I spent a week teaching reviewing nouns and the difference between common and proper nouns. Then it came time for me to gather some data of how the students were retaining this information so I chose to gather this information through an interactive quiz on Kahoot.com. Each student had their chrome books, joined the quiz, and were loving it! Problem? That they were getting nearly every question incorrect and were not able to understand why!
In my moment of frustration and sadness, I apologized to the students that I had failed at effectively teaching them what they needed to be able to demonstrate. Therefore, I thought it would be best if they took over and taught each other the different types of nouns instead. My readings on inquiry and project based learning came to mind immediately so I ran with it!
I was clear in the goal of the activity and provided them with resources and organization but the rest was up to them. What they produced was amazing.
Each table group:
- chose a type of noun to teach - common, proper, concrete, abstract, and pronoun.
- filled in a lesson plan template on a Google Doc that I shared with them
- determined HOW they were going to teach it
- included an activity to practice it
- had to imbed a G.A.T.E icon somewhere in the lesson and be able to explain
- develop an end of lesson assessment for all students
It took about an hour nearly every day for a week for them to be able to put together their ideas and I never was happier to see the business, the noise level loud, and the amount of information that THEY were collecting, organizing, planning, and creating, and delivering. Students choice from using technology to no technology. Some created Google Slides while others were going to teach kinesthetically with movement and chants. Assessments ranged from paper quizzes, to Google Forms, to their own Kahoot quiz (check out this Kahoot teaching moment). And finally, another rewarding moment was the dedication they had to see it through by grading their peers' assessments with those red pens or viewing their results and discussing (they even begged to stay in from recess to grade papers!).
The learning was engaging, created, and all participants were involved. What a great way to involve the learner into their own learning. I encourage you to give something like this a shot. It's an opportunity for you to play the role of "guide on the side" rather than "sage on the stage".
* I created an iMovie that showcased this project and will post when
