Yes, it’s the summer, and you are probably stretching out under the sun, glancing at the light reflection over the waves; yet you cannot stop thinking of school, and the same question hovers at the back of your mind: How can I become a better teacher?
Great news, here is one way to answer this question:
After-school activities are the perfect opportunities to engage with your students and develop relationships outside the classroom. What that means: you can tick off the behavior management box because the more time you give to students, the more they respect you and the less likely they are to break your rules.
Here are 10 exciting after-school club ideas that will skyrocket your relationship with your students and show your leadership that you are willing to have an impact.
The Classic After-school Club Ideas
1- Run a Chess Club
Chess clubs are the easiest to run and require little or no work. Why? Because students don’t need you. Chances are they already know how to play and already compete with each other on Chess.com.
You could teach newbies, but slightly more experienced students will happily do that.
Spice it up by playing blitz chess, trash-talking chess, or three players chess, and remember to run a school tournament or participate in local contests.
You could also take it further by encouraging your students to read The Royal Game (A Chess Story) by Stefan Zweig.
Make them watch:
- “I trained like a chess grandmaster,” by Michel Khare (here)
- Magnus (trailer)
- Searching for Bobby Fischer (trailer)
- A Chess Story (trailer)
2- Run Sports Clubs
This usually falls on the shoulders of PE teachers with the traditional football, basketball, and rugby. But there might be this one sport you are good at and can promote. Is it table tennis, football tennis, ultimate frisbee, frisbee golf, or skateboarding? If you’ve got the skills and the will, bring it forward and promote it!
The Unconventional After-school Club Ideas
3- Run A Podcast Club
You are probably familiar with some of the most famous podcasts online, and some of your students already consume content every week. With a podcasting club, you’ll encourage students to dive into their passion, look for niches, learn how to run an interview, research, edit and promote their work.
Your podcasting club could cover multifarious topics; the limit is your students’ passions.
Not sure how to start a podcasting club? Check out this post from Hello Teacher Lady.
4- Run A Cryptocurrency Investment Club
Are you into crypto? If the answer is yes, brilliant, you can introduce your students to this volatile world. Otherwise, you simply need to be curious. The crypto club doesn’t have to be led by an expert. Instead, aim to understand it together. Watch tutorials, and discuss, be critical. You will probably learn a lot from your students.
The small story:
On an evening of Spring 2012, I was at a friend’s for a video game and beer night. He mentioned buying Bitcoins for less than 30 dollars and tried convincing me to buy some. I remember calling him an idiot for using real money to buy virtual currency. Being crypto-educated is non-negotiable.
5- Run A Copywriting Club
The Copywriting club is my favorite one. The GenZ doesn’t particularly dream of making a living from a 9 to 5 job and knows other alternatives exist. Copywriting, the art of selling with words, is one of them. It is a skill that can be used in almost all professions because wherever you are, you have a product to sell, and you have to convince someone to employ you that your project is excellent or that you deserve that promotion.
You don’t know what copywriting is, and you don’t know where to start? CopyThatShow got you sorted. They offer free classes for 21 days and have a vast library of resources available for free. Learn with your students and try your newly acquired skills with local businesses or even your school.
6- Run A Photography Club
Nowadays, every student owns a phone with a camera more powerful than any of the previous cameras you owned. Put them to use with a photography club. If you are familiar with aperture, aspect ratio, and ISO, run a couple of workshops and send your students away with assignments because practicing is the best way to learn photography.
Are you, not an expert? Youtube and TikTok are your friends. Watch tutorials with your students and be honest with them. Just like them, you are here to learn.
7- Run A Dystopian Book Club
Why not? Without falling into conspiracy theories, no one can be oblivious to the fact that dystopia is at the fingertip of our time. The dystopian book club is a fantastic opportunity to read books, discuss their content, be critical about the direction the world is taking, and question concepts like freedom and freedom of speech.
Looking for books to read?
- Animal Farm, George Orwell
- 1984, George Orwell
- Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
With the rise of AI, you could also look at sci-fi with:
- Foundation, Isaac Asimov
- The Neuromancer, William Gibson (followed by the Matrix trilogy)
- Dune, Frank Herbert
Should you wish to push critical thinking further, include Ayn Rand in the party:
The Fountain Head and Atlas Shrugged contain enough material to discuss the downfall of leaning toward an egalitarian society.
8- Run An Art Ensemble Club
The Art Ensemble club might require more than one adult, or the help of older and passionate students. It is an eclectic collaborative club where students work together to explore various forms of art. Combine visual art, drama, music, and multimedia art, and come up with a memorable end-of-the-year performance.
9- Run A Rap Club
Although this could be part of the art ensemble club, it deserves a club on its own. Whether you can recite some of your bars or not, get some students to battle once a week.
They could also work on a collaborative album and use copyright-free beats to record their songs.
No recording facilities at school? You’d be surprised how easy it is to set up a grassroots recording studio.
Once the album is recorded, your copywriting club could take care of the promotion.
Takeaways
After-school activities will allow you to build strong relationships with students and improve your behavior management skills by earning their respect and showing them that you care. But they are also a great opportunity to teach them other skills they could use later in life. You give them a chance to explore money-making alternatives, a range of emotions, and how to develop contextual relationships and critical thinking. With after-school activities, students have the opportunity to become active learners and become responsible for their future.
Looking for other ways to level up your teaching skills this summer? Get reading with these 3 books every teacher must read this summer.
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