Classroom Activities for Teaching

hello and welcome to teachings and education classroom activities i am your narrator frank avella in this presentation we'll take a look at the top 15 classroom activities for educators classroom activities are an essential part of successful teaching great activities are what separate the best teachers from the average teachers now we'll begin with the question of why should educators use activities in their instructional practices classroom activities take place when students in the classroom apply physically or mentally what was previously taught by the teacher one of the most obvious advantages of incorporating activities into the lesson is that activities get the students more engaged classroom activities are enjoyable to students they need a break from the monotonous boring lecture classroom activities are an active form of learning active learning helps create lifelong learners in students learning is more than just content it's about process there is no room for collaboration with lectures in direct instruction activities provide opportunities to have students work in groups develop soft skills critically think communicate and make decisions as an added bonus classroom activities provide students with a sense of autonomy autonomy is a crucial part of problem solving student autonomy is a driving factor for students to get work done now let's take a look at some of the steps and how to of planning activities planning and preparation are absolutely vital to the success of any classroom activity planning comes first preparation comes after first off all activities should have a clear objective objective should be smart meaning specific measurable achievable relevant and timely teachers have to plan their activities this is why we lesson plan as teachers lesson plans set us up for success by avoiding obstacles and pitfalls in lesson plans teachers have the opportunity to differentiate learning by content process or product activities are often differentiated by different groups i think most teachers won't argue the importance of activities but they'll avoid doing classroom activities because of the additional work required to gather the supplies and assemble the materials teachers must assess students upon completion of the activity they should also take the time to review with the whole class what was learned a whole class summary is usually warranted next we'll take a look at the first of our 15 classroom activities and first up we have the gallery walk one of my favorite activities the gallery walk allows students to move around the classroom and thoughtfully respond to meaningful questions and situations teachers begin by placing students in small groups questions or prompts are placed around the room on chart paper as stations each group is assigned to a station to begin at the first station the group collectively discusses the prompt and one of the students writes the response on the chart paper using a marker groups are usually given about three to five minutes to respond at which point they rotate to the next station at the next station students read what was written to the question or prompt at the news station and then they add their own thoughts on the chart paper groups continue to rotate from station to station responding to chart paper prompts teachers monitor to ensure uninterrupted student learning is happening continuing groups return to their original stations and read what was added to their original responses lastly students present to the entire class all the ideas that were placed on the chart paper both their ideas and the ideas of other students now let's take a quick break and i'm going to ask you to please like and share this video subscribe to this channel as well also check the description for a powerpoint of this entire presentation heading back to the activities next stop is classroom demonstrations classroom demonstrations are used to increase understanding of a concept and to enhance interest in the subject matter one way to have an engaging demonstration is to bring in exciting props and models a physics teacher may bring in something like a potato gun or various types of projectile launchers if a science teacher is performing a demonstration say a flame test or the carbon snake experiment they should ask students to predict what will happen next predicting encourages students to think ahead to reason and to ask questions it's best to perform demonstrations that are stimulating to the students there should be some sort of an action an acid-base solution changing colors is an example or something as easy as flying a paper airplane across the room all demonstrations can be followed up with a discussion ask probing and thought provoking questions that require the students to analyze and make sense of what just took place at the elementary level students are requested to bring in their own props show and tell for example students may present live animals objects from their cultural backgrounds or even projects that they have made a model science experiment continuing we come upon the next activity which is to have debates classroom debates help students learn through competition oral presentation leadership teamwork and interpersonal skills when most educators think about classroom debates they'll probably think it only applies to a social studies classroom however debates can be used for all disciplines and subjects have a debate about musical composers the theory of evolution or any other topic it begins when a teacher introduces a topic maybe a question of whether christopher columbus was a hero or not that topic should align with one of the curriculum standards students are broken into two groups pro columbus and against columbus next each side is given time to research arguments for their side it's important that students use primary sources when citing information in the debates students should work as a team gather their evidence then they are to present their arguments to the teacher or the judge the teacher doesn't have to be the one that can render a judgment on the debate other students can be assigned to provide the verdict at the end of the lesson teachers are to do a whole class review where they can clarify any misunderstandings and add anything relevant that may have been omitted during the debate the next classroom activity is playing educational games in the classroom and yes there are a lot of different games that teachers can choose from classroom games create a welcoming environment to students they allow students to work as team and practice new skills but i think your best bet as a teacher is to create your own game miss mcdonald created a game where students would answer questions and if they got it right they would get a chance to shoot a basketball into an empty garbage can only if the basket was made would the entire team get the points classroom scavenger hunts are very popular students have to make up clues collect items and perform activities or challenges they also get to roam the room or school jeopardy is great because teachers don't have to spend the time explaining the rules most children already have an idea of how jeopardy is played they've seen white men can't jump or the game itself nowadays they have many online educational games for students these games are fun for students and differentiated meaning problems get more challenging as they advance through the levels minecraft education is one example educational board games can be easily found what i like about board games as opposed to online games is the face-to-face interaction with students and lastly students may benefit from educational video games there are some brain builders and math games available video games incorporate the idea of gamification students earn points and then get to advance to new levels the next activity in the presentation is brainstorming brainstorming is a large or small group activity where the teacher presents one topic and the students contribute through free-flowing ideas brainstorming is a form of problem solving it's something students can use beyond the classroom they can use brainstorming throughout their lives when teachers brainstorm with their students in the classroom they should encourage students to come up with as many ideas as possible never pass judgment on an idea the goal in brainstorming is to get as many ideas as possible there are no wrong answers we don't want students to be afraid to give an idea one way to use brainstorming in a lesson is to activate students prior knowledge right on the board a topic say the revolutionary war ask students to brainstorm what they already know about that topic teachers can plan their lessons for the next couple of days from that activity most of the time brainstorming sessions are used to have students give their thoughts on content related questions for example ask the students what are some ways we can recycle better and let them brainstorm from some ideas in this way students are given a voice the next activity we explore is powerpoints and google slides presentations teachers can have students create powerpoints or slides presentations on various topics using text images videos etc and present that to the entire classroom one of the great things about this activity is that students become content creators they create their own power points and provide useful information to the audience designed by themselves after students create the powerpoint they should be asked to present it to the classroom presentations help improve communication skills develop self-confidence and can be used in future real-life situations as a teacher you could ask the students to work together in groups google slides is great for that students can simultaneously work on the same project and even the same slide there is space for comments threads and more students can create presentations on any number of topics or subject music art science social studies health psychology the list is endless let students pick a topic for a subject even an interesting alternative to powerpoints are pretzy presentations prezis use motion spacing zoom to bring the material to life and prezzies do not follow the linear style of a typical powerpoint moving forward the next activity up for discussion is the popular jigsaw activity the jigsaw method asks students to become quote experts on a topic meet with other experts of the same topic and report to original groups the jigsaw begins with the teacher introducing a topic of study next the teacher creates groups of students of about three to five students any random students will work the original group is called the home group the teacher assigns the same reading selection for for each home group the text material is chunked into the same number of sections as the number of students in each group four chunks for four students each student studies their piece of text students are designated as experts on the chunk of material they are required to study next experts from different groups leave their home group and meet up to discuss that same chunk of material that they've been studying teachers provide key questions for the experts to discuss then the experts return to their home group now each expert is given the kit is given the task of teaching others in the group what they have learned in the text some teachers take it a step further and have every student explain in their own words to the entire class that's up to you the next activity is one that does not take place in the classroom but instead outside of the classroom which is the field trip classroom field trips remain one of the best methods for teachers to provide students with real-world experience first off one of the best things about field trips is that it provides a change of scenery seeing the same room day in and day out gets tiring for children so get them out and about and they'll appreciate it recent studies on field trips report that students that frequently go on class field trips have increa have an increased sense of social and emotional well-being with today's climate we need to do all we can to help students in health many field trips require students to make observations and take in information field trips to the zoo museums nature walks all require observation so have the students bring a notebook to record notes an added bonus of classroom field trips is that teachers and students get a chance to bond every field trip i went on as a teacher has brought me closer to my students and lastly it's something that the class can look forward to the students can get excited about this field trip you can have a countdown calendar counting down the days to the exciting field trip the next classroom activity up for study may not be as popular as other activities but it's becoming more and more recognized and that's sketch notes sketch notes are an active form of note-taking where students can create rich visual notes using handwriting drawing shapes quotes etc the great thing about sketchnotes is that it takes a very boring activity note-taking and makes it a fun adventure for students sketchnotes are an active form of notate notes become an expressive form of art students can use their imagination as they take notes they'll add drawings boxes arrows etc it only matters that the sketch notes make sense to the student taking the notes the process of sketch noting requires students to fully comprehend information students must clarify and summarize in order to create sketch notes it's a form of higher order thinking skills students are required to connect ideas and make sense of notes the activity is designed to make students think before writing which is what we want continuing with this presentation the next one of the 15 best classroom activities is the case study case studies make learning relevant through open-ended problems that give students work that feels connected to the real world the overall goal of having students participate in a case study is to provide them with an opportunity to make decisions on real life problems students may watch a video on a problem or the teacher may discuss a problem either way students work together as a team analyze the problem and find a solution it's important for students to have some background knowledge on the topic at hand also it's always best to connect content to real world situations so look for case studies that are relatable to students and will increase their engagement lastly have students present their analysis for example in a business class case study maybe students present ways to save and invigorate a dying business the next topic in this presentation is classroom projects which covers a wide range of activities that require students to create classroom projects give students a chance to dive deeper into the topic of study and encourage self-directed learning experiences one of the most common types of school projects is to have students create a model on a topic of study for example maybe a model of a dna molecule or some type of historic monument students would have to explain the bond structure of the molecule its function and its significance one of the most common types of projects is to assign for students to make a product it can be used for business art social studies and more the product should be a solution for some kind of problem i've always loved to assign students poster boards as projects students can work in small groups they can decorate the poster while adding their own content have students create a poster board on photosynthesis or the battle of bunker hill there are in fact a lot of different types of projects to choose from all projects do need an objective though and a problem to solve teachers can be a little creative they can come up with their own ideas but they still need an objective and a problem to solve they still need an objective tied to a standard the upcoming activity is journaling in the classroom journaling allows students to take charge of their learning while providing students an avenue to express their feelings i find journaling works best when there aren't many rules attached to the activity just let students write down their thoughts journaling can take place on a nature walk doing current events that come up in social studies class or reflecting on a math quiz writing prompts can take place in all classes even math classes have students write down the steps that they took in their journal to solve a particularly difficult math problem journals can be used for students to evaluate their own performance have students weekly writing their journals their strengths and weaknesses in the course journaling is used as a form of reflection teachers may ask students to reflect on their thoughts after hearing a lecture about an intense political situation taking place today journaling is commonly found in an english or writing class have students writing their journals for the first five minutes of class every day let them express their inner thoughts and feelings it's a way for teachers to really get to know their students now we're coming up to the final three activities of the top 15. the next activity up is learning centers learning centers are stations around the room where groups of students gather to work on specific skills or assignments stations are set up around the room with different tasks assignments activities groups rotate from station to station teachers give a set time for groups to work at the station say five minutes teachers also observe student behavior at each station one thing that i have to mention is that it requires a bit of work for teachers to set up these learning stations it can be difficult to get all the materials needed for the learning centers still students will appreciate the hard work the teacher puts in it's an excellent way to incorporate hands-on learning hands-on learning is an outside-the-box approach to traditional direct instruction students are allowed to interact with the materials they can make mistakes they can fix those mistakes they can multitask and get creative education doesn't always recognize the importance of fostering creativity in students have one of the learning centers require students to create it's one of those high order thinking skills here we'll take a look at the kwl chart teachers can use this activity by writing on the whiteboard it begins by writing the words what i know what i want to know and what i learned then the class fills in those sections on a given topic say what you already know about george washington what you want to know about him and lastly what you learned at the end of the lesson as an added element students can hypothesize what they think they'll have learned then go ahead on the board and review and make corrections with the kwl chart educators like that there is a clear objective and it's integrated into the lesson the kwl is very direct and targeted when the class is done with the chart the teacher and the student should take the time to reflect on what was learned and this assignment actually works very well with a google doc a shared google doc where students write in their responses okay last but not least is the entry exit ticket entry and exit tickets are quick prompts that are used as diagnostics and allow the students to begin the lesson and to enter or to leave the classroom to exit an entry ticket establishes learning momentum for the classroom it gets them working gets them writing making them more likely to continue in that direction exit tickets which come at the end of the class are a good way to collect feedback on what students have actually learned students write responses to questions on little slips of paper students are often asked to summarize the prompt questions should focus on the key topic of the lesson let the exit ticket require students to demonstrate a mastery of understanding on a daily lesson objective what was the coliseum and what was it used for anyway right now i want to say thank you for your time i'm going to ask that you please subscribe to this channel don't forget to like and share also check the description for the full powerpoint presentation and you have a wonderful day you

Channel: Teachings in Education

Views: 129,554

Keywords: classroom activities, classroom activity, classroom activities for high school, classroom activities for middle school, kwl chart, gallery walk, field trips, demonstrations, sketchnotes, journaling, powerpoints, learning centers, entry ticket, exit ticket

Id: Z0af5FBNjps

Length: 21min 49sec (1309 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 13 2022