Time to Talk

With the time constraints all teachers experience, empowering students to function as TOADs in the classroom just makes sense. The expectations you have for a TOAD can be as simple as being in charge of turning on/off the classroom computers, checking headphones, cleaning, etc.  The next step up is to build capacity for TOADS to be application experts. This strategy can have a big return in classroom economy as students serving as the TOAD become the “go to expert” so that the teacher is not interupted during small group instruction or universal access time. The best TOADs are not necessarily the top students. Choosing students who don’t usually receive attention for their academic achievements provides a great opportunity for validation in their classroom learning community.

For a more elaborate effort of spawning TOADS, check out the PhotoStory movie that was sent to a principal in thanks for providing an opportunity to attend a week long professional development festival for teachers and two of their incoming students (future TOADS).