Teaching Second Grade
Teaching second grade is an important step in the education process, because you are building on the bases your students learned in first grade, and helping them to move on to more challenging subjects.
In establishing an effective classroom, there are some ground rules that should be followed. Otherwise, the process of learning will be more difficult for your students. Some ground rules follow:
Students should be kind to each other and respect each other. Nasty language or calling names should not be acceptable. A happy student is one who is willing and able to learn, and bullying will make the victims uncomfortable, unhappy and unable to focus on the tasks at hand.
Students should be willing and able to follow directions, otherwise teaching second grade may become a lesson in futility. Your students should feel free to ask you questions, if there is something they don't understand. This helps keep all of your students on the same page.
Listening with care to everything you tell them is an important way for your students to show respect for you and each other. They should pay attention to whoever is speaking, so that you won't have to waste time repeating what was said.
Teaching second grade also involves helping the students learn to work quietly. If they are working in small groups, conversation should be limited and should only be about the subject they are working on. If they are working individually, they need to learn not to talk to each other.
Some teachers also have programs to encourage students not only to learn what is required in second grade, but to go beyond that, and reach further in their educational goals. Students involved in these groups can choose a category from their class list, and a question from that category. They can research the answer to the question on-line or using grade-level appropriate books. They need to study hard to learn all they can about the subject, and then if they can answer questions about their topic, they are rewarded with a points system that allows them to pick prizes based on their point totals.
Teaching second grade also allows you to involve parents or siblings in the equation. In a variation of the old “show and tell” days, students can have their parents or siblings sign up as “mystery guests”, who come to class and share a favorite story with the students. This involves parents in the education of their children, and creates a nice diversion from the regular reading period.
Many other interesting ideas can be found on-line, ideas that make teaching second grade less of a task and more of a pleasure. The more you put into developing unique and effective teaching techniques, the more your students will carry into the third grade.