Perry Griggsville
Uncommon Core 2014
3 sessions… 1) explanation and demo BREAK 2) more demo BREAK… bunny thing 3) music k Koosh Ball
Begin with Energizer … Power Ninja? Groupings? To Tell the Truth? Koosh toss: The most wonderful vacation you’ve ever taken. A time when someone ..almost out of the blue.. did something very nice for you. One of the greatest teaching joys you’ve had this year.
Workshop presentations usually follow this pattern: ---The speaker spends the first part of the presentation selling you on an idea (unless they’re from the state, then they tell you that you have to do it) ---2nd part explaining it ---Then you make a few notes, nod like it’s a good idea, all the time filtering it through your own curriculum, and generally ignoring most of it by next week. You keep the notes for approximately three days then throw them away.
Not today: this is going to be fascinating.
If you are bored at any point today, it’s probably because you haven’t been actively engaged. You haven’t spoken. You haven’t done anything. ---When we are engaged, we learn. You may not understand what just happened at the beginning of our session, but you were engaged… That’s what I’m talking about today.
… The anticipatory set… Madelyn Hunter One of the best ideas to come to education in the last 20 years.. The Anticipatory Set.. an exercise of any kind that get students involved as soon as the bell rings. a lead-in to class work of the day
I simply call them Energizers. The Anticipatory Set on Steroids.
My mother attended a one-room school. The energizer is very old. Day always began with recitation. A moment of silence is not an Energizer. Sometimes the Energizer was filling the coal bucket or fetching water. Once a year…take kids to Dexter… (explain day) … They remember every minute of it 10 years later.
How do we usually begin class. “Okay! Let’s quiet down!”
“Okay, quiet down!” is a very ineffective anticipatory set. Why? Because as a student, there’s nothing in it for me.
I began using Energizers in a class called Quest…7th-graders. Had the same kids for Language Arts and they wanted them there. When I had the same kids on 8th-grade Creative Arts. Senior speech class. . . wanted them back. Now…My college classes.
I found that five minutes at the beginning of each class paid dividends. Most kids dread the start of class. . . with the Energizer, the beginning can be their favorite part. Now: the teacher next door dreads the start of my class. One rule: late for class, stood in hall until Energizer was over. No one was late again.
Two types of Energizers today… The Opening Question and the on-your-feet energizer. I’ll talk about the Koosh Ball and we’ll do a few of the others. Many listed on the sheet. Today’s plan: Me explaining, break, doing Energizers, break, music
Remember: the Energizer has two purposes… bring the class’s energy together moving the same direction leading into the subject matter Number 2 is not necessary. I used to think it was…wrong. The car doesn’t have to know where it’s going as long as the engine is started.
BALL TOSS A movie you love that probably not everyone would agree with.
Tell me about an object, that whenever you see it, reminds you of some older relative in your life.. Me: bib overalls..Grandpa.
What are we talking about today? I don’t know…genealogy, history, being specific when you write, metaphors, respecting the opinions of others.
I would encourage you to always begin a writing assignment with this sort of energizer to stop the “writing killer”.. “I don’t know what to write about.” Writing should always begin with brainstorming.
Mrs. Smith… advice to me. It was terrible.. space ships, Martians. Grandpa’s fingers.. Grandma and the chicken heads. Mothers are the usual brainstormers. I discovered that I write best about what I know best. I just need someone to remind me what I know.
The idea…get the kids talking about it, then YOU join in. We usually try to do the opposite.
It uses the natural energy that your kids bring into the classroom. Too often it’s a 3-step process: They come in with energy We do our best to kill it Then we try to get it back. Why not make it one smooth process?
(And by the way, there’s something magical about the Koosh ball…it’s different from simply asking a questions then waiting for responses. It’s like the American Indian “Talking Stick.”)
All research says that hands-on, participatory learning is the most effective and long lasting.
Think back to the greatest learning experiences you had in grade school… I’ll bet you were doing.. not just watching and listening. Me: every time we left the class. I can remember almost nothing about what we did in class, but I can recall nearly every time we left it. Gwen Woods: log cabin, Harry Read…American Indians… John Browning ….artificially inseminating cows I even remember when we’d line up outside the school and rinse our teeth in stanis fluoride.
BALL TOSS: A learning activity you still remember from your elementary school years.
Bottom line: in order to learn, we must be mentally loosened up.. mental calisthenics.
Nice by-product: the Energizer builds a sense of community in a classroom. Look what you’ve learned about these people already today.
More Samples: A smell that many people don’t enjoy, but you find wonderful. Me: diesel fumes.
One of the best things about using the opening questions is that it tells you what the class knows so you can build on it.
THIS IS NOT THE SAME as asking, “Who knows something about story telling?”
A really big lie that some family member once told you. (Storytelling, writing)
Where’s some place you’ve always wanted to visit? Don’t simply ask “Can somebody tell me something about geography?”
Again, the opening question need not always be tied in to the day’s lesson. You may just want to use it for focus.
Many times in making writing assignments I’ve begun with the koosh ball and as the answers came in, I changed the topic.
And Old Chestnut… A dinner party tonight. You can invite three people living or dead. Who?
Imagine… a football coach…first practice is a game. No, you’ve got to work your way into communications skills. Or worse yet, a basketball coach that has them practice by reading a book on basketball.
It’s usually no problem to get students talking…the trick is to get them talking in the direction you want.
Our school..basically a student body who in large part don’t mind getting up and doing things..especially noticeable when a new student transfers in.. not because of our plays or speech contest, but the classroom experience. Much speaking on the Jr. High & elementary level.
Did any of you see the Ken Burns PBS special on The Gettysburg Address Tuesday night? ….what happens to kids when the key to their education becomes their ability to express themselves.
I presented this workshop in Galesburg ten years ago. They’ve adopted it as part of their new teacher program.
Our schools are legislated largely by people who want to be elected and so they come up with dozens of ways to test kids to make them better people so they can say they’ve done something. Be subversive! Play their games, but remember that at the heart of teaching is creativity…it’s an art, not a science. To love kids is the number one requirement for teachers.
Many years I do workshops for the student teachers at Western. I beg them to keep their classroom a place of joy. . . making learning fun. I get away with it…the head of the Ed department is a Perry graduate.
Don’t let Federal and State regulations make you lose your love for children!
Something about a teaching style of one of your colleagues that you admire very much? The nicest thing someone has done for you lately?
-----Break-------
The Brain Channel Surfing .. unusual noun. CNN, Weather Channel, History, Soap Opera. Attitude Line ..little girl, football coach, non-English speaker, cowboy, Slide Show Whistle Word Tennis The Stare Sound Circle Elevator Cliché Story 3 Ways (genres) Dating Game… History To Tell the Truth (truth, truth,lie) Groupings
2014: Alabama Jubilee, Battle Hymn, 5’ 2”, Skinny Dippin’, Yellow Star.. Victory in Jesus,
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