Active Learning

Active Learning

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When I first heard about the topic active learning, I immediately thought about students being active (moving) and learning at the same time. I started reading about active learning and said "ohhhhhh, this is what my principal was trying to get me to do this entire time!" As a teacher, I have a hard time of letting go of authority. I like my room to have structure and everything so the way that I planned it to go. My principal started explaining that students need to take ownership and start to lead conversations. I always had a come back like, "well most of my students struggle to communicate their ideas verbally and they do not carry on conversations with students." (since I teach special education). He said "Well they need to be taught how so you need to teach them." I agreed. 

My First Lesson

My first lesson was a read aloud that I wanted to use the strategies turn-and-talk to predict what would happen next. I first asked my students to write or draw what they think will happen next so they have an idea of what to talk about. I did the same and modeled the activity with my paraprofessional. I then asked my students to do the same and paired them up. Oh boy! It did not go as smooth as I would have liked, the students forgot to look at their drawings or sentences and then could not even make eye contact! I kept trying this activity out in my reading lesson and soon by the end of the year my students were excellent in turn-and talks! Other ways I have had students participate in active learning is during Writer's Workshop. I created a easy to use rubric and have student self-edit their own work and then read their stories to a peer, to hoping have the other students see other errors is student writing and help them fix it. This is also extremely hard in my special education classroom because all my students struggle with sentence structure (capital letters, periods), spelling and spacing. I gave it a try, there was not as much correction happening, but my students were able to share their writing one-on-one with someone and talk about their stories more. 

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Evaluating Another Lesson

I was asked to evaluate another teachers lesson who was using active learning and decide if it meets the criteria for active learning.  The lesson was asking students in grade first to seventh to write about their experiences at their school in six words. My first thought, first grade writing only six meaningful words?!? As I was reading some of them, I thought about how a seven year old viewed school. Most of them talked about their favorite field trip, how they will miss their teacher or their favorite subject.

Now is this lesson considering active learning? I believe so. Active learning is described as...

a student centered activity

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relevant to students

emphasis on student voice

students that are engaged

and offers choices.

With that being said, the students were able to pick anything they wanted which offered choices, they seemed engaged by how much thought and effort went into them, and it is relevant to them and allows them to have their voice be heard.

Should Teachers Use Active Learning

I believe teachers should continue to use active learning and try as hard as possible to use it in their lesson planning. Active learning allows students to have their own ideas and opinions heard, teaches them how to communicate with others, allows them to take ownership in their learning and motivates them to learn and work harder.

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