I like to use a variety of learning strategies in my classroom and workshops. This includes scenarios, role play, group discussion, inquiry projects, games, and other approaches. Of central importance in my teaching and learning practices is the emphasis upon developing critical thinking, literary analysis & discernment and professional judgement. One thing I have noticed, is that I like students to document their thinking so that they - and I - can revisit their thoughts later on. Written reflections, blog entries,
Padlet posts, and Flipgrid recordings work well for this kind of learning.
Padlet posts, and Flipgrid recordings work well for this kind of learning.
Anticipatory Activities
Like a fine restaurant gets diners ready for the main course by offering appetizers, I like to get my student ready for the concepts and thinking by using anticipatory activities. These activities are sometimes called bridges or hooks. These anticipatory activities require careful thought, I do not like them to be throw-away moments. Two of my favorites are Anticipation Guides and Do Now's. Below you will find an example of a n Anticipation Guide I used with English 10-1 on Julius Caesar and one I used with education students that alos includes an explanation of how to use an Anticipation Guide.
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Written Conversations and Forums
I like to use the forum feature in Moodle to engage students in serious conversations. An example of this can be found in the example I posted from a Chrysalids unit in "Learner Facilitator". In order to prepare students to do this kind of work I start with some simple exercises I call "Written Conversations". I got the idea from Daniels and Zemelman almost 20 years ago. I've included two examples of written conversations below. The first example I used with NorQuest faculty, the second is from when I taught EDU 300 at the University of Alberta.
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