Summarizing with Think-Pair-Share

Oh I love think-pair-share and so do my students.  Can you imagine sitting in a classroom for 6 hours listening to an adult drone on and on about random things? Neither can our students.  They can't sit quiet and stay engaged...they simply can't! 

To continue with the theme of 10-2 (10 minutes instruction and 2 minutes to summarize learning) I will showcase T-P-S in the ways we use it in my classroom. 

When do I use it?

• When the students are too quiet and have that look of "la-la-land" on their faces...time to talk!
• When the students are too chatty ...let them chat on topic!
• use it in every subject all throughout the day...

Why do I use it?

• Sometimes we think that kids have to write down thoughts to prove they learned it.
• Not all kids like to write...
• It is low risk - they are sharing their thoughts with only one other person...ideal for the shy kid.
• Verbal expression cements knowledge.
• Other students can catch misunderstandings quickly!
• It is fun!

How do I use it??

• Sometimes we turn and talk to the person next to us.
• Sometimes we find a friend at another table (allows for movement, too)
• Sometimes we are paired up by clock buddies
• Sometimes we share with more than one person

Enjoy engaging your learners...

Summarize your thinking....

We know how important it is to summarize your thinking every 10 minutes in a lesson.  You have heard about 10-2 haven't you?  For every 10 minutes of instruction, you need to allow the kids 2 minutes to process the information by sharing with a friend, writing or drawing in a notebook or summarizing their thinking verbally. 

This week I will share some of my favorites...Do you use Graffiti Walls?

Grafitti walls can be used in several ways.  Sometimes I create several charts with headings within the topic of study.  For example, when learning about Magnetism and Electricity I could create individual charts that say Famous Scientists, Circuits, Electromagnets, Magnets.  The students would travel from poster to poster adding new information with a word, phrase or picture.  This method is great if you have a group that needs to move - because they have ample opportunity to move with a purpose!

Another way to summarize thinking is to create their own grafitti walls.  Sometimes you have a very visual groups that loves to color!  If so, this is a great way to get a formative assessment prior to an end of unit test.  This way you can catch any misconceptions and correct them before it is too late.

ABC to XYZ

This is a fun way to summarize...using the Alphabet! 

I have created this ABC brainstorming chart to use as table groups to review content vocabulary from science and social studies.  You can give them a time limit (if you have a competitive bunch) or turn it into an ABC book. You can download this here for free. 






      But I have a few other tricks up my sleeve....

    1.  Randomly assign a letter of the alphabet to each student.  (You can do this by passing out a magnetic letter.)   Then, give them one minute to think of a word that summarizes the lesson or reminds them of the content we are studying.  Whip around the room to share.
    2.  Put a bunch of magnetic letters in a bag...have the student pick out of the bag and write the word on an index card.  Then you can try to group the words together by categories.
3.  Give students a key word that you are studying - such as resource.  Then, you can turn that word into an acrostic poem to summarize learning on an index card.

Enjoy engaging your learners....

Rate your understanding....

Do you use formative assessments in your classroom?  I use it all the time to gauge what my kids are learning....There are many ways to do a quick check - and my favorite is through a simple rate your understanding activity.

How do you do this?  You can do this anytime during instruction.  At the beginning of a lesson you can ask students to share with you how they feel about their understanding of the current content....do you feel like you know it so well you can teach it to others? (thumbs - up) Do you feel like you have a few questions, but generally get it....(thumbs sideways) Do you feel completely lost?  (thumbs down)  Kids begin to feel ownership towards their learning when they are able to tell you if they are on track or not.  Of course, you (the ultimate professional) needs to make sure that you touch base with the student individually so that you can clarify their misunderstandings. 

Some students aren't as comfortable having this information so visible to others...especially in the upper grades.  I recognize that and so another option is to have the students write on their paper - U for up, S for sorta, and D for down.  My students like this because it is more private and personal.  We use this code on our papers, on exit cards, on sticky notes or whatever you wish...


You can download these posters for FREE here.... You can hang these in your classrooms for a visual reminder.

Don't you love Patricia Polacco?

One of my favorite Civil War stories is Pink and Say.  Have you read it to your upper grade students?  You should...

Pink and Say highlights the brief but intimate friendship of two young boys, Pinkus Aylee (Pink) and Sheldon Curtis (Say), during the Civil War. When wounded attempting to escape his unit, Say is rescued by Pink, who carries him back to his Georgia home where he and his family were slaves. The story is heartwarming and full of perspective from the war...

My other favorite story by her is Just in time Abraham Lincoln.  This one lends itself to our boys who in this day and age are obsessed with war games - video games where killing is sport.  In this book, the two boys step back in time into a real battle of the Civil War - Antietam.  They also meet up with the famous photographer Matthew Brady.

As a follow up to that book, I created a simple power point with real photos from Matthew Brady...including ones from the battle of Antietam as portrayed in the story.

You can download it for FREE here...

 

Morning Messages...kid's choice!

During the summer, I found a wonderful resource from the ClutterFree Classroom. It is called 180 Attendance questions or Journal Prompts. 

I purchased this and made a copy of it to keep in my classroom.  It is a great way to start each day!  The students love looking through the questions and choosing a question of the day.  We keep track of which question we have used by checking them off on the nice box provided by each question. 

Question of the Day is a job in my classroom.  When it is your job, you get to choose the question and write it on the board for other's to answer each morning.  It is one of our favorite parts of our day!

How do students show they UNDERSTAND?

My principal has been leading us through a wonderful professional development on Differentiated Instruction by Carol Tomlinson and Jay McTighe.  One of the key points from today was how do you know your kids are understanding?

Carol Tomlinson says "Understanding comes as a result of actively thinking and processing information..."

"When we ask students to use their knowledge and skills in service of an understanding, then they can apply ideas, extend ideas, defend ideas.."

We just completed a project based lesson in which the kids became researchers about our three abolitionists - John Brown, Harriett Tubman and Nat Turner.  When they were finished with their research, they were asked to work with a group to show what they learned.  They were given these choices:

• Create a game show or game format
• Write and Act out a skit
• Create a puppet show 
• Design a poster

This go around, I had skits, a puppet show and many game shows.  One of my groups learned how to input questions on the smart board as part of their product while another made up a game where they rang a bell when they knew the answer.  Were the students engaged?  100%