Partnership News

“Accelerating Professional Learning”

Norm Silbugh, Instructional Facilitator

Sept., 2008 ; Volume 1, Issue 1

Strategy of the Month: Classroom Activators

“A mind is a fire to be kindled, not a vessel to be filled.” -- Plutarch

 

Activate Instruction Feedback, Feedback, Feedback (Evanski, 2004)

         ~Vary the ways your students give and receive feedback      

Ø    Students pick partners and re-teach what they just learned or collectively identify the 3 most important points of the lesson.

Ø    Students make a graphic organizer (such as a mind map) of what they have just learned and explain it to a partner. Alternately, they could make a partial graphic organizer and give it to a partner to complete.

Ø    Students can create a quiz for the “Blue Clickers” for classmates to review.

·     Why it Works . . .  Students learn best in an enriched environment. One of the major components of an enriched environment for human beings is immediate feedback on performance. (Woodcock & Richardson, 2000). Neural pathways for new learning are solidified quickly; wrong information can be just as easily hard-wired into the brain as correct information and is very difficult to unlearn. Regular feedback can prevent having to undo incorrect learning as well as providing a fun, effective state change. This month’s newsletter winners are Connie Rothenbuehler and room 202. Please come to my office to claim your prize by April 3rd.

 

Activate Instruction Using Your Voice (Evanski, 2004) 

Ø    Change different aspects of your voice, such as tempo, volume, or pitch.

Ø    Celebrity impressions get noticed-even silly, imperfect ones.

Ø    Read with passion, really hamming it up for emotional impact.

Ø    Laugh or tell a joke or funny story.

Ø    Emphasize important words, phrases or new and unusual vocabulary by slightly pausing before and after you say them, or else by speaking slowly or changing the quality of your voice for the moment.

·     Why it Works . . .  Novelty drives this state change. People are hard-wired to look for and react to novelty and surprise. The brain is particularly responsive to unexpected situations during cognitive tasks (Berns et al., 1997). Use the amazing versatility of the human voice to introduce novel auditory state changes into the classroom. There is an enormous range of possibilities.

 

 

Activate Instruction Using Novelty and Surprise (Evanski, 2004)   

Ø    Wear a costume to introduce an historical character or a specific period in history.

Ø    Use props, magic tricks or unusual objects to spice up a lesson.

Ø    Accentuate your lecture with sound effects.

Ø    Display a mystery bag or some puzzle to solve; hide something in the room for participants to find or keep a “secret of the day” for them to guess.

Ø    Conclude lessons and classes with teasers. For example, tell your students, “One of the greatest mysteries of mankind was found in a pyramid almost a century ago. That mystery is . . . the first topic we’ll discuss next class”.

·    Why it Works . . .  Classrooms must contain a mix of novelty and ritual. In his seminars, Eric Jensen makes the point that too much novelty and not enough ritual leads to chaos. But too much ritual and not enough novelty leads to boredom. We love surprises! When exposed to unexpected rewards, the nucleus accumbens, an area considered the “pleasure center” of the brain, shows increased activity (Berns, et al., 1997), suggesting that the element of surprise makes an experience more rewarding to the brain—and more likely to be remembered.

 

Activate Instruction Using Movement

§      Circle of Experts:  Have students who know a lot about the topic, or feel they are “experts on the topic stand in a circle facing out. Have the other students form a circle outside of the expert circle, partnering up with an expert. The experts teach to the outer circle. The outer circle repeats it back to them. Play music and have the outer circle rotates to the right until the music stops. When the music stops, make sure the outer circle lines up with an expert, and then they teach what they learned to the new expert. The new expert can add knowledge again if they like.

§      Line ups & Slide Rule:  Present a topic to the class and have students decide if they agree or disagree and to what degree. They will then form one diagonal line creating a span of strongly agree to strongly disagree. (they will need to talk with one another to figure out where they belong on the spectrum) The neutrals will be in the middle. Ask the neutrals to step to the side so you can clearly see the division of those who agree and those who disagree. Next, have each neutral pair up with a strongly agree or strongly disagree. They will face one another and discuss their position on the issue.

Step  1:                                   Step 2:                                 Step 3:

 

 

 

 

 

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