The most important question to learning experience planning is "How will students learn best?"
Elements to support that learning include the following:
Set the Stage for Learning
- Class bulletin board with overview of unit, main vocabulary, and visual models.
- Encourage good nutrition--lots of water, healthy snacks.
- "You are there" Experience
- Have students answer and discuss this question, "Why will learning this topic benefit you?"
- Provide concrete learning experience related to concept, skills, knowledge.
- Create a hook or surprise to engage learner's emotions.
Immersion
- Concrete, relative learning experience such as case study, field trip, interview. . .
- Provide an engaging multi-modal learning activity, preferable a team project that includes building, finding, exploring, or designing
- Put on a skit, create a newspaper, produce a commercial
- Provide choice to allow learners to explore the subject using their preferred learning modalities - visual, auditory, kinesthetic. . .
- Utilize a well-designed, engaging computer program (computer game)
For Every Learning Experience
- Connect learning to students' own experiences and interests
- Have learners set goals, discuss goals.
- Brain wake-ups, cross laterals
- De-brief last lesson
- Look for synergy of topics in math and across discipline
- Design evaluation rubric or procedure "How will you know when you know this?"
- Online exploration of topic
- Use debate
- Teach others with small groups, pairs, whole class
- lots of choice
- differentiation
Study
- unguided reflection
- write about what you learn
- walk, talk, and review what you've learned
- stretch, relax
- provide a music study area
- discuss learning with friends and family members
Review/Confirm Learning
- Present learning to one another
- Interview and evaluate each others' learning
- write a news report, article, blog post about the learning
- create/share a project that demonstrates the learning
- Create and take a quiz that is verbal and/or written
Celebrate/Integrate
- fun, light, joyful
- decorate the environment
- invite parents or other classes to share in the learning
- have a theme party
- incorporate the learning in future learning
