Greetings subscribers!
As many of you may have expected, here is my blog for the week. Taking pre-service teacher education courses at St. John's and St. Ben's has been a very rewarding and fulfilling experience for me. While learning from and observing our professors teach, we are given the opportunity to analyze effective (and not so effective) ways to teach and manage a classroom. I have been particularly fond of this education course because our professors consistently explain to us not only what they are teaching, but why and how they are teaching the material. I believe their lessons are very intentional in teaching the class materials, as well as intentional in modeling effective ways of teaching.
We have been given the opportunity to learn by jigsaw, gallery walk, carousel, large group discussion, and learning centers. As future educators, I believe in the necessity of having varied teaching strategies. Not only do varied teaching strategies keep students more engaged, they also reach out to many different learners.
Of the activities we have done in class, I was particularly intrigued and interested in the carousel brainstorming activity. I love the idea of "active learning," which is very evident in this activity. I like how we were obligated to physically move from station to station jotting down answers and responses to a given prompt. To cap off the exercise, we had an open class discussion about the questions. I thought this discussion went very, very well.
I believe this activity is very suitable for mid-level students because of the social and intellectual interaction amongst the students. This activities forces students to work together in hopes of developing solid relationships and building a good knowledge base. This strategy would be appropriate for a mid-level class once the basic guidelines and parameters are established. This exercise could be done fairly early in the year to ultimately "break the ice" and relieve some natural anxiety. To effectively facilitate student learning, teachers should break the class into small groups (maybe three or four students). Teachers ought to allow everyone to write and read the prompts by reminding students from the beginning to share responsibility.
After doing some research on how to manage a carousel brainstorm activity, I found this website particularly helpful. This website explains the basics of a carousel activity, as well as example exercises. Also, this website offers a sample room layout for teachers to look at.
I hope all of this is enough information for you.
Carpe Diem.
I love that link. It involves the carousel activity with technology really well. That link really made me think about just how well this type of activity can be used to introduce a unit, or even rules within the classroom for technology, for example.
ReplyDeleteGood find!
Tony-
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a great idea by mentioning the potential of using the carousel activity as an ice breaker.
I agree with you; this interactive method would benefit students as they explore and experience the in-betweens of social development. For whatever reason, teachers often do not give students a chance to talk unless they are called on in class or asked to read a paragraph. This type of classroom environment does not allow students a chance to explore issues on their own and be independent in their education. In class, we have talked about the need for students to have a voice and find identity; teachers can facilitate these developments through a variety of intructional strategies, like the carousel.
I also thought it was good of you to recognize the teacher's role in reminding the students to share responsibility. Reminders to share the floor, so to speak, help avoid the group being dominated by one or two. As the teacher, you can make sure these rules are followed by observing groups during rotations.
Good link at the bottom, as well. There is a plethora of resources for lessons and interactive strategies to use in the classroom. Many of these ideas are available online. It is great to explore these different strategies; they are each beneficial in their own way.
As you stated above, I also agree with the idea of active learning. I think that if you make your activity/experience memorable, students will have a better understanding of the material you want to teach. I also agree with you when you say that small groups are effective. Small groups are where confidence grows within students! Thanks for your post. Good work!
ReplyDelete