Student Engagement Activities

Presented By: Amber Barbarow and Heather PattersonLamar CISD

ENERGIZING YOUR CLASSROOM!!

CREATING “GREAT” INSTRUCTION

KEY IS TO MAKE A “C.U.E.”

• Creativity: A Motivational ForceThe brain is looking for creativity, usefulness, or an emotional bridge (CUE) to take information from short-term to long-term memory. (Kovalik, Susan. The Model: Integrated, Thematic Instruction.)

– CREATIVITY

– USEFULNESS

– EMOTIONAL BRIDGE

DEBATE…

• 5 Key Elements for Successful Classroom Implementation– Choose the debate topic.

– Limit debate team size.

– Teach how to debate.

– Aim homework assignments at debate readiness.

– Model the separation of opinion from facts.

• See more at: http://www.brighthubeducation.com/teaching-methods-tips/126771-debate-as-an-effective-teaching-strategy/#sthash.PsjbAqsj.dpuf

• Recognize the building blocks of a solid debate. – Active participation. Each student must be

involved in the debate process. In large classes in particular, it is easy for the quieter students to stay on the sidelines. Being committed to have each learner actively involved makes debate more successful.

– Incorporation of learned facts. Students should be successful in participating simply by relying on the material that has already been taught. Especially in the lower grades, it would be inappropriate to expect a lot of additional knowledge, which would normally be the result of extracurricular reading.

– Problem-solving skills. Debate, by its very nature, is contentious. Children must learn how to work out differences logically and respectfully. In addition, youngsters must become familiar with cooperation, teamwork and contributing fairly to a joint effort. -

ARE YOU FOR OR AGAINST - - - -??

ALTERNATIVE WAYS TO USE DEBATE…

• Use Dry Erase markers on the desks/tables to state their opinion. – Have students stand as they finish.

– Switch desks with another student as they stand. (avoids down time)

– Argue the opposite viewpoint

DEBATE RESOURCES

• See more at: http://www.brighthubeducation.com/teaching-methods-tips/126771-debate-as-an-effective-teaching-strategy/#sthash.PsjbAqsj.dpuf

• http://kiwiyert.tripod.com/ideas_for_debate_topics.htm

• http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson304b.shtml

• http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/03/lp304-04.shtml

• NEWSELA.com

PARTS OF SPEECH ROCK

The new school year will be fast-paced and extremely busy.

Students anxiously visit the school to meet their new teachers.

Teachers use the library computers to have students create their edmodo accounts.

DICE GAME

• Dice Game: You will need to keep some dice handy in your room for this game, but it can be played at a moment’s notice! This is a speed game where students compete in pairs to complete their task first. To begin:– Two students sitting next to each other have one die, one pencil, and two

pieces of paper.

– When you say go, one student will begin the task with their piece of paper and a pencil, while the other student is rolling the die.

– The student rolling the die is trying to roll a 6 (or any other number that you choose).

– Once they have rolled that number, they take the pencil and give the die to their partner, who then begins rolling.

– This continues until you call time.

DICE GAME

• Teacher Tip: You want to end the game when they are at their peak of excitement; do not wait until a group finishes! You want the students to beg you to keep on playing.

• Teacher Tip: You will want the students to play this on a floor or large table, otherwise you will hear the sound of dropping dice on the floor the entire time!

• Application Ideas: Math facts, states and capitals, spelling words, favorite books, battles in a war– Alternate Application: If you want to use the dice game with writing,

you can have one piece of paper between the partners. The partners share the paper, so when the paper switches, the partner continues the sentence where the other one left off. It makes for an interesting sentence.

KABOOM• Another way to increase student engagement is a fun little game

called Kaboom! Not only is this game super fun and fast-paced, you can use it in every subject to cover a variety of topics.

Here is how you play:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMVTWsTK5ig

• Now, this game can be played in two ways- whole group or with a partner. The rules are the same and gives the game quite a bit of versatility.

**Let’s play a round and give it a whirl!

KABOOM

• Alternative Ideas: – Materials:

• bag, pringles can, wet wipes container

• Craft sticks, cards, strips of paper

– Uses of:

• Basic facts (+, -, x, /)

• Prefix / suffixes

• Antonyms / Synonyms

• Solving problems (improper fractions to mixed numbers)

MINUTE TO WIN IT• Teacher tip: sharp pencils and a copy per student of any skill that

needs practice. Great for math facts, vocabulary, spelling words, states and capitals…be creative!

• Game rules: Pencils down, hands up…you will know when to begin. (Do your own work)

Christmas Carols

Country Songs

Transportation

Sports

Beverages

Cartoon CharactersKitchen Appliances

School Supplies

World CapitalsMammals

Student Names

Candy

GOOD LUCK!

TWEET IT• Tweet It: The idea of this activity is to have your students take a

concept from your lesson or a picture that you have been using in class and have them write down a Tweet that could be used to describe it (since cell phones are a no-no in school).

• **The only rule is that you are limited to 140 characters. • The students have flexibility in their spelling and grammar usage since there is so

little space to use.

TWEET IT

• Teacher Tip: Be sure the students know the difference between a character and a word. Each time you take up a space it counts as a character, so even a space in between words is a character.

• Teacher Tip: This activity combines many skills, including summarizing, synthesizing, analyzing, and describing, so be sure to make sure the students are looking beyond just the surface level of what you have them write as their Tweet

• Application Ideas: Describing a picture from the protests in Egypt, a picture of a new planet or star, a new concept in math that they learned that day, a chapter in a book that they read

6 WORDS OR LESS• Same concept as “Tweet It”

• Summarize a lesson or idea in 6 words or less – Example: • Think about what you have learned about student engagement.

• Sum up a take away idea in 6 words of less.

• Can be used with:– VOCABULARY WORDS

– TICKET OUT THE DOOR

– CLOSE A LESSON

– CHAPTER SUMMARY

QUESTION TIME??

• Use the question board to have students create questions about a learned topic. – Make a Connect 4: Diagonally

– Draw 4-5 cards each and write the questions from the stem.

• Students can switch questions with another group/student.

• Homework questions on a unit

SPLAT• Materials: flyswatters, game board on wall

• Directions: • Select answers for the game board (any size or on large cards for table tops)

– TIP: be sure students can reach the answer choices.

• Divide students into 2 teams

• Ask a question (or have a key for a student to call out)

• First person to “Swat” the answer gets a point.

• WINNER:

– Either first team to reach a set number of points (20)

– Has the most points at the end of a set time (5-10 minutes)

Herbivore Omnivore Energy

Consumer Producer Carnivore

Decomposer Food chain Food web

Scavenger Prey Predator

22 16 24 10

18 12 21 25

14 17 19 13

23 11 15 20

DOCTOR, DOCTOR• Doctor, Doctor: Mistakes are a part of learning, so why not make

them on purpose to fix them? – Give each student an index card. (Have them put their name on the top.)

– Have them write down something based on the content being taught that they know is incorrect.

– After each student has written this down, collect the cards and redistribute them to the class, making sure the original author does not get his or her card back.

– The “doctor” now has to identify and cure the mistakes on the card by rewriting it on the back correctly.

– After this is done, give the card back to the original writer to check for correctness.

DOCTOR, DOCTORx 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

Example: Students complete the

multiplication chart inserting 10 incorrect answers

for a partner to find.

DOCTOR, DOCTOR

• Teacher Tip: After you have done this game a couple of times, encourage the students to make several mistakes on the card. Present it as a challenge to them to see who can make the most difficult to fix mistake!

• Application Ideas: Any content area can be used here: vocabulary words, grammar in sentences, during a lesson, social studies, science, etc.

DOCTOR, DOCTOR• Examples:

– Vocabulary Definitions (any subject)

• A parallelogram has only 1 set of parallel lines.

– Social Studies dates / information

– Science concepts

• As long as omnivores exist in an ecosystem, herbivores are not needed in order for the ecosystem to thrive.

• *Once students learn this activity, simply call out “DOCTOR, DOCTOR” and they should get out an index card or piece of scratch paper and write their “incorrect” information.

WEBSITE RESOURCES• NewsELA.com -current events; great for nonfiction reading and for debates.

• Wonderopolis- kids can send wonders and vote on other wonders and then read articles explaining answers to various wonders

• Socrative.com-ask questions online

• Today's Meet- online discussions

• Kahoot.it-discussions, games, quizzes

• Educreations.com- create online lessons or use already made ones

• BBC Bitesize- turns various topics into Bitesize info...be careful with various math topics that deal with money, spelling, etc. because this is a British website.

• WhyFiles.org- similar to Wonderopolis, science behind the news.

• Flocabulary

QUESTIONS???

How to Conduct a Class Debate 1. Introduce the topic

All debates start with a topic, or resolution. Often, this resolution is a proposed course of action that one team will argue for and

another will argue against. Choose a topic to which your students can relate and perhaps one with practical application. You can

make the topic less serious (the cafeteria should include more kid friendly dishes on the daily menu) or more serious (the U.S. gov-

ernment should reform its visa application process). In any case, be sure that your students understand the issue and any special-

ized vocabulary that goes with it.

2. Assign the Affirmative and the Negative

There are two sides to any debate. Naturally, one will argue for and another against the resolution. With ESL students, it is best to

group your students into teams to research and argue the issue rather than expecting one student to do all the work. This way one

student does not have all the pressure to perform, and the other members of the group can help with comprehension and strate-

gy. Ideally, break your class into four groups (you will want at least three students in each group) and assign two groups to each of

two resolutions. Then assign one of each pair of student groups to the affirmative. This group will argue for the issues being pre-

sented. The other two groups will be the negative and will argue against the resolutions. During the debate, the other groups will

serve as the judges and decide which side presented a stronger case voting for the winners of the debate at its conclusion.

3. Give Time for Research

Your students will need time to research the issue. Not only that, they will also need additional instruction on the specific vocabu-

lary that may be involved. Make sure all of your students understand any specialized vocabulary so the efficacy of their arguments

does not depend on simple comprehension. Encourage each group to form a strategy as to who will do most of the talking during

the debate though remind them that all of them are expected to participate in the research and strategy of the debate. Then, dur-

ing the preparation time in anticipation of the rebuttal, your students should discuss with their teams the points the opposition

made and decide how to refute them.

4. Keep Track of Time

If you are unfamiliar with formal debate, the speakers follow a set order. The following is the most basic of debate structure. First,

the affirmative group receives two minutes to present their case to the audience. The negative group then receives two minutes

to present their case. After both sides have a chance to speak, both teams receive two minutes to prepare a rebuttal and sum-

mary. The order of speech is reversed now and the negative side presents their rebuttal and summary for the first two minutes.

The last to speak is the affirmative team who then presents their rebuttal and summary for two minutes. The debate is now con-

cluded. There are other structures that you can follow for debate, and they may be useful once your class is familiar with the pro-

cess and strategy of debate, but if this is the first time your students are formally debating, keeping things simple is best.

5. Make a Judgment

Usually in debate, the winner is the one who has presented the strongest case. For ESL classes, the overall purpose of speaking is

more important than the specific outcome of the debate. Still, your students will probably want to know who won. To determine

the winner, have the audience vote on which team they thought made the most convincing argument. With this, weigh your own

opinion as to who communicated clearly and refuted the opponent’s arguments best. This combination will identify your winners.

Your grading process, on the other hand, does not have to name a winner and a loser. As long as your students were able to com-

municate clearly, use good grammar, and have good pronunciation, the debate was a success, and their grades should reflect that

success.

Though debates are often formal and structured, do not let them intimidate you. Controversial issues are always a great resource

for ESL students’ speaking practice, and discussing the issues in a formal manner is just as valuable as informal class discussions.

1. Should your class be permitted to go on a field trip this year?

2. Should students be required to wear uniforms at school?

3. Should you be permitted to choose whatever clothes you want to wear outside of school?

4. Should you be permitted to have a job such as mowing yards or baby-sitting if your grades are poor?

5. Should you be permitted to purchase or buy whatever you want to with your own money or allowance?

6. Should you be permitted to get any style of haircut you want?

7. Should you be permitted to have a birthday party and invite friends other than family?

8. Should you be allowed to go anywhere you want to with your friends?

9. Should you be given an allowance or maybe an increase in the amount of your allowance?

10. Should you be permitted to go to a PG-13 or R rated movie?

11. Should you be permitted to have or attend a sleep-over party?

12. Should you be permitted to have a pet?

13. Should you be permitted to join any group you want to--basketball, soccer, girl scouts, martial arts, or others?

14. Should you be required to do chores around the house? Which jobs?

15. Should you be permitted to have your own bedroom?

16. Should you have to dress up for those special occasions that your parents feel are important?

17. Should you be allowed to take up any hobby that you want to?

18. Should you be allowed to take lessons to play any musical instrument you like?

19. Should you be allowed to stay home when the family goes to visit someone for the day?

20. Should you be permitted to have a TV in your bedroom?

21. Should you be allowed to have your ears pierced or maybe pierce other body parts?

22. Should you be allowed to get a tattoo?

23. Should you be required to wear mandatory bicycle helmets?

24. Should you have homework assignments every night?

25. Should there be corporal punishment at school?

26. Does society have a right to put someone to death?

27. Should you have a curfew? If so, what time and on what days?

28. Should the cafeteria offer fast food lunches instead of cafeteria food.

29. Should school hours be changed to 12:00 to 6:00 pm.

30. Should students be allowed to bring their pets to school.

31. Why their favorite book is better than one the school makes them read.

32. Why they should have the freedom to choose their own bedtime.

33. Why they should be able to watch a certain program.

34. Why they should raise or lower the age to vote, smoke or drink.

35. Should kids between the ages of ten and thirteen be dropped off at the mall without adult supervision?

Fun Debate Strategies

The following fun strategies can be used to engage students and vary the debate structure by involving the entire class in different ways:

Three-Card strategy -- This technique can be used as a pre-debate strategy to help students gather infor-mation about topics they might not know a lot about. It can also be used after students observe two groups in a debate, when the debatable question is put up for full classroom discussion. This strategy provides opportunities for all students to participate in discussions that might otherwise be monopolized by students who are frequent participators. In this strategy, the teacher provides each student with two or three cards on which are printed the words "Comment or Question." When a student wishes to make a point as part of the discussion, he or she raises one of the cards; after making a comment or asking a question pertinent to the discussion, the student turns in the card. This strategy encourages participants to think before jumping in; those who are usually frequent participants in classroom discussions must weigh whether the point they wish to make is valuable enough to turn in a card. When a student has used all the cards, he or she cannot participate again in the discussion until all students have used all their cards.

Participation Countdown strategy -- Similar to the technique above, the countdown strategy helps stu-dents monitor their participation, so they don't monopolize the discussion. In this strategy, students raise a hand when they have something to say. The second time they have something to say, they must raise their hand with one finger pointing up (to indicate they have already participated once). When they raise their hand a third time, they do so with two fingers pointing up (to indicate they have participated twice before). After a student has participated three times, he or she cannot share again as long as any other student has something to add to the discussion.

Tag Team Debate strategy -- This strategy can be used to help students learn about a topic before a de-bate, but it is probably better used when opening up discussion after a formal debate or as an alternative to the Lincoln-Douglas format. In a tag team debate, each team of five members represents one side of a debatable question. Each team has a set amount of time (say, 5 minutes) to present its point of view. When it's time for the team to state its point of view, one speaker from the team takes the floor. That speaker can speak for no more than 1 minute, and must "tag" another member of the team to pick up the argument before his or her minute is up. Team members who are eager to pick up a point or add to the team's argument, can put out a hand to be tagged. That way, the current speaker knows who might be ready to pick up the team's argument. No member of the team can be tagged twice until all members have been tagged once.

Role Play Debate strategy -- In the Lincoln-Douglas debate format, students play the roles of Construc-tor, Cross-Examiner, and so on. But many topics lend themselves to a different form of debate -- the role-play debate. In a role-play debate, students examine different points of view or perspectives related to an issue. See a sample lesson: Role Play Debate.

Fishbowl strategy -- This strategy helps focus the attention of students not immediately involved in the current classroom debate; or it can be used to put the most skilled and confident debaters center stage, as they model proper debate form and etiquette. As the debaters sit center-stage (in the "fishbowl"), other students observe the action from outside the fishbowl. To actively involve observers, appoint them to judge the debate; have each observer keep a running tally of new points introduced by each side as the debate progresses. Note: If you plan to use debates in the future, it might be a good idea to vide-otape the final student debates your current students present. Those videos can be used to help this year's students evaluate their participation, and students in the videos can serve as the "fishbowl" group when you introduce the debate structure to future students. Another alternative: Watch one of the Online Debate Videos from Debate Central.

Inner Circle/Outer Circle strategy -- This strategy, billed as a pre-writing strategy for editorial opinion pieces, helps students gather facts and ideas about an issue up for debate. It focuses students on listen-ing carefully to their classmates. The strategy can be used as an information-gathering session prior to a debate or as the structure for the actual debate. See a sample lesson: Inner Circle/Outer Circle Debate.

Think-Pair-Share Debate strategy -- This strategy can be used during the information gathering part of a debate or as a stand-alone strategy. Students start the activity by gathering information on their own. Give students about 10 minutes to think and make notes. Next, pair each student with another student; give the pair about 10 minutes to share their ideas, combine their notes, and think more deeply about the topic. Then pair those students with another pair; give them about 10 minutes to share their thoughts and gather more notes… Eventually, the entire class will come together to share information they have gathered about the topic. Then students will be ready to knowledgably debate the issue at hand. See the Think-Pair-Share strategy in action in an Education World article, Discussion Webs in the Classroom.

Four Corners Debate strategy -- In this active debate strategy, students take one of four positions on an issue. They either strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree. See a sample lesson: Four Corners Debate.

Graphic Organizer strategy -- A simple graphic organizer enables students to compare and contrast, to visualize, and to construct their position on any debatable question. See a sample lesson using a simple two-column comparison graphic organizer in the Education World article Discussion Webs in the Class-room.

Focus Discussions strategy -- The standard rules for a Lincoln-Douglas style debate allow students 3

minutes to prepare their arguments. The debatable question/policy is not introduced prior to that time.

If your students might benefit from some research and/or discussion before the debate, you might pose

the question and then have students spend one class period (or less or more) gathering information

about the issue's affirmative arguments (no negative arguments allowed) and the same amount of time

on the negative arguments (no affirmative arguments allowed). See a sample lesson: Human Nature:

Good or Evil?.

www.educationworld.com

More Resources for Classroom Debates

http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson304b.shtml#.UpvgHRSi9CA.email