A guide to creativity, engagement and motivation in the classroom,
written by British Teacher Amy Sargent.
Some great teaching ideas to become an outstanding teacher today. THE BLOG ON LINKEDIN | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | PINTEREST | BIOGRAPHY [ BUY THE BOOKS: ALL BOOKS | AMAZON PRINT | AMAZON KINDLE | KOBO | GOOGLE PLAY | IBOOKSTORE | GUMROAD ]
Being an Outstanding Teacher means that your students DO recognise your efforts, work and dedication to make them outstanding learners.
"âď¸My form made the sun shine brightly today with these gifts and messages. 5 years of these amazing young people and I'm so lucky to have had them. The future looks bright. đâ¤ď¸
Amazing gifts and messages. Bit disappointed by the size of the chocolate cake though, could have been bigger đđ°
Love them!" (Amy Sargent)
Have you too received lovely messages from your students you would like to share with us? Let us know here.
âFor me, CREATIVITY means making the most of the resources around you to engage and enthuse others. Iâd like to think that I could turn anything into a creation and make the ordinary, extraordinary. An empty toilet roll shouldnât be seen as just that, itâs a telescope or a microphone or a magical wand that gives the student the power to ask any other student a question.â (Amy Sargent.)
âEnsure that you are truly passionate about what you do because that is so infectious and comes across in everything you carry out. Speak from the heart and endeavor to engage and enthuse all of the time.â (Amy Sargent, interview in Creativeroom4talk Magazine.)
Many a board game can be adapted to the classroom, but most recently, I have found a game that is high paced, engaging and promotes healthy competition.
This game requires students to either work in pairs (playing against each other) or teams of 2+ Students start with a set amount of tokens, preferably a different colour for each team. They then roll a die and the number they roll is the amount of tokens each team must place in the middle of the table.
They then pick a card from the pile (this will require some forward planning from the teacher. Based on the main topic you are doing, you will need to section it into sub-topics. For example, in languages if we are looking at holidays, we may break it down to countries, transports, activities, weather, etc.)
Once the card has been turned and the topic revealed, students have to place a bet on how many words they can say on that topic within one minute. If team A puts forward a guess of five items of vocab, team B can up the stakes or let team A take this one.
This game not only requires vocab recall but also logical thinking and a little bit of bluffing to pressure your opponent into placing a higher stake!
If the team goes ahead and correctly states their set amount in the minute, they win all the tokens in the centre of the table. If they are not successful, the other team wins the tokens.
Feel like your students might struggle with knowing if the words are correct/fit in the right category? Why not provide a cheat sheet? The listening team can use this list as a checklist whilst the other team reel off their answers. Not on the list? Then have the team write it at the bottom and verify with you at the end of the game!
Place your bets⌠now!
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AMY SARGENT is a Teacher, Author of "Outstanding Lesson Ahead", a guide that provides both aspiring and current teachers with suggestions, ideas and techniques to incorporate in their lessons. [Book available worldwide in print, eBook and audiobook.]
FOLLOW & LIKE Amy Sargent's Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Pinterest | Blog
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This post was first published on Amy Sargent's Blog. All Amy Sargent's blog posts are Copyright Š 2015-2016, JNPAQUET Books Ltd. All rights reserved.
The Importance of Letting Students Know We are Human!
So, I was trying to get my Year 9 Spanish class to describe how many students there are in our school and I had not realised how much they struggle with saying and writing higher numbers in full.
They were confused about how to say 1,800 and other such higher numbers and nothing I said seemed to engage them in working out the logic behind it, until.....
I gave them the challenge of listening for and writing down, in digits, my year of birth. As soon as I said that, ears pricked up and they were curious to work out the answer, mainly because they wanted to work out how old I am!
Many of them had the usual cheeky guesses of completely unrealistic years such as â1942 or 1910â. Hilarious little monsters, arenât they?! (My actual birth year is 1985 for those of you who are interested!
Oh, I donât look that old, you say?! Why, thank you!)
This then led to me stating the year of birth for my parents, grandparents, friends, etc. It was such an effective way in getting them listening and engaged. We even incorporated a bit more numeracy by then, working out the ages of the people.
By the end of the lesson, they were competently grasping higher numbers and identifying how they can break it down.
In addition to this, it got me thinking that, as soon as I mention that âun sacapuntasâ is my favourite Spanish word, students seem to remember that more than any other. Or, that when we are on the topic of food, I tell them I hate onions with a passion and they remember the word for onions all the time.
Year 7 know and remember the word for spider as they are always shocked that I am not scared of them and they are one of my favourite things.
It is making the lesson personal that engages students. Why can we not tell them about us? As long as it is within reason, I think it is important for them to know about our likes and dislikes, or our family and friends. After all, we are supposed to get to know our students, so why can they not know us also?
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AMY SARGENT is a Teacher, Author of "Outstanding Lesson Ahead", a guide that provides both aspiring and current teachers with suggestions, ideas and techniques to incorporate in their lessons. [Book available worldwide in print, eBook and audiobook.]
FOLLOW & LIKE Amy Sargent's Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Pinterest | Blog
________________________________________________________
This post was first published on Amy Sargent's Blog. All Amy Sargent's blog posts are Copyright Š 2015, JNPAQUET Books Ltd. All rights reserved.
Two separate bags of sweets/lollipops, circulate the classroom, whilst music is playing. Once the music stops, the students holding the sweets go head to head in a "question/off".
The student who stands and shouts the answer first gets to keep the sweets as a prize. The losing student has to give the sweets back.
Harsh?! The kids don't seem to mind and they've asked to play this every lesson since introducing it.
Don't like the idea of sweets?! Use wristbands, stickers or your own school reward incentive, e.g. A number of vivos or dojos written on a card.
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AMY SARGENT is a Teacher, Author of "Outstanding Lesson Ahead", a guide that provides both aspiring and current teachers with suggestions, ideas and techniques to incorporate in their lessons. [Book available worldwide in print, eBook and audiobook.]
FOLLOW & LIKE Amy Sargent's Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Pinterest | Blog
________________________________________________________
This post was first published on Amy Sargent's Blog. All Amy Sargent's blog posts are Copyright Š 2015, JNPAQUET Books Ltd. All rights reserved.
Books in education are usually dry academic encyclopaedias full of boring and sometimes unnecessary literature. "Outstanding Lesson Ahead" by Amy Sargent is a book that will just fire your imagination with its thought-provoking style. It has all the ingredients you need to deliver an outstanding lesson. It provides both aspiring and current teachers with suggestions, ideas and techniques to incorporate in their lessons, which capture the importance of mind-set and creativity. Join the journey to being an outstanding teacher today with outstanding learners!
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- Print format (UK only): To get your 15% OFF "Outstanding Lesson Ahead", simply visit our page: www.jnpaquet-books.co.uk and add the code: 5oct at checkout.
- Print format (USA only): To get your 15% OFF "Outstanding Lesson Ahead", simply visit our page: www.jnpaquet-books.net and add the code: 5oct at checkout.
Note: The book is also available in print and eBook (without discount) on Amazon: www.amazon.com/Amy-Sargent/e/B00R1AVJ0C/
Allow thinking time to your students before answering their questions by using a variety of methods...
1) Give a time period for which they must think/use notes
before asking for answers.
2) Ask students to mind-map ideas in pairs before turning to another pair
to share ideas and then feedback to the whole class.
3) Ask students to write down at least three key words/phrases before
answering and reward extra points for âworking outâ as well as their
answer.
4) Allow students time to âspyâ. This could be through reviewing notes in their books, using textbooks/dictionaries or spying on a partnerâs work.
Check out our Essential Teachers' Back-to-School material!
Prepare for the new school year with Amy Sargent's books: "Outstanding Lesson Ahead" and "Challenge Club Passport". Plan, prepare and achieve outstanding lessons all year long.
- "Outstanding Lesson Ahead": A book that will just fire your imagination with its thought-provoking style. It has all the ingredients you need to deliver an outstanding lesson. It provides both aspiring and current teachers with suggestions, ideas and techniques to incorporate in their lessons, which capture the importance of mind-set and creativity.
- "Challenge Club Passport": 3 books providing students with tasks to stretch their thinking skills, develop their creativity and consolidate their learning, without being just more of the same work that they have already completed. Students must work through the challenges to stretch their learning and extend their thinking. Some involve challenges, which can be done in class, whilst others should be done as an extra-curricular activity, or at home.
Find out more about the books today: http://backtoschool.jnpbks.com
Students are always responsible for their own learning, but we should also promote group work and encourage them to work collaboratively in order to reach a common goal. Students should interact with each other and learn to work in a variety of groups.
⢠Getting into groups.
In order to group students, you could give some students questions and the rest of the group, numerous possible answers to a given question, e.g. âWhat would you put in a fruit salad?â One student could have apple, whilst another has orange and so on. Students should discuss the answers and form a group based on their theory. Alternatively, you could have a few photos, which are cut into pieces. Students should circulate the class, seeing if their pieces match up, ultimately forming a group once all pieces have been put together.
⢠Getting into groups #2.
Give students stickers (white label stickers) in a variety of ways. Cut the label in half and have half the word on one part and the rest on the other. Students then need to find their partner. Vary this by breaking words into syllables for more able groups. Alternatively, give some students key words and others the definition, or give numbers on one sticker and the full written version of the number on another. For History, split the stickers in half with dates on some and events on another. Get students into learning partners/groups by finding matches.
⢠Verbal tennis.
In pairs, students say a key word related to the topic or string a sentence together. Student âAâ starts and then student âBâ needs to respond with a new word/next part of the sentence. Students who hesitate could lose a point to try to encourage forward thinking.
Introduce the theme/topic/objective or key question for the lesson and provide students with a Post-it note. Have them write a sentence to this statement: âMy first thought is...â
Ask students to place their Post-it under the statement on the board and continue teaching.
As a mini plenary, provide students with another Post-it note, but this time, the statement should read: âNow, Iâm thinking...â
Again, have them place their Post-it under the statement and continue teaching.
The plenary should be the third instalment of thinking and, on their final Post-it note, students should write an answer to: âMy final thought is...â
Students could then compare their initial thoughts to their final thoughts. Were they the same, or very different?
A great way to show stages of learning and progression.
I got this idea whilst watching Celebrity MasterChef and thought, I could really do something like this in the classroom.
Basically, the celebrities are in teams of two and one starts cooking with some set ingredients whilst the other waits outside. After half an hour, the celebrities swap over and the second celeb has to try and finish the dish that the first started. It is a bit of a guessing game whereby things are on the boil, in the oven and already mixed, but they have no instructions at all.
So, how could this be used in the classroom?... Well, my thoughts are: each student in the class starts creatively writing for about ten minutes. Once this time is up, on a secret note (just a Post-it note!), they write a few notes as to where they would like their story to go and how to end, along with their name. These are then placed with the teacher. Their start of a story/piece of work stays on their desk, open.
A bell or buzzer sounds and students have to run to a different book. They are then given ten minutes to read the start of the story and then continue it.
After the time is up, the original student of the work goes back to their seat and sees how their story panned out.
The Post-it notes could then be handed to the student who finished the original story to see how well it matches to what they wrote.
Give students one minute to write something on the topic of the lesson.
After the minute is up, ask them to highlight/underline any of the key structures/criteria covered, e.g. in languages, it may be that you wanted them to use a connective or an intensifier.
Next, explain to the students that you would now like them to use xxx (something of your choice within the topic, e.g. it now might be a negative), give them three minutes to improve/extend their sentence. Once again, ask them to highlight where they have met criteria.
Finally, give them eight minutes to finalise their piece of writing, extending and/or improving where necessary.
I have found that, by timing students, they are tied to their work by the deadline and are less likely to go off-task than if I were to just say: âWrite me something on the topic of sports.â
Need a quick, on the spot plenary? Try the 3, 2, 1 method.
Students summarise the lesson with 3 things they have learned, 2 questions they still have about the lesson/topic and 1 interesting thought/opinion about the lesson.
You could use their unanswered questions as a starter in a follow up lesson or respond to them through marking.
In addition, more of a challenge version would be to have the 1 final thought in either a certain amount of words or just one word, starting with a specific letter.
Yesterday, I started a new topic with my Year 9s, and I thought: âHow can I introduce the topic in a different way to normal?â
So, I wrote on the board: âChoose a number from 1-10 and a letter from the alphabetâ. They had NO idea why, but were told that once they had written their choice in their book, there was no changing it. I had choices ranging from A1 to X8, and beyond!
Once everyone had shown me their book and their choice, I told them what the new topic was and that they now had to find as many words as the number they wrote down, starting with the chosen letter. The grunts coming from those who had picked the letter X or Z were hilarious!
The students were open about how challenging this was, so when I asked them if they would like me to make it easier, I was shocked when they said no. The reason was that it was challenging, but a good challenge. They werenât unable to do it and they wanted to prove that they could.
They really seemed to enjoy the activity and it got them thinking outside of the box too!
Once completed, a student said âOh no, youâre now going to make us make up a sentence containing all of these words, arenât you?â Well, actually, that was not my plan, but I did tell her that it was a great idea and could add another level to the task.
What I did do, however, was, when I marked their books, I set them a task of linking one of their words to the main topic in an exact amount of steps.
I look forward to seeing their faces when I return their books next week!
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