Last semester we held our first conversation starter to see what ideas you had for ramping up the energy in the classroom--and for some of you that meant taking your students out of the classroom! Whatever works for you, we wanted to share our contributors' great ideas and reveal the winner of the drawing for a gift certificate to the fabulous MCC Cafeteria: Susan S. in IT! Please congratulate Susan, and read on for some great ideas.
"A teacher has to also be an entertainer. An attention-grabber at the beginning of class can wake up the students and get them going; and making the class exercises and discussions relevant to the student is always helpful.
I know an English teacher that works with lower-level students, whose main form of writing up to his class has been texting. So he starts the class by asking them to text -- to a purpose. Such as, 'Write a text that would convince your mom to give you money to go to Florida for spring break'.
Then he says, 'Cut it by 50%, but still keep the meaning.' And then, 'Cut it in half again.' They end up with a short sentence that has to be both convincing and readable.
He says that after a week of these kinds of exercises, students actually ask to be able to write longer pieces, like paragraphs, then a page, and longer yet. He doesn't have to coerce them into writing, he just lets them discover the value of using language and words to convey something relevant to them." (Contributed by Susan)
"To ensure that students have been listening, reading, and understanding class material, I begin class reviewing the material covered in the previous class. The catch is this: the students lead the review. The student who walks into the class last (usually within 5 minutes into class) gets the honor of starting the review process. The student gets a marker and the whiteboard to enlighten the class on any concept we covered in the previous class. The student is required to explain in her or his own words the concept, and once that is done, must pass the baton/marker to a person of her/his choice. Initially when I started this ritual, students groaned as they were approached. Presently everyone has accepted this practice, and there are even enthusiastic students who raise their hands, wanting to go up front with the marker. As the marker is passed on we put together the material from the previous class. This doesn't take much time, but it serves to quickly review what we did the last class before we move on to the next topic. After all, twenty four hours is a long time to remember "stuff" for some young minds!
(Note: Jim Falco shared the marker technique with me. He said it got students up and moving and kept them on their toes with class material.)" (Contributed by Shiela V. in Sociology)
"I owe a debt of gratitude to Jim Gould for this suggestion, which I've used nearly every class meeting this semester. Students are instructed to spend the first 5-10 minutes of each class making notes of the "likes," "dislikes," and "confusions" of the text we're approaching that day. I call on students for their input, and we address each question as it comes up, rather than trying to discuss a reading from top to bottom. Usually the key points of a philosophy essay are found deep in the center, so a "pebble" thrown in the middle often makes the discussion ripple to all areas of the text." (Contributed by Lori K. in HSS)
"On April 1, 2011, we had a class extra credit Legal Environment of Business 2 hour trip to the McHenry courthouse. Five students listened to civil, criminal, and law enforcement officials speak the vocabulary words and explain the issues and concepts of many chapters in our textbook. The students clearly enriched their learning by seeing the legal environment and watching the decisions at trial and on appeal resolved live in front of them." (Contributed by Mary A. in Business)
Thanks to everyone who contributed!
