Abstract:
Chapter 4 was about ways to get students engaged in their learning, also known as active learning. This basically means getting your students up and moving during class, instead of the typical sit and listen to the teacher. The author states that our brains function better with the more oxygen that gets pumped to them. By getting students moving around, oxygen is automatically pumped to their brains, which helps them learn more/easier. The author also suggests that middle school is a time of much growth for students. Their bodies easily become uncomfortable sitting in desks and they become restless. By allowing them to move, it will make them more comfortable and ready to learn, plus it means less behavior problems. This chapter included many ideas of ways to incorporate active learning for all subjects. Some ideas were simpler than others, like having your students hand in their own papers as an excuse to get out of their seat for a minute, while other ideas were more elaborate, like having an Academic Olympics. All the ideas that were presented were creative and fun, but it’s important to keep in mind that the activities need to be connected to the curriculum.
Reflection:
While the need for kinesthetic movement in classrooms is not a new concept to any of us, it is still very important to incorporate active learning in every class, especially with middle school students. So many young adolescents have troubles just sitting in one spot. We must use their restlessness as an aid in their learning process. An activity that is a vivid learning experience will be remembered. Then chances are, when it comes to the test, they remember the activity they did and the content as well. The key to active learning is creativity. Teachers need to come up with new and fun ideas to use active learning in their classroom. We need to put our brains to work and come up with as many ideas to incorporate movement into every lesson, no matter how simple or involved they are.
13 comments:
I thought that the first link was really interesting and would be helpful when trying to figure out when and what people remember most. As a social studies concentration, I really loved the second link with all the activities. They would be a good way for students to have fun, be engaged and learn material all at once.
The concept of active learning is really powerful within the classroom. The links that you found are very interesting to see and to read about. The link for the history games blog is a good one to see and use for history teachers, and Im glad that you found it. I really am a learner who needs activity, and my classroom will center around these types of things. good work
I love the link that has the triangle about what we remember. I think that is a powerful tool for us to take into consideration when we are designing our lessons. It is important that students participate in active learning. This is just another reinforcer for that.
I like this pyramid because it is a visual to show what kind of learning is being achieved in the classroom. This is good for teachers to know and can give them new ideas about how to teach and get their students to learn the information. I like the blog because these activities get the students up and out of their seats and still learning at the same time. I like that they're social studies but i think that most activities can be altered to be used in other content areas. These activities could also build teams at the same time that the students are learning.
Your active learning link is awesome; the visual representation of what people retain is extremely useful and informative. The reinforcing activities blog is also great; it gives student perspectives into what activities they liked and found particularly useful, which is always an important piece to keep in mind.
Being geared towards Social Studies, I naturally enjoyed the creativity link quite a bit. I have a hard time thinking of new and interesting things to do in a social studies class and this list offers some great ideas to use and it also helps me to create and think about new, unique lessons.
Games are fun and help learning no matter how old you are, but it's especially important at the middle level. Your second link had a lot of great ideas. I've seen that diagram on how much you learn before, but I've never thought of it in terms of active vs. passive learning. That was revealing.
I thought that your active learning link was great!! It was really helpful to see (visually) what is engaging and active; as well as what is passive learning. The memory percentages are incredible indicators of what kinds of activities will reinforce important concepts for students. Bravo.
The second link is awesome! I love how you got a source from other college students for activities for us to use. Some of these activities are awesome to use in the classroom. Good find! That will be a De.Lic.ous website!
I really like the first link because it was so visual and eye-catching. I would really like it as a printout to keep when creating lessons.
I really liked the active learning link. I think it would be a great idea to post something like that in a teachers room. It was cool seeing the percentages of each learning. I did not look into the second link as much, but it seemed like it had some great activities.
I think your links were rather good because it had a lot of resouces in them. The games one was my favorite because I love to get up and move and be active in a classroom. Great job!
I really like the picture on the first website, all teachers should be given it so they know why it's important to give students hands-on activities.
The blog gave tons of great activities to do with students. Even though they are all social studies, any content area can change those activities into their own subject. Good job!
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