As Stephen pointed out : “Regardless of the number of students in a class, a primary goal should be to make the classroom a more interactive and engaging place.”
This course outlined the development of an interactive, technology-based teaching strategy using interactive tools.
From Interactive Lectures at http://www.thiagi.com/interactive-lectures.html I could use:
-“Best summary “idea can be used at the end of a story presentation or a WebQuest. Teams of students could build their summaries, post them on a WallWisher page or on the class blog and then evaluate their own work through comparison .The assessment phase could be done in a jigsaw pattern: the initial teams will be broken and create new teams which have a member from every initial teams. The new team will evaluate the written work according to the rubric given initially or according to their own-designed rubric.
- Dyads and triads
The activity consists of three parts. During the first part, participants listen to a lecture, taking careful notes. During the second part, each participant writes a closed question on a card. During the next 7 minutes, participants repeatedly pair up and answer each other questions, scoring one point for each correct answer. During the third part, each participant writes an open question. During the next 7 minutes, participants repeatedly organize them into triads. Two participants answer each question and the person who gave the better response earns a point.
http://www.microsoft.com/education/story.aspx made me seriously think about creating interactive stories through Power Point. (Important: View the document in slideshow mode to see the interactivity. Links and orange buttons are clickable.)
Searching more about the topic I came into http://englishconversations.org/interactive-stories/ , a great blog with interactive stories for different levels and on practicing different points of grammar .
My idea would be to give to 2 large groups a story with questions as those created by Mark White and let them answer in their ways . After having their final versions I could mix them up in a Power Point presentation .The presentation could be used then as a tool for another class to re-create the questions asked initially .
This way writing , speaking ,listening and reading skills are used .Moreover, the presentation with both sides of the story could be enriched by students with visual and auditory elements related to the content of each slide .
Dear Cami,
ReplyDeleteI liked Dyads and triads and your idea of using it with your students.
While doing this activity students will practice their listening skills, writing skills and speaking skills.
Asking questions requires concentration and is not that easy. Thus, students should be focused during the activity in order to be able to ask questions and give correct answers.
Yours,
Luiza
Dear Cami,
ReplyDeleteI think tyour Best Summary idea is very useful in building students’ wiriting skills. By knowing that their work will be evaluated by their peers, students will create summaries of better quality. I also like the jigsaw pattern, which will ensure the objectivity of each team, as its members come from the original teams who prepared the summary. Besides, they will be able to compare their own work with their peers’. Afterwards they could discuss the differences and the similarities of their writing, analyze the summaries and emphasize the strengths and weeknesses of each of them.
Thanks for the links for interactive stories. It would be great to see the interactive stories written by your students.
All the best
Arjana
Dear Cami,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your thoughts on Week 6 of the course. I'm flattered that you started your blog post by quoting me. I'm glad that my words resonated with your thoughts on the topic of large class sizes.
Keeping the classroom an interactive and engaging place can be challenging, but a very worthwhile endeavor. When interactivity and engagement are achieved, the learning environment is a better place for students and teachers alike. Interactivity and engagement lead to enthusiasm for learning, which in turn drives further engagement as well authentic inquiry. The best thing about enthusiasm in a classroom is that it is contagious - it might start with one or two students, but it can spread quickly through the entire class! It is great when students motivate each other.
Digital tools with interactive elements can help with the realization of strategies that aim to create engaging classrooms. Once the processes of interaction, engagement, motivation, and authentic inquiry begin, the technology component becomes ubiquitous and seamless while the focus becomes the construction of knowledge and ideas!
Thanks for prompting me to do some additional thinking on this topic. Furthermore, thanks the interesting links.
Best Regards,
Stephen
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ReplyDeleteDear Cami,
ReplyDeleteI also appreciated the link to the interactive stories blog. It's a great way to get all students engaged in creative work in the class, no matter if the class if large or small. I also like your description of dyads and triads. Letting the students write the test questions is one way to involve the students in assessment. They come up with questions based on what they considered important and memorable and their colleagues really want to respond and show their own understanding. It makes the assessment/summary/consolidation part of the lesson more student-centered. Thanks for the great ideas in your post.
Janet