An Appointment Clock is a classroom management tool that teachers can use in situations where students will be working in pairs.  Appointment Clocks save valuable class time, empower kids to make meaningful choices, ensure that students have the opportunity to work with a variety of classmates, and facilitate smooth transitions.

Here’s how Appointment Clocks work.  Imagine that you are planning a classroom activity in which you would like your students to work in pairs.  When you have finished explaining the directions and are ready for the kids to begin the activity, you ask everyone to find one partner and get started.  Though this request may seem simple enough to follow, many students will struggle.  Some may not feel comfortable approaching a classmate, others may not be able to decide how to choose one friend over another, and still others may choose the same friend every time you schedule cooperative learning.  The potential exists for wasted time, hurt feelings, and a loss of focus from the activity itself.

 This week’s tip concludes our current theme: establishing an effective morning routine that prepares students for a great day of learning.  Every morning my students and I participate in a four-part morning movement warm-up.  Executing these movements helps my students achieve what I consider to be an ideal mindset for learning: calm, relaxed, focused, and confident.  During this four week period I describe the four movements, one per week.  This week I describe the final part of our warm-up, hook-ups.

After students have had the opportunity to energize themselves during the first two parts of our routine, our goal for the third and fourth parts is to help them become calm and relaxed.  Hook-ups are an important part of that effort.