I know some of you are going to think I have gone nuts or have never been in a classroom when you hear this next teaching strategy. With that being said, I present to you Summary Ball......
Step 1:
Cover your lesson like you normally would.
Step 2:
Take a beach ball, once again another Dollar Store purchase, and pass it to a student
Step 3:
That student has 2 seconds to state a concept or fact that they learned from the lesson.
Step 4:
Once they state their fact, they pass it to someone who has not had the ball and they must state a new fact or concept. And the game goes on and on.
Optional Step 5:
If you really want to make it fun, you could make a deal that if they can make it through to the last student without repeating the same fact and without dropping to ball, no homework!
Good strategy! I do something similar but use a stress ball instead of a beach ball.
ReplyDeleteI have a student teacher this semester and she uses this strategy to review for social studies tests. Our students actually hit the ball around the room for 15 seconds and the last student to touch the ball when the timer goes off has to answer the review question. If they don't know the answer they are out of the game.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
That is a fun variation!
ReplyDeleteI use another variation. First, I use the deflatable beach balls (for the sake of storage). Then I write on them with Sharpies. I randomly write topics, questions, sentence starters, vocabulary terms, etc. I also include some "choice" areas where students choose or make up their own question. Students toss the ball around and wherever their right thumb lands is what they have to do. I am in a foreign language class, so this is great for culture, vocabulary, spelling, and more. The kids LOVE it.
ReplyDeleteI like this. It is a different way of doing an activity I call "Say Something" where the students know ahead of time we are playing. We read a nonfiction passage. I suddenly stop, point a student and say "Say Something" at which point they must state something they heard/learned while reading. There are certain students I give a secret look to so they know that their turn is coming up in the next section so they don't get upset or embarrassed.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.