Students don’t care what you know until
they know how much you care.
 Students’ environment is different from
past students.
 Attainment of life skills is vital.
 Breaks down barriers to learning.
 Take time now to save time in the future.





Best to start at the beginning of year
Keep the goal in mind
› What skill(s) are you focusing on?
Don’t just do the activity to do it
› Analyze the activity through questions
› Expect more than “just because” answers
› Push students to explain themselves and their
feelings
If you can get kids to think critically about a
“fun” activity, then they will be more likely to do
the same with a content-based activity
Summary: Students try to focus on a story
while multitasking by passing objects to
other students.
 Instructions:

› Each student needs a small object.
› Students line up in 3 equal rows
(need at least 9 students)
› Read the “Another Day with the Wright Family”
story
› When left, right (or Wright), back or front is said
each student passes one object in that direction



“What” Questions
› How hard was it to keep up with the story?
› What problems did you have when passing the object?
“So What” Questions
› What impact did other’s actions have on your ability to stay
up with the story?
› How hard was it to listen and pass the objects at the same
time?
› How much of the story can you remember?
› What role does concentration play in communication?
“Now What” Questions
› What problems can occur when we don’t communicate
clearly?
› How can we improve our communication with others?
Summary: Similar to Mine Field activity.
Students will need to direct another student
through a golf course.
 Instructions:

› Each student draws a 9 hole golf course and
places an X to indicate a starting point.
› Students are paired up and not allowed to see
each others drawing.
› Student A is blindfolded and student B
describes to student A how to move through
student B’s golf course.



“What” Questions
› How easy was it to follow the instructions that you were given?
› Which role did you like better, giving or receiving the
instructions?
“So What” Questions
› Would it have been easier if the person drawing could talk?
Why or why not?
› Describe a situation where unclear communication could be
dangerous.
› Whose role is more important, the person talking or the person
listening? Why?
› How can you be sure that someone has understood you
correctly?
“Now What” Questions
› What steps can we take to communicate more clearly?

Think-Pair-Share
› Each student is given time to think about the topic on their
own before sharing with a partner.

One Sentence Stories
› Students share a story with others, but are only allowed to
say one sentence.

30 seconds and the Big Question
› Students are given a question to discuss and each student
is given 30 seconds to share their thoughts and ideas.

Chips to Chat
› Each student is given a single chip and must put it in the
middle of the table to share. They cannot share again
until everyone has shared. Then they start over.

Sharing Circles
› Students are given an allotted time to share. No one else
may comment on what they said until they have gone
completely around the circle and everyone has shared
their ideas.
Summary: Work as a group to write out
the ABC’s as legible as possible.
 Instructions:

› Need markers with strings attached to them
and paper.
› Students each grab one or two strings
attached to the marker.
› Students work together to hold the marker
upright and write out the ABC’s



“What” Questions
› What was your first reaction to the challenge?
› Did you come up with any strategies before starting?
“So What” Questions
› What can this activity teach us about working together?
› If you become frustrated while working with the group
what can you do to decrease your frustration?
› Did you look at other teams to get ideas and would that
be cheating?
“Now What” Questions
› If you fail the first time you try something what can you do
to improve your chance of success?
› How does working together help up solve problems?
Trustworthiness
 Respect
 Responsibility
 Fairness
 Caring
 Group Dynamics

› How many student to student interactions
are you using?
Keep it simple.
Energize and engage
students with the activity.
You need to decide the
purpose of the activity.
Students should be at the
center of everything you do.

Three Types
1. Content/Thinking – focus on the thinking
skills used and consists of facts, concepts
and information
2. Collaborative/Social – focus on interaction
that occurs between students and
collaboration skills used
3. Personal – focus on what individual learned
or felt
 Knowledge
– Remember
 Comprehension – Understand
 Application – Apply
 Analysis – Analyze
 Synthesis – Create
 Evaluation – Evaluate


Surface Area & Volume of Solids
Questions:
› What are the formulas you use to find the surface
area of a prism and a cylinder?
› How does the volume of a cone compare to the
volume of a cylinder with the same height?
› How would you modify a pyramid to increase its
volume without changing its height?
› How is the surface area of a prism related to the
shape of its base?
› How would you grade your partner’s analysis of how
the prism’s base relates to its surface area?
› What changes would you make to the candy
wrapper to decrease the amount of wasted
material?


Forces
Questions
› Describe Newton’s three laws of Motion.
› Compare the terms mass and weight.
› Calculate the force of an object that weighs 45
kg and moves at a rate of 15 m/s/s.
› Explain why and what would happen if I
dropped an apple and a feather in a vacuum
environment.
› What changes would you make to your
parachute to decrease the force on the egg.
› How would you grade your partner/group on
your parachute project.
Handout: Blooms
 Find another person(s) in the room who
teaches a similar subject and/or grade
level
 3-5 minutes
› Think of a unit/chapter/lesson you will
be teaching or have just finished
teaching
› Create at least one question at each
level of thinking

• Choose appropriate units and measure the dimensions of each piece of
Remember candy and candy wrapper.
Understand
Apply
• Find the surface area of each piece of candy and the area of each
wrapper.
• Calculate the amount of and percentage of wasted material.
• Compare the amount of and percentage of each candies’ wasted
space.
Evaluate • Explain the criteria used to order the candies from least to most efficient.
• Identify which candy company has the most inefficient wrapping
procedures and write a letter outlining how it affects you as a consumer.
Analyze
• Include evidence to support your position and suggest a possible solution.
Create
Label the
Read the current science article
Summarize Newton’s
variables and
and relate the article to what
three laws of motion
units for force
we have learned with force
Illustrate a
cartoon that
describes one
of Newton’s
three laws
Solve 3 of the 10
problems I created.
You must use the
three step process
Explain why a shot gun “kicks”
when fired. Make sure to use
terms from this unit
Create and
Evaluate one of my
solve your own
force problems.
force problem.
Measure the force needed to
move a 15 kg, 45 kg, and 75 kg
object.

Teaching steps for leaning concepts
› Start with main idea and address
preconceptions

Use visual representation
› Draw concepts or create mind pictures


Clarify understanding versus memorizing
Encourage questioning
› Get students to lead their own learning through
questions.

Metacognition
› Thinking about how they think and learn.
Tom Jackson, 2000 : Still More Activities
That Teach. Red Rock Publishing.
 Jeanne Gibbs, 1995: Tribes: A New Way
of Learning and Being Together. Center
Source Systems
 David A. Sousa, 2006: How the Brain
Learns: Third ed. Corwin Press.
