Active Learning

Active Learning

This week we looked at Active Learning in the classroom. Active Learning is all about getting students more involved in their own learning.  Letting them collaborate together, investigate, create, and make those real world connections to their own lives. Getting away from all day whole group direct instruction.  Having the teacher leave the center stage and become the facilitator so students can shine in their own learning. 

I really enjoyed this assignment.  I'm not new to the idea of active learning in my classroom.  I tend to get bored listening to myself speak and I love to hand it over to the kids.  I love to see my students collaborate together.  Even though now I only teach math, I really get goosebumps watching them engage in math talks and discussions with one another. I have always been a huge fan of Kagan Strategies, I included a link to some of my easy favorites to do in class. With math, there are so many things to do to infuse active learning in the classroom.  From math games or students creating their own math games, to problem solving in groups, Kagan Coaching pairs, acting out problems, math talks or even the use of Plickers there are so many things to bring to the class. Admittedly, the technology part is where I am lagging.  

My Padlet 

With that being said, I had another technology first, creating a Padlet.  It was a creative way to report brief and meaningful information that I had learned from this week's assignment.  I read a closed blog from a young actor called Greetings from Room 211.  This blog was a way for the actor, Max, to keep in contact with his class while he was filming.  Max does a great job keeping his class involved in what it was like to be a young actor.  From working on the set, working with other mature actors, missing his family, researching his role to the challenges he faced playing a character with a serious illness.  His classmates seemed enthralled to be involved with this process and see what he was doing from day to day.  I loved that they were able to ask questions. However, I would have liked it if Max could have answered more of his classmates' questions. I also looked up the movie he was in to view the trailer.  I added the link to my Padlet. 

When Planning a lesson I do plan to insert active learning opportunities when as much as I can. (Sometimes those moments also just happen.) It has become easier to do since I only teach math and can focus purely on one content area.  I can see using Padlet in my class.  Off the top off my head, I can see students using it to write their own story word problems or show the different steps to multiple word problems.  Perhaps each Padlet can show a different way to represent a number or used to have students to show their understanding of vocabulary. The Padlet was very easy to use and that I appreciated so I will feel comfortable using it with my students.