Active Learning Strategies

Fun and easy ideas to get your students involved in any lesson at

any level!

Say Anything

• This is a new kind of partner reading strategy.• Pairs of students read silently from the same

paper.• After a set time, students take turns making a

comment about what they read.• They can “Say Anything”- it could be a summary,

a question, a comment about something they wonder about or that relates to them

• They read and “Say Anything” again until they’re done or until time is up

Popcorn

• This is a structure that helps students work with a variety of partners during one lesson.

• Students partner up for a task. First, students choose roles within their partnership. One student takes on the role of the POPCORN and the other is the SEED.

• Next, students do a specific task- answer a question, share a fact or idea, etc. until time is called.

• When the teacher calls POPCORN, the students with the POPCORN role “POP” to a new partner and the SEEDS stay put.

• Students repeat the task or complete a new task with the new partner.

Toss-a-Story/Toss-an-Idea

- a question/review- a collaborative product

- revise to fit your content area• Fill in only one answer at a time.• DO NOT toss until I tell you to do so! • Do not hesitate to produce a response; you will have about 1 minute per sentence.• Throw/fly with caution

•Make into a ball or paper airplane **As an option, you could pass your paper instead of throwing it (ex. Please pass your paper to the person behind you).

Beach Ball

Materials: a beach ball, permanent markerIdeas…

• Put vocabulary words on each color• Put numbers on each color • Put terms on each color• Put prompts on each color

There are a variety of ways you can use this activity to improve student engagement. Toss the ball around the room, where the hands are placed on the ball will indicate the question, term, word, etc..that the student will answer for. This can also be used for simple review. Play music and the tossing begins. When the music stops, the person holding the ball answers a question

TOSS

Whole Class Response Cards• This activity can work for any age level and any discipline.

• Give students cards that have simple answers such as True/False, branches of government, literary elements, names of stories, etc.

• Ask the class questions and the students hold up the card that answers correctly. If they are incorrect they sit down – last one standing wins!

• There are many variations that a little creativity can take a long way.

• This activity gets kids engaged and involved in a cooperative activity.

Human Billboard

What will you need:

Poster board/thick paper

Ribbon/string

Hole punch

Marker

What you do: The teacher will wear a sign “advertising” a key point, a reminder, a vocabulary word, the objective in the lesson, etc.

Hello! My Name is ________.

Purpose: This activity is a great way to introduce a topic, review a topic, and/or practice a topic by having the students participate as if they are/were the concept on their name tag.

ALSO~ This is a great opportunity to teach/remind students how to properly shake hands, move around in the classroom, and socialize with others.

Examples:

*Mythology Unit *Biography of people

*Constellations *Multiplication facts

*Countries *States

*Biomes *Math symbols=meaning

*Vocabulary *Bodies of water

Suggestions:

*Organize class/students in a way that no one is left out and pre-determine how many people each student meets.

*Have students journal or document who they met

Extensions

• How might you use one of these strategies with your specific content and grade level?

• What other similar strategies do you have in your “bag of tricks”?