The Benefit of Seeing Strategies in Action during PD

I have had the opportunity to attend several sessions run by either Spencer Kagan, his wife, Laurie, or one of his certified trainers, and highly encourage teachers who are interested in cooperative and active learning to do so. The next time he is in Canada is in May of 08. There is more information availabe at http://www.glacie.ca/. Anyway, each time I have attended one of those sessions, I pick up so many things that can be added to virtually any lesson at any time. Here is an example from today.

The students in my grade 10 applied history class have been given editorial cartoons that deal with the day's topic since we began the unit on WW2. Sometimes they are hard to decode, but they are a great invitation for critical thinking. Today I showed them the cartoon you see posted along with this message, as well as several questions that would help them decode the puzzle (the cartoon). They had think time to generate their own answers and were told not to share any thoughts at that time. At this point I was thinking "I can use Think Pair Share or Rally Robin, but I want to incorporate some movement to keep things going." Luckily, I saw a structure used at Jeff Dane's Win Win Discipline session on the last system PD Day that fit the bill perfectly.

Students had to remain totally silent and line up from youngest to oldest. They could not write anything down or mouth the dates, only gestures could be used. It gave them a chance to get out of their desks and we shared a good laugh at the same time as they did simple charades to help their classmates figure out which way to go. Once they were in line, we checked for accuracy, then, starting with the old person, they turned to their left and that person became their partner. Partners then moved to a set of desks and they compared answers. I made them thank each other for sharing, which sometimes seems silly, but usually makes them smile (plus it's just polite!), then I called on students to help decode the puzzle. It didn't take much extra time, but it certainly energized the class.