Place mats are a quick and easy tool to get small groups of students brainstorming about a topic, and they are super easy to produce. All you need is a large sheet of paper and a marker. Instructions: 1. On a large sheet of paper, draw a circle in the centre. This will be the area where students write down commonalities or a summary of what they discussed. 2. Draw spokes running from the edge of the circle to the edge of the page, and use these spokes to divide the page into equal sections. In this example, the spokes divide the page into four sections, so students will need to be in groups of four: How to Use Place Mats: This method works best in small groups of 3-4. After giving your students a prompt or guiding question, have them brainstorm a list of words, phrases, or pictures that relate to your prompt. Each student is given their own section on the place mat. Have them record their name somewhere on the page for accountability. Tell the students to put their writing utensils down on their desk as a signal to other group members that they are ready to begin discussion. When every student has placed their pen or pencil down on their desk, then it is time for the group to share their answers with each other. A designated scribe will then record a summary of their main discussion points into the box in the middle of the page. Groups can be asked to share their answers at the end, or the teacher can collect the place mats to use as a formative assessment.
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"When students copy notes, they are reproducing a record of YOUR learning, not THEIRS." How do we create a learning experience that is meaningful?
Traditional classrooms often present students with the information they are expected to know, and students are expected to regurgitate that information on a test or final paper. Who is really doing the learning here? Psychotactics.com suggests that people can retain 90% of what they learn when they teach someone else or put the information to use immediately. What does this mean for our students? How much are they really learning from copying down notes from a blackboard? The way Catherine Christie from Queen's University puts it, "When students copy notes, they are reproducing a record of YOUR learning, not THEIRS." Explore First, Explain Later is a teaching method that first immerses students in a shared experience, like doing a lab, participating in a simulation, going out on a field study...etc., and the debriefing and/or note-taking part occurs after. Traditionally, students are given information on a topic and then asked to apply the skills they learned later. I'm not advocating for any one particular teaching method because I believe there is a time and place for everything (yes, even lectures). However, let me point out some of the benefits to the Explore First, Explain Later model. 1) Allow students the vocation of failure. Yes, tell them to take changes, make mistakes and get messy(!), because let's be real - we probably learned more from Magic School Bus than from a majority of our classroom lectures. 2) Create meaning. Authentic tasks and discovery-based learning allow students to tailor their learning experiences to their personal learning style. Students are likely to remember more from a concept where they create their own connections rather than from notes-based or lecture-based classes. 3) Sense of ownership over their own learning. Teachers exist to help learners learn, so why do we feel the need to be at the center of attention all the time? In this model of teaching and learning, teachers are seen as facilitators, and students play a central role in the learning process. Explain Later Once the Explore portion has been completed, the class gathers as a whole to explain and debrief the phenomenon they observed. In the beginning, the teacher is likely to take on a bigger role as guide; perhaps asking more questions or providing more support to the students. Instead of preparing a note for students to copy beforehand, the students' observations will dictate what notes they end up recording. Once the students have seen this type of learning modeled, they can direct the creation of their own notes while the teacher continues to monitor their progress. Mistakes I Vow Never to Repeat #1 - Going Overtime There's two minutes of class left, and Mrs. M is still going on and on about the bullet points on her lecture slides. I turn to my left and see that my classmate is equally unimpressed. She frowns at me and points at her wrist as if to indicate the time. Students are getting restless and begin to pack their bags. One guy has his head down on the table and appears fast asleep.
"And one last thing before you go, I just wanted to point out the importance of goal setting..." Mrs. M drones on. She flips to the next slide. "And one MORE thing, which I think is important to mention..." I groan internally and wonder how many "last things" she still has to point out - there were a total of three. By the time she finally ended we were ten minutes overtime and she still wasn't finished. There were three handouts she wanted us to pick up on our way out, and by that point I had already stopped caring. A good teacher should be respectful of students' time. When students know a class is about to end, their bags are usually packed five minutes ahead of time. As a teacher, there are strategies (link to be added later) for keeping your students busy near the end of a period, but lecturing is NOT the way to do it. What could Mrs. M have done better? For one, I would have appreciated if she recognized that the last ten minutes of class is probably the worst time to introduce new material. As with the handouts, she could have laid those out on a table prior to class and have students pick them up on the way in. That way, students don't feel like they've been giving extra "work" at the end of class. I'm currently taking a two hour elective course that runs from 3:50 pm-5:50 pm, and for me, it's a BIG struggle to stay awake during those times, especially if someone is lecturing at me. The incident I described above is real (it happened today), and the worst part of that is that my instructor has consistently been going overtime. No matter how pressured you as a teacher may feel to finish your lesson when there's only two minutes of class time left - I urge you not to. First off, it's more likely than not that we're all just staring at the clock anyway. Secondly, getting your points through to your students will not be effective when they are all probably thinking about how hungry they are, or how they have other commitments to get to (e.g. another class). You begin to walk yourself into hostile territory when you run classes overtime because students will quickly lose interest in the class and their respect for you. When I stepped into my first CURR 303 (Intro to Teaching Biology Class) at Queen's, I noticed that tables were arranged into groups of four and each desk had a sticky note with a name written on it. For simplicity's sake, our instructor simply made seating our assignments follow alphabetical order.
At each table, there were four coloured pieces of paper, markers, crayons and stickers. The instructions on the board prompted students to use the material in front of them to design their own name tags - an easy, relatively quiet activity to do while the teacher is still getting things sorted out for the rest of the day. I found this to be an effective strategy because it forces students to socialize with others whom they may not have been in contact with before. Personally, it took a lot of the pressure off me to find my own seat in the class - a very real fear I might add. Having to find your seat in the classroom is sort of like those awkward moments when you're at the cafeteria and desperately scanning the room to see if there's anyone you know so you can sit with them. Then, once you DO find a seat, you're usually there for the rest of the year, which can be good or bad depending on the content. If this has happened to you before, you'll know what I mean. I have also never sat with the same four people since classes started, and I'm enjoying it so far. Aside from getting to meet other students in the class, it is also useful to exchange ideas with different people and adds an element of surprise to my day. As with everything, there is a balance to be met of course. How often should I ask students to change their seating? Should I allow students to sit with friends? The answers to those questions will depend on the class and the results you want to achieve. If you have assigned a group project, and you want students to work in pre-assigned groups, then assigned seating will be the way to go. Some days, you may let the students pick their own seats, and they may find the class more enjoyable that way because they get to sit next to their friends. If students are getting too distracted by their friends, you could offer them a choice, "What would work better for you? To sit next to each other and restrain yourselves? ... Or to change seats so you won't be tempted?" (Faber and Mazlish 90-91) Works Cited Faber, Adele, and Elaine Mazlish. How to Talk So Kids Can Learn. Toronto: Scribner, 1995. Print I'm currently taking an "Intro to Teaching Biology" class at the Faculty of Education at Queen's University and already I'm picking up lots of useful tips and hints for teaching in the classroom. My favourite tidbit this week is the meditation bowl as a way to signal to the class that you are ready to begin. It's a quick and effective strategy that doesn't involve any yelling or awkward hand gestures, just you and the bowl. As an added bonus, it makes a very soothing and relaxing sound when it is struck.
This strategy has worked very well in our classroom of 30 so far, and my teacher (Cathy) said that the reason she began to use the meditation bowl was because she was able to witness it's effectiveness at a conference of 300! Our class is able to engage in more frequent small group discussions and breaks because of how effectively we can all be called back to attention as a result of this bowl. If you know any other strategies for calling a class to attention, please share them in the comments below. |
A Note from the Author
This blog documents some of the things I learned while I was in teacher's college at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario back in 2015. Many of the ideas presented here are taken from my classes, professors, and fellow students. I do not take personal credit for the work presented here. Categories
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