Anchor Activities: Using Instructional Time to Its Maximum Potential

If you are a teacher, you know that students in mixed ability classrooms will complete activities in different amounts of time. Some students will complete an activity in record time, while others will struggle to complete them at all. This fact can present real challenges in the classroom. The students that finish early need to be kept engaged in activity, or you may run the risk of these students distracting other students. In addition, instructional time should be used to its maximum potential. This is where anchor activities are most beneficial.

Anchor activities are tasks that they students will participate in on a regular basis. The students need to practice how and when anchor activities are appropriate. Anchor activities can be used as a way for students to remain engaged while waiting for the teacher to ask a question, if they finish an activity quickly, or to wait for a conference.

In order for anchor activities to be effective they need to be relevant to the course material. In general, anchor activities are independent and self-directed. The students must be accountable for remaining on task. In order to hold the students accountable for remaining on task, a certain number of anchor activities can be required by the end of the week, month, etc. Anchor activities help to foster good study habits, reinforce the material with current events and allow the students to make the most of instructional time.

Anchor activity ideas

Journals
Journals are a fantastic anchor activity idea that can be applied to all subjects. Writing improves the more practice and feedback a student receives. In order to insure that the students are writing on relevant topics (and thereby improving essay writing skills), a list of topics should be provided for the students. Come up with 50+ topics that the students can choose from that are relevant to the course material. Students can pick and choose from those topics for the journal entries.

Test Prep
Many schools have test prep books in which the students can work. Test prep materials are very good anchor activities.

Note Taking
Note-taking is a skill. Revising notes in ways that can be meaningful to the student is a good use of an anchor activity. Students have different modalities. By reorganizing their notes into flow charts, concept map, and cause and effect diagrams, students will be able to commit more information to memory and develop higher level thinking skills.

Anchor activities are a necessary part of a well managed classroom.