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One interesting session that I recently attended
at Interface B focused on strategies to get kids up and moving in the
classroom. This is something that is valuable to all of us, no matter the
content that we teach. These strategies can be used in a variety of ways and
for different purposes during a lesson. They are a great way to provide
cooperative learning activities for students. This post has two strategies I
intend to try out soon.
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Treasure Hunt Activity
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1
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Prepare 2-3 hunts on
post-it notes or cards (using front/answer and back/next question)
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2
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Divide class into small
groups according to your number of hunts prepared
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3
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Each group begins with a
“start card” with a problem, question, or prompt.
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4
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Teams collectively
search the room and “hunt” for the answers around the room
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5
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Each correct answers
will reveal a new question on the back for further hunting.
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6
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The team to reach “the
end” (or given achievement designated by teacher) will win.
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When to use:
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1
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When reviewing content,
practice/interaction with content
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2
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Collaborating and
re-teaching within peer groups
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Variations:
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1
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Conducting hunts with no
talking between teams
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2
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Setting time limits for
entire class
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3
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Have students create
their own “hunt” for another team to complete
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Table Texting Activity
This is a fun way
for students to interact with each other through written expression. It can be used with any piece of text or
topic. Students love it because they feel
like they are getting away with “passing notes” or texting in class.
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1
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Write an open-ended,
higher level thinking question connected to a text or topic in a question
bubble.
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2
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Give students a few
minutes to record their reply to the question in a “My Response” bubble.
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3
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They should include
their initials.
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4
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Collect papers and
redistribute them to students.
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5
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Students will respond,
in writing to question in the “Reply 1” bubble.
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6
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Collect papers and
redistribute them to students.
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7
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Students respond, in
writing to question in “Reply 2” bubble.
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8
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Repeat process until all
of the bubbles are completed.
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9
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It is then returned to
the original student.
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10
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Use “table texting” form
to facilitate a class discussion connected to the text or topic.
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