STRATEGIES… Through the lens of Communication

Reflections and Notes by Carolina Barrera –TEA PROGRAM – 2009 IDEAS from Cara Bremer’s “Culture Class”

For Questioning…

PARKING LOT Using Post-its or a piece or small piece of

paper. Student writes his/her questions on the post-it,

pastes it on the table in front of his/her sit (parking lot). And then during the break the teacher collects them and answers them later.

Also saw it with poster and students can paste their questions there to discuss later or on the next class.

FOR COOPERATIVE LEARNING

STAND UP- HAND UP- PAIR UP ACTIVITY

The students stand up, they put their hands up as if ready to say “HI 5” and pair up with another classmate.

You can combine this activity with other strategies.

FOR COOPERATIVE LEARNING

GIVE ONE – GET ONE The student writes his/her name on the top part of a

post-it. The teacher tells you to write something…(anything

the teacher wants or aims for)- For example a reaction to an article, quote… etc.

Then the teacher will say stand up, everyone will do so and mingle saying “Hello” and walking around.

Then combining the “Pair-up” with the paired up partner the couples should share what each of them wrote.

Then the partners will switch post-its so they don’t have their own and the process will repeat itself again.

FOR COOPERATIVE LEARNING

SHOULDER PARTNER Person next to you is your shoulder partner. With a shoulder partner the interaction can

vary for instance the teacher may ask one of the students to speak first and the other one only listens. Then the other one has his/her chance to speak- to an assigned topic, reflection, reaction, etc.

Good strategy for PRACTICING SPEAKING!

FOR COOPERATIVE LEARNING

INSIDE CIRCLE-OUTSIDE CIRCLE

FOR COOPERATIVE LEARNING

INSIDE CIRCLE-OUTSIDE CIRCLE The teacher counts the class by 1’s and 2’s then she

has all the 1’s for instance form a circle. Then the 2’s do the same but surrounding/around the circle of the number 1’s.

Then the teacher can make the inside circle turn towards left and outside circle towards the right. When the teacher says stop, each student should have a partner from the opposite circle facing each other.

The teacher will indicate which circle shares first. Then the teacher may say that outside circle needs to

move 2 spaces to the left and share with another partner.

Instructions may vary.

FOR COOPERATIVE LEARNING

TEA PARTY The teacher gives the students

post-its with a word written in them. The students get up and walk around saying to

other students “Hello! I’m name of student and (word written for example apple).

Students go around doing the same thing until the teacher stops them.

This is a good way to get students to start thinking about the topic to be discussed.

FOR COOPERATIVE LEARNING

JUST LIKE ME Good activity for ICE-BREAKERThe teacher places the students in a

circle. She/He asks one to say something, for example “I like chocolate” the rest of the students who also like chocolate reply “Just like me!” taking a step forward.

Then the next student continues…

FOR COOPERATIVE LEARNING

PROBABLE PASSAGE The teacher gives quotations from an

article and has students PREDICT using them, this gets them started for the Lesson to be taught.

The teacher can also grab excerpts from a blog or comments from an article.

FOR COOPERATIVE LEARNING

TWO TRUTHS- ONE LIE Good Warm-Up activity! The students are asked to write 2 truths and

one lie about themselves. The goal is to convince others that your lie is truth and that your truths are lies.

Each students shares with the rest, and the peers predict which one is the lie. At the end the each student needs to say which was the lie…

FOR COOPERATIVE LEARNING

FISH BOWL All the class is set up

so that 4 people (or the established) are in the middle of the fish bowl, they have a discussion and the rest outside observe

Then there is feedback

EXIT TICKETS

3,2,1 EXIT TICKETIt works so that the student can leave the

classroom. The student has to: Write 3 things he/she (for example- learned

that day)Write 2 … (for example comments or

questions) Write 1thing … (for example – looking

forward to…)

TABLES, GRAPHICS…ETC

Somebody Wanted But So

Savana Redding

Sue the District and several officials over the strip search

The court concluded the search was illegal but refused to allow lawsuits against school officals.

Court ruled students must be protected from searchings that would violate their constitutional rights. But officials were discharged because they acted to ensure safety of school

TABLES, GRAPHICS…ETC

The previous table is good for discussion of articles or characters.

The teacher may assign the students to first do it individually and then share with class. Or to do it with a partner and then share with the whole class. Instructions may vary.

TABLES, GRAPHICS…ETC

LIST-GROUP- LABEL Students need to list words that are

unclear of technical terms they don’t understand from a reading selection.

Then these words need to be labeled into logical categories based on shared features.

The categories should be labeled with clear descriptive titles

TABLES, GRAPHICS…ETC

Used for instance to compare and contrast two articles or two stories.

Students write ideas in bullet forms

Then all of those ideas that are similar they should circle them in both columns.

A B

REFLECTION

These ideas will continue to grow!Learning nevers stops! I will be adding more… as my

professional road continues…