Choose a typical activity you do in your classroom and come
up with a plan to make it more of an active learning activity and post that
plan to the blog. Even better, try it
out and report back if you are willing.
Right or wrong, good or bad it doesn’t matter. The important part is that you tried.
Reply to two people:
I always do a book study of some sort with my kids. I plan on making my book study this time based on the shard reading model in the book. I will project the book on the overhead and use my highlighter and insert different comments as we read. I will read aloud, and each student will take turns reading aloud. After a few days of reading I will make a summary day and use the Notice and note method or even just use post it notes and place them on the "book board". I am excited to try this and hope that it is much more of an active learning environment for my kids.
ReplyDeleteOur reading teacher does something similar with students. They do it in assigned groups, but she has them highlight unknown words as they are reading, underline text they thought was interesting or that they highly agreed/disagreed with, etc. When they come together as a group, they shared the parts they took note of. It gets the kids to quit reading for the sake of reading the words and gets them to start interacting with the text.
DeleteI always read books with students. I’ve tried a few things in the past, but I don’t think I’ve really hit anything that is a great application of learning. I googled interactive book reports and found many ideas, some of which I’d like to use with students throughout the end of this year.
ReplyDeleteSome of the ideas that really stood out to me are to:
Write a letter to the main character of the book,
Pretend you are a talk show host and interview the main character,
Write about decisions you would make if you were the main character, Explain why you think this book will (or will not) be read in 100 years.
I have students already reading a historical fiction book. I’d like to do some kind of application or critical thinking activity when they finish the book. I am going to let each student select the activity from the list above. Then we’ll each share our final activity.
I have had students write interview questions for a character and it is challenging as you have to have a good understanding of that character.
DeleteMy 8th graders just finished a historical fiction novel and their project is to make a collage about 1832, the setting of the story. This is actually harder than you think. They are to research and print pictures of what 1832 looked like. They are to find examples of clothing, hair styles, money, jobs, food, transportation, the president, what America looked like in 1832, famous people born in 1832, what was happening in America, the world in 1832, etc... They have fun with it and are always surprised at what 1832 was really like!
DeleteLOVE writing letters to characters! The kids always have something interesting to tell them!
DeleteI have had a small group of high school students write questions to ask when on a job shadow. To make it more active I am going to have them each pick a career and answer the questions, then I will interview them about the career and have them answer the questions (no notes used) and be professional. This will help them for when they do a shadow and actually ask the professional about the job.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea and will help when the kids really do start to interview.
DeleteWhen I was getting my undergrad in Wyoming, our final project for a class was mock interviews. The panel of interviewers were 3 different classmates. This was almost more stressful than just going in front of my professor. It definitely worked though! A lot of constructive criticism but also got new ideas/interview strategies by watching and discussing other classmates interviews.
That sounds like a great idea to give them more insight. I bet that they have a better idea of the questions they want to ask after your interview!
DeleteDepending on your students, you could take it one step further and have them dress for the part! I learned that most on my students had no idea how to dress for an interview, they just thought jeans and t-shirts were acceptable.
DeleteAnnieB-
DeleteI had a similar experience in college. Our mock interviews weren't required, but were offered just as a resource for anyone who wanted to attend. It WAS nerve wracking, but so beneficial to be able to have that practice/feedback before the real thing. I remember the first real interview I did and actually thinking through some of the tips I'd gained during that time, haha! :-)
I remember for our mock interviews, they made it more nerve-racking than the real thing.
DeleteMy reading class is divided into units or genre's. I usually end the year with Science Fiction Genre. I the past we have read the Hunger Games, Percy Jackson, Maze Runner, and The Giver. This year 2 out of 3 of my classes will be finishing the year with The Giver. They will be listening to the story, mainly because we have limited time at this point in the year, so hopefully there will be time to work in one last project! An idea I have is for the class to make an invention, create something useful for people/society. This will be a class project not an individual one so there will need to be alot of collaboration! I am currently researching IPad apps that would help with this. I hope I have the time for this because I really think the students will like this final project!
ReplyDeleteI love the way you plan your reading for the year!!
DeleteI think the invention is a really cool idea, I bet that is fun for the kiddos as well!
Can I do your project too, it sounds fun! What a good way to end the year and still be able to keep the momentum going and your students engaged!
DeleteI have an activity that I want to try out but havent yet..
ReplyDeleteA teacher I work with told me about a vocabulary quiz that she just tried for the first time and I really want to try this method out with all sorts of assignments, projects, or test.
The goal is to work together to not only define the vocabulary word but use it in a sentence, draw a picture representing the word, and correct spelling. The students each fill out their own form but get a grade based on how well their combined score is. The overall grade is 50 points- 25 points from one students paper and 25 from the other. The students are responsible for making sure each page is done to what they believe is true. However, points are awarded and deducted on each page. So, for example, if one student forgets a period at the end of a sentence, it is marked off on only that paper but still affects the over all score.
This builds strong collaboration, responsibility, and support from the partner peer!
Our science and social studies teachers do this and it is called a Frayer Model. The students draw a rectangle with the word in the middle and divide the rectangle into 4 squares. In one square they write the definition, in another they use the word in a sentence, in another they draw a picture, and I can not remember what they put in the last square??? Using Frayer Models for vocabulary are actually part of our school improvement plan. I like the piece where it is a class project though! At times I have done this in my reading classes and assigned 1 word per student and then they presented it to the class.
DeleteI have an 8th grade student that comes to my room for math instruction. One of the indicators I need to get to before school is out is scale drawing. I am planning to give her diagrams of basic shapes along with the scale. She then has to do the conversions, measure the sides as she calculated them to be, and put down masking tape on the carpet to create the enlarged figure. My goal is that she will have an understanding of how and why we compute using scale. Later I may have her measure the dimensions of a classroom in our building and create a blueprint by determining what her scale should be and applying it to find the correct dimensions.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a great idea! What a great way to make it more hands on!
DeleteThat puts math into action. Something students would really like.
DeleteWhat a great idea! Using scale model tractors, cars, etc might also work for teaching this concept.
DeleteThat sounds great for her. It will give the skill real meaning.
DeleteOne activity that I do in my classroom has to do with student rights. Even though I have my students for only two out of their four years at the high school, it seems to me that more and more were getting closer to their 18th birthday completely clueless about their rights and responsibilities they would gain. So I decided to take this potentially boring lesson and try to use active learning. First we brainstormed a list of possible rights that the students think they will acquire (this alone was priceless) and then we set out to research if we are correct that an 18 year old gets those rights and look more in depth at what the rights actually say. Each student was given one right to research, interpret and share with the class. It was actually the most interesting during the presentation since students are so opinionated! Some of the rights we discussed the students had no idea they were able to make those choices. A few even went a bit further and shared why just because you have the “right” does not make it “right” (referring here to the ability to be married at 18). Wasn’t the best execution of the lesson as some days were boring and disengaging, but there was engaging discussion for some rights and that was one of my goals!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a great lesson for high school students, especially juniors and seniors. One that naturally segues into consequences and responsibilities. And maybe a bit of debate ?
DeleteWhat a great idea! I agree that a lot of students do not know their rights and it's awesome to teach them!
DeleteWhat a great idea! I agree that a lot of students do not know their rights and it's awesome to teach them!
DeleteGood for you, Stacy! :-) For our older students, whenever I start explaining to them that rights related to their special education services will be transferred to them when they turn 18, they typically look at me like a confused deer in the headlights. I always answer as many questions as they have for me afterwards, but I still don't think they fully understand everything, even though they might say they do.
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ReplyDeleteBecause I have functional students in my classroom on a daily basis for a large part of the day, I try to focus on hands on activities. One activity that I kind of stumbled on was baby chicks. I decided to get three chicks for myself and asked parent permission (and admin) to keep them at school for a few days. One of my students is very hesitant about new experiences even though they live on a farm and have animals in 4-H. The baby chicks gave this student a chance to be courageous (touching their heads, and then their beak) and teaching adults "don't be scared". I plan to also use some internet videos to add to this.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing that I will do in the next week is start a mini garden in a 3 gal bucket for each of my students which will include a tomato plant and cucumber seeds. They will participate in planting and watering. I'll also use technology to share some information about how plants grow.
Our reg ed reading teacher just completed hatching a brood of chicks. She brought a couple dozen eggs from her farm and had them in her classroom in an incubator. She candled the eggs and the kids studied what was going on inside the eggs over the weeks they were developing. They were crazy excited to watch them hatch! It was a fun project.
DeleteIt has been a while since I had functional students, but several years ago I had 3 so we got permission and planted a garden by the pens where they kept the ag animals--lots of fertilizer out there--LOL. We spent summer school tending the garden, learning what plants needs to grow, learning about plants parts, photosynthesis, etc. They then harvested their vegetables through late summer and fall. It was a lot of fun and they really enjoyed getting to share their abundance with their families and teachers.
I do a lot of hands on activities with my students already because of the way my math class is set up. Trying to make math a more hands on experience was an interesting journey. I save a ton of "junk" and use it to make interesting math centers or tasks. One of the boys favorites is a fishing game. They "cast" their pole and catch a fish from a bucket (magnetic) and then do the math problem and put the fish in a basket to be graded later. We are just starting some Earth Day activities as well. We are growing plants to measure and will be making graphs that show how much we watered them and how tall they get over time. They have enjoyed it so far!
ReplyDeleteSomething I did when I was working with High School Seniors was have them research about the profession they were interested in becoming. We would research different college that have good recommendations for their area of interest. We would also discuss and research pre-requisites needed in high school and college before going into the specific area. Then we would design resumes for getting ready to go out in the work force. The last thing we would do is I would have a day when I would find people in the community in their desired field to come in and do mock interviews with and then after the interview was over they would talk about in-depth their profession and the student would have time to ask them questions to give them a better idea of the real world experiences.
ReplyDelete