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Active Learning Classrooms where EVERYONE is Engaged:

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Active Learning Classrooms where EVERYONE is Engaged:

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Active Learning Classrooms: Everyone is engaged!

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I purchased this anatomy of the body systems beach ball.  I will play a game with my students:  I will toss the ball to a student and whichever system they see when they catch it is the one they have to describe to the class.  They then toss back to me and I toss to another student and so on.  This will give the students an opportunity to show what they know and me an opportunity to use formative assessment.

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american educational vinyl clever catch human anatomy ball

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American Educational Vinyl Clever Catch Human Anatomy Ball, 24" Diameter

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Human Anatomy Clever Catch provides an excellent way for children to learn about the human body systems and functions. There are 107 facts included. Clever Catch can be used at school in organized classroom activities. It can also be used on the playground or at home. For grades 4 to 8.

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Creating a Highly Effective Learning Environment:

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Creating a Highly Effective Learning Environment:

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by Terry Heick
For in-person professional development from TeachThought on how to create an effective learning environment in your classroom or school, contact us today.
Wherever we are, we'd all like to think our classrooms are 'intellectually active' places. Progressive learning(like our 21st Century Model, for example) environments. Highly-effective and conducive to student-centered learning.

But what does that mean?

The reality is, there is no single answer because teaching and learning are awkward to consider as single events or individual 'things.' This is all a bunch of rhetoric until we put on our white coats and study it under a microscope, at which point abstractions like curiosity, authenticity, self-knowledge, and affection will be hard to pin down.

So we put together one take on the characteristics of a highly effective classroom. They can act as a kind of criteria to measure your own against-see if you notice a pattern.

10 Characteristics Of A Highly Effective Learning Environment
1. The students ask the questions-good questions
This is not a feel-good implication, but really crucial for the whole learning process to work.

The role of curiosity has been studied (and perhaps under-studied and under-appreciated), but suffice to say that if a learner enters any learning activity with little to no natural curiosity, prospects for meaningful interaction with texts, media, and specific tasks are bleak. (Interested in how to kill learner curiosity in 12 easy steps?)
2. Questions are valued over answers 3. Ideas come from a divergent sources
Many teachers force students to ask questions at the outset of units or lessons, often to no avail. Cliché questions that reflect little understanding of the content can discourage teachers from 'allowing' them. But the fact remains-if students can't ask great questions-even as young as elementary school-something, somewhere is unplugged.
4. A variety of learning models are used 5. Classroom learning 'empties' into a connected community
Questions are more important than answers. So it makes sense that if good questions should lead the learning, there would be value placed on these questions. And that means adding currency whenever possible-grades (questions as assessment!), credit (give them points-they love points), creative curation (writing as a kind of graffiti on large post-it pages on the classroom walls), or simply praise and honest respect. See if you don't notice a change.

Ideas for lessons, reading, tests, and projects-the fiber of formal learning-should come from a variety of sources. If they all come from narrow slivers of resources, you're at risk of being pulled way off in one direction (that may or may not be good). An alternative? Consider sources like professional and cultural mentors, the community, content experts outside of education, and even the students themselves. Huge shift in credibility.
6. Learning is personalized by a variety of criteria
And when these sources disagree with one another, use that as an endlessly 'teachable moment,' because that's what the real world is like.
7. Assessment is persistent, authentic, transparent, and never punitive
Inquiry-based learning, project-based learning, direct instruction, peer-to-peer learning, school-to-school, eLearning, Mobile learning, the flipped classroom, and on and on-the possibilities are endless. Chances are, none are incredible enough to suit every bit of content, curriculum, and learner diversity in your classroom. A characteristic of a highly-effective classroom, then, is diversity here, which also has the side-effect of improving your long-term capacity as an educator.
8. Criteria for success is balanced and transparent. 9. Learning habits are constantly modeled
In a highly-effective learning environment, learning doesn't need to be radically repackaged to make sense in the 'real world,' but starts and ends there.
10. There are constant opportunities for practice
As great as it sounds for learners to reflect on Shakespeare to better understand their Uncle Eddie-and they might-depending on that kind of radical transfer to happen entirely in the minds of the learners by design may not be the best idea. Plan on this kind of transfer from the beginning.
10 Characteristics Of A Highly Effective Learning Environment
It has to leave the classroom because they do.

Personalized learning is likely the future, but for now, the onus for routing students is almost entirely on the shoulders of the classroom teacher. This makes personalization-and even consistent differentiation-a challenge. One response is to personalize learning-to whatever extent you plan for-by a variety of criteria-not just assessment results or reading level, but interest, readiness-for-content, and others as well.

Then, as you adjust pace, entry points, and rigor accordingly, you'll have a better chance of having uncovered what the learners truly 'need.'

Assessment is just an (often ham-fisted) attempt to get at what a learner understands. The more infrequent, clinical, murky, or threatening it is, the more you're going to separate the 'good students' from the 'good thinkers.' And the 'clinical' idea has less to do with the format of the test, and more to do with the tone and emotion of the classroom in general. Why are students being tested? What's in it for them, and their future opportunities to improve?

And feedback is quick even when the 'grading' may not be.

Students should not have to guess what 'success' in a highly-effective classroom looks like. It should also not be entirely weighted on 'participation,' assessment results, attitude, or other individual factors, but rather meaningfully melted into a cohesive framework that makes sense-not to you, your colleagues, or the expert book on your shelf, but the students themselves.

Cognitive, meta-cognitive, and behavioral 'good stuff' is constantly modeled. Curiosity, persistence, flexibility, priority, creativity, collaboration, revision, and even the classic Habits of Mind are all great places to start. So often what students learn from those around them is less directly didactic, and more indirect and observational.

Monkey see, monkey do.

Old thinking is revisited. Old errors are reflected on. Complex ideas are re-approached from new angles. Divergent concepts are contrasted. Bloom's taxonomy is constantly traveled up and down, from the simple to the complex in an effort to maximize a student's opportunities to learn-and demonstrate understanding-of content.

For professional development around this or related ideas in education, contact us.

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The Characteristics Of A Highly Effective Learning Environment

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by Terry Heick For in-person professional development from TeachThought on how to create an effective learning environment in your classroom or school, contact us today. Wherever we are, we'd all like to think our classrooms are 'intellectually active' places. Progressive learning(like our 21st Century Model , for example) environments.

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contributed by Saga Briggs

The ultimate goal of teaching is understanding.

But sometimes it's easier to talk than to teach, as we all know, especially when we need to cover a lot of material in a short amount of time. We hope students will understand, if not now then before test time, and we keep our fingers crossed that their results will indicate we've done our job.

The problem is, we often rely on these tests to measure understanding and then we move on. There isn't always time to address weaknesses and misunderstandings after the tests have been graded, and the time to help students learn through strategies to ask great questions is gone.

Below are 22 simple assessment strategies and tips to help you become more frequent in your teaching, planning, and curriculum design.

Book TeachThought Professional Development for training on assessment practices that grow teachers
22 Simple Assessment Strategies & Tips You Can Use Every Day 1. An open-ended question that gets them writing/talking
Avoid yes/no questions and phrases like "Does this make sense?" In response to these questions, students usually answer 'yes.' So, of course, it's surprising when several students later admit that they're lost.

To help students grasp ideas in class, ask open-ended questions that require students that get students writing/talking. They can reveal more than you would've thought to ask directly.
2. Ask students to reflect
During the last five minutes of class ask students to reflect on the lesson and write down what they've learned. Then, ask them to consider how they would apply this concept or skill in a practical setting. Exit ticketsmake this easy to administer and review student answers.
3. Use quizzes
Give a short quiz at the end of class to check for comprehension.
4. Ask students to summarize
Have students summarize or paraphrase important concepts and lessons. This can be done orally, visually, or otherwise.
5. Hand signals
Hand signals can be used to rate or indicate students' understanding of content. Students can show anywhere from five fingers to signal maximum understanding to one finger to signal minimal understanding. This strategy requires engagement by all students and allows the teacher to check for understanding within a large group.
6. Response cards
Index cards, signs, whiteboards, magnetic boards, or other items are simultaneously held up by all students in class to indicate their response to a question or problem presented by the teacher. Using response devices, the teacher can easily note the responses of individual students while teaching the whole group.
7. Four corners
A quick and easy snapshot of student understanding, Four Corners provides an opportunity for student movement while permitting the teacher to monitor and assess understanding.

The teacher poses a question or makes a statement. Students then move to the appropriate corner of the classroom to indicate their response to the prompt. For example, the corner choices might include "I strongly agree," "I strongly disagree," "I agree somewhat," and "I'm not sure."
8. Think-pair-share
Students take a few minutes to think about the question or prompt. Next, they pair with a designated partner to compare thoughts before sharing with the whole class.
9. Choral reading
Students mark text to identify a particular concept and chime in, reading the marked text aloud in unison with the teacher. This strategy helps students develop fluency; differentiate between the reading of statements and questions; and practice phrasing, pacing, and reading dialogue.
10. One question quiz
Ask a single focused question with a specific goal that can be answered within a minute or two. You can quickly scan the written responses to assess student understanding.
11. Socratic seminar
Students ask questions of one another about an essential question, topic, or selected text. The questions initiate a conversation that continues with a series of responses and additional questions. Students learn to formulate questions that address issues to facilitate their own discussion and arrive at a new understanding.
12. 3-2-1
Students consider what they have learned by responding to the following prompt at the end of the lesson: 3) things they learned from your lesson; 2) things they want to know more about; and 1) questions they have. The prompt stimulates student reflection on the lesson and helps to process the learning.
13. Ticket out the door
Students write in response to a specific prompt for a short period of time. Teachers collect their responses as a "ticket out the door" to check for students' understanding of a concept taught. This exercise quickly generates multiple ideas that could be turned into longer pieces of writing at a later time.
14. Journal reflections
Students write their reflections on a lesson, such as what they learned, what caused them difficulty, strategies they found helpful, or other lesson-related topics. Students can reflect on and process lessons. By reading student work-especially -types of learning journals that help students think-teachers can identify class and individual misconceptions and successes. (See also
15. Formative pencil-paper assessment
Students respond individually to short, pencil-paper formative assessments of skills and knowledge taught in the lesson. Teachers may elect to have students self-correct. The teacher collects assessment results to monitor individual student progress and to inform future instruction.

Both student and teacher can quickly assess whether the student acquired the intended knowledge and skills. This is a formative assessment, so a grade is not the intended purpose.
16. Misconception check
Present students with common or predictable misconceptions about a concept you're covering. Ask them whether they agree or disagree and to explain why.
17. Analogy prompt
Teaching with analogies can be powerful. Periodically, present students with an analogy prompt: "the concept being covered is like ____ because ____."
18. Practice frequency
Check for understanding at least three times a lesson, minimum.
19. Use variety
Teachers should use enough different individual and whole group techniques to check understanding that they accurately know what all students know. More than likely, this means during a single class the same technique should not be repeated.
20. Make it useful
The true test is whether or not you can adjust your course or continue as planned based on the information received in each check. Do you need to stop and start over? Pull a few students aside for three minutes to re-teach? Or move on?
21. Peer instruction
Perhaps the most accurate way to check for understanding is to have one student try to teach another student what she's learned. If she can do that successfully, it's clear she understood your lesson.
22. "Separate what you do and don't understand"
Whether making a t-chart, drawing a concept map, or using some other means, have the students not simply list what they think they know, but what they don't know as well. This won't be as simple as it sounds-we're usually not aware of what we don't know.

They'll also often know more or less than they can identify themselves, which makes this strategy a bit crude. But that's okay-the goal isn't for them to be precise and complete in their self-evaluation the goal is for you to gain insight as to what they do and don't know.

And seeing what they can even begin to articulate on their own is an excellent starting point here.
This post was written by Saga Briggins and was first published by on opencolleges.edu.au; 20 Simple Assessment Strategies You Can Use Every Day

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22 Simple Assessment Strategies You Can Use Every Day

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contributed by Saga Briggs The ultimate goal of teaching is understanding. But sometimes it's easier to talk than to teach, as we all know, especially when we need to cover a lot of material in a short amount of time.

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The teacher of adults has a different job from the one who teaches children. If you're teaching adult students, for the best results it's important to understand and practice five principles espoused by Malcolm Knowles, a pioneer in the study of adult learning. He observed that adults learn best when:

1. They understand why something is important to know or do.

2. They have the freedom to learn in their own way.

3. Learning is experiential.

4. The time is right for them to learn.

5. The process is positive and encouraging.

Most adult students are in your classroom because they want to be. Some of them are there because they have continuing education requirements to keep a certificate current, but most are there because they've chosen to learn something new.

This principle is not about why your students are in your classroom, but about why each thing you teach them is an important part of the learning. For example, imagine you are teaching a group how to make pickles. It would be important for students to understand why each step in the pickle-making process is important:

It's important to soak the cucumbers in ice water overnight. This helps make the pickles crisp.

If you put a towel under the jars in the canner, they won't bounce against each other and break.

When sterilizing the jars, it's important to fill each at least halfway with water, AND fill the canner they're sitting in with water. Too little water and the towel mentioned in the previous bullet will catch on fire. You know this kind of information comes from experience.

There are three general learning styles: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.

Visual learners rely on pictures. They love graphs, diagrams, and illustrations. "Show me," is their motto. They often sit in the front of the classroom to avoid visual obstructions and to watch you, the teacher. They want to know what the subject looks like. You can best communicate with them by providing handouts, writing on the whiteboard, and using phrases like, "Do you see how this works?"

Auditory learners listen carefully to all sounds associated with the learning. "Tell me," is their motto. They will pay close attention to the sound of your voice and all of its subtle messages, and they will actively participate in discussions. You can best communicate with them by speaking clearly, asking questions, and using phrases like, "How does that sound to you?"

Tactile or kinesthetic learners need to physically do something to understand it. Their motto is "Let me do it." They trust their feelings and emotions about what they're learning and how you're teaching it. They want to actually touch what they're learning. They are the ones who will get up and help you with role-playing. You can best communicate with them by involving volunteers, allowing them to practice what they're learning, and using phrases like, "How do you feel about that?"

Most people use all three styles while they're learning, and of course, this is logical since we all have five senses, barring any disabilities, but one style almost always is preferred.

The big question is, "How do you, as the teacher, know which student has which learning style?" Without training in neuro-linguistics, it might be difficult, but conducting a short learning style assessment at the beginning of your class would benefit you and the students. This information is as valuable to the student as it is to you.

There are several learning style assessments available online, some better than others. A good choice is the one at Ageless Learner.

Experience can take many forms. Any activity that gets your students involved makes the learning experiential. This includes small group discussions, experiments, role playing, skits, building something at their table or desk, writing or drawing something specific - activity of any kind. Activities also keep people energize d, especially activities that involve getting up and moving about.

The other aspect of this principle is honoring the life experiences your students bring to the classroom. Be sure to tap into that wealth of wisdom whenever it's appropriate. You'll have to be a good timekeeper because people can talk for hours when asked for personal experiences, but the extra facilitation needed will be well worth the gems your students have to share.

"When the student is ready, the teacher appears" is a Buddhist proverb packed with wisdom. No matter how hard a teacher tries, if the student isn't ready to learn, chances are good he or she won't. What does this mean for you as a teacher of adults? Luckily, your students are in your classroom because they want to be. They've already determined that the time is right.

It's your job to listen carefully for teaching moments and take advantage of them. When a student says or does something that triggers a topic on your agenda, be flexible and teach it right then. If that would wreak havoc on your schedule, which is often the case, teach a bit about it rather than saying flat out that they'll have to wait until later in the program. By then, you may have lost their interest.

For most adults, being out of the classroom for even a few years can make going back to school intimidating. If they haven't taken a class in decades, it's understandable that they would have some degree of apprehension about what it will be like and how well they'll do. It can be tough to be a rookie when you've been an expert in your field for many, many years. Nobody enjoys feeling foolish.

Your job as a teacher of adult students includes being positive and encouraging. Patience helps too. Give your older students time to respond when you ask a question. They may need a few moments to consider their answer. Recognize the contributions they make, even when small. Give them words of encouragement whenever the opportunity arises. Most adults will rise to your expectations if you're clear about them.

A word of caution here. Being positive and encouraging is not the same as being condescending. Always remember that your students are adults. Speaking to them in the tone of voice you might use with a child is offensive, and the damage can be very difficult to overcome. Genuine encouragement from one person to another, regardless of age, is a wonderful point of human interaction.

This is your challenge as a teacher of adults. Beyond teaching your subject, you have the opportunity to inspire confidence and passion in another human being. That kind of teaching changes lives.

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Do You Practice the 5 Principles of Adult Learning When You Teach?

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The teacher of adults has a different job from the one who teaches children. If you're teaching adult students, for the best results it's important to understand and practice five principles espoused by Malcolm Knowles, a pioneer in the study of adult learning.

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USES IN MY CLASSROOM        I plan to liven up my lessons using ideas from this wonderful TED Talk:  Pentecostal Pedagogy:  Engage Students with MAGIC.  I think some of these ideas will help keep my students engaged and interested.

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USES IN MY CLASSROOM        I plan to liven up my lessons using ideas from this wonderful TED Talk:  Pentecostal Pedagogy:  Engage Students with MAGIC.  I think some of these ideas will help keep my students engaged and interested.

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Christopher Emdin: Teach teachers how to create magic

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What do rap shows, barbershop banter and Sunday services have in common? As Christopher Emdin says, they all hold the secret magic to enthrall and teach at the same time - and it's a skill we often don't teach to educators. A longtime teacher himself, now a science advocate and cofounder of Science Genius B.A.T.T.L.E.S.

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HOOK your students before  the presentation:

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HOOK your students before  the presentation:

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Getting students engaged and excited at the start of the class becomes more of a challenge as the year goes on. Every year (and sometimes semester) I have to come up with new ways of hooking the kids into the lesson, or giving them warm-ups, so that they get excited and stay engaged. These are two ways I do just that. (Part 2 is HERE)

1) Play hangman!!! My students get excited right when they walk through the door because they see hangman set up on the board. I make the word or phrase they are trying to guess something related to the topic of the day. Ideally, based on what they learned the day before, they should be able to make educated guesses about it, though depending on the students, I might have 1-3 questions or keywords related to the overarching topic on the board to act as clues. We then have a quick discussion about how the answer they guessed for hangman connects to what they learned yesterday and what they will be learning that day.

2) Play two truths and a lie!!! Sometimes I will have 3 statements written on the board about the topic for the day. Using the information learned the day before, students will discuss the 3 statements in pairs and determine which 2 they believe to be true about the topic and which 1 statement is false. We then have a whole class vote on which is which, I affirm their identifications of the true and false statements, then we have a quick discussion about how the true statements will play into the topic and why the false statement is false.

The trick is getting the kids settled and as focused as quickly as possible, and at least the last couple of years with my sophomores, games and competitions seem to work pretty well. Here's the other thing, these types of hooks and warm ups are a lot more fun for you as a teacher. Let's be real, playing hangman is way more fun than handing out a sheet with some questions on it and having to correct them all later. This way, the whole class is on the same page about the material, the kids are smiling and engaged, and will therefore hopefully soak up the day's material a bit more willingly and easily.

I find over and over that kids learn best when they are having fun, and my students have definitely had fun with these methods. I hope if you try them out yours will too!!! If you want more topic intro ideas (or even for wrap ups or reviews) I have a few thoroughly detailed in this FREE SAMPLE of my Back to School bundle, and many (including pictures with examples) in the full version. Click HERE to read about one of my favorite ways to incorporate primary source images into my lessons, HERE you can find 3 other ways to introduce a new topic, and THIS post has 3 ways to fill time at the end of class.
How do you get kids excited and engaged at the start of class? I'd love to read about it in the comments :-).

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Get Students Excited and Engaged in the First 5 Minutes of Class, Part 1 of 2

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Getting students engaged and excited at the start of the class becomes more of a challenge as the year goes on. Every year (and sometimes semester) I have to come up with new ways of hooking the kids into the lesson, or giving them warm-ups, so that they get excited and stay engaged.

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The 10th characteristic of a highly effective learning environment is that there are constant opportunities for practice. One of several obstacles I have to overcome in the prison classroom is homework and the students ability to get it done. There are so many outside forces at work once my students leave the classroom and go back to their dorms. I am determined to find a way to provide my students with practice both inside and outside the classroom. There are very few "perfect" environments in which to work, so I need to get my students working in their dorms or get them into the habit of finding a quiet place to do their work. I will suggest the library or that they do their work as a group with other students living in their dorm.

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During my History unit on the Civil War, I always take some time to talk about Abraham Lincoln.  A HOOK I will now use when teaching this lesson is to read and discuss the poem "O Captain, My Captain" by Walt Whitman.  My hook will be to read the poem at the very beginning of class with no introduction, and then prompt students to tell me what/who it might be about.

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During my History unit on the Civil War, I always take some time to talk about Abraham Lincoln.  A HOOK I will now use when teaching this lesson is to read and discuss the poem "O Captain, My Captain" by Walt Whitman.  My hook will be to read the poem at the very beginning of class with no introduction, and then prompt students to tell me what/who it might be about.

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O Captain! My Captain!

By Walt Whitman

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,

The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,

The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,

While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;

But O heart! heart! heart!

O the bleeding drops of red,

Where on the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;

Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,

For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,

For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;

Here Captain! dear father!

This arm beneath your head!

It is some dream that on the deck,

You’ve fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,

My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,

The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,

From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;

Exult O shores, and ring O bells!

But I with mournful tread,

Walk the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.

n/a

Source: Leaves of Grass (David McKay, 1891)

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In my previous classroom, I used very little assessment other than daily Formative assessment (through observation, classwork, and question/answer). I plan to development a series of written assessments in the form of quizzes and tests. It is vitally important that my students get comfortable with the testing process to reduce anxiety and unnecessary mistakes as they prepare for the GED.