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This school put together an awesome school wide active learning project. Towards the end of the year, grades 1-7 were asked to write 6 word memoirs based on these few prompts.

Tell something you like about our school.

What activity did you really enjoy this school year?

Write about yourself

Give advice to others

The students then wrote their memoir and created a design to go with it. Once finished, they were all placed in a slide show presentation to show off their work! Some of the students work was even posted on the school's twitter page!

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This activity has the following traits:
- Student Reflection
- Authentic Work
- Student Centered
- Student Self Assessment
- Student Voice
- Creativity
- Technology used to create/find graphics with saying

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Six Words Are The Way In | Larry Smith | TEDxMarionCorrectional

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One suggestion would be allowing the student's to create a prompt or two. This would put some more ownership on the student's and create an opportunity for more self refection. They could also do a 6 word memoirs school wide and in classrooms for certain units. Another suggestion is making these 6 words memoirs into memes that student's can share digitally and this can create an opportunity for students to collaborate together.

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Find focus. Fulfill missions. Build camaraderie.

In settings such as in boardrooms, classrooms, staff retreats, and conferences, Six-Word Memoirs® is a simple concept that's become an effective tool to spark conversation, crystalize goals, and boil anything down to its core. Larry Smith has spoken at conferences across the world and led workshops in companies such as ESPN, Levi's, Dell, JPMorganChase, and Shutterfly, as well as at schools and nonprofits of all kinds.

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Written by Nicole Zumpano

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Can you sum up anything in 6 words? Coonley students were asked to do just that! Chicago Public Schools has a lonnnnnng end-of-year with students in classes through June 19th. As a challenge for the month of June grades 1-7 were asked to write 6 Word Memoirs based on the following prompts:

Tell something you like about Coonley

What activity did you really enjoy this school year?

Write about yourself

Give advice to others

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Can you sum up anything in 6 words? Coonley students were asked to do just that! Chicago Public Schools has a lonnnnnng end-of-year with s...

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Created by the Students at Coonley Elementary 2016

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6 Word Memoir: Active Learning Experience via Padlet

This week I learned about an active learning experience called "6 word memoir." This activity was engaging, creative, and had a technology component. You would think that 6 words would not make much of an impact, but they sure do!

A six word memoir is a six word limit on a description of something. In this case the prompts were centered around a specific school or how the student felt about themselves. This was a school wide initiative to close out the school year. In addition to the six words students designed their own slides as, well. At the end, around 420 six word memoirs were combined in one huge power point to share with all the school, family, and friends.

Active learning, like the six word memoir, is a meaningful way to learn hands on in a number of different content areas. It makes class more interactive for students and teachers. It also allows students to go beyond norms of the traditional book and paper class set up. Students use their creative bone to establish the new knowledge they have gained.

I have a few great examples of interactive learning that I have done in my social studies classroom. One of my favorite is a PSA announcement or commercial based on historical letters from the Great Migration. Students research and read primary sources online, mainly letters, that informed them of the experience of African Americans either from the south moving north, or already north and communicating with the south. They combined the historical evidence they found into a short video and then posted it to google classroom to share with the class. A second, less technology based, active learning experience was protest posters of modern companies, as we learned about the horrors of the Industrial Revolution. This really empowered my students and allowed them to create a voice for some of the injustices still seen today in the work place. They researched and then created a physical poster that was displayed throughout the school. I only wish I took a picture of a few to show everyone!

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6 Word Memoir: Active Learning Experience via Padlet

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6 Word Memoir: Active Learning Experience via Padlet This week I learned about an active learning experience called "6 word memoir." This activity was engaging, creative, and had a technology component. You would think that 6 words would not make much of an impact, but they sure do!

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Exploring Active Learning

This week I am discovering the world of Active Learning. Active learning is defined as a learning activity in which students are engaged and participate in their own learning process. They are not just sitting in a classroom trying to absorb information and content, they are part of the learning itself and have ownership of it. Active learning is described as bringing in authentic situations where student work is self created and reflected on.

Active Learning Activity: 6 Word Memoirs

The active learning activity I was researching this week with Joanna was 6 Word Memoirs. We were able to read Nicole Zumpano's Blog on how her school's students each created a 6 Word Memoir of their year. 6 Word Memoirs is an activity that I think is a great student self-reflection piece. It is also a great way to get a teacher into the world of active learning. The activity is simple, yet can be modified to create a deep understanding for the students.

In the example from Nicole's Blog- students were given prompts to reflect on and write their memoir on their school year. Below I have included the Padlet Joanna and I collectively created about 6 Word Memoirs! Please take a moment to check it out (there are great resources included here too)!

Active Learning in My Classroom

Teaching in my Kindergarten classroom, I absolutely keep active learning in mind when I am developing my lessons. My little kiddos have a very short attention span and when I keep them engaged and show them how they have ownership of their learning, they are more willing to participate. An added bonus is they stayed focused for a longer period of time too! If this can work with my little ones, I am sure active learning will work in any grade level or program. When thinking about the Masters class I am currently in, we have done assignments in multiple ways which keeps me excited to work on the next project/assignment. If I feel that way as an adult learner, I think all educators should try to incorporate active learning in their lessons.

Speaking a little more on my personal classroom experiences, here are a few active learning activities I use within my classroom:

- Role Playing - Virtual Field Trips! (Here is a
- Think - Pair- Share
- Kinesthetic/Sensory Activities
- Group Projects
- Hands on Learning!! (I do this all day everyday!)
- Stem Projects

If you are an educator of any kind, I hope you consider possibly using an active learning activity within your next lesson. If you'd like share your experiences in the comments!
More Resources:
link to a blogpost/presentation I made all about Virtual Field Trips) Original BlogPost on "One Year Told in Six Words".
Webpage on Importance of Active Learning
Article on Active Learning
Twitter Feed on #activelearning
Six Word Memoirs Website

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This week I am discovering the world of Active Learning. Active learning is defined as a learning activity in which students are engaged and participate in their own learning process. They are not just sitting in a classroom trying to absorb information and content, they are part of the learning itself and have ownership of it.