Top Ten Engagement Strategies Cooperative Learning

Stand up; Hand up; Pair up

Directions: 1. The teacher asks a question or assigns a

learning task 2. All students stand up; put one hand up; move

around the classroom; and quickly form a pair by high-fiving another student. Partners put hands down and stand next to each other once the partnership is formed.

3. Students work together to answer the question or complete the learning task.

Stir The Class

Directions: 1. Students get into teams of 4 and number off

within the team (1-4). 2. The teacher asks a questions and teammates

huddle to determine a response. 3. The teacher calls a number (1-4) and sends

students with that number to a different team. The teammate that moved summarizes what their old team talked about.

4. Continue this process multiple times, asking new questions and moving different students.

Turn Toss

Directions: 1. Students get into small groups, sitting in a

circle. 2. Each group has a small ball. One team member

asks a question relating to the instructional topic, and then tosses the ball to a teammate.

3. That teammate catches the ball and answers the question. He/she then asks a different question, and tosses to another teammate. Repeat until time is called.

A-Z Brainstorming

Directions: 1. The teacher provides a topic (adjectives, cities

in Missouri, U.S. Presidents, etc.). 2. Give each pair one sheet of paper with the

letters A-Z written vertically down the left side. 3. Ask students to work together to brainstorm

words that fit within the topic.

Find the Fiction

Directions: 1. Using personal information for team building

or content from your curriculum, each student writes three statements, two true and one false.

2. Students take turns reading their statements and the rest of the class writes down what they think is fiction

Formations

Directions: 1. The teacher asks the class to use their bodies

collectively to form something (letters, punctuation marks, etc.)

2. Teams (or the whole class) discuss how they will use their bodies to create the assigned formation.

3. Students move to position themselves to create the formation.

Inside-Outside Circle

Directions:

1. Students stand in one large circle to form pairs. One student in each pair steps inside the circle and turns to face their partner, creating an inside and an outside circle.

2. The teacher asks questions, prompting the inside circle to answer and then the outside circle to answer.

3. Once the question is answered, the outside circle rotates one partner and a new question is posed.

Memory Map

Directions: 1. Divide the class into groups of 4. Ask a student

from each group to view a picture or a diagram for 10 seconds.

2. They then return to their group and draw or write all they can remember. Ask the second person to repeat the exercise and to build upon what the first person has contributed. Repeat until all 4 students have had a go.

Freeze Frame

Directions: 1. Ask groups of 5 students to create a living

snapshot of their learning so far. 2. Have the rest of the class guess what the

group is doing. 3. Repeat so every student has an opportunity

to show their learning.

Taboo

Directions: 1. Describe a word, concept, character, event or

calculation to a partner or group, without saying the taboo words.

2. Once the word is guessed correctly, a new word is described

3. This game is a great way to review vocabulary