With the start of a new school year many teachers are getting their lesson plans ready and starting to make copies for those first day of school activities. However, what if those teachers had alternatives to making those copies, thus saving paper and helping the environment? Let’s look at some ways educators can cut back on paper copies, while still engaging students.
Nowadays, tablets are being used in most classrooms to practice vocabulary and other basic skills. But tablets can be used in a variety of ways that expand your students' thinking, creativity, and collaboration abilities. Instead of making copies for students to plan a project or write an essay, encourage students to use a tablet to take advantage of productivity apps such as Notes or Google Slides. These apps allow students to type their information but also create presentations to share their information. Tablets can also be used as a replacement for worksheets. Recreate your favorite worksheet, take a screenshot, and share it with the other tablets in the classroom. Rather than making copies for daily work, have students edit the photo to include the needed information. If a check is needed, have the students screenshot their edited image and send that to you. One thing to remember about tablets is that technical issues do occur, so it is important to teach students basic troubleshooting or at the very least teach them how to research solutions if something does go wrong with their tablets.
Tablets are not the only way to decrease copy making for educators. Creating lessons and activities that require group discussion or group work allows for fewer copies, as they can be shared by the group, or, ideally, no copies at all. How can we do group work with little to no copies? Using large chart paper is the answer. This idea is especially useful in middle and high school as their discussions can be more in depth and lengthier compared to those of elementary students. Start by writing either a question or topic in the middle or top of the page for each group. Divide the students into groups and ask them to answer and or write about the topic on the chart paper. This can also be done in several ways. You can write different questions on each chart paper and have students rotate through each one. After writing their thoughts or answers, students can rotate through each page and write out observations and/or reflections about the answers. These can also be posted on walls for further discussion or later use. Large chart paper is a great way to lessen copies and, depending on the way it is used, can instigate great conversations within the classroom. What other ways can educators use large chart papers?
Need a quick check-in, but don’t want to make copies of small little squares you may or may not have time to check? Then, let’s get those dry erase boards ready! At the beginning of the year, you can purchase small dry erase boards, or you can make your own! To make your own simple dry erase board, you will only need two things: a sheet protector and thick, white cardstock. Simply put the cardstock into the sheet protector and there you have it, an easy-to-make dry eraser board. Now, why is this a good alternative to copies? It’s easy to use multiple times and is ideal for elementary students but can work great in middle and high school classrooms as well. Using dry erase boards provides students with a consistent way of communicating with their teachers. They can keep it on them whenever they are in class, they can use it to ask questions, give a quick check-in, or even write their reflection of the day for you to see. Then, they can erase it and move on. Quick, easy, and simple—the best three words an educator can hear about an activity or tool.
Each school year, students purchase notebooks ready to be written in, so educators should take advantage of those supplies. Instead of making copies of discussion questions, have students write the questions in their notebooks along with their answers or thoughts. Incorporate the same rotation idea from the large chart paper into journaling by having students pass around their journal so their peers can give them ideas or thoughts about their observations. Using a graphic organizer for brainstorming? No problem! Show students a template of the organizer and have them copy or write in different colors to identify each section of the graphic organizer. This makes note taking fun for students, allows them to organize their ideas and thoughts in a better way for them to learn, and everything is kept together within the journal. Another great thing about using notebooks is that students can use both sides of the paper. Say, for instance, a student has written on all the pages in the notebook and there are no more blank pages. Have them either start writing on the back of the pages or, so as not to confuse the student, have them turn the notebook upside down and start writing. This makes it fun for the students but also helps with knowing where they stopped writing.
Movement can help engage any student, so why not use that to check on mastery instead of using paper and pencil? Using different movements within your lesson can help students pay attention, stay attentive, and have fun all the while learning. What movements can be used that won’t distract too much? Have students stand up or sit down during a discussion to show whether they agree or disagree. Want to gauge how much information students know about a topic? Have students stand side by side in a line at the end of the room and as you give them topics have them stay away or come closer the more, they know about that subject. Take advantage of the flooring in the classroom. Is it sectioned off? If so, have students move to different parts of the room to discuss facets of a complicated subject. Does your floor have uniform squares? Move the desks and practice mapping skills to find certain things on the floor. Having students move around as they are learning helps them comprehend deeper because they are having to use multiple parts of their brains to accomplish what is being asked of them.
Finding more innovative ways to present information to students can help them stay engaged and learn new ways they take in information. Using alternative ways to teach including dry erase boards or tablets will provide educators with more time to enhance their lessons in order to increase students' understanding of topics within the classroom. Above all, these options will lessen the use of paper products in the classroom, thus providing an eco-friendlier solution.
