The class write questions and answers and nominate one student to challenge the teacher. The teacher and student are asked questions alternately by the class and the challenge is for the student to ‘out smart’ the teacher. Use as a summary of the topic at the end of the lesson. Different students can take it in turns to challenge the teacher. Hopefully it will stretch them to try and devise difficult questions for the teacher.
Plenary Category
Saturday, June 6th, 2009
Challenge the teacher
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
Time for reflection…
Create a review sheet to use at the end of each topic. Students should be encouraged to reflect on their learning in terms of how well they have understood the topic. The review sheet might include a rating scale, on a scale of 1 to 4 how well have you understood this topic (1 being not understood at all and 4 being understood completely), some assessment questions, space to record how the student might improve their understanding if necessary and a ticklist of resources/notes/homework/tasks which should have been completed or collected by the student. You can monitor students review sheets and sign them off when you have checked them as a record of their learning.
Tags: rating understanding, review
Monday, May 18th, 2009
Question time
Allow ten minutes at the end of the lesson for students to write down one aspect of the lesson they did not understand onto a post-it note. The post-it note is then stuck onto the whiteboard. You pick randomly from the notes and read out the question. Class members volunteer to answer the question demonstrating their understanding of the topic. Peer explanations can often add clarity to a topic for students. If lots of students produce the same question, this flags up to you that this area may need clarification next lesson.
Tags: peer teaching, post-it, students' questions
Monday, May 18th, 2009
Five things I have learned…
At the end of the lesson allow ten minutes and ask students to write down five things they have learned during the lesson that they didn’t know before. They might write these onto mini whiteboards to avoid anyone loafing. Simple but effective. Go round the class and each student must contribute one thing they have learned; try to go round the whole class without any repetition. Keep them on their toes by asking random students to explain the thing they have learned to the whole class.
Tags: five things, mini whiteboard
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
Talk for a minute on…
Allow 5 minutes at the end of the lesson and choose 3 or 4 students to talk for a minute on a specific topic which they have studied in the lesson today. They have to keep it flowing and cannot repeat themselves, if they do they are ‘buzzed’ out by the teacher. Offer a reward for the best attempt at keeping it going for a minute.
Tags: talk