What Works

To cultivate interaction I have incorporated an activity that allows the students to take turns at the board, asking questions of another student and documenting the answers/information on a graph/chart that is already on the board. The student is then replaced by the student who answered the questions. This continues until all have had the opportunity to ask/survey a student as well as answer the questions themselves. This particular activity helps to eventually alleviate any inhibitions a student may have and it draws them into interaction with other students. Many times I’ve seen the students’ feelings and emotions “lighten up”, which also allows them to take in information more easily.

Dean Reusser (Mustang Public Schools):

When considering Krashen’s theory of language learning and language acquisition, I began to see a need for providing more comprehensible input, information that is more accessible to the student. One thing I’ve done is search out lower level reading books for the students. Krashen has suggested in an article that Sweet Valley High and Sweet Valley Kids books are a great series. I’ve also purchased a series of Tree House Adventures books. The students were pleased to find books at a lower level that they could more comfortably attempt to read.

Another way of getting interaction among my students with non-ELL students was to begin doing “conversation practice interviews”. What better way to provide accessible, meaningful conversational input than the students’ peers. Students are provided questions based on their level from beginners or intermediate or advanced students. I wanted the students’ affective filter to be a little higher so they would try harder in expressing ideas correctly including pronunciation and speaking clearly and/or more slowly with the non-ELL high school student.

-Jump Rope Spelling

With English language learners in class (lower elementary) I like to use strategies that can help them better and faster. I increase their interaction by doing activities in small groups. We get some jump ropes and use the jump rope while we have to spell each word out. Each time they jump they have to spell out a letter.

-Acting Out Action Verbs

I also like to group the kids in pairs. Each pair has an action word that they have to act out. The students who are sitting have to say the action that the pair is acting out. This activity is fun because the two students are working as a team; it helps them be social and not to be shy. 

-“How do you do that?” Writing Activity

One area for enhancing student knowledge growth is interaction. Swain has developed a scientific study emphasizing comprehensible output, where students use real life situations to “negotiate meaning”. One of the activities that I have used with my students is to first have the student, in a writing activity, describe “how to do something”. One of my favorite topics is “How do you tie your shoe laces? Describe in detail the steps of tying your laces”. After the writing assignment I will have students take turns, one reading his description and the other doing what is read. The students not only enjoy acting out something, but they learn from each other how important details are in writing and speaking.

-Newspaper Scavenger Hunt

One of my favorite activities is a scavenger hunt through the newspaper. All of my students are given a newspaper, a set of questions, and a highlighter. I preview the newspaper first and compile a list of 20-25 questions. The group will work together to find and highlight the answers in the newspaper. The students enjoy the activity because they are allowed to group together to find a common answer. They think of it as a game and thus the “affective filter” is lowered. Not only do the students have a chance to find the kinds of information the newspaper has, they also are working on reading and writing skills. The questions are leveled starting with knowledge questions and moving to evaluation questions.

Another variation of this activity is having the students work together and writing their own questions. This is a difficult skill for them to master, but they do well if it is modeled for them beforehand. They also consult group members if they are having a problem thinking of a question. Most of the questions the students come up with are knowledge-based questions so I try to work on that skill with them.

-The Brain: A Strategy to Prepare for Criterion Referenced Tests

A strategy I use with my students is having them keep a “brain”. I teach fifth graders who are required to take the state-mandated CRT. This test measures their knowledge of specific information. I have my students label the parts of their “brain” so that they can classify information easily. The “brain” is actually ___________________________________.

I have them label language arts, math, the arts, history, and geography. After we cover a key concept I will instruct my students to “take out your brain and find your geography section”. We then add a short definition or illustration to ensure understanding. This “brain” serves as a review for my students and we also play a game in which they formulate questions from it and ask other students.

-School Vocabulary for Pre-Production Students

First, the students take a tour of the school grounds. Next they see the labels for each office, room, classroom, etc. Later, the students return to the classroom, where they label a “school map” and they see pictures of the school staff, which the teacher has previously taken. Finally, they students make small books, where they draw and label school vocabulary. The students can produce one word answers when asked simple questions.

-Choosing Resource People to Support Challenging Topics

Choosing resource people carefully and making sure that they know the teacher’s objectives can bring about greater understanding. To support a movie such as The Grapes of Wrath you could have a local banker come in and talk about finances or a lawyer come in and talk about tenant farmer rights, thereby making the theme of the movie applicable to today and the students’ lives. How has banking changed? What drives the economy to give money value? You may have a student who has lived through the change to the Euro in Europe, the fall of the economy in Venezuela, or the setback felt by many Americans losing their jobs after the 9-11 terrorists’ attacks.

- Body Parts

In my ELL classroom, increasing the comprehensibility of each lesson is important for my ELL learners. I utilize hands-on activities in each lesson. For example, in the “Body Parts” unit, my students make word cards for each body vocabulary word. In pairs, my students draw an outline of their partner on butcher paper and then place the word cards on the appropriate body part. The hands-on activity helps students identify the body parts by sight and helps them identify parts with the words. I have included graphs and charts in my “Body Parts” unit. Students use the word cards described above, and in teams, take one card each, and write the word in the appropriate column of a Singular-Plural chart on the board.

- “Graphic Organizer” unit

I teach a two-week “Graphic Organizer” unit at the beginning of the school year to familiarize my students with a wide variety of organizers that we use in class throughout the year. These are fun, short activities that serve to make my students comfortable with the purpose of a graphic organizer. For example, we compare and contrast two candy bars and then construct a Venn diagram. A few weeks later, when they are asked to construct a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting two Native American creation myths, they are not intimidated by the Venn diagram concept. This frees them to concentrate on the topic, not the format of the assignment.

- Peer Teaching – A Roll of the Dice

I also encourage interaction by appealing to the natural competitiveness of junior high aged students. I do peer teaching activities, and then a roll of the dice determines who in the learning group will represent the group in a testing situation. Group members cheer each other on to learn the material and perform well on the assessment – on behalf of the group!

- Higher on the Ladder

I also introduce the concept of high order thinking by bringing in a ladder. We select a topic and come up with questions about the topic. Then we place those questions on the ladder, according to the Bloom’s taxonomy. I tell my students that all year I want us to strive to learn “higher on the ladder”, not just who? when? where?, but the hows? and whys? Then the rest of the year, my students know where I want them to go when we discuss topics as a class or when I ask an open-ended question on a test.

- Writing questions

I give my students ample opportunities to write their own questions, and I give two points for how? and why? Questions, while who, when, where, and what questions are only worth one point. Writing questions not only encourages higher order thinking, but it is excellent for their language development, allowing all levels of language proficiency to participate and do well.

- Lotería

One of our activities is Lotería, “Bingo”. Lotería is a fun activity to review words. If we have twenty vocabulary words, I will ask the student to write ten of these words in random order. I have the words written on a note card for me to shuffle and call out. As I call out these words the students look for that word on their list and mark it out if they have the word. Once all of the words are marked out it is Lotería. The winner reads their list back to me. I sometimes reward them with a small prize. Then we play with 8 words then 6, 4, 2 and last we play reverse Lotería. Everyone writes one word and stands up. As I call their words they sit down. Last one standing is the winner. This game practices a review of vocabulary, writing, reading, listening and speaking. It is fun, educational and can be used at anytime during the class hour and is easy for the teacher to prepare.

- Clap and move

Clap and move is an activity in the classroom to increase speaking and interaction. Students will stand in parallel lines facing each other. I will say go and they have to ask each other questions and answer them. These could be questions about each other or questions about a lesson. When I clap, one of the two rows moves up one person. The person in front moves to the back of the row, and each student has a new partner. The process is continued until everyone has had a new partner or until class ends. This is a good review and can fill up those last few minutes of class.

- Close method for note taking

I use the close method for note taking or as a fun activity, we use the close method with song lyrics.

- Mitosis and Meiosis

When we studied mitosis and meiosis, I made eight chromosome models. The class got into a circle. This represented the cell membrane. I had a rope which represented the nucleus. I had ten students be eight chromosomes and spindle fibers. We then went through the stages of mitosis and later meiosis. Each student had an opportunity to participate.

- Two circles

We play several games to review vocabulary and questions. I had everyone write a question on an index card and the answer on the back. They then got into two circles. They face each other and exchange cards. One circle then moves two places down and asks the person they are facing the question. We do this until each student has answered each question.

- Rewarding Good Readers

My teacher and I guide students in reading from 9:00 -10:30. Students attend the main reading group or one of the learning centers. The groups change every twenty minutes. After students have practiced and are able to read a story or book, they may ask to go to the office to read to the principal. 

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Class observations with Beth Moakley,
Buchanan Elementary, Spring 2004

Class observations, Stand Watie Elementary, Spring 2005

Class observations with Beth Moakley,
Buchanan Elementary, Spring 2004

Class, Summer 2005