Tuesday, August 13, 2019
Integrating Hands-on Activities to Engage Your Students!
I have had a request from the field for more hands-on classroom ideas to engage adult ed students and to provide a richer learner experiences. I'm asking our experienced teachers who have become Special Learning Needs Specialists to post some of their ideas for our Illinois teachers. Let's use this "back to school" time to think about reaching our students through differentiated instruction - especially through hands-on activities. Feel free to share your ideas whether you are a Specialist or not. Simple ideas welcome!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Some of our instructors use kahoot.com in the classroom. This is a free program and it is interactive. If a student is struggling with passing the Constitution, the instructor can create questions on kahoot.com to help the student study. It is also a way to allow students to use their phones in the classroom and interact by playing games. The students can make up their names and put emojis by their names.
ReplyDeleteI like making manipulatives for my students. All you need is a paper cutter and you can turn anything into manipulatives. I've had my students put sentences in the correct order to form a paragraph, put words in the correct order to form a sentence, match words and definitions or amendments and freedoms. They can be used at any level for any subject. I just print my words and definitions in large print and space them out well on the page and then cut then into small pieces. You can also just write them or glue them on index cards. I also like to have this be a pair or small group activity. It's a good way to get people up and moving and relieve some stress in the middle of a long class.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Heather! What a simple and easy way to get your class moving AND to make learning fun. Engaging the brain and the body at the same time helps to learn and retain!
ReplyDeleteSally Guy from Elgin has the following suggestion to add to our hands-on ideas:
This is one hands on activity I like to use with all students, as it is engaging as well as helpful in understanding the concept of conservation of matter in science lessons. You need a water bottle filled about 3/4 full, a non-inflated balloon, and a tablet of alka-seltzer. This demonstrates the 3 states of matter: solid, liquid, gas. Drop the alka-seltzer tablet into the water, and immediately put the balloon on top of the water bottle. As the solid tablet dissolves, the balloon fills with gas, showing that matter isn't lost or destroyed...merely changing states. This is fun doing it in groups or asking a couple of students to assist in demonstrating the concept.
Thanks to Sally! Take Sally's suggestion and start with a science lesson. What a great way to engage your students! Science can be a great spring board to additional learning lessons. Even if everything doesn't go perfectly (they will in Sally's room...but often don't in Sarah's), making learning fun and learning why things didn't go right are not only great content lessons but life lessons as well. Science Rules!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I have used flashcards for studying the Constitution for a long time, we recently put all of them on Quizlet.com which the students can use on their smartphones. There are various options to use, such as matching and "concentration." Some still prefer the physical flashcards, but it gives some choices in how the students learn. I also use manipulatives for putting sentences and paragraphs in order. It works with individuals or pairs. We've made some basic 3-D geometric figures to help with volume and surface area. To calculate area and perimeter we often measure various things in the classroom or draw simple and more complex figures on graph paper. It gets students moving and often working together. Individual candy packages work for ratio/proportion/probability with a little incentive to eat them! Making charts and graphs can be used across the content areas. One last thing...try making oobleck or the naked egg experiment for a bit of science chemistry (or just be a kid!)
ReplyDeleteIt is important for our instructors to understand how each student learns. Here is a great survey that students can take to find out the type of learner that he or she is.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Special-Education-Services..
I have been sharing my specialist training with two staffs of Adult Educators. While preparing for this, I have found some resources that I used.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.livebinders.com/play/play/816321
https://wvde.state.wv.us/abe/tcher_handbook_pdf/section3.pdf
Julie Frost julie.frost@d214.org