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Great technology protocals for all content areas

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Choose from a wide variety of shapes to create diagrams and charts. Free from Google.

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Ideas for supporting your ESL students.

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This guest post was contributed by Laura Lenz. It first appeared on her blog,
Teaching with an Open Heart.
Close your eyes.
Imagine a school where we focused on the strengths of English language learners. What if these students' cultures, languages, countries of origin, unique skills, and life experiences were held up as assets?

Let's decide this school year to focus more on these strengths and assets and the unique potential of our English learners. What brilliance might be unleashed? What confidence might be built? What might non-ESL* students learn from the ESLs?

This would be a change in the way we view our English learners as well as a shift in how we view the very nature of teaching. The basis of teaching is to teach students what they don't know. We're trained to look for gaps in knowledge. We're the teachers, the experts, the givers of information.

At the beginning of the school year, most teachers will be asked to look at data from state tests. Tests that focus on who is proficient and who is not proficient. We will identify gaps and deficiencies. Of course, this analysis has its place, and we need to know where students are struggling. However, we can also stimulate growth by capitalizing on existing strengths.

A few years ago, I was on an interview committee for the ESL coordinator in our district. The individual who eventually got the job kept talking about the very principles I have outlined in this article. He believed that the English learners could be the stars of the school district. I had never heard anyone express this sentiment quite that passionately and forcefully, and I immediately knew that what he was saying held enormous value. I believe in his vision, and it's my vision too.

Here are some suggestions for making this shift in how we work with our English learners this year.

1. Make it clear that your students' first languages and cultures are a tremendous strength and asset.

These students are the newest bilingual or multilingual members of our community. They are also learning to be bicultural or multicultural, figuring out how to navigate the tricky ins and outs of living in a diverse society. Our country will continue to become more diverse, and knowing more than one language and being able to navigate multiple cultures will be highly prized skills in our community. Make sure you explicitly share this information with parents as well. They need to know that their culture and language needs to be preserved and it will only strengthen their child's future.

2. Uncover students' unique strengths and funds of knowledge.

Some strengths will be easy to see, like how expert a student is at playing soccer or the great artistic talent some students possess. Some might be a little more difficult to uncover. Make it your job to find the hidden gems that each student has. Sometimes you discover these assets through conversation and questioning, and sometimes you might stumble upon them. By observing carefully, here are a few things I found in my students:

Our art teacher decided to do a sewing project one week. I walked into the room and the African boys were already amazingly adept with that needle and thread. There they were, heads bent over in concentration, sewing like nobody's business. It was amazing.

On one of our field trips we took the class ice skating; most had never done this before. The handful who already knew how to skate took off and skated together, except our Japanese student, who already knew how to skate. I noticed that one by one and with great patience, kindness, and encouragement, she was teaching all the other girls how to ice skate. They trusted her and took risks they may not have taken with their teachers. This kind of interaction among students is something teachers love seeing. This student told us later in the year that she wants to be a teacher.

3. Once you've discovered some of their brilliance, make sure you tell them what you see.

Be specific in your praise. Acknowledge students' strengths in front of the whole class and have conversations with kids privately.

We had to rely on one student sometimes for interpreting when students had conflicts and a bilingual specialist wasn't available. He was a refugee from Africa, already fairly proficient in oral English and also spoke the two most dominant languages in the classroom. The unexpected joy was realizing that he was also a natural peacemaker with a very keen sensibility for justice and fairness, also possessing a charming sense of humor and sweetness that would make kids laugh and get over things quickly.

My teaching partner and I made sure to tell him that he had something special-the three languages, of course, but even more than that, his natural diplomacy skills. I told him he was going to do something great in his life-be a diplomat or a community organizer. He'd always say, "Thank you, Miss," while looking slightly embarrassed, yet with a huge smile spread from ear to ear.

Then he told us one day that he wants to be a police officer. I can just imagine the impact he could make, a black police officer who speaks three languages, understands many cultures, and is a natural peacemaker. We should do everything we can to build on this young man's strengths and help him reach his full potential.

4. Teach your students to validate each other.

One year we did an activity every Friday called "Fill the Bucket," which comes from a popular children's book, Have You Filled a Bucket Today? A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids by Carol McCloud. We drew a different name each week and focused on that person, or if a student was moving, going back to their country, or exiting our program, we would choose them for the activity. The student would sit in the teacher chair at the front of the class and receive praise and compliments from their classmates. We encouraged the kids to be as specific with their praise as possible.

One Friday, it was a particular student's turn. He was from Saudi Arabia, and we were exiting him from the program because he was proficient enough to transition to mainstream classes in the school. When he sat in front of the class, every hand shot up.

"You're a great friend."

"You helped me with my locker on the first day."

"You're always so nice to everyone."

"You make me laugh when I'm worried about things."

I watched this sweet boy absolutely dissolve into tears. Nobody laughed at his crying. It was incredibly moving and I wondered if he had ever been told how amazing he was. We all need validation.

5. Highlight and elevate the English learners in big and small ways in your classroom, in your school, in your community.

Work on integrating the English learners into the greater school community. Have native English speakers help with the language and academics, but then make sure the English learners have a chance to share their talents and knowledge as well.

We teach all of our kids to play chess and they get really good at it. There are always a few who become especially skilled and competitive. They go to tournaments and compete, including the state tournament. We reached out to the local newspaper and made sure this great story was told to the community.

6. Never forget that refugees and immigrants are doing a tremendously difficult thing simply by trying to make their way in this country.

It takes courage and strength to move to a new country and adapt to a new culture, language, and way of life. Most refugees have already endured unimaginable hardships and are forging ahead despite experiencing loss, grief, danger, and trauma. There is a resilience in refugees and immigrants that is just unbelievable and which they will ultimately use to contribute to their new home and community.

When you point out kids' strengths to them and to others, they grow in confidence. They know you see them. You see the whole individual, not just an empty vessel that needs to be filled with your knowledge. Not just a kid who doesn't know English. But a human who already has many unique strengths and assets. Your belief in their value and potential will help their confidence grow. This confidence will enable them to build upon the skills they already have and to be brave enough to learn all the essential things they need to know in this country in order to succeed.

Now, open your eyes.

Decide your model of teaching and working with English learners this year will be a strengths-based one.

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by trying.

The brilliance and possibilities you uncover might just amaze you. ♦

*Editor's note: The term ESL is used in several places in this post because it would make the post easier to find when people searched for it. In the English language teaching community, it is more appropriate to describe these learners as English language learners (ELL) or simply English learners, and the process of teaching them as TESOL (Teaching English as a Second or Other Language). These terms more accurately reflect the fact that many of these students come to us already knowing several languages, and the use of "second" does not recognize this asset.

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A Strength-Based Approach to Teaching English Learners

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Instead of focusing on the deficits of English language learners, what if we held up their cultures, languages, unique skills, and life experiences as assets?

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I love podcasts. This one is really thought provoking.

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Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong

There's an idea about how children learn to read that's held sway in schools for more than a generation - even though it was proven wrong by cognitive scientists decades ago. Teaching methods based on this idea can make it harder for children to learn how to read. In this podcast, host Emily Hanford investigates the influential authors who promote this idea and the company that sells their work. It's an exposé of how educators came to believe in something that isn't true and are now reckoning with the consequences - children harmed, money wasted, an education system upended.

Sixty years ago, Marie Clay developed a way to teach reading she said would help kids who were falling behind. They'd catch up and never need help again. Today, her program remains popular and her theory about how people read is at the root of a lot of reading instruction in schools. But Marie Clay was wrong.
Sold a Story is an independent investigative journalism project from American Public Media. We rely on your donations to support this kind of rigorous reporting.
The controversial educational publishing company has sold instructional materials and professional resources in almost every state, earning at least $1.6 billion over a decade. Explore a map of school districts.

More states are now requiring districts to adopt curriculum that adheres to the science of reading. Look up the policy in your state.

At least 15 states have passed laws about how schools teach reading since the Sold a Story podcast was released in 2022, but there is pushback.

Here's a reading list put together by Emily Hanford.

This discussion guide, created by a teacher, invites educators, parents, community members and kids to have a conversation about the podcast.

Emails and voice messages poured in from people who listened to Sold a Story.

We'll let you know when we release new episodes of the podcast. Enter your address below.

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Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong

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There's an idea about how children learn to read that's held sway in schools for more than a generation - even though it was proven wrong by cognitive scientists decades ago. Teaching methods based on this idea can make it harder for children to learn how to read.

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A simple tweek to an age old strategy

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When you walk into your classroom tomorrow, I propose you try something new. Instead of following the typical gradual release model of "I do, we do, you do" learning, flip it! Using a "you do, we do, I do" approach to learning creates excellent opportunities for students to engage in productive struggle. Jessica Hiltabidel, an 8th grade math teacher in Baltimore, writes,

"Inquiry-based lessons ... begin with "you do" and give students the opportunity to figure things out for themselves. They rely on the first of the eight practice standards: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. The theory is that if a student works through the steps on his or her own, that student has a higher likelihood of retaining the information than if he or she were simply given steps to follow."

Flipping the gradual release model by starting with a "you do" (rather than the teacher-centered "I do") approach allows children to grapple with new concepts and deepen their understanding through problem solving and grit. But what does this strategy look like in a primary classroom and when should teachers use it?

My favorite time to flip the gradual release model is at the beginning of an instructional unit. This allows students to take ownership of the new content and make meaningful connections with their prior learning through productive struggle. I take on the role of facilitator in this type of learning model, stepping back so that students can learn more through their own explorations.

Here's how I implemented the "you do, we do, I do" approach when introducing three-digit addition with regrouping to my 2nd grade students. During the "you do" portion of the lesson, students moved between four classroom stations to solve a different problem.

Students used their prior knowledge of addition and worked together to solve each station's problem using base ten blocks, dry-erase boards, and markers. Moving between groups, I listened to the student discussions, shared insights between groups, and provided guiding questions to help students through the productive struggle. At the end of the task, students discussed their thinking and reasoning. This phase of the lesson gave students the opportunity to engage in inquiry, problem-solving, and perseverance.

During the "we do" portion of the lesson, I presented another problem to the class. This time, the entire class worked together by taking their previous discoveries and modeling their solutions. I used this time to discuss any misconceptions students may have had during the "you do" portion of the lesson. Students were able to defend their strategies and engage in math discussions.

Before moving to the "I do" phase of the learning model, I assessed students with a quick check (similar to an exit ticket). This allowed me to provide data-driven instruction and feedback during the remainder of the lesson. Students who were able to solve the problems transitioned to independent practice. Students who needed more support joined me for a typical "I do" lesson where I broke down the problem step-by-step and provided individualized support.

Each student received instructions specific to their needs. By implementing this model, my students were able to successfully master three-digit addition with regrouping more quickly than previous classes, retain and apply the skills learned on future assessments, and explain their thinking.

The "you do, we do, I do strategy" gives students an opportunity to engage in productive struggle throughout the school year and across subjects. Students become self-driven learners who can make their own connections between classroom content.

As a teacher, I want to move beyond lecturing to facilitate learning and give my students challenges that strengthen their ability to persevere. I want students to leave my classroom with the skills they need to succeed and a passion and curiosity for new information. Use this strategy to keep students actively engaged, intrinsically motivated, and ready for the future beyond your classroom.

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You Do, We Do, I Do: A Strategy for Productive Struggle - ASCD

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When you walk into your classroom tomorrow, I propose you try something new. Instead of following the typical gradual release model of "I do, we do, you do" learning, flip it!

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Try it, you might like it.

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I used to plan my day-to-day lessons like this: Jot notes on what I wanted to teach each day of the week. Amend as needed.
That's it.

Let's be honest. Who's got time to write full lesson plans? For every class? Five days a week? There's no way to know what'll happen Friday when so much changes on Monday. So I kept my plans flexible. As a veteran teacher, I know the topics to hit. And for the past several years, I've been doing the same at the college level.

The problem is that my notes were all over the place-replete with reminders, a question or two to ask, or a video link to show.

Enter the one-sentence lesson plan. With it, you only need to answer three things: The WHAT, the HOW, and the WHY.

The WHAT

First, WHAT do you want your students to know (or do) by the end of class? Here you identify the content or skill to be learned. For example, I want students to be able to evaluate the credibility of online sources. That's a skill.

The HOW

Next, HOW will students reach this goal?

In other words, what method, strategy, tool, or activity will you employ to make sure they get it? Here's where students wrestle with the content/skill. The HOW is typically hands-on.

Using the previous example, I might use one of the following:

Students will be able to evaluate the credibility of online sources by "triangulating" information.
Students will be able to evaluate the credibility of online sources by asking critical questions such as, "Does the author cite or provide links to research?" Students will be able to evaluate the credibility of online sources by discussing in groups the pros and cons of each source.
The first two versions focus on a strategy, whereas the third uses an activity or method.

The WHY

Finally, WHY are students learning this content/skill?

This is the "so what?" part. Why do students need to know or do this? What's in it for them? How do they benefit? Knowing your students is key to answering these questions.

The WHY may start with the prompt, "so that..." Continuing with the example of evaluating sources, I could state:
Students will be able to evaluate the credibility of online sources by "triangulating" information, so that they make better decisions.
The WHY is the most important part of the one-sentence lesson plan. It drives behavior, according to marketing and leadership consultant Simon Sinek. In his bestselling book, Start with Why (as well as in his immensely popular TedTalk), Sinek argues that top organizations understand that people won't "buy into" whatever is being sold unless they understand why they're doing it.

For instance, Apple clearly defines and communicates their purpose: to challenge the status quo in everything they do and to think differently. It explains why their products are simple, intuitive, and user friendly-and why they have wildly succeeded in a competitive industry. Other companies may push out bigger screens, longer battery life, or higher resolution, which, while nice to have, do not necessarily set them apart. The WHY is the emotional pull.

In teaching, we also need to define our WHY-for ourselves and for our students. Yet we forget the larger purpose in our dash to cover the curriculum. No wonder students keep asking, "Why do we need to know this?"

Another advantage of defining a WHY is that it can sometimes help you figure out your lesson opening. For my lesson on evaluating sources, I could start by activating students' prior knowledge: "With so much out there, how do you decide what information to trust online?" Imagine the rich discussion that follows. And research is clear that students learn better when new content is "anchored" to existing knowledge and experiences. I start all my lessons with the WHY.

Putting the Plan into Action

Based on my one-sentence lesson plan, here's a simple outline for a high school class period:

Opening: Ask students about their experiences searching for information online.

Mini-Lesson: Teach them how to triangulate information (or better yet, start by asking them better ways to find information).

Guided Practice: Model your "think-aloud" process for triangulating information by searching online for "Is climate change real?"

Activity: Students apply the same triangulating strategy on another topic (e.g., "Do vaccines cause autism?").

Closing/Assessment: Discuss why good judgement is important in the information age.

All that from a one-sentence lesson plan.

Another Example

Let's look at a different example: the causes of the American Civil War.

WHAT: Students will be able to identify the main causes of the American Civil War

HOW: By researching historynet.com and pbs.org in pairs using iPads

WHY: So that they can learn to settle differences and avoid war

Put together: Students will be able to identify the main causes of the Civil War by researching historynet.com and pbs.org in pairs using iPads, so that they can learn to learn to settle differences and avoid war.

Notice I left the WHY bolded-to remind us of the point of all this. Why else are we asking students to learn the causes of the war? It's not just to know history; it's so we don't repeat them. So we can appreciate our ancestors' experiences and become a better society. Learning about the things that divided people-i.e., states' rights, slavery, and the election of a new president-will resonate with the current generation growing up in a polarized political climate.

An expanded outline for one lesson might look like this:

Opening: Ask students, "What causes fights?" Ask them to share experiences where they couldn't resolve a conflict with a sibling or parent. Introduce the American Civil War, where brothers often fought brothers.

Activity: Students will conduct research online to find out what led to the War.

Closing/Assessment: Students will share their findings and discuss how these causes might mirror their own experiences or observations.

Concerns and Questions

1. What if I'm required to write and submit FULL lesson plans?
There is no better way to develop your lesson plan than to draft a one-sentence summary defining your WHAT, your HOW, and your WHY. It simply becomes your lesson objective. Once established, it's fairly straightforward to flesh out, as I did with the evaluating sources example above. Remember to bookend your lesson with the WHY.

2. Isn't the one-sentence lesson plan really just a lesson objective?
Yes and no. The one-sentence lesson plan is much more robust, because it pushes you to consider the HOW and the WHY. This makes it easier to plan your lesson opening, your class activity, and your closing. Also, having the HOW and the WHY pushes you to think from the student perspective. The traditional lesson objective doesn't necessarily force that kind of reflection. However, an ideal lesson objective would incorporate all three elements.

3. What if I have to write lesson plans based on certain standards?
Then your WHAT is already done. I can take an 8 th grade Common Core standard such as, "Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision," and turn it into a one-sentence lesson plan:

Using Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth, students will analyze how lines of dialogue propel the action, which will help them understand archetypal story structures that engage readers.

Here I used a tool-the book-as my HOW. It is not always a strategy or activity. I also switched the order (i.e., from WHAT-HOW-WHY to HOW-WHAT-WHY) and used more natural language (e.g., by substituting "so that" for "which will").

4. What if I'm having trouble figuring out the WHY?
One way is to root out the underlying idea (or theme) of the topic. For example, what is at the heart of just-in-time (JIT) operations management? Efficiency. How about the 1989 protest at Tiananmen Square? Injustice. The key is to open your lessons with that underlying theme, rather than with the strict definition. With the JIT example, you can relate the idea of efficiency to how students prioritize reading assignments-that they often read on an "as-needed" basis when the workload increases.

Another way to figure out your WHY is to search for the common human experience behind a concept. WHY, for instance, do students need to identify chemical reactions that involve oxidation? You have to get creative. What do we all experience related to oxidation? How about seeing a half-eaten apple that's turned brown? That's oxidation at work. Learning about it might help students understand why certain foods go bad and to avoid it (the WHY). That's something we can all relate to.

A major reason we learn what we learn is to help us understand the world and improve our ability to judge or make decisions. Isn't that why we learn JIT, Tiananmen Square, and oxidation?

Finally, a third way to figure out your WHY is to...Google it. Yup. Honestly, there are just too many valuable ideas online to not take advantage. I actually typed in, "Why do we study slope?" just to understand its real-world application outside of math. (I'm surprised by how often people don't pose questions whenever they're unsure about something. Forum sites like Quora and Reddit are perfect for this.)

Even if you can't figure out the WHY, you haven't wasted your time. It's the student-oriented mentality that matters-something a traditional lesson objective does not necessarily foster.

That's the beauty of the one-sentence lesson plan. Not only does it organize your lesson, it also puts the focus of teaching where it should be-on the students. Try it! ♦
If you found this post valuable, click here to access Dr. Norman Eng's FREE 5-Minute Teaching Makeover-two videos designed to help you re-engage and motivate your students. Also, check out my podcast interview with Dr. Eng, where we talked about strategies for teaching college students.

There's more where this came from.
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Introducing the One-Sentence Lesson Plan

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Focus your planning by getting clear on just three things: the WHAT, the HOW, and the WHY.

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Geared for grades 3 and up, but could be used with younger students.

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Over the past two weeks, I've been working on unpacking priority standards with teachers in the intermediate grades alongside the instructional coaches in my district. We've had rich conversations around craft and conventions, but the same question has come up in every single grade level: What can we do for kids who are still struggling with basic capitalization and punctuation?

After digging deeper, I rarely hear that the kids don't know how to do these skills. When writing dictated sentences or sitting in proximity to a teacher they are able to punctuate and capitalize with accuracy. But when working on the longer writing pieces that are expected in third grade and above, a small number of kids consistently neglect to transfer these skills to lengthier and more authentic writing.

How do we approach teaching these writers in ways that build their skills in genuine and meaningful ways? When considering different approaches, I always circle back to this question: do writers need to write concise, short pieces in "real world" situations?

Here are three ideas you can implement right away with very little planning and a lot of creativity.
Imagine an Infographic
A fun "mini" unit of writing around infographics is a great way to not only reinforce sentence writing, but has the added benefits of engaging students in researching, using a variety of text features, and learning across content areas.

Here's how this might go:

1. Decide on the parameters of your project: Will students work as a whole class, in small groups, or independently? Will they have an open choice of a topic or a limited number of choices? Will the final product be handwritten or generated using technology tools?

2. Introduce and teach the types of text features (graphs, images, etc.) students might choose to use. Use existing infographics as mentor texts (e.g., the Canva library or books like Steve Jenkins' Animals By the Numbers: A Book of Infographics).

3. Have students select their topic and engage in research.

4. Draft the infographics by sketching and writing drafts on paper; writing by hand is critical for reinforcing capitalization and punctuation. Explicitly teach and reinforce the components of good sentences, including both conventions and sentence structure.

5. Complete the writing process by revising and editing, then creating a finished product (paper or digital using a tool like Canva) to share with an audience.

Caption That Photo!
In our social media world full of visual images, captioning photos is a skill that's both engaging and relevant for kids (and is one of my favorite strategies from Jennifer Serravallo's The Writing Strategies Book).

Ask students to bring in photos from home of vacations or activities they love, provide an interesting photograph related to a science or social studies topic, or find a thought-provoking image online ( What's Going On In This Picture? from The New York Times is an amazing resource to use with kids).

Here's how this might go:

1. Select an image or invite students to bring in one of their own.

2. Explicitly teach the components of good sentences, including both conventions and sentence structure, or implicitly reinforce these skills through interactive writing (see some great tips for this work in this post by Pam).

3. Invite students to write one or two sentences to caption their photos independently.

4. Do a quick revise/edit cycle at the end of the same writing period to catch any errors or make improvements.

Generate Graphic Novel Panels
If your students are anything like the ones I've worked with, they probably love graphic novels. If these books are flying off your classroom bookshelves, this might be the perfect time to invite your writers to practice their sentence-writing skills by creating their own.

Here's how this might go:

1. Provide students with a choice of graphic novel templates (there are several phenomenal resources available for kids and teachers on Jarrett Lerner's website).

2. Explicitly teach the graphic novel terms and skills your students will need (panels, text boxes, etc.). This guest post from cartoonist Gavin Aung Than provides some amazing background information about teaching writing with graphic novels.

3. Have your students plan out a scene by orally rehearsing with a partner, sketching out their ideas, or jotting down an outline.

4. Explicitly teach the components of good sentences, including both conventions and sentence structure, to support students' independent drafting of dialogue and captions.

5. Complete the writing process with revision and editing, adding illustrations to support the text (or vice versa).

The Critical Role of Scaffolding
When our students struggle with skills, especially basic ones such as beginning capitalization and ending punctuation, it's easy to become frustrated and to look for answers that will move students from where they are now to where we expect them to perform quickly. While acceleration is ideal, it's important to look for ways to scaffold the work we expect students to do by teaching strategies for the work and giving kids authentic opportunities for practice. With explicit teaching, intentional scaffolding, and fun opportunities to transfer learning, it won't be long before we see students beginning to master the skills we hope to see!

Teacher, leader, reader, writer, lifelong learner, mother of 2 beautiful kids and 2 spoiled pets, and wife. Lover of good books, chocolate chip cookies, Flair pens, and sunny days. View all posts by Sarah Valter

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Tackling Sentence Struggles With Older Writers

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If you're a teacher of older students (3rd grade and up) and have ever found yourself asking what you can do for kids who are still struggling with basic capitalization and punctuation, you're not alone! Today's post provides ideas to support teaching and transfer of sentence writing conventions in authentic and fun ways with our...

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Use these to make a hexagon deck.

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Activity that would work for any content area or story

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Sponsored by Teaching Channel and UL Xplorlabs

While hexagonal thinking is not new in the world of business and innovation, it's just making its way into the classroom. It's a method for considering the connections between ideas and finding the nuances in those connections. If you're looking for a fresh framework for discussion and critical thinking, this may be just the thing.

How it Works

When you place an idea on a hexagon, it has six sides where connections could be made to other ideas. When you place many ideas on many hexagons, the discussion about where to connect what will be different every time.

Hexagons for the Vietnam-War era
(click all images for a close-up view)

If you gave the same seven idea cards to seven people, do you think you'd get the same seven webs of interconnected hexagons? Would the people explain the connections in the same way?

Nope.

And really, that's the beauty of hexagonal thinking. It provides a springboard for a totally creative discussion. When you give a small group of students a deck of hexagons and ask them to connect them however they choose, every group will come up with a different web for different reasons. Along the way they'll hopefully question each other and dig deep into the concepts on the cards, arguing about which idea connects more to an important concept and which example deserves one of those precious six sides.

The Step-by-Step

Let's imagine you've got your students in small groups, and each group is staring at a beautiful deck of hexagons.

Now what?

I recommend you kick off this activity for the first time by giving directions something like this:
Once you have your set of hexagons, it's time for your group to begin making connections between them. Your conversations now will be about showing how and why you think the different ideas and options connect. Everyone will see things differently, and that's OK. Just keep talking until you find the connections that stick. As you discuss your ideas, use the text to find supporting evidence for why you think your connections are strong ones. Each hexagon can connect to up to six others. Arrange and rearrange until you feel you have the strongest hexagon web in place that you can. Then begin explaining your connections with connection arrows, writing in why you have created intersections between key hexagons. Everyone in the group will contribute differently, and that's OK. You need to have people listening and moving pieces to create the web, people debating, people asking questions. By the end of your discussion, you should have an interconnected web of concepts along with clearly explained connections. If you're working with paper hexagons, tape or glue them down to another sheet of paper to secure them, or take a photo of your finished web. If you're working digitally, submit your two slides: the finished hexagon web, followed by the slide with your explanations.
There's a lot of room here for students to participate in their own unique ways. For me, part of the point of the activity is for students to see that everyone can take on different roles that matter.

Two Examples

Let's take a look at what this might look like in your classroom. In this case, I'll share digital examples created in Google Slides, since you may well be leading your discussions and small group activities via online channels this year. But paper hexagons are equally wonderful when you can use them.

Example 1: English Language Arts

First let's take a look at a hexagonal thinking discussion for an English class, wrapping up a unit on 1984.

Here's the set-up, with the terms listed in individual (moveable) text boxes.

Now students can discuss the placement of their terms/hexagons. In this case, rather than shifting paper hexagons around, they will go into the Google Slide, then drag and drop their terms across the slide and into the web of hexagons as they decide where to place them.

Now that the students have made their connections as they wish, they need to explain their choices. This can take place in many ways:

Students could record arguments for one or two connections on a tool like Flipgrid,

Students could write down their analysis.

Groups could collaborate to write explanations for several of their connections or present them back to the class.

Take a peek at what the written explanations look like for the web pictured above. In this case, students are sharing five explanations, but you could adjust that to suit your needs. Some connections are always going to be more interesting than others - the ones that generate the most debate, the surprising ones, the ones where three key sections link in one place. Have students write or present about the key connections, rather than about every single one.

Example 2: Science

Now let's take a look at how this might look in a science class. Imagine you're looking back over a unit on global warming, and helping students review the big ideas.

Here's the set-up: For this version, students can move the hexagons as well as the terms, creating any number of different webs. Then they use the connection arrows to point to the intersections they are going to explain in detail.

Student groups discuss the possibilities, dragging the hexagons and terms into place as they go. The final product could look one hundred different ways.

Once they have their web created, they make their explanations.

Creating Your Hexagonal Thinking Decks

You can create decks of hexagons with the terms already inside (let your students help you cut them out!) or print blank hexagon sheets and invite student groups to brainstorm the concepts to put inside before their discussion.

No matter how you create them, you want the hexagon decks to be filled with the key ideas of your recent class work, as well as interesting ties across disciplines and to the modern world. Hexagonal thinking makes it easy to cross disciplines and bring relevant modern connections into the discussion.

Let's say you're creating a hexagon deck for Jason Reynolds' book, Long Way Down. You'll fill it with characters, themes and style elements, but also with figures from the news, current political movements, similar books, and background information about the author.

Now imagine you're creating a deck for a unit covering an artistic period. You can put in key terms and artists, but also important authors and political figures of the period, and artists and movements of today that connect back.

As for making the shapes themselves, there are lots of time-saving options, whether you want to use digital hexagons or paper ones.

Digital Hexagons

Get access to your free copy of the digital hexagonal thinking toolkit featured above right here.

Create your own digital hexagons with PowerPoint or Google Slides by following these instructions:

Paper Hexagons

Use this online hexagon generator, created by Pam Hook.

Print and laminate these free rainbow hexagons, then add concepts with dry erase markers for quick discussions.

Print blank sheets of hexagons (you can easily create these in any size using the shapes tool in PowerPoint) to give out to small groups of students, then ask them to generate key terms, ideas, connections to other disciplines, connections to the modern world, etc. on their hexagons and cut them out. Then have groups switch decks so they are discussing a fresh list of ideas.

Create your own hexagon templates with terms you can change up whenever you want to do a hexagonal thinking discussion. Cut them out while watching New Girl on Netflix, or make the first step of the discussion in class to cut out the hexagons while beginning to discuss how they will connect.

A fun addition to any paper deck is a set of connection arrows. Print a few bubble arrows (again, the PowerPoint shapes tool makes it easy) on paper for students to put in at key intersections. Have students fill them in with their explanation of the connection. Sticky notes will also work well.

Wondering how to grade this?

There are a few ways you could grade hexagonal thinking. You could have everyone write a short reflection at the end about their contributions, and grade that. You could use it as a springboard into a writing assignment, asking students to explain and argue for key connections from the discussion, then grade that. You could have students present about a key connection on Flipgrid. Easy.

But I want to suggest a slightly more complex option too. Recently I interviewed Sarah Fine, co-author of In Search of Deeper Learning. One of her findings, after years of study across American high schools, was that we rarely ask students to truly collaborate in our core subjects, so we don't really create a culture of interdependence among them. They don't get to use their individual gifts to contribute to a final product created by the team, although that is often what real-world projects look like. Instead, we favor what she calls "lockstep learning." Everyone must do the same thing, separately.

So maybe for hexagonal thinking, you grade the final group web. And you ask the kids to share about how their different strengths allowed them to contribute to the final product.

Maybe some kids are super brainstormers, coming up with lots of great terms and ideas for what to put on the hexagons. Maybe one or two students in the group are great at lettering and drawing. They could create beautiful visual representations of the terms and ideas. Maybe some students shine at leading discussion. Maybe some are natural at making spatial and visual connections, and can help move the hexagons around as they listen to the group. Maybe some are excellent listeners, and can be taking notes about the connections based on what they hear from others. Maybe some are good mediators, who can help find common ground and calm down heated debates when discussion gets intense.

If you go this route, I really think it's worth discussing in advance what project teams are like in the workplace, and how people contribute in different ways. Then, at the end, you might let kids write a short paragraph about how they contributed based on their own strengths and skills, and whether they were happy with the way the group dynamics turned out.

Variations and Additions

Individuals or Partners

This would certainly work as an individual assignment or a prompt for partners as well. But with a small group, you'll get more perspectives on where to place what, which can be nice. You might consider giving students the option to work alone, with a partner, or in a group.

Adding Visuals

If you and your students are fans of sketchnotes or one-pagers, you can always add a visual layer to your hexagons. Invite students to illustrate their concepts with representative imagery and add quotations from their texts to bring more meaning for each idea into the conversation.

This is certainly not necessary, but adds dimension to the discussion and the eventual display of the concept web.

Hexagonal One-Pagers for Long Way Down

Gallery Walking

Once your students have completed their webs, you can do a gallery walk to see each other's concept webs and check out the connections their peers have made (this can be done online through a collaborative Google slides presentation), or have each group in turn present briefly back to the class about some of their most interesting connection points. The hexagons that caused the most debate will probably be the most fun to share back, and everyone will get to see how others mixed and matched the same hexagons in unique ways.

When you bring hexagonal thinking into your classroom -whether that's online or in person-you bring a fresh spark of energy to discussion. Your students will see things in new ways as they seek to connect wide-ranging ideas. If you're finding it difficult to get kids talking this year as they transition into new scenarios, you're definitely not alone. Hexagonal thinking just might be the tool you're looking for to help your classes over this transition and back into their critical thinking zones.

Come back for more.
Join our mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration that will make your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to our members-only library of free downloads, including 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, the e-booklet that has helped thousands of teachers save time on grading. Over 50,000 teachers have already joined-come on in.

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Hexagonal Thinking: A Colorful Tool for Discussion

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If you've been looking for a fresh way to get students thinking outside the box, this may be just what you need.

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Although for grades 5-8, many of these quick ideas could be modified any grade level

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Writing Guide - Get Your Students Mastering the Writing Standards (1)

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Wanting a predictable daily structure for a small group for reading?  Although designed for K-2, it may be modified for older grades.

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Quick SEL activities you can incorporate into your daily routines. There are a lot of them here. Check out Share Your Happiness on page 54 to get started.

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How collaboration between Gen Ed and Special Ed can benefit writers. Check out the one point rubric.

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Sponsored by Listenwise and Scholastic Scope

One September morning in a writing workshop class, Jack, a 5th grader, was telling me about a funny "small moment" he witnessed on an airplane. Apparently, two young 20-somethings sitting in front of him had started up an initial conversation and by the end of the flight, they were kissing.

"And I mean-a lot of kissing! It was sooo awkward!" he squealed.

Where most 5th graders were planning their narrative writing about the time they broke their arm/wrist/ankle or their game-winning shot/hit/goal, I thought Jack's idea was so refreshing. After his detailed description of eavesdropping, I felt certain his piece would be funny and weird-in-a-good-way-a joy to read. I left him to write and went to help other students. When I returned, Jack's writing teacher (my friend and colleague) stood beside his desk with a hand on her chin, looking perplexed. Jack had sat for 45 minutes with only this written on his page:

On tim on a plaen...
Jack's accommodation plan said he had dyslexia and graphomotor difficulties, which was one reason I was in his writing workshop that morning: He was one of many students I had the privilege of working with as a learning specialist. Sometimes we would meet in a small group outside of class, and other times I would work with him in his regular 5th grade class. As a learning specialist, my role was to help Jack's English/Language Arts (ELA) teacher figure out how to help him write. Her role was to help me figure out what skills to focus on with Jack during my intervention time with him. Over years of doing this work, I discovered some essential elements to improving students' writing through this kind of collaborative practice between regular classroom writing teachers and learning specialists.

If you're part of a similar partnership, you may find some of these helpful in your work as well.

Why Writing is Especially Challenging for Students with Learning Differences

Writing is an incredibly complex task. It involves the instant integration of several components-handwriting and letter formation (and later typing), spacing and formatting on the page, spelling, grammar, sentence formation, adding punctuation-all while holding your ideas, and some sort of organizational scheme for those ideas, in your memory. It's a difficult enough task for most students, who aren't reading as much as they once did due to our instant access to visual media. But it's particularly challenging for people with language-based learning disabilities, who often continue to struggle with writing even in adulthood.

Students with learning differences often experience a more severe "cognitive bottleneck" first described by theorists who studied attention in the '50s and '60s. Some conventions of written language make it to the page while others...don't quite make it. Did Jack know how to spell "one," "time," and "plane" in 5th grade? Yes, he did. He had years of multi-sensory phonics and reading intervention behind him. However, the other cognitive demands of the writing process caused his spelling to get caught in the bottleneck.

Other students with learning differences also struggle with writing. Students with ADHD sometimes struggle to organize language, keep track of their ideas, or explain with enough detail. Students with Autistic Spectrum Disorders often struggle to understand writing from the point of view of their readers.

Helping these students become proficient writers takes the synergy of a skilled language arts teacher and a skilled learning specialist. And that synergy can be enhanced if certain elements are in place.

Essential Elements of Effective ELA-Specialist Collaboration

1. A Common Planning Time

The biggest impact a school leader can make in the quality of instruction for ALL learners is to give co-teachers common planning time. I was lucky to start my career as a special educator in a school where my division head handed me a blank schedule with two periods already filled in. It said, "Common planning time with the 5th and 6th-grade Humanities teams." For 55 minutes once a week, three humanities teachers and myself gathered around the student work table in my office with coffee (lots of coffee), books, laptops, and a last-minute Post-It note agenda.

As a result of these meetings, reading and writing workshops were problem-solved, social studies lessons were well designed, student work was analyzed, student needs were met, and friendships and co-teaching relationships I will cherish forever were formed. The cast of characters changed over the years as teachers left and were hired, including myself, but the value stayed the same. More recently we've had to have these meetings as floating heads on a screen, but the value in sitting down together to talk about how we would teach has never wavered for me.

2. An Equal Partnership

Collaboration works best when the ELA teacher and the specialist work on equal playing fields. I like to think of it as a psychologist and a sociologist working together: One is focused more on how an individual is functioning; the other needs to be focused on the good of the group. Nobody is right and nobody is wrong. Sometimes our ideas will seem out of touch with each other's roles, and that's okay as long as we honor the value in each other. As a learning specialist, I am not an island in knowing what's best for students, even students with learning differences. It works best when there is shared ownership; when we can see their growth as "our" shared goal!

One practical way to accomplish this goal is to rotate groups. There were times when I would work with the most talented writers in the class, giving the ELA teacher more time with our struggling writers. My colleague and I would always have lots to talk about afterwards, and the kids did not feel the stigma of being the only ones asked to work with the specialist.

Another way the specialist can reduce stigma is by taking part in some of the fun that happens with the class-help judge a competition, give feedback on a project, participate in a class celebration and connect with students other than the ones you are there to serve. Students will come to see you as just another one of their teachers, and as a resource for all.

3. Reading Student Work Together

Whenever possible, both teachers should analyze student drafts together to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of students' writing. Doing this together will help you see different strengths and weaknesses in a piece, and the student will then learn to see these as well.

Sharing the writing load also means you can divide up written feedback on student drafts. By rotating which teacher gives feedback to which students, you give students the benefit of both sets of eyes and continue to establish an equal partnership with all students.

4. Practicing 'Less is More'

With a task as complex as writing, all students-but especially those with learning differences-can experience cognitive overload. So it works best to tackle one chunk, one scene, one paragraph at a time.

When it comes to feedback, many students are overwhelmed by too many comments just as they used to be with too much red ink. I rely heavily on giving students genuine praise-for a descriptive adjective, a well-crafted phrase, an attempt to apply the lesson to their writing-and then I follow it up with one or two suggestions for revision. Psychologically, all students have to feel they have something to say; they have to feel positive about the effort they're making, so very specific, authentic praise will earn you a lot of effort in return.

Another way to reduce the quantity of written feedback is to give some of it verbally, which allows for the levity and nuance that "Insert Comment" can't achieve. In-person conferencing is ideal, but in the last 6 months, I've learned to record quick screencast videos explaining my feedback, highlighting sentences, and typing comments to illustrate different areas for improvement.

5. Use of Models

ELA teachers tend to read widely! One of the most effective things we can do together is figure out some interesting examples to use with our students who are struggling-the perfect opening paragraph, the perfect fight scene, an example of suspense building, describing the setting, the expert's quotation being explained. If we have these at the ready, we can pull them to discuss and analyze with students. I also always recommend saving exceptional work (de-identified, of course) to use as models for the next year. For remote learning, I always have models or visuals pulled up as separate tabs and ready to be screenshared as needed.

6. Use of Word Lists

I have an entire library of word lists where students can look for the perfect word or phrase. I always end up lending these to the writing classroom. A more specific word for walked, blue, big, or sad can make an emerging writer feel like a poet. This is especially effective when working on writing poetry and descriptive writing, but it can also be used for older students writing analytical pieces as they struggle with transitional language and tying their points together. Why not have a list of templates at their disposal, i.e., "According to...", "This demonstrates why..." etc.)?

The act of scanning the lists for just the right word or phrase improves the student's ability to clarify meaning and see possibilities. The student with a learning difference is also sometimes not well-read and needs exposure to two things: (1) new ways to say things and (2) the nuanced difference in the meaning of certain words or expressions. I will often practice this act of list scanning with students... "Hmm, let's try out some different words here and see if you can find one that makes you feel something... or seems like the perfect fit!"

7. Staying Together

Try not to remove a kid who struggles with writing from writing instruction. Students who struggle learn more than you think from their peers, even if their writing skill is not comparable. Instead of pulling students who struggle from the classroom during writing, work with the specialist to make the instruction more accessible and more enjoyable. Sometimes the specialist can arrange to physically or virtually be in the classroom working with students, and at other times he or she might "asynchronously" design a graphic organizer, outline, or checklist, or make a plan for integrating assistive technology like speech-to-text accessibility features or dictation apps for certain students.

8. Letting ELA Work Guide Intervention

Specialists can reinforce mini-lessons, genres, and concepts taught by the ELA teacher in the writing lesson-and add a touch of language remediation. If my students are working on persuasive essays in writing class, every sentence I have them analyze for word study or work on reading fluency will be from a persuasive writing sample and as closely aligned with their personal interests as I can plan for that week. This builds confidence and familiarity with the writing genre in addition to the skills I am targeting.

There is magic in teachers working together to reinforce the same knowledge and skills. I love it when a student I'm working with exclaims, "Wait a minute, we just talked about this in a writing workshop today!" Then, depending on the student, you can sarcastically feign shock "REALLY?" or just give them a knowing side-eye! We all need all the magic we can muster right now.

9. Showing Progress Through Writing Samples

Progress towards the achievement of IEP or SMART-style goals can be made visible through a timeline sequence of writing samples. I once taught a student who wrote with no punctuation. Even when this student re-read to add periods, he could not distinguish where a sentence began and ended. It was difficult for him to hear the natural pauses in speech; complex grammar concepts such as subject and predicate or even "being verbs" were difficult for him to grasp.

His teacher and I came up with a weekly routine that balanced getting his ideas on the page sans punctuation in writing class, and working on dictated sentences (from his own writing!) with me until his natural sense of pause and punctuation improved. We were able to demonstrate this progress by simply sequencing the drafts of his writing throughout the semester and showing him the changes over time. Working online, it is easy to annotate a student's digital writing portfolio, pointing to their progress with certain skills. When you can show a student their own progress in this way, and have them reflect, it tends to increase their motivation tenfold.

10. Prioritizing Revision and Editing

Students with learning differences that impact writing often struggle with clarity and mechanics. Once students write to get their ideas on the page first, they can develop a multi-step process for what I call the R's: re-read, revise, and sometimes I use the word revisit.

Ideally, each student would have their own checklist for this process, and it would be generated with and not for the student. For example, I might advise them to start by revisiting their punctuation/ sentence boundaries. Next, they could revisit their spelling. (For a student who doesn't recognize their own disordered spelling, this can be even more scaffolded by the teacher putting a number of misspellings on the line and asking the student to find them.) The list would include each of the aspects we discussed through our mini-lessons for that particular genre of writing. Through this process, the ELA teacher and the specialist may have different suggestions for revision and improvement, and that'll only make the writing better!

Another way to teach revision as a process is to have students re-visit their writing with each square of a single-point rubric, which can be especially valuable if generated by the class. Revisiting writing with a rubric (all the R's!) can be fun to do in peer-revision stations, where peers are assigned a specific aspect of the rubric to give the writer feedback on.

Another tip: I often instruct students who struggle with sentence boundaries, to re-read their piece backward, from the last sentence to the first. This eliminates the memory of what they think they have said and lays bare the sentences as they were written. Students tend to go, "Oh yeah, this is definitely too long to be one sentence!"

11. Combatting Anxiety and Perfectionism

Some students struggle with writing because subconsciously, the fact that they cannot write on the level of the books that they love to read frustrates them (e.g., If I can't sound like J.K. Rowling, I'm a failure, and so why even get started?). For a student with this mindset, I work with the ELA teacher to come up with very specific models. (See #5). And always, always show them the timeline of their drafts to reinforce progress (See #9). I also borrow a favorite phrase from my colleague, the ELA teacher: "No matter what kind of a writer you are, when you think you're done, you've just begun!"

As we know, writing is an endless, limitless, boundless creative task. Students who are uncomfortable with this type of endeavor have to be taught some strategies to wade into it and find some comfort with themselves, with feedback, and with change.

These are the tenets of what helped Jack eventually write that narrative piece, one of the most original, giggle-inducing stories in his class. He needed the mini-lessons his ELA teacher taught about leads and dialogue, "juicy" details and setting the scene, creating a movie in the reader's mind, etc. He also needed the language support, the remediation, the accommodation of some writing by dictation, and the editing and revision strategies taught by the specialist. He needed two writing teachers who were encouraging him to use and develop his comedic voice to write.

In addition to being good for the diverse young humans we serve, this type of healthy collaboration between educators is a game-changer for teaching practice. I have always found it helps me bring the art and the science together; it's creative and innovative and validating. It can make you feel like you are on fire in your teaching again, especially if you've been teaching alone for a long time. As with all things teaching and learning, it's not always neat or easy, but it is ultimately pretty dang rewarding.

Come back for more.
Join our mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration that will make your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to our members-only library of free downloads, including 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, the e-booklet that has helped thousands of teachers save time on grading. Over 50,000 teachers have already joined-come on in.

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How ELA and Special Ed Collaboration Can Produce Great Student Writing

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Sponsored by Listenwise and Scholastic Scope One September morning in a writing workshop class, Jack, a 5th grader, was telling me about a funny "small moment" he witnessed on an airplane. Apparently, two young 20-somethings sitting in front of him had started up an initial conversation and by the end of the flight, they were kissing.

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A Maker's Space can enrich any curriculum area or add to your Fun Friday. Note: The interview embedded in the article is good too.

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Listen to my interview with John Spencer (transcript):
Sponsored by Peergrade and Microsoft Class Notebook

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. When you make a purchase through these links, Cult of Pedagogy gets a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.

For as long as I've been aware of makerspaces, I haven't quite understood them. I have seen plenty of photos on social media, with the towers made of marshmallows and toothpicks. I've walked through exhibit halls at conferences where the coding and robotics displays cause me to stop, stare, and try to look like I have some idea of what I'm looking at. I even stumbled into a Twitter chat one night where a group of school librarians was throwing around some pretty great ideas about building makerspaces in their libraries.

And yet, I still feel like I don't get it. I have this picture in my mind of kids kind of messing around with Legos instead of, I don't know, reading primary source materials that would shed light on some period in history. Or taping together some cardboard strips to make them into a car. Or attaching some kind of wire to a banana. I don't know...the more traditional, stodgy, control-freak part of me says it looks like a bunch of hooey.

But some of the smartest people I know are pretty into makerspaces, and the part of me that's not a stodgy control freak, the part that knows there's a lot about tradition we need to question, that part of me wants to find out once and for all what's so great about makerspaces.

So I asked one of those smart people, my friend John Spencer, who was a classroom teacher for a number of years and currently teaches at the university level. He's also the co-author, with A.J. Juliani, of the books Launch: Using Design Thinking to Boost Creativity and Bring Out the Maker in Every Student, and Empower: What Happens When Students Own their Learning.

Spencer teaches online courses about Project-Based Learning, Design Thinking, and Makerspaces, and I really trust his thinking, so I knew he would be a great person to help me demystify the makerspace: What it is, why we would want one, and how to get started.

What Is a Makerspace?

Spencer's definition of a makerspace is much broader than my mental image of Legos and cardboard.

"I see a makerspace as simply a space designed and dedicated to hands-on creativity," he explains, "and the key thing there is they're actually making something. Creativity is sometimes idea generation, it's sometimes problem-solving. But (in) a makerspace, you're actually going to create some kind of product. Now it could be a digital product. It could be a physical product. But there is an actual product, so you're not going to, say, design an event or a service project. That's not what a makerspace is for, so it's a space devoted to and differentiated and set up for making."

That space would look different in different classrooms, and even within one classroom, the materials might look different throughout the year, depending on the type of learning that's happening at the time. Sometimes it might include things like cardboard and duct tape, and other times it might consist of items like laptops, microphones, and green screens. A makerspace can take the form of a mobile cart that can be shared between classrooms, a set of stations that students rotate between, or a variety of materials and equipment that live in various parts of the classroom, accessible to students when the need arises.

Why Would Teachers Want a Makerspace in Their Classrooms?

Once we understand that a makerspace isn't limited to certain materials, it gets easier to see how a makerspace could be incorporated into any classroom. Spencer explains that the value isn't subject-specific; it's more about engagement and mindset.

"We know that students learn at a deeper level and they retain more when they're engaged in creative thinking connected to the subject, right?" he says. "So to begin with, just within the content area, (making is) going to allow for deeper learning."

And more making in the classroom leads to a maker mindset, which Spencer believes is essential to living a full and successful life in the 21st century.

"There was a time when you could follow the formula: Work hard at school, go to college, and climb a corporate ladder. But because of the complex global economy, because of the creative economy, the information economy, our students are going to have to navigate a maze. The ladder is now a maze. And because it's a maze, what do they need in order to navigate that? They need to be able to engage in iterative thinking, creative thinking, critical thinking, they need to know how to pivot, how to change, how to revise, how to persevere. They need to solve complex problems. They need to think divergently. All of those are involved in that maker mindset. And so if you can embed that maker mindset inside of the curriculum, and you tap into the standards that you're teaching, then they're able to develop that maker mindset. The space is just the platform that facilitates it."

A Few Maker Project Examples

To fully understand what making can look like in action, let's look at some sample maker projects and how each one can align with academic standards.

Documentary Film
To get a deeper understanding of a particular time period or event, and to gain an appreciation for the challenges faced by historians, students could create their own documentary films. This would incorporate social studies and English language arts standards, as students would need to write a script for the documentary.

Design the Ultimate Roller Coaster
Using a marble, duct tape, cardboard, and popsicle sticks, students must design a working roller coaster. This gets them working with the science concepts of force and motion. Taken one step further, students could also create a website for their roller coaster that requires them to write ad copy and combine text and images to attract visitors, which would draw on English language arts standards.

The Tiny House Project
In this project, students design a tiny house, which gives them practice with the math concepts of volume, surface area, and proportional reasoning. More importantly, it also helps them understand math in a real-world context.

To see more examples, visit Spencer's maker challenge playlist on his YouTube channel.

Managing a Makerspace

Teaching with a makerspace presents some management issues: Popsicle sticks and styrofoam can make a mess, projects are more likely to take place over several days, and the active work has the potential to be noisy.

Before sharing his management tips, Spencer is quick to point out that classroom management can actually be easier when teachers add more making to their instruction. "(When a task is) meaningful to students, and they're engaged in creative thinking, and they're solving problems, and it's hands-on, then in those moments, there's not an incentive to rebel and act crazy."

To prevent some of the problems that can come with active making in the classroom, Spencer offers these suggestions:

Talk with students ahead of time about the expectations for the task or the makerspace. Rather than wait for problems to happen, establish procedures and guidelines ahead of time. "I need a certain level of calmness and quiet built into where I am, otherwise I personally get anxious," Spencer says. "It feels unsafe to me, even if it's not unsafe. If that's true of me, that's probably true of certain students. So for that reason, I always have some rules and procedures."

Co-construct guidelines and procedures with students. If you can get student input about how to handle breakable materials, for example, or what to do when class time is almost over but you're not finished with your work, you'll end up with a set of rules that everyone is invested in.

Build in moments of silence. To keep his own classroom focused, Spencer would provide opportunities for quiet reflection right in the middle of class. "I would have some times where I would say, 'Hey guys, we're moving into silent mode for two minutes so that you can process and think about what you're working on,' or 'I'm going to give you a prompt. You don't have to write it down, but I just want you to think through this question about what you're learning,' and that would allow them to kind of recenter. It was just two minutes of silence; enough to kind of restore certain students who were getting tired of the noise, and then they could come back in."

Starting Your Own Makerspace

Instead of trying to set up a whole makerspace, Spencer recommends that teachers who are new to making should begin with a single maker project, then gather the materials necessary for that project.

"Decide what you're going to have kids create that's hands-on. You might do multiple maker projects in different locations, or you might have the entire class do one thing. Either option works."

Once you've done a few projects, you'll start to get a better idea of what kinds of materials work well in your classroom, keeping in mind that a true makerspace is constantly evolving.

If you want something more general to get started, Spencer offers these ideas for a first-time makerspace: "I would have some kind of physical prototyping items, like duct tape, cardboard, packing tape, that type of stuff. I would have circuitry, because it's so inexpensive and easy to do...like one or two Snap Circuits. I would have a couple computers devoted specifically to using something like Hour of Code or Scratch, and then I would probably have a podcasting area and a green screen area."

The Makerspace Master Course

Teachers who are ready to get serious about adding a makerspace to their classroom should check out Spencer's Makerspace Master Course. This online course covers everything from the pedagogical foundations of makerspaces to how to set up and manage a makerspace in your classroom.

If you're not quite ready for the full course, but want to learn more from John Spencer, check out this free, on-demand webinar:

You can find John Spencer on his website at spencerauthor.com, on Twitter at @spencerideas, or on his YouTube channel at spencervideos.com.

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Listen to my interview with John Spencer (transcript): Sponsored by Peergrade and Microsoft Class Notebook This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. When you make a purchase through these links, Cult of Pedagogy gets a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.

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Math puzzles, games, and questions designed to increase engagement and math thinking. Once this link opens, go to the Task portion of the menu bar, type your grade level, and math topic

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Cold Call:

Set students up for successful Cold Calls by ensuring that the technique is warm, predictable, and universal.

This module can be adapted for remote instruction

See How

TLAC Online was created by the Teach Like a Champion team, while part of Uncommon Schools, with support from the Relay Graduate School of Education and One World Network of Schools. TLAC Online is one of a suite of resources supported by Teach Like a Champion to help schools create classrooms that are radically better for children.

© Teach Like a Champion

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Cold Call: This module can be adapted for remote instruction See How TLAC Online was created by the Teach Like a Champion team, while part of Uncommon Schools, with support from the Relay Graduate School of Education and One World Network of Schools.