OER4Schools/AVU2014
AVU workshop, November 2014
Whole class brainstorm (10 min) on interactive teaching. Consider the following questions:
- What is interactive teaching?
- What interactive techniques do you know?
- How often have you used such techniques?
What is a "whole group brainstorm"?
Make it clear to the participants that you want to hear from everyone and that they shouldn't worry if they're not sure but should have a go at making a suggestion... we will develop our collective understanding as time goes on (what are teachers’ expectations?). There are no wrong answers, just ideas. Here we have used a number of questions to give participants an idea of how wide ranging their responses can be. The aim of this brainstorm is to find out what participants know, think and feel about interactive teaching.
If participants are not very forthcoming, probe them with additional questions, e.g. 'What do you think interactive teaching might be? Is it the same as learner-centred teaching?'
If you are part of our “facilitators program”, use the tools provided to capture the discussion.
Brainstorming in the classroom
The following activity is same-task group work, done in pairs. So for this part of the session you are doing group work, where the groups are pairs. Just ask participants to turn to each other.
Same-task group work (5 min): Discussion in pairs of what brainstorming(a) looks like in the classroom. Now that we have done a brainstorm in the workshop, what does a brainstorm in the classroom look like? Do you think your students would like this activity? How could you make sure that all students get actively involved? Discuss this with your neighbour.
Whole class dialogue (5 min): Reporting back from the discussion Participants briefly report back from the group work.
Make sure that participants get the idea of what a brainstorm is.
You do not need to go round all the groups. You can just ask whether people have more to add.
Observing, thinking, reflecting (5 min): Watch video of a brainstorm. Watch the following video clip together. As you watch, think about the following:
- What are you noticing?
- At what point(s) in the lesson could this be used?
- What do you think the students are learning from this?
- How are they learning?
- Can brainstorming be used with large classes too, where there isn’t time for everyone to contribute each time? How would you adapt it for this?
- What are the benefits of brainstorming?
- What makes a brainstorm successful?
- What do you think about the teacher's comment "since I want all of you to participate, no hands up, OK"?
VIDEO
A brainstorm naming animals
A brainstorm naming animals. Start of lesson: brainstorm with unique contributions, time to think first, no hands up technique.
Video/Eness vertebrates 1.mp4, https://oer.opendeved.net/wiki/Video/Eness_vertebrates_1.mp4,This video is available on your memory stick in the video/Eness Vertebrates folder. Duration: 2:43 watch on YouTube, local play / download options / download from dropbox)(Series: Eness Vertebrates, episode 01)(Transcript available here or via YouTube captions.)
This clip from a Grade 3 classroom illustrates how the teacher solicits (and records) different students’ views without evaluating them.
Note that the clip shows the start of a session but it can be done at any point in a lesson. It shows a brainstorm – with unique contributions, allowing time to think first, 'no hands up’(a) technique.
Workshop participants continue with the discussion.
Whole class dialogue (15 min): Discussion on the brainstorm video. Let's now discuss this. We asked some questions above, which you should now discuss.
During the discussion, record what participants are contributing. You could do this on a piece of paper, or on the board. You could also appoint a scribe, who does this for you, leaving you free to manage the discussion.
Benefits of brainstorming include:
- giving everybody an opportunity to speak,
- encouraging students to contribute a large range of ideas,
- reduces the fear of risk taking, and
- shows respect for all participants (making sure that students do not laugh at each other).
At the end of the discussion, summarise the outcomes of the discussion, including any key points the participants have made.
Observing, thinking, reflecting (5 min): Summary. Summarise, and discuss the proper meaning of what a brainstorm is. You can refer to OER4Schools/activities/brainstorming to find out more.
Make sure that all participants understand what a brainstorm is.
What is the purpose of a brainstorm? It can have many purposes, but one purpose is that a brainstorm is a good way of finding out what they already know. So to go from the "known to the unknown".
Giving formative feedback
Read the Science question below and the responses from two students.
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Lesson Objective: We are learning ways of preventing being infected by malaria. Success Criteria: I will be successful if I can write at least two correct ways of preventing the malaria infection, communicating clearly and in some detail. Question: Imagine you are going to visit someone in an area that is known to be infested with mosquitoes. Describe two ways to avoid being infected by malaria. Sample student’s response: Mary: I will avoid getting bitten by mosquitoes because malaria is very unpleasant. Mulenga: As mosquitoes bite particularly at night, I will make sure I sleep in rooms that have a good mosquito net or wear a long-sleeved shirt. If I can plan in advance, I will visit a doctor to take some preventive medicine. |
Whole class dialogue (5 min): Whole group brainstorm on what feedback to give the students. As a group, brainstorm:
- What will be my feedback to Mary? Why?
- What will be my feedback to Mulenga? Why?
Role play (5 min) teacher-student feedback in pairs. Break into pairs, assign roles (teacher, Mary/Mulenga), and do a role play for 5 minutes. The person playing the teacher gives the feedback (based on the brainstorm you have just done), and the other participant (playing first Mary and then Mulenga) responds to the teachers comments or keeps a note of how the feedback makes them feel. Then swap roles and role play again.
Encourage participants to provide different formative feedback to each of the students. This may involve:
i. Acknowledge Mary’s attempt to respond to the question - prompt her to elaborate more on how he/she could avoid being bitten by mosquitoes.
ii. Give full credits to Mulenga for her response through positive affirmation that comments on how she has addressed the success criteria (eg she has highlighted important strategies, clearly stated, nicely detailed). Also consider challenging her by encouraging her to think of another preventive way of being infected by malaria or whether she knows what preventive drug can be used.
It is expected that participants’ feedback will evolve during the brainstorm. This will happen if you reinforce the points below through modelling them yourself.
Limit the time to 5 minutes.
Whole group dialogue (5 min): Whole group discussion on teacher-student role plays. Come back together as a group. Discuss the role plays. Was is easier to give feedback to Mary or Mulenga? How did you feel when you were receiving feedback? Make a note of any particular points that you could use in the future when giving feedback to students.
While giving formative feedback (individually or in whole class):
- always begin with what is good about students’ work or which success criteria have been met and appreciate students’ responses
- ask students to reflect on which criteria was/were not met before you tell them.
- ask students what they could do next time/could have done this time to meet the success criteria
- suggest some points on which students could act immediately/in near future
- for high achievers suggest some points that can be achieved beyond the success criteria
Ask participants to pay particular attention to the words that they use - sensitive language that guides students for further action/effort is best. The feedback should be directed at students’ responses or work and NOT at the students themselves.
This Zedupad resource Fred the Fly learns about Malaria (see link below) is an informative interactive resource with multiple choice questions on malaria prevention and a drag and drop activity at the end that could be used as part of a formative assessment. If you decide to use the resource, remember to plan in advance of the lesson what the success criteria will be and how you are going to provide feedback to the students.
Idea E: Investigating my body and how it works
Children are naturally curious about how their bodies work so this is a rich area to draw on for enquiry ideas. A simple and straight forward enquiry into pulse rate and how it varies with exercise requires minimal equipment, just a stopwatch (or a clock with a second hand) and some accurate counting. Students can come up with different types of exercise such as running on the spot/sprinting/going up and down stairs and see how these affect their pulse rate. They could also look at whether or not their pulse rate is different when they are lying down.
Here are some short videos of Zambian teachers working on an enquiry topic centred around how our bodies work:
- lung capacity and how it varies with height/sex/pulse rate/chest circumference
VIDEO
Aggie and class explore lung capacity with a hands-on demonstration using a water bottle
Aggie and her class explore lung capacity and how it varies with height/sex/pulse rate/chest circumference.
Video/Aggie lung capacity.m4v, https://oer.opendeved.net/wiki/Video/Aggie_lung_capacity.m4v,This video is available on your memory stick in the video/Aggie Fitness folder. Duration: 1:47 watch on YouTube, local play / download options / download from dropbox) (Video filmed in 2012, at CBS.)(Series: Aggie Fitness, episode 01)
- BMI and being healthy
VIDEO
How to use height and weight data to calculate BMI
Judith reiterates the importance of accurate data collection and shows pupils, on the board, how to calculate their BMI. Pupils stick measuring tapes to the wall in preparation for measuring their height.
Video/Judith body A04.m4v, https://oer.opendeved.net/wiki/Video/Judith_body_A04.m4v,This video is available on your memory stick in the video/Judith body folder. Duration: 14:01 watch on YouTube, local play / download options / download from dropbox) (Video filmed in 2012, at CBS.)(Series: Judith body, episode 04)
As well as providing an additional context for enquiry work, this substantial TESSA resource will help you to develop ways of teaching in a more pupil-centred way and contains useful ideas on how to improve your ability to organise, support and assess practical investigations.
Reading through the case studies will be useful when you are developing your own enquiry ideas, especially case study 3 which emphasises the importance of assessing students' prior understanding and ensuring that they have the necessary skills before embarking on an independent enquiry.
