Keep your content fresh. By including something relevant from the news, it helps connect the students to the learning. Using real life examples goes a long way. Give extra credit to students who bring in meaningful objects, articles, ideas, etc., related to the content. Make a quality rubric so that the students know what you expect. Having some student ideas ready to share enhances the lesson, and if the ideas are awesome, they could be added to next year's lesson. This kind of thing also comes in handy for evaluations.

For example, menus bring up interesting discussions and can be used for almost any content. Paper menus are easy to collect and bring to school. Is the food healthy? What about the pricing? How have menus changed over the years? What about tipping and figuring out 10%, 15%, 20%? Should you tip for bad service? Does eating out increase one's risk of getting sick? What adjectives are used in the menu? Write a short story about how you think the restaurant got started. Do you think the restaurant will still be in business one hundred years from now? Explain your reasoning.

Even though most teachers have mandated curriculum, it is still possible to add in a bit of pizzazz. Liven up lessons with the unexpected. Even pulling a strange object out of the desk drawer and having the students guess what it has to do with the day's learning can increase their enthusiasm for learning and retention of the material.

Would you like additional teaching tips? Read Betty's Blog at http://bettyb.teacherlingo.com.

Betty recently retired from public education after teaching sixth grade in Texas for over 20 years. She now enjoys blogging about substitute teaching and other aspects of life. She is also the co-founder of www.TeacherLingo.com, a social community for educators.