Group items tagged

3. Stu­dents “Divide and Con­quer” the Work­load

Divi­sion of labor should be explicit

Crit­i­cal ques­tions are: What needs to be writ­ten? Can that be divided into chunks? What needs to be pur­chased? Who wants to go where? When? What needs to be researched/read? Can that be divided? Can the project be divided into sec­tions so that each stu­dent is respon­si­ble for one of those sec­tions? Posters can be divided into sec­tions — Who will be respon­si­ble for which sec­tions? Pre­sen­ta­tions are divided into slides — Who will be respon­si­ble for which slides? iMovie sec­tions can be pro­duced on sep­a­rate com­put­ers and assem­bled in the end — Who will be respon­si­ble for which sec­tion? Prezis work like Pre­sen­ta­tions - Who will be respon­si­ble for each part?

4. Stu­dents Plan a Time­line Time man­age­ment is one of those crit­i­cal skills that is miss­ing from the writ­ten cur­ricu­lum. The key is back­ward planning.

5. Group mem­bers work as Indi­vid­u­als After stu­dents have decided on con­tent, defended a for­mat for pre­sen­ta­tion, and “divided-to-conquer” the work, they can be mean­ing­fully engaged in their own mini-projects. Each work ses­sions should have a work goal. M

6. Indi­vid­u­als Com­ment on Part­ners’ Pieces Dur­ing the revi­sion and assem­bly stages, some trouble-shooting may be necessary.

7. Groups Reflect on Their Work Finally, the group needs to come together and com­ment on the “fit” of all the parts.

8. Allow Groups to see other Groups’ Work Some stu­dents are risk-averse. They want to work on project for­mats they know. But when they see oth­ers’ work, they have a frame­work they can use when con­sid­er­ing for­mats for other projects.

9. Use Projects to Inform Report Card Com­ments Those who chose to make Prezis don’t know this, but I jot­ted down a quick report card com­ment about self-motivated learn­ing.

10. Cel­e­brate! Stu­dents should cel­e­brate work well done.

smartphones

3. File corrupted - have backups of your files on a backup system

5. Finish lesson early - have some kind of material to work with if you finish your lesson early. Going to the next lesson doesn't always work depending on the time remaining. You could show a short video about the topic you just finished, you can have a classroom discussion about the topic, have students write a short paragraph about what they learned today (and anything that surprised them).

6. Low attendance - many times there are school activities such as AP testing or class trips that can leave your class looking barren. I always have some kind of extra activity that I can do with the students that are there.

7. Lesson runs long - Sometimes a lesson takes longer with one class than with another due to the student make up, discussion, or other issues that may interrupt the lesson. I try to be flexible when planning and give myself time in the plans for some classes to take longer

8. Class interruptions - don't get flustered. Just come back to class and get started again. You can use the ideas above in #7 to deal with the fact that you lost class time and therefore your lesson may "run long".

9. Students don't understand the material - have a different idea or method to teach the material. A video, activity, or just a different approach can be used to help the students

10. Adapt and overcome - issues will happen. Just go with the flow and put your backup plan into effect.