Cool Activities for the ClassroomDr. Jeri Kraver

Professor of English Director of English Education

Before We Start

Take a look at the brief essay I gave you and do this:• Circle or write on a separate sheet

any words, phrases, or quotations that are particularly interesting or confusing or meaningful

• Give me 10-12 different words or phrases

My Blurb: When did learning become such a drag?

Fun is suddenly a four-letter word. No matter what your content area, there are a number of quality activities that encourage creative thinking and learning. And, they are fun. Know this: fun activities and challenging learning are not

antitheticalfun does not mean easy Good teachers have a quiver filled with activities designed to surprise and delight students.

What’s Your Aim>• What is the goal of your instruction?• What do you want your students to

“take away” from your class?

What’s Your Aim>• What is the goal of your instruction?• What do you want your students to

“take away” from your class?• Would your students consider your

class fun?

Purposeful “Fun”Origin: late 17th century (denoting a trick or hoax): from obsolete fun 'to cheat or hoax', dialect variant of late Middle English fon 'make a fool of, be a fool', related to fon 'a fool', of unknown origin.

Once upon a time …

Theory to my Madness“As silence and obedience to authority were most rewarded, students learned that this was the appropriate demeanor in the classroom.  Loudness, anger, emotional outbursts, and even something as seemingly innocent as unrestrained laughter were deemed unacceptable, vulgar disruptions of classroom social order.  […] It is still necessary for students to assimilate bourgeois values in order to be deemed acceptable.”

bell hooks, in Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom.

More bell …“Fear of losing control in the classroom often leads individual professors to fall into a conventional teaching pattern wherein power is used destructively.  It is this fear that leads to collective professorial investment in bourgeois decorum as a means of maintaining a fixed notion of order, of ensuring that the teacher will have absolute authority.  Unfortunately, this fear of losing control shapes and informs the professorial pedagogical process …”

Some ActivitiesBASIC• The Book Walk• 3-2-1• Think-Write-Pair-Share• KWLREALLY COOL• Text-to-Self; Text-to-Text; Text-to-World• Found Poem

Book Walk: Introducing a New Text or Chapter

A pre-reading activity that can spark interest, provide context, tap “SCHEMA”• STEP ONE: For a book, study the cover. For an

article, look at the first page—perhaps the abstract.• Ask: Any associations? Any prediction? Any questions?

• STEP TWO: Have students look inside a book or page through an article.• Have them look for TEXT STRUCTURES, note the

organization, consider headings, glossary, images, charts, etc.

Book Walk: Introducing a New Text or Chapter

• STEP THREE: Students working in pairs or groups discuss what they found, make predictions, and list questions**.

• STEP FOUR: The teacher indicates aspects that students might have missed.

**Keep a list of questions to ensure that they are addressed or answered during the reading of the text.

3-2-1This activity helps structure students’ responses to an activity, lecture, or text by asking them to complete the following tasks: • Underline on the text or write on a separate

paper THREE new pieces of information they learned• Circle on the text or write down TWO points

that are unclear or questions that remain unanswered• Place a checkmark next to or write down

ONE point, idea, notion that is really cool or fun or engaging or surprising or provocative

3-2-1

• This activity allows you also to check for students’ understanding

• Students’ responses should guide teaching decisions. They can help you identify areas of the instruction that may need re-teaching or review or concepts or activities that hold special interest for students

KWLThis activity helps introduce a new topic, activate prior knowledge, and monitor learning.• STEP ONE: Either on a paper or on the board,

create a “K,” or KNOW, column, and ask students “what do you know** about [the topic]”

** The instructor must decide how to address wrong information students might list. It can be corrected immediately, OR students can be allowed to discover their own misconceptions as they engage the material.

KWLSTEP TWO: Create a column for “W,” or WANT, and ask, “what do you want to know about [the topic]”• To prompt students, you can suggest the 5W and H

questions• Note that these W questions should guide

instructionSTEP THREE: The third or “L” column is for what students LEARN• This column can be completed during the unit or at

the end. Similarly, students can add new questions to the W column as they work through the text or unit

Text to Self; Text to Text; Text to World

This activity will encourage students to• Make connections between

the reading and themselves• Make connections between

the reading and other texts• Make connections between

the reading and the larger world

The Set Up Building Background Knowledge

After reading a piece of text, ask students questions that draw out the factual information of the reading.

The Set Up Building Background Knowledge

After reading a piece of text, ask students questions that draw out the factual information of the reading.

Understanding IntentAsk students about the central purpose, meaning, and outcomes involved in the reading.

Text to SelfAfter reading, ask students to write and then discuss questions that relate to themselves. Example prompts include:• What I just read reminds me of the time

when I...• I agree with/understand what I just read

because in my own life...• I don't agree with what I just read

because in my own life ...

Text to TextAfter reading, ask students to write and discuss about how the text reminds them of another piece of “text.” For example, • What I just read reminds me of another [book, article, movie, song, novel, video game] I read because...• What I read is kind of like [some other text] in that …

Text to WorldAfter reading, ask student to write and then discuss how the reading relates to the larger world. Example prompts include:• What I just read reminds me of this

thing that happened in history because...

• What I just read reminds me of what's going on in the world now because... 

Found Poem

Found poems are created through the careful selection and organization of words and phrases from a text the students are reading/studying.

Writing found poems provides a structured way for students to review material and synthesize their learning.

Step One: Create a List of Words, Phrases, and Quotations.

 • Ask students to review any text related to the unit of study, including textbooks, journal articles, handouts, primary documents, websites, you name it.

• Ask them to record words, phrases, or quotations that are particularly interesting or confusing or meaningful. (Aim for between 15-20 different words or phrases.)

Step Two: Determine a Theme and Message.

• Have students identify a theme/thesis/main point that unites the words, quotations, or phrases that they have collected.

• It can be helpful for students to do this step with a partner. Have them trade lists and describe the themes or main ideas they see in their partner’s list.

Step Three: Compose the Poem.

• Students arrange the language they have selected to create their poems.

• One approach: have students write all of the words and phrases on slips of paper so that they can move the slips around until they are satisfied with their poem.

• Students do not need to use all of the words or phrases they have previously selected.

• Start small: the Haiku or Limerick is cool.

Compose the Poem: TWO Approaches

• Some versions allow students only to use words that have been collected from their “texts.”

• They cannot add their own words when creating their poem--not even articles or prepositions.

• They can repeat words or phrases as often as they like.

• THUS, once students have selected a theme and a message, they may need to review their materials again to collect additional language.

• OR, let them supplement with their own words—a minimal number, only in the service of syntax or grammar.

Haiku YouThe most common form for Haiku is three short lines that DO NOT rhyme. The first line usually has five (5) syllables, the second line seven (7) syllables, and the third line five (5) syllables.

The red blossom bendsand drips its dew to the ground.

Like a tear it falls

The CLEAN LimerickA limerick is a short, humorous, often ribald (aka dirty) or nonsense poem of one five-line stanza with a strict rhyme scheme (AABBA).

There once was a young girl named Jill. (A)Who was scared by the sight of a drill. (A)She brushed every day (B)So her dentist would say, (B)“Your teeth are so perfect; no bill.” (A)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Sar5WT76kE

Rap• Start from a song know and replace the

lyrics with their own—drawn from their list of words

• Choose a focus: what is their message?• Come up with a good “hook”—that is, the

catchy part of a song that gets stuck in your head

• Structure the song: most raps have two or three verses interspersed with the hook.

• Add the “breakdown” in the middle. The breakdown is often a moderate departure from the repetitive structure of the verses and the hook. It changes the flow of the lyrics.

Step Four: Share

• Students read their poems aloud to the class.

• Or “Pass the Poem”: students pass their poems to the left once to a peer. The peer reads the poem, writes a comment, and then passes the poem again to the left for another comment. (Each student signs his/her comment.) Go for three or four passes.

Step Five: Discuss• Close the activity with a final discussion

about what the prompts reveal about the material students have just studied.

• Discussion prompts might include:• What strikes you about these poems? • What do the poems have in common

(i.e., words, ideas)?• How are the poems different? • What surprised you when reading the

poems?

A Final Activity: Poets’ Statements

Found poems help students review and synthesize their reading/learning. However, the poem itself does not always reveal the thinking that has gone into creating this work. Ask students to write a brief statement that explains their poem. They can think about the following questions: • What is the message of your poem? • What “evidence” can be found in your

poem that supports this message? • Why is this message important to you?

The Point• Everything you do as an instructor

must have a purpose: the texts you select and assign, the assessments you administer, the activities you employ

• That purpose must be made explicit to students

• They are not we• The most successful instruction

connects to students lives and literacies outside the classroom