Post It

Tell me about this strategy!
- Post It is teaching strategy that allows for not only the students, but also others who walk into a classroom to know what will be taught that particular day. This is where the daily objective, or the daily agenda, is posted somewhere in the classroom so that students are able to know what will be accomplished that day. To do this, a teacher needs to have a designated area of the classroom devoted to the 'Post It' strategy. If this is located in a consistent area of the room, students, teachers, administrators, and parents will automatically know where to look in order to find the "agenda."

So, how does this work and why is it important?
-This strategy allows for not only consistency in a classroom, but also it allows for students or other visitors to be informed of what will happen in the particular class for that day. A teacher could also write a daily Do Now assignment or activity on the board. A Do Now is an activity that students do as soon as they get to their desks. When using this technique, students would be classically conditioned at the beginning of the year to automatically look at the 'Post It' board, or whatever materials a teacher decides to use to create this space, when they come into the classroom first thing in the morning. This creates a routine and sets certain expectations for the students. When routines and expectations are set in place, this reduces behavior issues from students. They know what their teacher wants them to do and they have things that automatically need to be completed. Also, if special education teachers used a Post It display, the routine aspect of this technique would help their students with different types special needs. A lot of times, kids with special needs, especially different types of autism, respond positively when they have a routine set in place.

That sounds like a great technique? Now, how do I set this up in my future classroom? 
- I will have a section of the whiteboard in my classroom devoted to the Post It technique. The words "Post It!" will be on the white board with colorful letters made from construction paper. This makes the board stand out to the students with the brighter colors. I will then have five different 8x10 pictures frames, each with a different colored paper inside the frames for added color to the Post It board. Each picture frame will be for a different subject, for example, Science, Social Studies, Reading, Writing, and Math. Each day, different topics and tasks will be written down on the frames for each subject in dry erase marker. Not only will I have objectives for each subject on the Post It  board, but I will allow for the bottom portion of my Post It board to be designated to a daily Do Now assignment, which I will discuss in greater detail on my next page! For the first two weeks of school, the students will need to be reminded to look at the Post It board for the daily agenda and their Do Now assignment. However, I will allow the Post It board to become such a large part of our classroom routine that soon students will automatically know to refer to the board at the beginning of class. In my classroom, the objective will include everything I expect and intend for us to do in the course of that day. While transitioning to different subjects or activities, I will make it a habit to refer back to the Post It board to show the students what is next.