The booklet has lots of pictures - I don't have the technological skill to understand how to load them into my blog.........so, apologies, this FIRST THINGS FIRST! extract is without pictures!
John
MOTIVATION and ENGAGEMENT
I’m privileged. In my 50 years
in education, I have worked with many, many master teachers. I saw how they
involved and how they motivated communities of learners through a range
of authentic and engaging activities and rituals. I saw how they teachers created a classroom
ethos that encouraged students to work collaboratively.
Motivation is critical for learning, Learning does not take place
without a motivational event. (Girmus, 2008).
** This booklet describes a variety of ‘ice breaker’ motivational strategies
– in no particular order of importance - that may engage your students.
CONTENTS
1.
What’s in the tin?
2.
How to make a pocket
museum
3.
What’s on the Museum Table?
4.
The
story of the cottonwood star
5.
Young scientist - in a bag!
6.
Reading The New York
Times
7.
Building
a bridge
8.
Building
a tower
9.
Make
the world’s smallest boomerang.
10.
Young scientist
certificate
11.
Flip Flops
12.
Spool and tin dragsters
13.
Straw
rockets
14.
Capture
the moment – forever!
15.
What
to do with picture cards
16.
Everyone has a story to tell
17.
Filtering
your thoughts
18.
What
to do with blank index cards
Let’s start with: What’s in the OLD OXO TIN?
This is my favorite icebreaker, one I use to stimulate
curiosity, one that creates an atmosphere, one that tells my students a little
about me.
When everyone is seated in a circle around me, I slowly take
an old tin from my pocket. I open it ………slowly. Inside is a small pebble I
found many, many years ago. It’s my wishing rock. I put it in the palm of my
hand. I then close my eyes and send everyone in the class the BIGGEST wish!
At the end of the day, I give each student an empty tin
(usually an old, rusty one) to take home and fill it with an artifact that has
a story. The next day each student shares what’s in their tin, first with a
small group, then, if appropriate, with the whole class. Then, they put their
tins – their POCKET MUSEUMS ,
as I call them – on the classroom MUSEUM
TABLE. ** This table is
looked after by me and the kids.
How to make a pocket museum
You need a tin, a piece of felt, scissors, glue, and an
artifact or two (or more).
- Cut the felt to size.
- Glue the felt inside
the tin.
- Glue
rocks/minerals/crystals, the date, and,
- hey, you have your pocket museum!
The young
scientist - in a bag!!
I heartily recommend this icebreaker to use at the
beginning of a new academic year. It’s easy to resource and easy to put in
action. All each student needs is a large paper bag, a marker pen, and a sheet
of white paper.
I model the process by putting my paper inside the
bag. Holding my pen in hand, I rest it on the middle of the paper and let the
bag cover my hand. Then I look at a person next to me, and without looking
inside the bag, I proceed to draw his/her face.
When I’ve finished, I ask the students to look at
their neighbor person and do what I did – draw the person’s face, resisting the
temptation to look in the bag! The room goes quiet as the students draw, and
then erupts into laughter when the results are shared.
** As a follow on to this, can your students draw a picture that shows how their brains work? This activity always produces amazing pictures.
CAPTURE the MOMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MY SECOND FAVORITE!!
This requires some creative thinking! When the kids are highly involved in the hands-on
activities, quarter fill a plastic bottle with water. When your classroom is REALLY
buzzing, stand in the middle of the room. Turn the bottle upside down over a
bowl.
Take off the top.
As the water runs out, the
air and the atmosphere of excited learning rush in! Think about what you’ve
done. You have captured the time and the moment, the smells and the sounds……forever!
Cottonwood STARS
I collect dead cottonwood twigs. When I break one at the growth scar, I find a beautiful star inside the twig, if I’m REALLY lucky, I bind them in threes and give them to my students, telling them the Native American legend that all stars in the sky come from the earth below our feet. I show them where and how to snap the twigs.
The Secret
of the Star…..
Some
Native Americans believe all things come from Mother Earth.
They
believe that stars form in the earth and search for the roots of
the
magical cottonwood trees.
They finally come to
rest in the small twigs at the end of the cottonwood branches. Here, they
wait.................until they are needed. When the Spirit of the Night Sky
decides that she needs more twinkling, beautiful stars, she calls on the Wind
Spirit to shake all the cottonwood trees.
The
Wind Spirit blows and blows, and as the cottonwood twigs break off, the
twinkling stars are released and race up to a special place in the Night Sky.
If
YOU want to add a new star to the
night sky, find some secret cottonwood twigs, wait for a clear night, and hold
up your twigs to the sky - and SNAP!
Then,
look up into the night sky again.
Can
you see YOUR star twinkling?
Imagine
- you have added a beautiful new star
to the night sky kingdom.....
I tell my class how I’m looking forward to
everyone shining like stars!!
Reading the Tuesday NEW YORK TIMES
science section
Tuesday’s edition of the New York
Times has a science section. My wife, Jeannine, glances through the science
section over breakfast, choosing one topic to share with her students during
classroom science time. She tells me how that motivates discussion and science
activity with her students.
** Easily resourced yet challenging ‘hands-on’
activities
The MARBLE RUN
I challenge my class to
work in groups of two to use the materials supplied (sheet of card stock,
strips of paper, adhesive tape, and a marble) to build a marble run.
I challenge my students
to:
- Make a
vertical marble run.
- Make a vertical marble run that takes 20 seconds for the marble to complete its travels.
BUILD a
BRIDGE from newspaper
I supply a complete Sunday New York Times for each group –
and a roll of tape.
I challenge my class to work in groups of four to build a
paper bridge that links two tables
together AND is able to support the weight of a brick at its center point.
BUILD A
TOWER as high as you can from 6 sheets of typing paper – and a roll
of tape! ** Can it support a glass
of water at the top?
**
Sometimes I leave 10 index cards in the middle of each classroom table. I
challenge the class to build a structure as high as they can WITHOUT tape! I
end each of these team-building activities with a discussion focused on:
** What team roles did your group use to respond to the
challenge?
Use a blank index card to make the world’s
SMALLEST boomerang!
I give every student 1 index
card and a pair of scissors and challenge him/her to make the world’s smallest
boomerang!
·
Cut out a 1” square from one of the file cards
·
Draw and cut out a small boomerang
· Use the other card as the launching platform.
· Balance the boomerang on the edge and flick with
your finger.
And the challenge?
Can
you get the boomerang to return and land on the launching platform?
These activities
have all the potential for super duper curiosity-arousing projects!!
Can you make a spool dragster?
This toy is made from a wooden spool and is powered by
a rubber band. When you wind it up it
will creep forward and climb over small obstacles.
What you need:
· A small plastic or wooden spool
- A rubber band
- A bead
- A paper clip
- A matchstick.
- Some sticky tape
What you do:
- Open up one of the paper clips and use
it to thread the rubber band through the spool and the bead.
- Pass the matchstick through the loop of
the rubber band coming out of the bead and secure it with a matchstick.
- Tape it down.
- Wind it up and let it go.
- What happens?
- Can you make it go further and faster?
* When
you twist the rubber band chain, you stretch the rubber band and wind it up.
This creates and stores potential energy.
The
rubber band unwinds and converts the potential energy into kinetic energy.
Can you make
a Tin Can dragster?
Does it go faster/further than the spool?
Let’s make a strocket
You need: Scissors Tape/Glue
Pencil Straw
Here’s what you do:
- Cut out the body of the strocket from the template below.
- Wrap the paper around your pencil lengthways and tape/glue it tight.
- Cut out the two fin sections and glue them carefully at the bottom of
the rocket. Put your initials on the fins.
- Twist the top of the rocket into a tight nosecone.
- Remove the pencil and insert your straw.
- Aim your strocket to the ceiling and blow
– HARD!!
Launch it three times and record the distance it flies each
time.
1.
2.
3.
Um, why is it necessary to twist the nosecone?
Everyone has a story to tell
I often began a Monday morning class by asking: “Does
anyone have anything to share? I do………” and I tell them what happened over
my weekend. Someone always has an experience to share that draws everyone’s attention.
Filtering
those thoughts
Students, particularly middle schoolers, come to class with a lot on their minds. They
need time to transition from there to here or here to there.
Sometimes, I ask my classes to take no more than five
minutes to write some of their thoughts on a filter paper, and thus filter out
what’s going on inside their heads.
Each student writes on his/her filter paper and then shares
with another person. When the time is up, it’s time to move on with the lesson.
I also use blank index cards for a variety of
community-building strategies - and for data collecting. My prompts for using
the blank cards include:
·
What I don’t want to write
about……….. What I like and what I dislike
·
I liked this lesson
because………………….. I didn’t quite understand …………………..
Picture Postcards
I collect pictures from newspapers that I think are
interesting and provocative. Sometimes I use them in class. I also collect
interesting black and white art cards from a local bookshop. I give each
student and ask: Can you think of a
caption?
The students share their captions with a colleague.
…………………………………………………………………………………………
** OK, that’s it. I use
stacks more………Which activity did you like best? Will you try it out in your
classroom? If so, I’d like to hear how it went – if it helped you build
community in your classroom. If
you’re interested in a few more ideas, contact me: Johnpaull2011@gmail.com Or
take a look at my blog: www.mywishingrock.blogspot.com
Oh, PS: kids always enjoy these activities.
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