40 Students ask parents/grandparents for information

Time needed: 5 – 10 min

Why? Every child likes to search what happen in families, parents, grandparents past. Special stories from grandparents and their experience of life every child like to listen to again and again.

When? Any time you think life connected experiences of the past can fit in your syllabus and subject topics.

How? Give students direct the task to ask parents and grandparents about their life experiences in different topics. Grandparents like to talk about the past, when they have been children how they lived. Parents like to talk about their study time in the university and how they met. Those personal connections you can use to ask the students to find out more about several topics. After that let them talk about their research in front of class to share it with their peers, every student is proud to give those information, because everyone is proud for the life experience and background of the own family. Some times you also can invite them as specialists to speak in front of your class, this is mostly very refreshing the lesson atmosphere and the students are very interested in those life experiences and direct contact with people who went through special life experiences.

Any risks? Children in difficult family situations, without parents or with separated parents, or without grandparents it could be not nice for them and hurting them, that everyone else has stories to tell except them. Calculate this and take special care for those children and give them special offers to whom they can ask, like a closed friend, or neighbor or guardians, or also a favorite teacher they feel closed to. Just don’t let those children alone and give them special support and guidance to overcome those sad family realities. It is also thinkable that they really want to talk about their own experiences to overcome sadness, give them the chance and special place and guidance for that.

39 Answer questions students have to you

Time needed: constantly 1 – 2 min

Why? Students who have questions are interested in the subject and topic.

When? Any time.

How? If you think about the how, you maid think ‘ya questions will come all the time, students will ask by-self’. Yes if they are interested in the topic probably, but what about the situation that students are not interested? The answer is simple: as more interesting you create your lesson, as more you can expect that students will ask questions. Never finish a topic without forcing questions. Give in the end of any lesson an interesting point for the next lesson, so that students will have the chance to search and to be able to ask questions in your next lesson, make them interested in your topic, as more as you are interested in your own topic, as more you are searching for new information, for new daily life connected facts, as more students will be able to follow your curious energy.

Any risks? As long as students ask questions, as long they are following actively your class. Questions are good features of an interesting class. In general you can measure the quality of a lesson by the amount of questions which have been asked.

38 Let students sort items

Time needed: 10 – 20 min

Why? To sort things, bring things in order, structure topics, built up cross connections is supporting structured learning strategies and working environment.

When? Every time students have to understand large systematic links and cross connections. This methodology can be used for all groups of students in any age level and class format, as well for nearly any subject. This methodology can be used all the time, as often as it is matches, students will learn naturally without pressure to start to think with structured systematic strategies.

How? In lower levels you can let them order things in colors, with sizes, numerous sorting, smaller and bigger, let them order pattern, weight, volume or start with senses. In higher levels you can use cross connections in nearly every topic, let them develop systematic concepts in small dimensions until big more complex systems. To use other methodologies like: let them make a video, is using the precondition of developing scenery, this is an example of sort and order items in higher more complex thinking.

Any risks? There is no risk, just only profit for students to start learning to think systematically.

37 Make a quiz about something learnt

Time needed: 5 – 10 min

Why? Quiz is a kind of game, and games are enjoyable and relaxing the lesson atmosphere. A quiz is always a very enjoyable possibility of controlling and check absorbed knowledge without putting students in a stressful test or examination situation.

When? Any time you need to check or evaluate absorbed knowledge in the end of one topic duration.

How? Prepare subject and content or topic connected review questions and ask students to answer it, or let students ask questions and their peers answer. You also can modify the winner criteria in different ways. The quickest answer, the most complete answer, the most brilliant idea, the most imaginatively concept……. is the winner. Never forget rewards!

Any risks?  The only risk is that always the same students will answer, built up a quiz system that everyone will get the chance to answer, something like to give limited answer possibilities or a special created answer circle or code system. This also can be regulated that the winner will give the next chance to someone of his wish, those system ideas are endless. As more joy you yourself have to create a quiz full of phantasy as more students will enjoy the execution of the quiz.

35 Ask a teacher for cooperation for a lession

Time needed: 45 minutes (or one lession)

Why? Every curriculum has to fulfill interdisciplinary teaching methodology, this is the perfect preparation of this methodology.

When? Any time you can see cross connective topics. Students enjoy such a different lesson.

How? Just ask the subject teacher from the cross connection you can see to help you preparing the lesson, in the best case, you can deliver the lesson together, that’s very effective and enjoyable for students.

Any risks? There is no risk, its a different lesson, and diversion of lesson execution, this will make the daily routine for students as well for the involved teachers enjoyable different. And to find and analyze cross connections is one of the very effective way of the complex live long learning strategy.

34 Let a student teach 10 minutes about a topic

Time needed: 10 min

Why? To support students self-responsible learning strategies give them a task to teach to their class peers. This is supporting not just only the motivation from the student who got the task. It is also supporting other students motivation to give the same or better presentations. This is an ideal preparation for University system learning strategies, but also useful already in lower classes to get students used to such methodology.

When? Any time to introduce or continue a topic, as well as as control of absorbed knowledge.

How? Give students a topic and let them research as home work self-responsible for background information and let them teach those information to their class peers.

Any risks? The student who is preparing the micro-teaching could give out wrong information. Don’t be afraid about that, you can give the topic to all students, just one is preparing the presentation, so students will be a kind of self-control as well you are there to guide and correct the presenter. Of course you can also control the presentation material before the student is holding the micro-teaching, but this is always a bit taking the power and motivation out of the presentation, so better you correct mistakes while the micro-teaching.

33 Students write a story about a topic

Time needed: 15 – 20 min

Why? To let students work independent at a topic is supporting their research abilities and phantasy. As well to give them the task to write a story about a topic is supporting their self-responsible learning strategy and for most of the students really love to write their own experience about something.

When? You can do it in class in the beginning of one topic to find out what they know already, or you can also do it after a duration to control what they absorbed already. For the support of self-responsible learning strategies you can give those more complex stories as homework.

How? Give the students a topic and let them simple self-responsible write a story, this could be a real story which they experienced in their life, like: – topic: senses: that a student is writing about a zoo visit, and smelled different animals, knocked at windows and the animals react and so on, or that a boy cut the cat’s whiskers and how the cat react. (of course with strict advise to not do that and explanation why! Its just always happen, so better we explain it, why this is hurting a cat.) That would be a real life experience. Of course you also can give more complex stories, that they have to involve background, or you simple tell them to create a story. How the moons smells, how are the noises there, how feels the sand there, and how taste astronauts food.

Any risks? In class its just very time consuming, you have to calculate this, but its a good time filler for quick students to write such stories and later use it to read it to everyone, very enjoying. For everyone in class you can use that in the end of a school year when your syllabus is fulfilled and you want to offer some special work.

33 Students write a story about a topic

Time needed: 15 – 20 min

Why? To let students work independent at a topic is supporting their research abilities and phantasy. As well to give them the task to write a story about a topic is supporting their self-responsible learning strategy and for most of the students really love to write their own experience about something.

When? You can do it in class in the beginning of one topic to find out what they know already, or you can also do it after a duration to control what they absorbed already. For the support of self-responsible learning strategies you can give those more complex stories as homework.

How? Give the students a topic and let them simple self-responsible write a story, this could be a real story which they experienced in their life, like: – topic: senses: that a student is writing about a zoo visit, and smelled different animals, knocked at windows and the animals react and so on, or that a boy cut the cat’s whiskers and how the cat react. (of course with strict advise to not do that and explanation why! Its just always happen, so better we explain it, why this is hurting a cat.) That would be a real life experience. Of course you also can give more complex stories, that they have to involve background, or you simple tell them to create a story. How the moons smells, how are the noises there, how feels the sand there, and how taste astronauts food.

Any risks? In class its just very time consuming, you have to calculate this, but its a good time filler for quick students to write such stories and later use it to read it to everyone, very enjoying. For everyone in class you can use that in the end of a school year when your syllabus is fulfilled and you want to offer some special work.

32 Ask students how they would like to life in 10 years

Time needed: 5 – 10 min

Why? Everyone has dreams and everyone like to share those dreams. This method is promoting creativity, self evaluation, learning motivation and communication.

When? Any time if you need to check students abilities in communication, grammar or social skills.

How? Give the students the task to create their own CV in 10 years. Let them write down at paper about their profession, personal and educational  achievements and personal social placements, after they wrote this down they can share it with their classmates. This is mostly connected to have a lot of fun in class while doing this.

Any risks? This could be very time-consuming that’s why it is very important that the teacher is giving clear instruction points which are important to answered or considered.

31 Let students do exercises in groups of 2

Time needed: 10-30 min

Why? The pair work is a possible social form, which is a must in the professional lesson work. Here distributes the teachers the tasks to two students, they should work together. A working partner is very positive for the development of a child, because this means that it learns social interaction. Similarly, the child learns to represent its interests and opinions. A dialogue is essential.

When? Objectives of partners work are to improve the social interactions of students to train their ability to coordinate and enhance exchanges and mutual assistance through their motivation and performance. Here, the acceptance of diversity is encouraged. In addition, it contains a way to utilize the natural desire of students to positive communication for teaching.

How? The students work in pairs. The interaction is enhanced if the teacher selects a task in which a dialogue is essential and students are prompted to help themselves if another or to express their constructive criticism of the ideas of others, which is in this partners work more acceptable, since this criticism is not “public”. In addition, the partners work is a form of work that can be very short insert in the classroom activities.

Any risk? Possible problems that can arise when partners are working, an unexpected time of increased demand, insufficient assessment of the student’s own share in respect of their work or an accomplished performance of students with unrelated issues. The counteracting is at least that the teacher let the students present the accountable outcome of their work  and comment those. If students are not familiar with the method, it is recommended to start initially with a short time working group (5-10 minutes) and a mild form of partner work (partners call, checks or collective task). Important here is concrete and understandable, best expressed verbally and in writing tasks.

For younger students, the partners can work for example for improving spelling and reading ability. Here by can be achieved usually better learning outcomes if the partners correct each other. While students can practice reading by reading a text several times silently and then read it to her partner, who then corrected if necessary. While the partner dictation, the students alternately dictate a text, which the dictating students interrupts the writer, if this student is going to make a mistake and encourage him to recognize the error and gives him hints or suggests the correct the spelling. It makes sense that the performance starts to dictate to the weaker students to be able to memorize the words better. The teacher should organize it in generally that performance-homogeneous pairs are together and not always the same pair.

To ensure a positive outcome of group work in teaching and social behavior, the teacher should monitor not only the results, but also the partnership attitude of students and in the event of a dispute to help to reach a settlement, but otherwise as little as possible in the process intervene.

30 Bring a photo from a famous person and talk about it

Time needed: max 15 min

Why? Everyone has idols and with them connected dreams and everyone likes to talk about those connections and dreams.

When? This method is promoting communication skills. You can use this method to check students grammar, communication and also social skills and abilities.

How? Every students will be asked to bring one photo from a famous person and introduce this person to the peers. Discussions between the students  are promoting social connectivity and also this is a good method for team building in collecting information about someone together and decide which information is selective correct or incorrect. You can also let them write an newspaper article about that person in pairs or groups or also individually and form a kind of competition which article is the most informative or the most interesting, or the shortest with the most information, or containing the most gossips. Let them decide after reading and listening to their articles in which kind of newspaper would they publish it.

Any risks? Its time-consuming so give the students clear instructions and clear points they can follow and organize a clear time frame for that task.

29 Students work out a mind-map alone, individual help

Time needed: 5 – 10 min

Why? To structure and organize a task with active students participation.

When? Any time you want to agree about roles, or structure of new tasks, or you want to show students cross lines between topics and to teach them how to structure complexer tasks.

How? Give one complex task to students and let them develop their own mind-map by-self, later on you can compare the different mind-maps and find the cross-lines and strategies of organizing a complex task, or you develop one mind-map with all students together on the white board.

Any risks? It could be a little time-consuming and calculate the different student work and absorbing speed. Give from the very beginning a clear time frame.

28 Students call a person to find out something

Time needed: 3 – 5 min

Why? Including latest modern technology in the daily teaching process.

When? All the time students need to search for new knowledge, or if you make a review and students haven’t been able to solve the review tasks by self, let them search for help.

How? Several TV games shows using that method as a telephone joker. The students have four chances in case of competition or recall knowledge

  1. answer by self
  2. ask a classmate
  3. ask a classmate from a parallel class same level
  4. ask someone via phone call outside from school.

Any risks? There is a big discussion of using hand phones in class, of course we also agree to not allow permanently hand phone use in class, but for special situations it is very helpful to ease a lesson situation with difficult or boring topic background. Make the research as a game and competition as well. Once more of course general use of hand phones in class is disturbing a concentrated learning atmosphere. But why should we general exclude modern devices from our teaching methodologies? Just give clear instruction and roles about that special event in class, so that every student knows how to handle the special situation of using a hand phone special for that one lesson event.

27 Make a competition and find out who is best in a certain field

Time needed: 3 – 5 min

Why? Better than punish students for less knowledge is motivating them to get a reward for gained knowledge and a competition is the best method to combine recall of knowledge and rewarding.

When? Any time you need to call back students to concentration, and any time you want to recall already absorbed knowledge, you can use it as review as well.

How? Better than using a competition between single students is forming groups and let them compete. This method is also forcing socialization between the class mates. There are many styles of competition existing:

  1. Give them certain questions or tasks to answer on time. the quickest group is the winner.
  2. Ask the students to give connective terms to the topic, the group which could collect in a limited time the most connective words is the winner. Let the students explain their choice.
  3. Write a poem and read it in front of class, let the class decide which is the best poem. Use those works for a final school year event.
  4. Make a painting contest, and let the class mates decide which is the best painting. Hang those works in class as decoration.
  5. Install a monthly contest ritual, so that students know that they can win every month periodically, this is giving a lot of motivation for the learning process in general.

Any risks? There is no risk just that students wanna over-use the time, limit the time for those contests, organize those competitions correctly before and give a clear time frame, students like to make such competition games, never forget that.