AHCOTE 405: Intermediate Collaboration Group 2011

1. AHCOTE 405: Intermediate Collaboration Group 2011 Our Purpose – to find ways to increase student engagement.

2. The focus for meeting #1: Hooks Jenn: tried setting up a “fear table” in the classroom and the result was instant shock and awe – and then engagement. Nadine: tried using APK at the opening of a lesson to pave the way for the lesson. • Mary: tried using the smart board to introduce a lesson and found that students are instantly focused on any new piece of technology. • Brandi: tried singing the song “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” to introduce a classroom expectations lesson and was able to get students attention quickly.

3. Focus for Meeting #2: Inquiry-Based Lessons. • Mary: had students solve very real problem by doing an experiment under the document camera so that all students could watch it. • Nadine: had students building roller-coasters. The results were that students were reluctant to take a break from working on their roller coaster projects (high student engagement!). • Brandi: tried using word-problems in math to increase students’ understanding of the content.

4. Focus for Meeting#3:Questioning • Jenn: started a debate about job equality – students had to choose a point on the continuum. It really got students thinking. • Nadine: tried opening a math lesson by putting an open-ended question up on the board. • Mary: had students create their own criteria for assignments by asking the question “what should every … have?” • Brandi: showed students photos of India and had them right down questions about them.

5. Focus for Meeting #4:Interesting Games • Nadine: had students using whiteboards to play a fractions game – so that fractions would be less intimidating and more interesting. • Mary: tried playing the game “I Have Who Has” for grammar with students. The results were that students were able to learn rote grammar knowledge quickly. • Brandi: tried the game “Take Four” with students with the results that students became incredibly engaged in spelling – to the point where they didn’t want to quit to go to PE. • Jenn: made fractions into a game by building a pizza out of paper and using it to demonstrate fractions.

6. The Conclusion: • Children just want to discover things – they have a natural curiosity to play • Use play to “hide” the learning • Use the element of surprise • Use emotion and personal experience to connect with the students – share yourself and put yourself out on a limb to model vulnerability and learning. • Student engagement techniques like hooks, questioning, enquiry-based lessons and games take a lot of the work out of classroom management and teaching because it prevents boredom which can lead to behavioural issues. • Student engagement helps students to actually like school!

7. Implications for Future Teaching: • We now have the confidence to bring these elements into the classroom because we’ve seen positive results! • We can put each of the four elements (hooks, questioning, inquiry-based lessons and games) into each unit plan – when we are planning we create a checklist so that each of these things is definitely a part of our plans. • We can try using inquiry-based learning to build entire curriculum through project-based learning. • Inquiry-based learning can now also be applied to math through “jedi math” • We can now apply this knowledge to future collaboration groups and professional development workshops • We now have a continued commitment to learn more about and develop these techniques.