ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING KIT: A lesson plan. Topic: Creativity: Level: Intermediate + Goals: to practise speaking, listening, writing skills in the context of talking about creativity. Materials: a...
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- Brainstorm a list of at least 12 questions about the topic, concept or object. Use these question-starts to help you think of interesting questions:
- Review the brainstormed list and star the questions that seem most interesting. Then, select one or more of the starred questions to discuss for a few moments.
- Reflect: What new ideas do you have about the topic, concept or object that you didn't have before?
Question Starts
A routine for creating thought-provoking questions
Purpose: What kind of thinking does this routine encourage?
This routine provides students with the opportunity to practice developing good questions that provoke thinking and inquiry into a topic. It also helps students brainstorm lots of dif-ferent kinds of questions about a topic. The purpose of asking deep and interesting questions is to get at the complexity and depth of a topic. The purpose of brainstorming varied ques-tions about a topic is to get at the breadth, and multi-dimensionality of a topic.Application: When and Where can it be used?
Use Question Starts to expand and deepen students'thinking, to encourage students' curios-ity and increase their motivation to inquire. This routine can be used when you are introduc-ing a new topic to help students get a sense of the breadth of a topic. It can be used when you're in the middle of studying a topic as a way of enlive - Brainstorm a list of at least 12 questions about the topic, concept or object. Use these question-starts to help you think of interesting questions:
- ning students' curiosity. And it can be used when you are near the end of studying a topic, as a way of showing students how the knowledge they have gained about the topic helps them to ask ever more interesting questions. This routine can also be used continuously throughout a topic, to help the class keep a visible, evolving list of questions about the topic that can be added to at anytime.
Launch: What are some tips for starting and using this routine?
Before using Question Starts, you might want to ask students what they think makes a good question. Then, when you show the Question Starts, explain that this routine is a tool for asking good questions. Start the routine by providing a topic- Stockholm, a compass, the Equator, good sportsmanship. Ask them to use the Question Starts to generate a list of questions about the topic. Initially, it's best to work together as an entire group. Once students get the hang of the routine, you can have them work in small groups, or even solo. Or mix it up. For example, do step 1 as a whole class, do step 2 in pairs, and step 3 as a whole class again.
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- 3-2-1 Bridge
A routine for activating prior knowledge and making connections
Your initial responses to the topic
3 Thoughts/Ideas
2 Questions
1 Analogy
Your new responses to the topics
3 Thoughts/Ideas
2 Questions
1 Analogy
Bridge:
Explain how your new responses connect to your initial responses?
Purpose: What kind of thinking does this routine encourage?
This routine asks students to uncover their initial thoughts, ideas, questions and understandings about a topic and then to connect these to new thinking about the topic after they have received some instruction.
Application: When and Where can it be used?
This routine can be used when students are developing understanding of a concept over time. It may be a concept that they know a lot about in one context but instruction will focus their learning in a new direction, or it may be a concept about which students have only informal knowledge. Whenever new information is gained, bridges can be built between new ideas and prior understanding. The focus is on understanding and connecting one’s thinking, rather than pushing it toward a specific outcome.
Launch: What are some tips for starting and using this routine?
This routine can be introduced by having students do an initial 3, 2, 1 individually on paper. For instance, if the topic is “democracy,” then students would write down 3 thoughts, 2 questions, and 1 analogy. Students might then read an article, watch a video, or engage in an activity having to do with democracy. Provocative experiences that push students thinking in new directions are best. After the experience, students complete another 3,2,1. Students then share their initial and new thinking, explaining to their partners how and why their thinking shifted. Make it clear to students that their initial thinking is not right or wrong, it is just a starting point. New experiences take our thinking in new directions.
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- Connect Extend ChallengeA routine for connecting new ideas to prior knowledge
Explanation Game A routine for exploring causal understanding
Headlines A routine for capturing essence
Question Starts A routine for creating thought-provoking questions
*Think Pair Share A routine for active reasoning and explanation
*Think Puzzle Explore A routine that sets the stage for deeper inquiry
*What makes you say that? Interpretation with justification routine
3-2-1 Bridge A routine for activating prior knowledge and making connections
Colour, Symbol, Image A routine for distilling the essence of ideas non-verbally
Generate, Sort, Connect, Elaborate A routine for organizing one's understanding of a topic through concept mapping
Peel the Fruit A map for tracking and guiding understanding
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- The core routines are a set of seven or so routines that target different types of thinking from across the modules.
- What Makes You Say That? Interpretation with justification routine
Think Puzzle Explore A routine that sets the stage for deeper inquiry
Think Pair Share A routine for active reasoning and explanation
Circle of Viewpoints A routine for exploring diverse perspectives
I used to Think... Now I think... A routine for reflecting on how and why our thinking has changed
See Think Wonder A routine for exploring works of art and other
interesting things
Compass Points A routine for examining propositions
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- Visible Thinking makes extensive use of learning routines that are thinking rich. These routines are simple structures, for example a set of questions or a short sequence of steps, that can be used across various grade levels and content. What makes them routines, versus merely strategies, is that they get used over and over again in the classroom so that they become part of the fabric of classroom' culture. The routines become the ways in which students go about the process of learning.
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- Is goal oriented in that it targets specific types of thinking
- Gets used over and over again in the classroom
- Consists of only a few steps
- Is easy to learn and teach
- Is easy to support when students are engaged in the routine
- Can be used across a variety of context
- Can be used by the group or by the individual
What makes these routines work to promote the development of a students thinking and the classroom culture are that each routine:
- You might even use more than one routine in teaching a single lesson. Thus, you shouldn't think about the routine as taking time away from anything else you are doing, they should actually enhance what you are trying to do in the classroom.
- Because of their simple nature, the routines do not need to be taught but can simply be used as a means of investigating and working with existing subject matter. Nonetheless, when teachers first introduce a routine he or she may choose to do so with one of the suggested topics or a topic that may not be a regular part of students' study. For example, the "What makes you say that?" routine might be introduced with an engaging picture or photograph, though later a teacher might want to use it with a poem, artifact, or scientific experiment. With all of the routines, teachers will need to think about what topics are most appropriate for their introduction and continued use.
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"Thinking Routines"
- Thinking Routines
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- 10 ways to encourage students to take responsibility for their learning…
- 1. Don’t make all the decisions
Allow choice. Encourage students to make decisions about how they learn best. Create opportunities for them to pursue their own interests and practise skills in a variety of ways. Cater for different learning styles. Don’t expect everyone to respond in the same way. Integrate technology to encourage creative expression of learning.
2. Don’t play guess what’s in my head - Ask open-ended questions, with plenty of possible answers which lead to further questions. Acknowledge all responses equally. Use Thinking Routines to provide a framework for students to engage with new learning by making connections, thinking critically and exploring possibilities.
3. Talk less
Minimise standing out front and talking at them. Don’t have rows of learners facing the front of the class. Arrange the seats so that students can communicate, think together, share ideas and construct meaning by discussing and collaborating. Every exchange doesn’t need to go through the teacher or get the teacher’s approval, encourage students to respond directly to each other. - 4. Model behaviors and attitudes that promote learning.
Talk about your own learning. Be an inquirer. Make your thinking process explicit. Be an active participant in the learning community. Model and encourage enthusiasm, open-mindedness, curiosity and reflection. Show that you value initiative above compliance.- love this!
- 5. Ask for feedback
Get your students to write down what they learned, whether they enjoyed a particular learning experience, what helped their learning, what hindered their learning and what might help them next time. Use a Thinking Routine like ‘Connect, extend, challenge’. Take notice of what they write and build learning experiences based on it. - 6. Test less
Record student thinking and track development over time. Provide opportunities for applying learning in a variety of ways. Create meaningful assessment tasks that allow transfer of learning to other contexts. Have students publish expressions of their learning on the internet for an authentic audience. Place as much value on process and progress as on the final product. - 7. Encourage goal setting and reflection.
Help students to define goals for their learning. Provide opportunities for ongoing self-evaluation and reflection. Provide constructive, specific feedback. Student blogs are great tools for reflecting on learning and responding to their peers. - 8. Don’t over plan.
If you know exactly where the lesson is leading and what you want the kids to think, then you‘re controlling the learning. Plan a strong provocation that will ‘invite the students in’ and get them excited to explore the topic further. But don’t plan in too much detail where it will go from there.
9. Focus on learning, not work.
Make sure you and your students know the reason for every learning experience. Don’t give ‘busy work’. Avoid worksheets where possible. Don’t start by planning activities, start with the ‘why‘ and then develop learning experiences which will support independent learning. Include appropriate tech tools to support the learning. - 10. Organise student led conferences
Rather than reporting to parents about their children’s learning, have student led 3-way conferences, with teacher and parents. The student talks about her strengths and weaknesses, how her learning has progressed and areas for improvement. She can share the process and the product of her learning.
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Kurikulum Standard Sekolah Rendah (KSSR) has been implemented starting this year to the year one pupils throughout the nation. The curriculum implemented is a revised version of the 2003 syllabus, with the focus of preparing balanced human capital that are capable of transcending over future challenges. The process of holistical changes involved the changes in the current curriculum in terms of organization, contents, pedagogical, time allocation, assessment and the management of curriculum in school. Teachers currently undergoing courses pertaining to this matter and many more are expected to go through the same exposure as the KSSR will be fully implemented by 2015.
Although I am not teaching the level one pupils this year, the panel took initiative to organize KSSR in-house training. The purpose was to inform teachers on the changes in curriculum and to avoid confusion on the subject matter. Materials were presented by GC Madam Hayati Ahmad in an organized manner and explanation were given appropriately.
Upon further readings online, I found some of the websites that provide useful articles and materials pertaining to KSSR. Bear in mind the materials are not mine, I gathered all of it from various websites, download and upload it to my slideshare account for easy viewing. The credit belongs to the owner.
KSSR Materials
Julai5 taklimat+umum+kssr(1)
Although I am not teaching the level one pupils this year, the panel took initiative to organize KSSR in-house training. The purpose was to inform teachers on the changes in curriculum and to avoid confusion on the subject matter. Materials were presented by GC Madam Hayati Ahmad in an organized manner and explanation were given appropriately.
Upon further readings online, I found some of the websites that provide useful articles and materials pertaining to KSSR. Bear in mind the materials are not mine, I gathered all of it from various websites, download and upload it to my slideshare account for easy viewing. The credit belongs to the owner.
KSSR Materials
Julai5 taklimat+umum+kssr(1)
As I'm reorganizing my stuffs on the blog, Awesome Pedagogy page is reclassified and put into T n L category. So in order not to lost this entry, I make it as a post although it has been posted quite a while.
Vocabulary learning can be explored through various channel. Multi-sensory means vocabulary acquisition through pictures, listening to word sound, repetition and the added use of movement. Kinesthetics is the intelligence that need teachers attention and utilization especially when dealing with young learners.
In teaching songs, teacher can employ the usage of pictures to assist in learning the song and guide pupils understanding.
