Active Learning
Active Learning
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Hi Everyone! In my blog today I will be talking about my Padlet I created, which is linked below, and this discusses a blog about active learning at Coonley School. In the blog I read, it talks about an activity that 1st through 7th graders did and the assignment was to answer questions about the past school year in a total of 6 words. The responses from the students were then recorded in a slide show and 3 of the responses were selected per day to be shown on the school's Twitter page. In my Padlet, I described an overview of the blog, examples of active learning, suggestions and additional resources.
This activity in the blog has students answer different questions in a total of 6 words. This exemplifies active learning in a few different ways. It allows the students to use creativity and promotes student engagement. Allowing students to answer from select questions and having them use the 6 word restrictions forces the students to be reflective within their answers. They are required to think
critically and have meaningful responses. I also love the creativity and self-reflection
this assignment allows. The students can answer how they feel and make their
voice heard.
Furthermore,
when teachers are creating lesson plans I believe it is very important to keep
active learning in mind. From my own experiences, I know it can be hard putting
together a creative lesson where all the students will be engaged. Sometimes as
a teacher it is essential to do direct instruction, but after that is done it
is important to throw in some active learning. This includes hands on
activities and collaboration among the students. The active learning lessons do
not have to be anything crazy, but allows the students to include their
creative side while critically thinking about the problem. For my math class,
instead of having the students do a traditional worksheet, I love to transform
the worksheet into a scavenger hunt. I put the equations spread out on the back
of the room. Then the answers are somewhere on the front of the room and they
include a letter. As long as they solved the problems correctly, they should be
able to find their answer and the letters will spell out a “secret message.” It
is a simple active learning activity and does not take a lot of time to prep to
do! I highly recommend to give it a try and it can work for different subjects
as well.
Another
example of active learning that I have talked about before, but cannot stress
the amazingness of this website is Desmos. This is an online interactive
software where students can complete activities or games. I use it for math,
but it can be used for any subject. There are SO many pre-made activities which
is awesome for when you do not have the time yourself to create one. In my
experience, the students are engaged, actively participate and get immediate
feedback. There are different settings where you can have students collaborate;
in this feature they can comment on each other’s work if they see something
that might be off. Students love active learning and it helps them retain the
information. I would push all educators to start including some type of active
learning in their classrooms if they have not gotten the chance to yet!
HI! I think that creating an active learning environment takes a lot of work as well as reflection. I am fortunate that I am able reflect each quarter and able to implement changes four times a year vs once a year when I was a content teacher. This teacher who came into my to observe students on her case load. She told me at the end that I was working too hard and the students should be working hard to connect with their learning and doing the work to complete the work. This was the first step in my active learning process.
ReplyDeleteYour math scavenger hunt sounds fun, Maggie!
ReplyDeleteHi Maggie! I also completed my blog about the 6 Word Reflection assignment. I thought it was a great example of what active learning should look like in the classroom. I really enjoy having my students reflect on the content we learn, but I also want to try having them reflect on their own experiences. I think this would be a great way to wrap up the year with 8th graders right before they graduate. I also noticed that you mentioned Desmos. Honestly, the more you mention that learning platform, the more you are convincing me to give it a try. It sounds like a great platform to keep the students engaged in the content and it is great that you can do more than just math with it because I teach social studies and language arts! Thank you so much for sharing your post. I truly believe that active learning should by implemented in all classrooms as much as possible.
ReplyDelete