles

Community Circles

Question: How do you make sure every student feels seen and heard?

This 60-second strategy offers an opening and closing exercise where every student contributes to ensure that they all feel seen and heard in a classroom.

Take a Minute: Heat Warm-Ups

Heat Warm-Ups

Question: How do you differentiate warm-ups to support all learners?

In this 60-second strategy, differentiated levels of ‘heat’ mean every student starts class feeling both challenged and accomplished.

Take a Minute: Snowball Toss

Snowball Toss

Question: How do you get students to open up and connect?

This 60-second strategy offers a quick, fun classroom activity that fosters open dialogue while releasing pent-up energy.

Take a Minute: Teacher Queue

Teacher Queue

Question: How do you manage all the requests for help in a student-centered class?

This 60-second strategy offers an easy, fair way to manage multiple students' needs when they're working independently or in groups.

Take a Minute: Ask 3 Before Me

Ask 3 Before Me

Question: How do you teach kids to help themselves?

When students help each other in the classroom, they gain confidence and independence—and you get to keep on teaching. Check out this 60-Second Strategy below: