Student Success Certificate Blog
The student Success Certificate is an introductory series of workshops to help instructors gain experience in 3 core areas and 1 elective area of instruction. The certificate is earned after instructors complete 11.5 hours of workshops and blog twice about two new strategies they have used repeatedly in the classroom. Use this page to blog. Each blog entry is worth 15-minutes of flex if you still require time. You may blog more than twice. All entries will be recorded. You may want to leave this site and return to confirm that your entry was recorded after a few days. Entries must be approved before they are posted. Rob Jenkins receives an email alerting him to approve them. The site saves all entires so your entry should not be lost.
Questions: jenkins_rob@sac.edu
The corners activity is a favsorite of mine and of my students. Yesterday in class, at Torrance Adult School, I used it as a way to begin introductions for students on the first day of class. For example, one question was ‘How many siblings do you have?’ Each corner had a sign with, for example, ‘0’, 1-2, 3-5, and 6+. What conversation broke out as students from different corners wanted to ask each other about how many siblings were sisters vs. brothers, how many were still living, and how it feels to be ‘the only child’. Then I asked students in each corner to organize themselves in ways related to the topic, which required more conversation. In the 6+ corner, students lined themselves up by the number of siblings…it’s very visual and informative. Students were laughing and talking and seemed comfortable in their new class.
Jennifer Gaudet : >
This reply is in response to your Student Success workshop on Goals. I tried a Goals activity for the start of our Beginning 1 ESL class this semester, the students have written their goals on page 1 of their notebook/diaries. We will re-visit these goals next month and see how close we get to reaching them. . Among the goals we chose for Beg. 1 were:
-passing to Beg 2 (of course!)
-reading and speaking with their children or grandchildren (some vocab phrases)
-communicating with their supervisors and clients at work (common work phrases)
-reading traffic signs
-understanding cash/credit transactions (receipts, lease/rental vocab)
We wrote “Challenging, but not Impossible” under our goals. I thought it would help to motivate them. Thank you for your workshop! Sorry I was sick then, but still retained some great ideas! Thanks again!
Wonderful idea! In Leadership class I challenged the students to write a list of 100 goals. Only 3 students did this and most students wrote 25-50 goals down on their “Bucket List”. Such a worthy thing to discuss with your class.
I’m not sure if this is where I’m supposed to blog, but I hope it is. One of my favorite classroom activities is the magnet sentence board. I write words on cardstock and attach them to the whiteboard with magnets. The students take turns making different sentences from the words. I then add or take away words and they try it all over again. It is a great way to teach sentence structure and involve the students in a physical activity. Greg Whitman
I have done this a few times with my class with the vocabulary especially when they are long words. I use the ‘Soul Train’ activity (a TV dance show for the youth with host Don Corneius back in the day) After the couple would decode the famous person’s name, they would start dancing to the music being played to show that they were finished. My class had a ball!
Michelle Fells
Beg. 1
Thanks for this activity. I work in the high school subjects lab and I’m going to do a group lesson with this activity.
In the beginning of the class I use this activity to refresh students’ minds on what they learned from the previous lesson. Students make their own vocabulary cards and when I dictate the sentences, they use their own vocabulary cards to make sentences. It is a great way to monitor students’ retention level and as an instructor you can also do an informal observation. Usually, in my class if students think that the material was too difficult then they talk to neighbors a lot.
Hi Ivette,
I also work in a high school subjects lab. I wonder if you could tell me how you plan on doing the group lesson. What steps do you think are the most important topics and what areas will you be focusing on?
Will this be for a Reading or Writing class? Do you need think this is also applicable to the Social Studies and Science room?
I will welcome any ideas and all feedback.
Thank you,
Jorge
A technique that seems to be very effective with my students is to create power point presentations using pictures from the internet. There is a site called “Fotosearch” where most of the photos are free to use. I copy pictures from there and create word games, drills, dictations and tests. Greg Whitman Beg. 3
Call me “old school” but I really like using the many items in the resource room. I have used many of the small books to great advantage for my Beginning 3 classes. We have a feeling of great accomplishment when we can go home to our families and tell them that we read “a whole book” tonight. Those small books also contain very useful lessons and activiites at the end of the book. I would recommend other resources that the room can offer for our students. Greg Whitman (Sorry about the blogs, Rob. I didn’t count properly and didn’t know I missed one.)
I have gotten away from using those small books. Greg’s post reminded me of how fun those books were. Many of the stories are interesting and very easy to read. I am going to get back to using those book in my class again. Thanks Greg for the post,
I like the activity for many reasons, but the best one is the conversation that ensues. I’ve used it with different music likes and dislikes. Also, different TV shows. It is always a good way to get students talking about a subject as well as have them move about the class. I usually have, at least, two different corners activities together so the students can recognize differences in tastes in different things.
My favorite workshop ,that I have taken this week, was “Critical Thinking”. In this workshop we have practiced “Consequences and Results” strategy.I used that strategy before in my Intermediate High ESL level classes and had very good results. Students seem to be truly engaged in trying to come up with innivative ideas. A lot of speculation goes on, which allows them to practice the use of modal verbs as well. Students learn to cooperate with each other and be respectful of different opinions.This activity creates a very comfortable environment for students to master learned language structures.
Great seminar. I loved the activities involving Bloom’s taxonomy. There was an issue with the laptop rebooted every 5 minutes but the seminar instructors handled it beautifully. I think the certificate program is a great idea and I look forward to more events like this.
Scot Trodick
I always do lessons that have variety. I try new teaching methods and techniques that keep them motivated and interested. This can be anything relevant to their lives or their education. I hope to see a spark in their eyes which helps me to see what their interests are. I try to get them to give opinions on many things including politics, culture, and family.
I took test -Taking skills workshop this January.Test taking skills are very important to our students.In our lab F101 social sciences, Students fell a test beacuse they did not read the instructions.Others write something irrelavent if they dont read the essay question well or they missunderstand it all together.We have teach our students test -taking skill often .This was a good reminder that its one thing to teach them the course content its another thing to teach them to be good test takers.Its maked a huge difference.
In order to keep my classes interesting and maintain a steady attendance pattern among my students I always try new teaching methods and techniques. In a recent workshop on cooperative learning we practiced various strategies for grouping students. I find them highly effective in getting all the students in my class to get to know each other, learn how to cooperate together and respect each other’s learning styles. Changing the pattern of grouping students for classroom assignments keeps them alert and motivated to do a good job. They start to buid a sense of community in the class and consequently feel more comfortable studying with the “friends” instead of nameless classmates.
I find grouping to be a very interesting way to organize my lesson. The grouping is a great way to get students to work together. The strategy needs close monitoring as many students will use the time together to communicate in their native language. This I do not overtly discourage; however, I always encourgage them to use the time to practice what the learned using English. I also find that when I don’t dominate the classs the time goes faster and students are more engaged.
After taking the three (3) core activities, I find the Learner-Centered Instruction to be very interesting, exciting and motivating course. Thanks to Terry, who completed the workshop for us.
During the first week of term, learning student’s names under BSD classes somehow is more difficult compared to ESL classes. This is so because BSD classes meet only once a week compared to ESL’s 4 days a week schedule. It creates difficulty in developing a rapport between teacher and student on the first week. The workshop provided some activities that I could apply in class. Alliteration and ball toss are interesting activities I intend to use on my first week of teaching. I intend to develop the goal of learning and retaining student names during the first meeting with the students.
Ball tossing sounds fun, but sometimes I think that the bashful students will look away and not want to catch the ball to speak, so I use the name cards to make sure, #1 everyone gets a turn and #2 they’re listening to the previous person’s anwer in case they’re next.
I totally agree with your comment about bashful students looking away. Those are the ones that I would throw to first. I am also going to use this in class at the high school subjects lab for a group activity.
On Friday, January 13, the first day of class, for a learner-centered activity, each student wrote their first and last name on a piece of paper and put it in a bag. I drew the first name and the student came in front of the class to give his name, where he is from and something good about himself. (I had already modeled the activity for the students.) The student then selected the next name and so on.
The activity was effective because we hear the student’s name twice, the second time by the student which helps me remember who is who. The name drawing is good because no one knows if they will be the next one up, so it removes the “waiting for your turn” element when we go in order. Also, the students really take control of the activity (rather than having the teacher call on each one randomly from the the roster). We all enjoyed it! Also, I liked the idea of the student telling us something good about himself or herself. Almost everyone said, “I’m a good parent.” Three single students said they were good students. It was a great way to set the tone for the semester on the first day.
I hope this activity doesnt make them uncomfortable. A low stress activity tends to build confidence and gradually increases their comfort level. Nobody likes the spotlight on them for too long. Even a professional speaker can be uncomfortable if they are put on the spot and forced to give a competent reply.
Wow!!!I love this idea. Learing the names of all my students has always been a big challenge for me. Finally, I have all my students name fully memorized. One way that I force myself to learn my students names is to use the sign-in sheet all the way through the class. I use the sign-in sheets to determijne who I call on in the class. Soon I am able to associate a face with the name. The idea of the bag is great and I for sure will be using it at the beginning of the next semester.
I like Malena’s idea of learning vocabulary every day. I’m also pushing my students to keep a vocabulary section in their notebook and add words each day. We also have a weekly dictation quiz covering some of the weekly words, but in short sentences, so they learn how to write a sentence.
Another idea for the beginning of the semester is to divide into small groups and have each group make a short list of what a student will need to do to pass to the next level of English. Everyone agreed attendance is important, as much as possible. That is, some students have conflicting work schedules certain days and others have to arrive late or leave early due to other obligations. We did come up with a consensus, including:
1. Have a notebook and pencil with eraser when you come to class.
2. Attend class on time and as many days a week as you can.
3. Pay attention in class.
4. Participate in all activities and ask questions.
5. You will pass to the next level of English!
(The acronym also spells HAPPY, because this was a goal-setting activity that will make every student, and teacher, happy!)
I wholeheartedly agree with Nancy’s approach to starting the semester with goals set at the beginning of the semester and the 5 “entry rules” for starting off the semester. In addition to these 5 obligations, I have also incorporated some more obligations which I give to students to add to their goal-setting:
1. Have students exchange phone numbers or at least become familiar with each other well enough so that if a student misses a day, the lesson, assignment or handout can be given to that student during that week, while it is still fresh.
2. Commit to making mistakes, from mistakes come improvements. Tell each student that he/she should be making mistakes daily in order to make progress (hopefully they won’t make the same mistakes again and again)
3. Try to use the lessons (vocabulary, grammar, conversation strategies) in the real world. Survival in the community is the key goal in adult ESL.
4. Try to talk to upper-level students to find out what they are covering.
This will help become familiar with the “gap” between levels and de-mystifying the elusive, next level.
5. Try to have fun while you are learning. This creates a positive learning environments and makes mistakes less severe and critical.
These additional 5 obligations don’t spell anything (I tried), but I hope it helps.
These are all excellent strategies to start the semester off on a positive note with clear cut goals and expectations for the class and students. I have always given students (including new students who come in later in the semester) a welcome letter/syllabus that lays out some basic expectations that I have for the students and the class as a whole. Some of the these include the requirement that they come to class on time every day (barring any extrenuous circumstances that they can discuss with me), purchase the textbooks as soon as possible, and do their homework and study/practice their English as much as possible outside of the classroom.
What I would like to focus more on in the future is allowing the students to set their own goals, either individually or in small groups, as mentioned by others above. This would allow the students to have a stronger sense of ownership of the course, their learning goals, and foster a better sense of community within the classroom. I’m confident the end result would be greater student persistence and success in the long run.
I was taught by Lesley Clear from UCI that learning needs to be fun. She is considered to be the “games teacher”. She published a list of 100 games activities to enhance learning. I have used this list for the last 10 years. She has commented that they dont realize they are learning when they are playing or participating in the games.
I took a class with Lesley Clear at UCI called Culture and Cultural Diversity; what a great teacher. Where can I find that list; I would love to have a copy on hand. It is easy to stop being creative after we have taught for many years. Our students suffer when we become too set in our ways and stop looking for new and interesting ways to present our lessons. I have also come to discover that I too benefit by not burning out when I present interesting lesson that my students enjoy.
Critical Thinking
Categorize and classifying are two skills my students do all the time when they are learning computer applications. Assignment sheets have been developed using multiple selections, matching concepts, filling black spaces and concept hierarchy alignment. It allows students to remember their computer skills or to review concepts forgotten.
Learned Center Instruction
At the computer lab, activities you can do to create a Community Learning Environment are very limited. Learning names is a big challenge because we don’t take roll, students just type their ID number in the system and later they ask for a book. That’s the time I’ve been trying to welcome them by reading their names while I hope it let me know them. I will try to implement name tags to create a better interaction. In my other classes, I’ve been using BALL TOSS and it, in addition to be fun, encourages attention and retention.
Goal settings
At the computer lab, we started a new Certificate program based in some requirements students must complete to obtain a State Approved Certificate in different disciplines. During the student orientation we enforce the idea they should start working through one of the Certificate programs and with the help of our counselors they create a career path that is evaluated time by time. It has created more focus to the applications they want to learn and they feel more involved in their learning process.
I just completed the EL Civics with my Intermediate ESL 3 class. One of the important sections of the instruction was to identify an educational or employment goal to achieve. They started out by identifying their class and area of instruction-ESL Department. They then had to identify an eductional path to follow to reach their goal. By far they were very knowledgeable with the various educational opportunities available to them and the educationa/career path they needed to follow. Group discussion also helped with understanding available educational opportunities. It was very interesting to see the aspiration my students have and what they have achieved thus far by continuing to plan, set goals, and completing parts of the steps to reach their main objective.
This reply is for Joyce Basch. She wrote:
Developing discussion about the EL Civics lessons is valuable because it enhances the understanding of the subject being taught. Since the EL Civics program is so important to our school funding as well as educating the students about civic and personal responsibility, this interaction among the students is important.
Reply by Joyce Basch
I have just completed the El Civics Crime project in my very large (35-40) combo class. It was successful as the subject matter related closely to students’ lives – crime, gangs, identity theft – and steps students could take to address these issues. A SA police officer came to my class & gave a 45-minute talk complete with video, handouts in English & Spanish, & a Q&A session which students really got into. The project generated much discussion before and after the officer’s visit. I make a big effort to have all the El Civics meaningful to students’ lives
I love the idea of inviting experts into the class to speak to the EL Civics lesson. Having a law officer coming into the class to speak about crime and crime prevention was great. This could be extended to other disciplines such as nutrition and government.
Orientations are a good start for new students; since they get very vualuable information about the services and the opportunities the computer lab offers. Setting goals is a good way to keep the students on track and with a realistic time frame to earn a certificate. Students get all the information about requierements to earn a State Cerfitificate. We (instructors) fill out a form that tells the student the classes they need to take and the semester in which they can take each class (Similar to what they do at community college and Cal State). Students have a define goal.
On the first day of class I handed out a Round Table scenario. Students were instructed to continue adding to the first sentence to complete the story. The story began with, ” As I was walking to school today, I saw something very strange”. I handed out 5 pages with this senario- one for each row of students. I was amazed at how well they caught on to the exercise. The story continued to develop and the last student in the row was asked to include a conclusion to the story. Overall it went very well.
Roger Barbosa Intermediate 3
I also did the Round Table scenario in the High School Lab and it worked great. The students loved the idea of creating a story as a group. I had some pretty clever ones. I also had them do it on their own so they could get writing credit. I am definetly planning on doing it again because it was a success.
writing scares some of our students.Doing it as a group makes it less intimidating and its a good way to get our students to warm up to writing.I really love the idea of creating a story together.Students get to learner from each otther and biuld on each others strengths.
I also did this particular Round Table in a class with students taking GED or a vocabulary class (HSS). In each of these areas, the students are required to write and some struggle. This was a fun way to do some creative writing, and the students were so pleased with their work.
Love this idea.It is true that one of the most intimidating exercisees in my Beginning 3 class is free write. I always encourge my students to write. On my first meeting for the week I ask them to write about three things that they did on the weekend. I first model this by writing on the board what I did on the weekend. I also encourage my students to write at home. I ask them to bring their writings to me for discussion and correction.
I used the Facing Lines activity twice during the first two weeks of class since my classroom didn’t have enough space to accommodate the Inside/Outside Circle activity.This activity worked really well with my students. I first gave them each a handout of questions about themselves. The grammar was mostly on the present tense “be” verb. They had to write down the answers first and then I went over the questions orally with them. Then they did the Facing Lines activity using their handouts. My students enjoyed this activity and they were able to practice with more people instead of just the person sitting next to them. My goal is for them to not rely so much on their handouts when asking questions. I want it to be as authentic as possible. I know this will take time and a lot of practice. I plan on using this activity more often.
This reply is for Joyce Basch. She wrote:
I’ve used this valuable exercise many times over the years while teaching ESL. It works well with all levels of ESL. Giving all the students many opportunities to use English and repeat new English language lessons is essential to their feeling confident in oral communication.
By Joyce Basch
From the Learner Centered workshop, I realized that I would like to acknowledge the students as individuals more. We had discussed saying and learning names (teacher and classmates) as one way of doing that. Especially with open entry, sometimes the new arrivals do not receive enough attention.
The first day of my ESL Literacy class, we tried a review of the months of the year which incorporated the students’ names. Each student received a post-it and wrote only his/her name and birth month on it. Then, the students lined up in “month order” (ie. those with birthdays in January were first in line, then Feb., etc.). I called out the name of the month, and the students and I said the names of those with that birth month. Then, the students recorded their names on a large calendar, each recording on their appropriate birth month.
The calendar is posted in the classroom. The names can now be read off each month to” re-acknowledge” the individual students born in that month. Also, as new students enter the class, they will be added to the calendar.
The students seemed to enjoy the birth month idea and learning something about each classmate. They actually brought more energy into the activity by wearing the post-its (like a badge) and making sure that any late arrivals that day were included on the calendar.
I tried “Consensus” in my Intermediate 2 class twice last week.
First time, we were reading a story about the world’s largest family.After working on vocabulary and comprehension, we proceeded to Discussion. The class was divided into 4 groups of 7-8 people at a round table. The task was to discuss and try to reach a consensus on an ideal-size family.A facilitator was assigned for each table to encourage everyone to participate and record the findings.After heated debates, all the tables but one managed to reach a consensus(with two children being an ideal number for the modern world).They cited all the reasons behind that decision.
Second time, we were talking about the jury system in US courts.After introducing all the relevant vocabulary, I wrote down on the board all pieces of evidence against the defendant as well as some factors that might be viewed in his favor. I had 2 sets of jury(12 plus one alternate on each).A foreperson was elected for each. It was explained that a unanimous decision was necessary to convict or acquit the defendat.The deliberations began. After 15 minutes, one jury unanimously acquited the man, while the other was declared a hung jury (8 to 4).
The students enjoyed the activity on both occasions. On top of learning new words,it was fun and was a true team work.
Comment by Liliya Boshyan — January 26, 2012 @ 7:18 pm |Reply
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I like lessons that bring about a debate. Even controversial topics can really good teaching tools. I did a lesson concerning consequences of your actions such as too much smoking or drinking or not enough sleep or not enough money. The debate was what i was expecting and new vocabulary was learned.
Roundtable was quite a success in my Intermedite 1 class.
During the last 20 minutes of class,when the energy was on decline, I offered it as a game to practice “Irregular Verbs”.We had 4 round tables with 6-7 people at each.
The time was set for 15 minutes. The first student would write an irregular verb with 3 forms and pass on to the next one,who,in his/her turn would write a verb starting with the final letter of the previous one, and so on…
The entire table was responsible for correct grammar and spelling.
The table with the maximum number of correct verbs was declared winner.
It was a fun way to practice grammar and ensured team work.
Cooperative learning at its best! Indeed!
Love this activity. This activity would work well in my class. The timing of it is also perfect. The last twenty minutes are always the hardest to get through. However, if we make it fun by turning the learning activity into a game, then the students don’t even realise that they are learning and by the time they look up it is time to go home.
My students and I are working on goals; specifically academic and career goals. Last week students formed “Success Teams”. They received binders that included forms for them to write the goals of their team members and for tracking their goals. I’m looking forward to making this a weekly activity since I think this will help the students (and me!) stay on track and focused on their goals.
For my Beginning 1 class, I ask students to highlight 4 communication skills (writing, reading, speaking, listening) as a reference point for their goal-setting tasks. I ask them at the start of the semester to keep track of their weak areas and what they would like to improve on the most. This serves 2 purposes for me: I can determine, at the start of the semester, specific student strengths and weaknesses and, throughout the semester, this reminds me to balance my activities to strengthen each of the communication skills.
Ball toss was definitely a very active and lively activity done during the first week of instruction. Student’s retention soared to 100%. It was the first time I incorporated the system in my class and it definitely helped everyone. Each student will mention a computer term and the student who receives the ball would give a short definition of the word. The tossing of ball went on and on until everyone got familiar with each term.
I also use the Ball Toss game in my Beginning 1 class for conversation starters and Q & A activities: the student asks a WH question and tosses the ball, whoever catches the ball has to answer with his/her personal information (who are you? what is your name? where do you live? How old are you? etc.). If you want to add more excitement to this activity, you can try adding another ball to the game so that the student who asks the question now has 2 balls to toss to 2 other students. This creates a type of friendly competition when the 2 students who catch the balls race to give their answers quickly and correctly. I find this friendly competition really helps to motivate them. All in good fun, of course.
Project-Based Learning
Our project’s goal was to wind up a unit comprised of learning numbers, money and drug store items with an everday application. We used our vocabulary and shopped at CVS Pharmacy using their weekly ad. I wanted to expand the lesson by using computers. For many, this was the students’ first use of computers. Our wonderful room has ten computers, so the students were able to have a buddy. They followed my written sheet finding the brand name and price for the same items found in their text. They learned to use the computer’s mouse, arrow, and the Internet’s Google. We always input the web address in Google because it is more forgiving of address typos. I also like to give computer instructions imbedded in a lesson topic so they focus on the words they have studied and don’t worry about the computer.
The students gave a rousing “yes” when I asked them if they liked this lesson.
We will be making receipts, checks and play money for the CVS items.
Sue Pace
Round tables
1. To set up the round table concept, students first did an individual fill- in-the- blanks of the alphabet. Then we did a round table of each student adding a letter of the alphabet on a blank sheet of paper. My goal was to have students work together as a group and to find another way to practice the alphabet.
2. At the end of class, I have the students think of the English words they have heard that day. The objective is to use it as a summary and show the students that they are leaning. I have done this as a round robin and a round table. For the round table, I had each table of students use the round table process to create a list. It was competitive between tables. They were much focused.
Sue Pace
Critical thinking strips
1. I wanted an application to tie lessons of personal pronouns, “be verbs” and feelings together. The students cut up sentence strips into separate words. The sentences used personal pronouns, “be” verbs, and feelings. The students wrote down the different sentences that they could make with the word strips. They really liked the project. It was their first sentence strip lesson.
2. Students picked a word strip of a drug store items. He/she then found the item listed on a receipt said the price. I could walk around and spot a student having a problem.
3. Strips -Match a price with picture groupings of money. The students had to match strips of prices with a pile of money pictures. The idea is for them to count the money in each money picture before finding the correct one. It not only is another way to practice money terms but works on developing co-operative skills.
I used an activity similar to Sue’s third strip activity about money: in my Beginning 1 class, I had students match word strips with number strips (cardinal and ordinal) to reinforce spelling of numbers: very good activity for beginners who have a difficult time with this vocabulary. I usually conduct the activity in 3 rounds. 1st round: strips and numbers are in numerical order. students match the strips. 2nd round: numbers are not in order, but words are. 3rd round: both numbers and words are not in order. For more excitement, I give them a time-limit to do the 3rd round and groups compete to be the fastest.
On the first night of our class, I had each student write his/her name on the board as they entered the classroom. When class was ready to begin, each student came up to the board, pointed to his/her name, said “My name is _________. I am from __________. I want to learn English because_____________.” The name was erased and the next student came up. I might use this exercise again with slight alterations.
Again from the “student centered” discussions, we tried another “learning about each other” activity early in this Spring session. Coupled with practicing past tense verbs in context, the ESL Beg. 1/2 students wrote their names and what they did over the holidays on large post-its. They put their completed post-its on the board. Then, I randomly handed out the completed post-its to the students (making sure they did not receive their own). The object was for each student to find the student (by name) who had written the redistributed post-it and then read it back (reading practice) to the original student. This seemed to get the learning energy going as it got everybody up and moving, searching for their classmates by name, and then reading past tense verbs in sentences that were student-generated.
In the same class, we used the idea of identifying learning goals. We did the “goals in an envelope” application. Students wrote their English learning goal for the semester on an index card. The card was put into an envelope, but not sealed. Then, the envelopes were placed in their personal writing folders. In this way, the students can revisit their goals each week when they use the folder to practice writing. (During our flex week workshop which discussed “goals in an envelope”, one teacher said that she did not like this technique because it asked the students to seal the envelope. She felt that students needed to look at their goals frequently, revise, etc. I thought that really made sense, but I liked the idea of writing down the goal. As a result of her comment, I decided to leave the envelopes open for frequent goal checking.)
We tried the technique of “four corners” also. We used it to review the four seasons of the year while reading together one of the National Geographic books on the seasons. Posters were put up in the four corners of the classroom. Each poster had a different season name on it. The students were to go to the poster that represented their favorite season. Then, in sequence, each favorite season group would read the section of the book corresponding to “their” season. I think I should have modeled this activity more as there were many confused faces, especially at first. In general, it went along ok, but not everyone wanted to participate. One student said from her seat that she liked winter the best, but she didn’t want to go to the winter corner. Another wanted to finish something else and didn’t really want to go to a corner either. So, maybe modeling and explaining the reason for the activity more (classmate interaction and reviewing the seasons) would have helped. Anyone else have students who “didn’t want to play”?? In the end, it was a good learning experience about trying this technique and it was fine for some to be involved, but from their seats.
This semester I am teaching a Beg 3/ Int 1 combination class in ESL. After learning many techniques to use in Cooperative Learning, I chose an upper level biography of Martin Luther King Jr. online and made copies. I cut the story in half. Using a Think- Pair- Share and jig-saw combination I gave my Beginning 3 students the first half and the Int 1 students the second half. I gave them time to think while reading their half, then I gave them time to get partners at their same level and with their same half of the story to pair. They lastly had time to reorganize with an expert from each half and they taught each other their expert half to share and jig-saw. During each of these phases, I facilitated by moving around the room and helping groups with new vocabulary. We then went over the story in whole group and had volunteers read and explain each sentence.
In conclusion, they all worked on a comprehensive question worksheet. This activity took almost the whole class time to complete, but all students were engaged. All agreed they understood MLK’s life and were surprised that they could read at that level of reading. It was probably equal to the level of the newspaper. I will use this activity with other reading material in future classes.
I wanted my Int 2 students to practice critical thinking exercises. I decided to do 3 true/1 false sentence activity. The first time I wrote sentences about me. The students were new to me and I chose simple sentences that were easy to understand. They seemed to really enjoy getting to know me this way. The next time I had them write sentences about themselves in pairs and their partner was to guess which sentence was false. The third time I had them in groups. Each group had something in common. For example, in one group, they all worked for a hotel. All members of another group had kids, etc. This time each group wrote sentences about what their group shared and exchanged it with another group.
This was a great exercise and practice in encouraging students to think for themselves as well as practice co-operative tasks and learning.
I have learned so much from our Spring flex workshops. Among these workshops, I find the goal setting activity especially fitting for my students. As an Adult High School Diploma Program instructor, I noticed that students who don’t set clear goals in life are more likely to give up. As a matter of fact, they lose motivation to attend and complete assignment.
During the month of January, I passed out the SMART goal setting sheet to my students and asked each one to carefully fill out the sheet. I emphasized on goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, resonable, and time bound. And I explained to them that I’d like to follow up on their progress. Since then, I’ve gotten many positive feedbacks and responses from my students.
Besides applying the goal setting strategy to my Adult High School Diploma Program students, I have benefited from practicing learner-centered instruction. Whenever I communicate with a new student, I always try to find out what kind of learner he or she is and how he or she would like to be taught. For my math students, I would demonstrate how to solve equation and how to graph on the paper. They like it when they can see the whole process. When I need to explain a difficult concept, I make sure that I repeat what say and say it clearly. I encourage students to ask questions. I believe they appreciate it mroe when I try to accommodate and adapt to their way of learning. By doing it, students are more willing to come back and ask questions.
Goal Setting Activity
At the start of the semester, I have all of my students complete a goal setting activity. I explain what a goal is as well as other key terms, like short-term vs. long term goals, resources, skills and obstacles. The students identify their educational goals. Do they want their high school diploma? Do they want to improve their basic academic skills? The students then identify what resources they have to meet their goals, such as teachers and support from family members, as well as their own skills. The students must then identify the individual skills they will need to develop to meet their goals. Finally, I have my students identify the obstacles they must overcome to achieve their goals. I have done this activity multiple times, and my students find it very empowering.
Crtical Thinking Activity
A great critical thinking activity is having students list the characteristics they would want in a spouse. Most students enjoy this activity a great deal because they can relate to it. The students are given a worksheet with three columns: In one column they list positive (or “plus”) characteristics. This can include physical traits and personal values/characteristics. In another column they list negative (“con”) characteristics–traits they would not want in a spouse. They then list traits they would find “interesting” but that are not critical in a husband or wife. Next, the students number the traits from most to least important in each category. I then have students put stars next to the traits listed that are most like themselves. Most students enjoy the realization they want to have a spouse who is just like themselves!
I have completed all the courses for the Student Success Certificate. One of the goals I’d selected for Learner-Centered Instruction was to help my Intermediate students become aware of their learning style and how they learn (metacognition). For this goal, I recently had my students take a Visual-Audio-Kinesthetic quiz to identify how they learned most effectively. The highest number of students turned out to be Visual-Kinesthetic learners. We discussed as a class what that means for students’ learning. One interesting we discovered was that writing was one area where everyone wanted to improve their skills. Writing was both visual and kinesthetic I showed students how they could do a mindmap or writing cluster to plan their paragraph. Then we each composed a paragraph in class that discussed the importance of knowing how to learn.
Following up on my previous post, I’d also selected a Critical Thinking goal to work on this semester. My goal was to do a Consequences and Results activity where students considered the importance of class attendance and the results for their language development of being absent. Fortunately, this goal tied in well with the first EL CIVICS curriculum that we recently completed. In the curriculum, the students had to identify and list common reasons why students are absent from school. Afterward, they were asked to compose their own absence note to their teacher. When we did this activity, I was surprised at the number of legitimate reasons for absences that the students were able to write down. I had them work in pairs to generate the lists. Later, the students examined the model paragraph provided in EL CIVICS curriculum and then worked on their own drafts. Students used critical thinking skills to classify the reasons for absence by type. Then they evaluated what the long-term results of student persistence might be. I tried to connect the importance of personal goal-setting with the EL CIVICS curriculum. It proved to be an effective lesson in critical thinking.
I tried line up a couple of times with my students. The first time, I had them line up alphabetically by first name. This helped them–and me–learn their names. The second time, I had them line up according to how long they have been living in California. It was fun on both occasions because the students got a chance to interact with a great number of their peers in a non-threatening activity and they learned a little bit more about each other. It also gave me the opportunity to get to know my students more,
Love this idea and with your permission, I am going to steal it. It is always useful when we can get our students to work together. Because the enrollment is open, learning the names of our students is always challenging; I will be using this activity next semester
Anne Koen here: During the first week of my class I made up a handout that called upon the students to work in groups. The first part of the handout was Survey Questions for Discussion. The second part was Designing an English Class and the third part of was a four zig saw activity where four groups were set up to discuss Reading, Grammar, Writing, and Conversation. The first disussion got the students to talk about what they liked to do in their classes. Then all of the groups put their answers on large sheets of paper which were posted around the room and discussed by the entire class. I used the same format as was used in the seminar. The second discussion was about their favorite ESL class. Why they like it so much. Most memorable moments etc. it was handeled the same way. The last four part jig saw was four discussions about What eah group wanted or needed the most from this class in the various categories. Then the members of the group were brought together to further discuss the subject and come to consensus on four ideas that they felt were the most important. It went smoothly and I learned a great deal about my class. I helped them with vocabulary along the way and went from table to table to offer my assistance but found that they really enjoyed working on their own. This is not new to me. I actually run a lot of my classes this way. But I do not do this too often least my class become redundant and boring. heaven forbid??
The end result is that my class spoke English continually for two and a half hours and didn’t even realize what they had accomplished until it was over. I always learn new and helpful ideas in these seminars and also remember things I had forgotten. They are a nice shot in the arm so to speak. I will be glad to share this handout with anyone who would like to use it. Thanks again Rob. Sincerely, Anne Koen
My students did a Roundtable activity where I gave each group of three students a laminated picture to describe. I told them to describe the pictures with the grammar that they have been studying in my Beg.3 class. I also showed them a list of questions on the projector screen that they could use as a guide to help them describe the pictures. I also gave them examples of sentences I wanted them to use. Overall, this activity went very well. They were able to write a lot of sentences. I walked around the room to check on their progress. I reminded them to look at the questions that I had posted on the screen to give them more ideas. They seemed really interested in this activity and they asked me a lot of questions about their grammar and content. I think this is a great activity to use towards the end of a grammar lesson.
I try to use goal setting in every level I ever teach. However, it seems to be difficult keeping track of the students and their goals. This time I decided to try setting weekly goals. It seemed to be easier and to include more students than setting semester, or even monthly goals. I chose to set the same goal for all students. For example, last week’s goal was for everyone to watch TV in English for 30 minutes everyday. We set the goal on Tuesday (Monday was a holiday) and checked back on Thursday. Almost everyone had been able to keep it up. The week before, the goal was to speak for 5 minutes about a fun activity they had done during the weekend. This was a bit harder to do. However, they seem to be excited and come to class expecting to hear this week’s goal. I even had one student text me to ask me what the goal would be since he was sick at home. I think today I will let them discuss and choose what goal they want to set for this week 🙂
I really like this idea in addition to setting long-term goals at the beginning of the semester, which can be more challenging to continually follow up on and keep track of. I stated on a previous post that I want to focus more on encouraging the students to create long-term goals for their English learning at the beginning of each semester, but I believe that incorporating a weekly short-term goal strategy would allow the students to focus more on smaller successes, and give them a feeling of ongoing success which they can build on and use for motivation to continue studying and learning.
I have commented earlier on how successful the technique of grouping students in my class is. I have tried various ways to put students to work by using their month of birth, the colors of their clothing and also the number of siblings they have. We always have a lot of fun when students try to find their partners. That seems to break the initial ice and they feel much more comfortable to work with people they have just joked with. I have used that strategy on various occassions; to introduce students on day one, to review irregular verbs, where they dictate each other different forms of the verbs, and to arrange newly learned vocabulary from the unit we just covered in different categories. For example , last week my students tried to arrange the information about popular electronic gadgets they use daily by focusing on their advantages and disadvantages in the use. They enjoyed exchanging their view-points and were able to come to mutual agreements. This activity was a true success. Despite the fear of working with “strangers” they soon see how muchh fun it is to get to know everybody in class. Nopw the students feel much more comfortable and excited about changing the sitting arrangement in class. They seem to quickly form new friendships.
As I mentioned in my previous blog, I very much enjoyed taking the “Critical Thinking” workshop because I find that various techniques used to discuss the topic get my students truly involved in the learning process. Two weeks ago , in preparation for the EL Civics topic of “Employment” I asked my students to work in groups and discuss “Consequences and Results” of working in variuos professions. They had to use conditional sentences to predict what would happen if they worked in different positions. Students were able to clearly predict the consequences of their actions. On another occasion I used the same technique, this time I had my students discuss in groups the consequences and results of not living in a “green environment”. They had to foresee what would happen if we didn’t take the problem of global warming seriously. Some students gave very personal responds dealing with the conduct of their close family. Other students looked at the problem from more general prospective of our planet as a whole.They had chance to discuss their view-points first in the small groups, and then to prepare their short presentations on the forum of the whole class and submit it to further speculation. I was amazed how passionate they were in their discussions. It is a great technique to use in Intermediate High or Advanced levels.
Love this grouping Idea. Mostly I have allowed students to chose their groups and usually they gravitate to that classmate that they have the best relationship with. Having read your blog, I think it would be useful to try some of the grouping methods that you have suggested
Line Up – Learner Center Instruction
On a nice day after the workshop, we went outside after going over the alphabet and learning last name first. We also practiced asking “What is your last name?”. The students had the space to line up according to their last names. When 2 or 3 students had the same last name, I realized it was time to teach them about first name order. After they completed the line, they took turns saying their names from A-Z then again from Z-A. It was fun and they enjoyed it.
Preparing for EL Civics Lesson 2 Education
The students first looked at the pictures provided and identified the ways people learn. We then added some to the list on the board. Then, they did the worksheets cooperatively. To help them remember and prepare for the test, they started with 2 ways and went around the room asking others how they learned. We returned to the worksheets. Finally, they were asked to list five without looking at the pictures and if they couldn’t it was o.k. because they would find out the answers from the other students as they went to 3 students and read their list. They had asked me to give the test on the same day we practiced because in lesson 1 I had spread out the lessons and then I gave them the test.
I teach Beg. 2. I tried the activity “Find the Matching Card”, but with a twist. I typed up several two-sentence dialogues. I cut them apart. Each student received a sentence. Each sentence was to be matched with it’s “partner” sentence. Students walked around and read their sentences to each other, trying to find their own match. Even if the other student’s sentence does not match, he must read his back .They were searching for “sentences partners” for example, sentence 1 : “My first name is Mickey” was searching for the answer dialogue: “ My last name is Mouse”. I used familiar words and sentences they would be able to identify easily with. By the finish of the exercise all students have walked around the room to all tables and conversed and laughed. This is a good activity towards the end of the week when students need a “happy” break. They end up laughing with each other and practicing pronunciation and listening. I notice they correct each other if someone doesn’t pronounce a word correctly.
This is a great activity and can be applied to almost any lesson. Having students reading back their sentences helps the student to practice pronunciation as well. It also means that 100% of the students will be involved.
I try to use goal setting every year as part of the high school subjects class. However, it seems to be difficult keeping track of the students and their goals. Our classes are open-entry open-exit and thus students come and go during the year. This time I decided to talk about goals as part of a group lesson. It seemed to be easier to start with a smaller group rather than the whole class. I feel that once these students see all the goals come to reality they will share their accomplishments with others. I’m sure this will encourage other students to set goals as well. I see this as a great lesson were students are learning about goal setting and and at the same time talking more and more with each other. I love how this becomes a continuous learning experience.
Some of our students whose goal is to get their High School Diploma this Spring are very motivated and exicited.They are counting down how many more classes they need and how much time they have left to do this.They are breaking it down to weeks ,Chapters and units.I like Spring because students who are close to achieving their goal come to look for us and we dont have to chase them around.Some students are getting encouraged just by seeing others achieve their goalI. It is encouraging for us as teachers too.Its so good to see this dream come true for them.I agree with Jorge that is hard to keep track of all our studen’s goals
I enjoy hearing what other teachers do to keep the students interested and involved. I like anything to get my students talking to each other. The more they talk, the more they develop friendships. The more friendships they develop, the more they come to class. I have designed a worksheet giving each student four questions to interview four students. They may not interview their neighbor. It’s got to be someone across the classroom. I love to hear the laughter during this activity.
I have always liked cooperative learning. With 4 people, it gives each member a role to play. It is also a good activity for a final lesson on a concept.
I recently used cooperative learning for reviewing the present continuous tense. Groups of students were given magazine pictures and told to write sentences describing what was happening in the photos. They needed to work together and the structure of cooperative learning provides this. The presintation of reading the sentences to the class is the last part of this activity.
I have found the round table practice to be very effective for developing cooperative learning. I put my students in groups of three (found out that four leaves too much idle time and two to be too restrictive) by “numbered heads. I begin a sentence with only a subject and the students finish that sentence one word at a time, passing the paper around until they finish their sentence. The group with the most words put in correct sequence wins. (usually a piece of candy,a pencil or just a happy face. The verb in each sentence is to be in the tense that we are studying in class at the time of the exercise.
Today in my Beg 2/3 Combo class I incorporated a cooperative learning activity with an exercise from the class text. The students interviewed 5 different people in the class and asked about favorite types of movies, books, TV programs, etc. Once they had their information, students worked in groups to compile their information into a class chart. The chart showed the students the number of people that “liked” each category. It took the book exercise a step farther and enabled them to use the language in a more realistic setting.
In my Beg 1-2 class we are currently working on family vocabulary. We are concentrating on the idea of brothers and sisters. After discussing the concept and illustrating with pictures I had my students stand in a circle and say how many brothers/sisters they have. The student next to them would give their information and then repeat what the students before them had said. We then made a chart on the board to illustrate who had large families vs. small families. The students loved to hear about one another!!
I teach Beg. 2. An activity that I am gradually adopting more and more is dictation/conversation. I did it a few times, but students often ask for it now. It is the last ten to fifteen minutes before we go home. I dictate a question, then write it on the board. They compare how they wrote the question on their paper with how it was written on the board. There are questions like: Did you eat vegetables today? Do you have two brothers and two sisters? Does your grandmother have a red dress? Are you a twin? I usually write 5 to 8 sentences depending on the time. They then walk around the room asking those questions to each other. If a student answers “no”, they move on to another student. If the student answers “yes”, they write that student’s name down next to the question. Lately, as this has progressed, I am posing a few more difficult questions like: What letters do you add to the verb to make it present continuous? These are items we have been studying. The purpose of this activity is for practice conversation (rather than students trying to think up a topic), writing is involved and people are always surprised at what they learn about each other, depending on the question. When time is up, we repeat the questions written on the board and discuss who found somebody who ate vegetables today, or rode a bike, etc. and who those people were.
Sharon Edwards
On goal setting, I have always had my students during the first week of class set two or three SPECIFIC goals for the semester. First I ask them, “Today, what is your number one problem in English?” I write the possibilities on the board: reading, writing, listening, grammar, etc. I tell them they can only answer to one of these on a sheet of paper. Then I ask them how I can SPECIFICALLY help them with this problem, stressing that answers such as “Help me with my English” is not specific enough.
Then they write the goals that they want to reach by the last day of class,collect them, and return them on the last day of class.
Regarding Critical Thinking, I tried a “consequences and results” activity in connection with my Int. 2 class learning the use of the perfect modals “should have” and “shouldn’t have.”
I divided the class into 8 groups and wrote consequences for actions on small pievces of paper. For example, one consequence was “He spent overnight in jail.” the group had to come up with a believable scenario and write two statements, one with “should have” and one with “shouldn’t have.”
I then wrote the possible consequences on the board and had a member of each group come up and explain, using the two sentences the group had written. The other students shared other ideas and possible answers. It was a fun exercise and the students enjoyed it immensely.
I have used the goal setting pages in the student handbooks to have sutdents write 6 month,1 year and 5 year ed,job, and personal goals.
I have also created a handout of monthly academic goals which they staple in their student book. They contain 25 ideas for learning English outside of class, such as giong to an English speaking movie, talking to an English speaking store clerk, or helping their children with their homework. The class meets in groups every 3 week to exchange success stories, choose new academic goals,and then write them in their student handbooks.
They especially enjoy reporting to each other how well their chosen activity went and recommending that one to the other students. They then choose new academic goals for the next month.
I have used the 4 corners learning technique for my beg 2 class quite successfully for discussing the unit on jobs. I displayed magazine photos of people doing different careers, such as a doctor, a construction worker, a computer programmer, a pres-chool teacher, and bank teller. The students chose the job picture that they thought was the best suited for them.
Not only did they need to talk about why they chose this career they had to write why they chose it . The team leader of each group presented these to the rest of the class.
Our class really enjoys using the “Definitions” strategy. A word is put out to the class and asked to predict its meaning either from close association to other similar words or by just guessing. In fact, one of the words we investigated was the word “guessing.” They always express their appreciation for what we call “owning” a new word.
Another strategy which is very effective in the classroom is “Popcorn Reading.”
It is less intimidating than having the instructor call upon each student and sometimes results in some funny moments when two or three jump up at the same time. It is interesting to see what classroom dynamic comes into play at that time. I always encourage all to read and point out that this is their safe place because we are all in this room to learn together, including the instructor.
I wanted to wait until I actually did a successful zig saw before I reported on it. Last night we came to a point in the class where reading about History fit into the program. Therefore I had the class read different chapters in Exploring American History Book 2 by Phil Le Faivre and Flo Decker. There is a class set of these books in our resource room. The lesson was to learn to write summaries, share information, and then report to the second group. I first taught the class what a summary was and how to write one. They they broke into five groups of three people each and read Chapters #8,#11,#14,#15, and #16. All of the readings were about modern history of the USA. Actually they are chapters they previously showed and interest in reading. After each group wrote a summary they then each went to the second group of five people each and told thier story to the rest of the group. That way everyone was able to learn a lot about the recent history of the USA in a brief time. Everyone spoke English to negociate the lesson and appeared to not only learning but enjoying themselves as well. They found the lesson interesting because they were learning about things that were new to them. Sometimes I am amazed at what they do not know regarding world affairs. The pre part of the lesson was a reading about the Challenger and a number of the students had never heard about the explosion. logistically I made up little pieces of paper with A1, A2, A3, BI, B2, B3, C1, C2, C3, D1, D2, D3, E1, E, E3, E4. All the A[s met and read one story etc. Then all of the 1’s formed a group of five people, all the 2’s and 3’s did the same. It took an hour but I should have allowed about an hour and a half. Hope this gives you an idea of a successful jig saw activity. Sincerely, Anne Koen
This is a task based activity that I call an “oral cloze.” Like a written cloze, it reinforces grammar concepts but also allows students to practice speech and pronunciation. I first tried it teaching the Simple Present tense, where the key issue is addition of an “s” to the verb for 3rd person singular subjects.
I wrote a list of subjects in a vertical column on the board, e.g., I, You, Maria, Juan, Juan and I, Juan and Maria, my friend, my friends, etc. Then, sequentially, I wrote a series of cloze sentences on the board with the verb in parenthesis following the sentence. For example:
________ ________ until 7:00 AM. (sleep)
Then I went around the room alerting each student that they will be called on next to complete the sentence. Of course, for each student called on I wrote a different cloze sentence, erasing the one previously written.
Next, with a red marker, I put a check next to a subject at random from the list on the board. The student called on completed the sentence orally, which if correct, I filled in the blanks on the board. When an incorrect answer was given, I politely asked the class as a whole: “Is that correct?” The more knowledgeable students made the correction and then I asked the student called on to repeat the sentence correctly.
I also used this method in teaching personal object and possessive pronouns and plan on using it for other grammar areas as they arise. I find it to be useful not only to help students with grammar but also to give them an opportunity to practice speech and pronunciation.
Cooerattive Learning (Expert Groups) by Tri Ly Lam, CEC
I have used this for my ESL beg. 3 (about 30 students) for three times and the results as indicated.
– Six groups each got different materials for 6 tenses (simple and continuous) as I taught Unit 1, Side By Side Plus 2. Most students enjoyed but there was a little problem as two students in a group went our home. So, I let three left to go to blackboard instead each went to a group. That’s fine.
– Two weeks later, I delivered 6 materials dealing with count, noncount, plural nouns, how many.how much, there is/there are, and some to six group. In a group, some members were too afraid of teaching to other groups, so I let the whole group teach the whole class – some talked and other wrote on the board and it worked well.
It was fascinating for twice with this techniques.
Critical Thinking (the question game) by Tri Ly Lam, ESL Instructor El Sol
To me, the very basic and complex thing for ESL language learners is how to teach them the pattern sentence: Subject + Verb (together with tenses). The question game is my savior in teaching this pattern and I used it many times. Typical are here as indicatted.
-Students in a round circle and gave statements. Each said a statement and another transformed it into a questions.
– Students each said one sentence in a reading and another and we had time to correct the wrong questions.
In fact, I thought that this technique was not different from the transformation drills of the Audio-Lingual Method. But they are different as this technique is not mechanical but of critical thinking.
That’s great!
Learner-centered instruction by Tri Ly Lam, CEC
Of communicative language teaching it is, but this instruction is from the teaching concept focusing on ” the learner rather than the teacher” which was spoken by Noam Chomsky at a conference over twenty years ago.
The concept of learner-centeredness has changed the concepts of communicatve competence by both Halliday and Hymes. When applying the techniques of learner-centered instruction, I focused on communicative competence individually.
To me, the teaching of communicative competence must be based on the communicative competence of the learner I teach, not any others. It is hard for me to explain, but what I know in using this type of instruction is focusing on the learner.
So, this type of instruction reminds me to focus on the learner rather texts or myself.
Last Thursday I had my students work on another activity. This time as part of a group lesson I told my students to ask their assigned partners the following questions:
1. First and last name
2. Number of siblings
3. Name of siblings
4. Age of siblings
I decided to also participate and found out some very interesting facts about my partner. I had not idea that my student had 9 siblings, 9, can you believe that! We had a great conversation about her family and mine. I was more than thrilled that the other students around me started talking amongst each other and kept up their conversations for a good 10 minutes.
I really enjoyed seeing my students open up and make new friends. This will help our classroom become a friendlier and more welcoming environment for everyone.
At first students may be a bit hesitant when it comes to talking to a “stranger”, but don’t despair, they will come to love these activities and even more so because they will make new friends.
The Spring Leadership Class has started and Brainstorming was our 2nd Topic in the series of 10 classes. Looking back, I find that I use Cooperative Learning in many of my classes but I will talk about one topic this time; Brianstorming.
After the lecture, The students are broken in to small groups and given the group roles. I have found to this first before giving the task to be done allows for the small group of students to know what each other are supposed to do rather than each student thinking they have to write everything down. Once they have determined who is doing what then we go into the task of writing all the ideas they have ‘Brainstormed on’ then they have to “Rank” them them in order of importance by coming to a concensus.
This is where a potential challenge can come with students in the group is the concensus part. Many of the more shy students dont speak up so the consensus is not always true. As the Instructor, I find I have to walk around and make sure the more shy students are participating . In the begining of the course I have to remind the facilitator in the role to make sure everyone participates (because it is easy to let the stronger personalities take over). I have found by about the 4th class the students are bonding and they are more aware of each others needs. This is my favorite part of the class 🙂
Hello, we are well into to our Leadership series this spring 2012. We have completed 4 fridays and the 3 on the evening classes on thursdays . The whole series of these Leadership classes help me understand that we as the Instructors of this course have to be able to make these class and all of it’s topics understandable and applicable to our students lives. With that in mind we often use “Learner Centered Instruction ” within our topics. As most teachers who have taught here at CEC for any time length know that our Leadership Course offers 10 stand alone topics to recieve the Leadership Certificate and 5 Elective HS credits.
Each class is 4 hours long. Yes that can be a daunting task if you think about it all at once but we break down the topic into bite size pieces by “meshing hypthesis”. We use Auditory (lecture and music), Visual (hand outs, smartboard, and pictures) and my favorite Tactile (games. role playing, having students take turns using Leadership roles in the class, having them teach each other in small groups, and having them continuing to do speaking (english of course) in front of the whole class. By using all of these Learning styles we hope to hit all the synapsis in their brains and get them fired up!
Hi, I teach Beginning 2 class. I did the Cooperative Learning called “Round Table” several times in my class. I used the same story line that was given to us during the staff development. I grouped my students of 4 or 5. Each person in a group wrote one sentence and passed the paper to the next student. Each group continued to write until I, the teacher, tell them to stop.
They had to continue the story: “As I was walking to school today, I saw something very strange.” I gave my class several examples before I let them start. I also gave them lists of vocabulary words: verbs, nouns, and adjectives. As a class, we discussed and acted out all the vocabulary words. I wanted to make sure they understood the vocabulary before they start the story.
The stories turned out great! One person from each group had to present their stories to the class. A couple of the stories were funny. One group wrote a very simple story, which was wonderful! I love this activities because everyone in the class participated. As I circulated around the class, all the groups asked questions about sentences, pronunciations of words, vocabulary, and/or paragraphs. All the groups were active doing this activity. It created a wonderful, learning environment in the classroom.
I tried a strategy from the “Learner-Centered Instruction” workshop. The activity was “Learning Student Names.” I got this idea from one of the instructors at the workshop. It is similar to four corners, except that I had written a letter of the alphabet on a post-it note and placed them all around the classroom. The students then gathered under the “initial” of their first name. The activity consisted of saying one’s own name first, and then repeat the names of the other students as they were provided in the following format: “My name is …..,” “Her name is……,” “His name is…….”
The activity was successful except that the lower-level students had a hard time producing the sentences. They concentrated so much in the grammar that when it came to it (“she or he”), they forgot their classmates’ names. My Beginning 2 students loved it and did much better.
For Beginning 1, I would do this activity leaving out “the sentence format.” For Beginning 2, it was a great activity.
Another strategy I have found extremely successful is “Recognition,” which falls under “Learner Persistence, Strategy 3: Self-Efficacy.” At the beginning of every semester, I give each student two charts, one for Attendance and the other for Punctuality. Each chart is organized by rows and columns. Rows are for months; columns are for the days of the week the class meets. Every day, as we start the class, I give the students one sticker for being there (attendance) and another one for being on time (punctuality). At the end of the month, I check their charts and give very-simple certificates for “perfect attendance” and “perfect punctuality.” The students come to the front of the class to receive their certificates and a “small token” of appreciation to their hard work: a notebook, a folder, a pencil, a small candy bar, etc. The whole class claps.
My students own this! They fight me for the sticker if I overlook to give them one.
When I started doing this, I wasn’t convinced; I thought it was too childish. But it definitely works. Students love to get something tangible, and most importantly, they show their children at home they are being recognized at their own school. As an added bonus, then, it has served to inspire my students’ young children to also attend school and being on time.
Learner-Centered Instruction – Lucy Sims
In the Business Skills Lab most of the students did not know their classmate’s name. I suggested that we go around the room and find out each one’s name. Once we did that, the students opened up and felt more at ease in the class and felt connected to each other.
Student Goal Setting – Lucy Sims
I surveyed the students in the Business Skills Lab to find out their educational goals. The survey consisted of catergories such as: Are you taking the class to get a job, a better job, working toward earning a degree in the future or just taking the class to learn how to use the computer? The students had different goals and some chose two different categories. This survey helps me in guiding the students in reaching their goals. Most of the students wanted to continue their education.
In my Intermediate-1 class students were learning to write Wh questions. Each student was given a card with only one question word on it, for eg. What, where, why etc. After they completed their question I collected the cards, shuffled and passed them out to other students. Each student had to write an appropriate answer to the question ( that was written by another student). It was interesting to watch how students started pointing out mistakes and correcting spelling errors and asking one another. After about 15 minutes each student read the question they got and the answer they wrote on their card.
At the start of teaching the El Civics on Education, I had low class attendance. I thought this might be a time to use cooperative learning for the students. I taught them the first lesson and had them work on it. This is an I-2 level. I pre-warned them that they would be the instructors on this material the next day. I think in general it worked well. I certainly had less questions to answer the next day. I refered them to the other students at their table.
I had divided them up into instructors and students at different tables. I was quite pleased with the results from that experiment. I will try it with the next El Civics on Nutrution.