Judy and I have been combining our classes and our creative brain power to "lens up" our science and LA.
I continue to believe that we (with a focus on our students) definitely learn better when we have fun. This was a dominant theme last year when we spoke with our students about their experience in the TADL project.
We have a very different group of students this year and these invigorating lessons that include combining almost 60 kids can make for more challenging management of the students. I keep reminding myself that the enthusiasm the students show is really what we are after and this is a different experience for them, a worthwhile experience.
I hope with continued exposure to the "Lens Method" they will become better at self regulating, the whole repeated practice element. It is worth it due to the positive responses from the students and the level of achievement, retention of learning they demonstrate. So far in science, where we are doing the most lens work the overall class achievement is significantly higher than other subject areas. Also this is the area where we as teachers and our students have been having the most fun together, not a coincidence.
So I remind myself, stay the course, it is worth it, we are on the right track, our students benefit as we learn best when we have fun!
Thursday 8 November 2012
Making Memories??? Digestion Machine Video
We are currently learning about the human body in science. We created a digestion machine to demonstrate the digestive process.
The goal was to make it memorable. When we think back to childhood memories what makes things memorable? Connections to emotions, strong feelings, sights, sounds, smells... Don't want our students to file the information away in the "boring forget it in a week" place.
Response to the demonstration was very positive. Heard from a lot of parents at p-t conferences that this was the first thing their child wanted to share about with great enthusiasm when they got home from school.
Will assess for knowledge retention this week to find out if the method was effective and helped form real memories.
P.S.
I originally wrote this a couple of days ago and have since given a quiz on the content covered. The students did very well with no study time provided (on purpose) hopefully a memory has been created that leads to real long lasting learning.
Had some difficulty posting the video, so have put it on youtube, copy and paste the links below into your browser address bar, be sure to open a new window in your browser:
The goal was to make it memorable. When we think back to childhood memories what makes things memorable? Connections to emotions, strong feelings, sights, sounds, smells... Don't want our students to file the information away in the "boring forget it in a week" place.
Response to the demonstration was very positive. Heard from a lot of parents at p-t conferences that this was the first thing their child wanted to share about with great enthusiasm when they got home from school.
Will assess for knowledge retention this week to find out if the method was effective and helped form real memories.
P.S.
I originally wrote this a couple of days ago and have since given a quiz on the content covered. The students did very well with no study time provided (on purpose) hopefully a memory has been created that leads to real long lasting learning.
Had some difficulty posting the video, so have put it on youtube, copy and paste the links below into your browser address bar, be sure to open a new window in your browser:
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