Let’s be honest about one thing, education can be boring at times. While getting an education is a necessary and very beneficial part of life – it also can be tedious, time consuming and downright irritating. One big complaint about many classrooms is boredom. Lots of kids experience boredom at school and it can be a frustrating experience for them at times. One way that teachers can alleviate the monotony of every day learning is by including the use of timers.

Why Are Timers Needed in the Classroom?

Teachers often use timers as a means to control a classroom’s structure and movement. Students are usually given timers to transition between centers, areas or to remind them that they need to move on to the next task. The reality is that time can slip away from classrooms very easily. When this happens, it can cause the classroom to quickly to descend into chaos. It also helps to throw teachers off tasks and for academics to suffer. Many websites state that timers are the most important piece of equipment in the classroom. Timers won’t solve all classroom management issues, but they certainly help.

Traditional Timers for the Classroom Are Still Entertaining

Traditional timing devices such as the wind-up timers or a sand glass are still used in the modern classroom environment. In the old, old days before electricity and commercial mechanical devices, people used sand glasses of varying sizes to keep track of time. Then in the not so distant past (the early 20th century) Thomas Norman Hicks decided to create a wind-up clock and it worked. Wind-up clocks are used in a lot of American classrooms to keep teachers and students on task. Sand glasses are still around but teachers use them primarily as a fun alternative to keeping … Continue reading >>>