Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Fast Finishers

Everyone has more content to teach than minutes in the day... I hear that from most of you! So, isn’t it crazy when you see a student finished and doing absolutely nothing or worse yet, beginning to disturb others?
What’s a teacher to do? That’s where a little planning for Fast Finishers comes in. It will be well worth the investment of time.
  • Instill in students that there is ALWAYS something to be discovered, created, practiced or learned.
  • Start with 3-5 activities for the week.

  • You may wish to develop a packet for each student (I only recommend this is you have only 1-5 consistent fast finishers), but I suggest creating a folder for each different activity and make theses available in one place in the room.
  • Place multiple copies in the folder if the activity is consumable along with directions and any materials needed to complete the activity.
  • Activities should be individual and quiet.
  • Consider going over the activities and directions at the beginning of the week.
  • You may wish to have students put completed activities in a separate folder.
  • You can consider whether you want to award extra credit for these assignments or not. Better yet, let students keep track on an individual card or chart of how many they complete.
  • If they chart their activities and keep it in a folder, then you have it available to show parents at conference time.
  • If a parent says their child is bored, then you having enriching activities available and can show the parent.
  • Having a wide variety of different independent work available helps to ensure that students are optimizing their learning opportunities through the day.
  • These do not always need to be worksheets!
  • Because not all students are fast finishers, you may periodically schedule time in your  plans for all students to work on their independent enrichment activities.
  • While students should enjoy these activities, they need to know that you expect regular work to be completed with quality, so they do not rush through other assignments to get to these.
  • Training students how to do this is key. They must learn the routine of knowing where to get the activity and materials; where to turn it in; and how to do it.