You’ve just delivered an amazing lesson. Your students seem to grasp the new concepts, and they’re working away at a learning activity to get some practice under their belts and help solidify what they’ve just learned. But some students are finishing early. With nothing else to do, they’re distracting others who are still working away. Anchor activities can help! Transitions in the classroom can be difficult – and even the most perfectly planned day will have a few gaps. How can you transform those moments from a problem into an opportunity for constructive learning? That’s where anchor activities can play an important role in your lesson planning and curriculum mapping. Let’s take a look at what they are, how they work in a classroom and a few lesson planning ideas you can use today. Anchor activities are projects or assignments that students turn to during gaps in classroom time. They’re easy for students to pick up and put down over shorter periods of time, such as at the beginning of class, after they complete classwork or when they’re waiting for help with a question or problem. Unlike the learning activities you include in your lesson plan, anchor activities are often self-directed, meaning students have the freedom to choose what topics or projects interest them most. And they’re often not teacher-graded, meaning they don’t add to your marking work, though offering feedback to students is still important. Don’t confuse anchor activities with busywork, either. They’re about much more than killing time and avoiding idle hands; they’re opportunities to continue instruction in an engaging way that ties into your overall curriculum. More than a plug to fill in extra time during a lesson, anchor activities keep students productive throughout the day and prime them for learning between activities and classes. Having a set of activities that students can turn to helps them: Anchor activities are especially effective with high-achieving students who are motivated to learn more, goal-oriented students who enjoy checking goals off of lists, competitive students who enjoy a challenge among their peers and less enthusiastic students who can connect material that doesn’t resonate with them to an external interest. And teachers love them, too, as an essential classroom management tool that: How do students know when to start working on an anchor activity? How do they know what the activities are, and where to find the materials they need to start or continue their work? Success depends on how you roll anchor activities out in your classroom. You’ll find the greatest success with anchor activities when you: The sky’s the limit! But if you’re looking for lesson planning ideas you can start using in your instruction today, we’ve got loads to share: Sure, students can pick up and put them down throughout the year – but great anchor activities take a little more planning on the other side, starting with your curriculum mapping and lesson planning. Anchor assignments are meant to grow knowledge and practice skills once they’ve been acquired. As such, they need to come at the right time in your curriculum, once students have been introduced to that knowledge and those skills. To further enhance learning, you can design activities that tie current lessons in with past ones, either in your class or past grade levels. Pay close attention to what other teachers are planning as you’re mapping your curriculum, especially where opportunities for overlap appear. If you’re teaching history and students are learning about a particular formula in math, consider combining the two by creating an anchor assignment that explores the life of a related mathematician or a particular historical application of the formula. If left only for “ragged time” when some students are finishing classwork while others are struggling, not every student will have a chance to work on their anchor assignments. Setting time aside in your lesson plans may be as simple as blocking off 30 minutes each week to make progress on anchor assignments, or even splitting the class into groups and rotating them between class activities and anchor assignments. Once students are engaging with your content, they’re not just making those classroom gaps and transitions smoother… they’re also deepening and broadening their learning, forging new connections, practicing new skills and having fun while doing it! Looking for other ways to engage your students in the classroom? Try technology! Learn more with our article on How to Increase Student Engagement with Technology.The low-down on anchor activities
Benefits for both teachers and students
Putting anchor activities to work
Need a few lesson planning ideas?
A vital tool for curriculum mapping and lesson planning
Make sure concepts have been taught before.
Connect learning to other subjects.
Get intentional about making time.
Anchors, aweigh!