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One of the most interesting ideas I ever heard of came from a high school science teacher, and he loved to use playdough to demonstrate concepts. One of the kids' favorite projects was to model the torso of a human body by taking a big cereal box and cutting out the front face of it, then creating body organs out of playdough, and packing them into the cereal box, in order of course. This could be made less expensive by using homemade playdough which is just oil, salt, flour, and water.
That sounds like it would help a variety of learning types plus just be plain old fun. And, personally, I have found the more fun we can sprinkle throught the year, the more engaged the kids become. The trick of course is to find things that can be fun and still help the kids learn. The idea you posted is a good example.
1. I find one of the trickiest things about teaching to be calling on all students in an equitable way, particularly since some students are prone to being quiet, others are dying to talk all the time, and still others have learning challenges that make being called on a personal nightmare. I love the "think, pair share" strategy for this reason. When I have a problem for students to solve/question to answer, I ask them to partner with a neighbor, discuss what they think the answer is, and then share either their own thoughts or their neighbor's ideas with the class. This is particularly helpful for kids with processing difficulties. It also helps to engage children who would rather just wait for others to answer questions.
2. Research tells us that cooperative learning is great for students of all ages. Yet most of us hated it, as do our students and their parents. I really like the jigsaw technique for overcoming the common problems of group projects while still providing a great structure for learning. I think jigsaw projects are particularly well-suited for social studies and science lessons.
Thanks for the ideas!
You are so right about the problems with calling in an equal way. Think-pair-share is also a favorite of mine. Some other techniques I have seen used are talking chips (each child can and must use just their talking chips for the day) and popcycle sticks with the kids name drawn randomly from a can, then not replaced until all the names have been drawn.
The jigsaw technique is another great strategy. Thank you for including a link. My daughter's teacher used it in a new way. The students each had to create a wiki page on their topic. After the teacher verified all the content, the students used the entire wiki to complete the unit.
One of the most interesting ideas I ever heard of came from a high school science teacher, and he loved to use playdough to demonstrate concepts. One of the kids' favorite projects was to model the torso of a human body by taking a big cereal box and cutting out the front face of it, then creating body organs out of playdough, and packing them into the cereal box, in order of course. This could be made less expensive by using homemade playdough which is just oil, salt, flour, and water.
One of my favorite techniques to use when I was a substitute teacher for classroom control, was to look the class over and single out that loudmouthed young man who was likely to be a problem for me--you probably know the type. I would take attendance and then ask him very politely to take it to the office, and while he was gone I could easily gain control of the rest of the class. Then when he got back, they'd all be working and he would look much more foolish if he tried to start trouble. I'd hammer in the effects by asking him for advice or where do you keep the. . .? I didn't get a chance to use it often but when I did, it was win-win b/c I had the class on my side, as well as the loudmouthed young man.
Singling out THE distruptive student works....when there's only one of them . If they reach critical mass, I find this tactic no longer works. It is a great strategy for dealing with one or two though.
As to the playdough. Be careful here. Last year, I did a molecular shape activity with clay and tooth picks. Some of the kids would break off the tooth picks and embed them into the clay so the next person who picked up the ball to use it got stabbed with a tooth pick fragment when they tried to work the dough.
I want to do this activity again but I'd need new clay for every class to avoid this issue and I'll have to throw away what was used in the other classes. I waste more money because the students misuse what I bring in. I used clay last year thinking I'd only have to buy it once very few years. I'm not sure what I'm going to do this year. Maybe I'll just make models to show them this year.
What I really need are molecular model kits but they're too expensive.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 01-02-2010 at 08:38 AM..
Singling out THE distruptive student works....when there's only one of them . If they reach critical mass, I find this tactic no longer works.
As to the playdough. Be careful here. Last year, I did a molecular shape activity with clay and tooth picks. Some of the kids would break off the tooth picks and embed them into the clay so the next person who picked up the ball to use it got stabbed with a tooth pick fragment when they tried to work the dough.
I want to do this activity again but I'd need new clay for every class to avoid this issue and I'll have to throw away what was used in the other classes. I waste more money because the students misuse what I bring in. I used clay last year thinking I'd only have to buy it once very few years. I'm not sure what I'm going to do this year. Maybe I'll just make models to show them this year.
What I really need are molecular model kits but they're too expensive.
We've heard lots of great ideas from others of things that worked for them or teachers they know. What positive ideas do you have to share? Surely something good happened in your classroom that others might want to incorporate into their own bag of tricks. There has to be something you can think of to share that is centered on great results instead of complaints.
We've heard lots of great ideas from others of things that worked for them or teachers they know. What positive ideas do you have to share? Surely something good happened in your classroom that others might want to incorporate into their own bag of tricks. There has to be something you can think of to share that is centered on great results instead of complaints.
I'm sorry you think warning others of how some of these suggestions can go wrong is such a waste of your thread. Sorry, but after having kids impaled because I used clay and tooth picks to build models, I consider at a public service announcement to warn others to watch what activities they use such materials for. Had the exercise been doable with just clay, I wouldn't have had this issue but it involved something the students could embed into the clay that could hurt someone else. I have no idea why you think I shouldn't be passing on what I've learned when people can get hurt if I don't.
Others I've learned not to repeat are using candies to teach balancing equations. That one got me reprimanded by my administration because the kids simply threw the candies they didn't like all over the hallway . I'm brainstorming what to do for this one because I'm ready to do it in class but I won't use candy again...or clay and tooth picks which would work. I really need Santa to bring me some molecular model kits.
To the chemsitry teachers out there, what materials have you used to teach molecular shape and balancing equations that the kids didn't abuse. I prefer something that can be saved and used again next year but I'll settle for no one gets stabbed and I don't have to go clean the hallway. This is a serious request as I really should be doing a molecular shape building exercise this week and something to reinforce balancing equations next week.
I swear, I'm going to invent cheap kits for this stuff and sell them on ebay....Well, maybe they won't be cheap I've thought of using small plastic easter eggs that I could fill so that they had masses proportional to the masses of the elements being used and then use velcro on them to build the molecules. Of course I need to find the time to do this. I'd have done it over break but I couldn't find the eggs. I'll be hitting the after easter sales this year.
I have tons of sticky backed velcro strips and can get more. The sales reps used to give us sample kits all the time. This could work. Eggs are kind of shaped like the large end of an SP orbital and I can't think of a way to misuse them. Of course, I'll need balance scales for this activity but if I can't make balance scales out of dollar store materials with 10 years of engineering under my belt, I'll hang my head in shame.
I've heard of mini marshmallows and toothpicks for molecular shapes. Or tinker toys. Maybe you can find some cheap TT at a garage sale next summer.
One fun idea I did for science with my girl scouts and a middle school science class I was subbing for: Get an old fashioned milk bottle--you can get those at the grocery store with milk in them or ask the manager for a returned for deposit bottle. Then you get a hardboiled egg--med is best. You roll up a wad of newspaper and light it on fire and stick it in the bottle then set the egg on top and after a few seconds the extinguishing newspaper will suck the egg into the bottle. It's quite comical really. Even more fun is how you get the egg out. You turn the bottle upside down so that the egg blocks the opening and blow hard into it and the egg will pop right back out--make sure you blow hard b/c you don't want it coming halfway out. This would be a good one to introduce a unit and I'm sure you science teachers can actually explain how it works. Also, I guarantee that no one will sleep thru this one and they'll have a great time laughing at you with black stuff on your face from blowing into the bottle. Maybe you should find a student volunteer.
[quote=Ivorytickler;12263758]
Others I've learned not to repeat are using candies to teach balancing equations. That one got me reprimanded by my administration because the kids simply threw the candies they didn't like all over the hallway . I'm brainstorming what to do for this one because I'm ready to do it in class but I won't use candy again...or clay and tooth picks which would work. I really need Santa to bring me some molecular model kits.
To the chemsitry teachers out there, what materials have you used to teach molecular shape and balancing equations that the kids didn't abuse. I prefer something that can be saved and used again next year but I'll settle for no one gets stabbed and I don't have to go clean the hallway. This is a serious request as I really should be doing a molecular shape building exercise this week and something to reinforce balancing equations next week.
I swear, I'm going to invent cheap kits for this stuff and sell them on ebay....Well, maybe they won't be cheap I've thought of using small plastic easter eggs that I could fill so that they had masses proportional to the masses of the elements being used and then use velcro on them to build the molecules. Of course I need to find the time to do this. I'd have done it over break but I couldn't find the eggs. I'll be hitting the after easter sales this year.
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Perhaps pretzel rods instead of toothpicks? If the pretzels don't work with clay, then something lighter/softer like Play Doh or marshmallows might be possible. You couldn't reuse year after year, but it would still be fairly economical. Other substitutes - try Dollar Tree or something similar. I swear half the time I am in there trying to think of things I could use for some project/activity, I always can tell there are one or two other teachers in there trying to be creative and cheap as well. Wicci Stix could be used in place of the toothpicks - not cheap, but can be reused and shouldn't be able to be used as a surprise for the next group of kids...
Easter eggs - Have you checked Oriental Trading? That seems like something they would offer year-round.
Singling out THE distruptive student works....when there's only one of them . If they reach critical mass, I find this tactic no longer works. It is a great strategy for dealing with one or two though.
As to the playdough. Be careful here. Last year, I did a molecular shape activity with clay and tooth picks. Some of the kids would break off the tooth picks and embed them into the clay so the next person who picked up the ball to use it got stabbed with a tooth pick fragment when they tried to work the dough.
I want to do this activity again but I'd need new clay for every class to avoid this issue and I'll have to throw away what was used in the other classes. I waste more money because the students misuse what I bring in. I used clay last year thinking I'd only have to buy it once very few years. I'm not sure what I'm going to do this year. Maybe I'll just make models to show them this year.
What I really need are molecular model kits but they're too expensive.
When my students reached critical mass, I stopped what we were doing, turned out the lights and made them put their heads down for "quiet time." And yes, I did it at the high school level--"If you're going to act like children, then you will be treated like children." I know it sounds unorthodox but they never acted up like that again.
When my students reached critical mass, I stopped what we were doing, turned out the lights and made them put their heads down for "quiet time." And yes, I did it at the high school level--"If you're going to act like children, then you will be treated like children." I know it sounds unorthodox but they never acted up like that again.
The funny thing about that one is that some of these kids just love to come in and put their head down and tune out, but when you make them do it, or even give them permission to, they hate it. I remember once a kid had finished a test early and wanted to know what he could do. I suggested that he finish some homework (shakes head), read a book (wrinkles up nose), or take a nap. (look of shock and distaste) This was a kid who slept thru everything. I had to wonder: what did he think I was going to say?
[quote=buffy888;12264671][quote=Ivorytickler;12263758]
Others I've learned not to repeat are using candies to teach balancing equations. That one got me reprimanded by my administration because the kids simply threw the candies they didn't like all over the hallway . I'm brainstorming what to do for this one because I'm ready to do it in class but I won't use candy again...or clay and tooth picks which would work. I really need Santa to bring me some molecular model kits.
To the chemsitry teachers out there, what materials have you used to teach molecular shape and balancing equations that the kids didn't abuse. I prefer something that can be saved and used again next year but I'll settle for no one gets stabbed and I don't have to go clean the hallway. This is a serious request as I really should be doing a molecular shape building exercise this week and something to reinforce balancing equations next week.
I swear, I'm going to invent cheap kits for this stuff and sell them on ebay....Well, maybe they won't be cheap I've thought of using small plastic easter eggs that I could fill so that they had masses proportional to the masses of the elements being used and then use velcro on them to build the molecules. Of course I need to find the time to do this. I'd have done it over break but I couldn't find the eggs. I'll be hitting the after easter sales this year.
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Quote:
Perhaps pretzel rods instead of toothpicks? If the pretzels don't work with clay, then something lighter/softer like Play Doh or marshmallows might be possible. You couldn't reuse year after year, but it would still be fairly economical. Other substitutes - try Dollar Tree or something similar. I swear half the time I am in there trying to think of things I could use for some project/activity, I always can tell there are one or two other teachers in there trying to be creative and cheap as well. Wicci Stix could be used in place of the toothpicks - not cheap, but can be reused and shouldn't be able to be used as a surprise for the next group of kids...
Easter eggs - Have you checked Oriental Trading? That seems like something they would offer year-round.
I decided on plastic lollipop sticks. I hit the craft store this morning and walked very aisle until I ended up in the candy making aisle. They can't break them into smaller pieces and even if they do, they won't splinter like tooth picks. I did have to buy a pair of snips to cut them in half but, assuming I can actually get them all back, I'll have them for next year. Now to keep them from sticking clay to the bottoms of the tables and leaving it all over the floor. I swear my students have not been taught to clean up after themselves. The only way I can get them to clean up after labs is by assigning participation points for the lab they lose if they leave a mess.
Obviously, you were sending me telepathic messages....Before I got to the baking aisle, I thought about buying candle wick and dipping it in wax until it was thick enough that it could be used. Now I'm going to have to figure out some activity to do with Wikki Stix, lol. I think even high schoolers would have fun with that.
I've been surprised by what my kids do enjoy sometimes. I picked up an ion fit exercise from the Wayne County Resa website that both of my chemistry classes liked. This was the first time I used it and I know, for next year, to emphasize that they're supposed to WRITE the formulas when they are done. Most of my students just built the formula with ions and thought they were done, even though the instructions said to WRITE the formulas.
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. If they reach critical mass, I find this tactic no longer works. It is a great strategy for dealing with one or two though. 
Sorry, but after having kids impaled because I used clay and tooth picks to build models, I consider at a public service announcement to warn others to watch what activities they use such materials for. Had the exercise been doable with just clay, I wouldn't have had this issue but it involved something the students could embed into the clay that could hurt someone else. I have no idea why you think I shouldn't be passing on what I've learned when people can get hurt if I don't. 
. I'm brainstorming what to do for this one because I'm ready to do it in class but I won't use candy again...or clay and tooth picks which would work. I really need Santa to bring me some molecular model kits.
I've thought of using small plastic easter eggs that I could fill so that they had masses proportional to the masses of the elements being used and then use velcro on them to build the molecules. Of course I need to find the time to do this. I'd have done it over break but I couldn't find the eggs. I'll be hitting the after easter sales this year.
