Blog #4 - ENGAGED LEARNING!

     This has been the perfect week to study this subject!  I have had the opportunity to see so many examples of engaged learning, and it is exciting!  I love that moment when you see all the students completely transfixed, and thoroughly invested in what is being presented/taught.  It's those moments, when everyone is happy and engaged that you know EXACTLY why you want to become a teacher.

    This week my teacher introduced "word wall."  Since trying to get the students to work on writing, and their spelling words was becoming a challenge, (mainly because they were bored to death, you could tell) she made it a fun interactive game.  She gave each student several pieces of paper, with multiple pictures on them, only they weren't complete pictures they were blown up sections of other pictures.  All these pictures related to their spelling words, but you honestly couldn't tell by just looking at the blown up fragment.  Then she sent them on a "word hunt." All around the school, taped to walls were the complete picture and the student had to find,  and identify that picture then write the word that corresponded to it.  It was a blast!  We took the students out in small groups of four, and even our most stubborn writers loved every minute of it!  They got to use movement, puzzle solving, and even a little collaboration as the students worked together to figure out which fragment fit each larger picture.  Everyone finished the paper, and did really good work.

    Many of the students in my class struggle with math, they definitely suffer from different degrees of math anxiety, and every time it is time for math we just know the melt downs are going to start.  Except....twice a week as a reward for working hard the previous day the students get to use a program called I-Ready on the I-Pad.  It's the use of technology at it's best!  I love this program.  It turns math into games and ALL the students become engaged and active.  They are having so much fun, they don't even realize they are learning.  This is an excellent example of how the right technology can be used for engagement.  

    For science on Fridays we usually start by watching a video on YouTube from Science Max.  This week the teacher showed a 12 minute collaboration video of some of their best experiments.  After the students all ooooohed and awwwed over all the cool stuff we could never do because we don't have a cool expensive science lab, the teacher brought out a huge box of random stuff.  The plan was for the students to break into small groups, pick their favorite experiment we had just watched, and find a way to duplicate it, or do something similar using the articles from the box, or anything else they found around the room.  It was a huge success, and so much fun to watch their minds go to work.  They were using problem solving skills, collaboration, and even student presentation as they showed each other what they had come up with.  It was a fun day, and one where we as teachers and aides just got to sit back and watch as the students ultimatley taught themselves.