Finding a way to make learning fun and engaging can be difficult the older students become. Add to that the issue with technology, and teaching becomes more challenging.
One of the problems that we have in middle school is that students who have never had a personal laptop are suddenly presented with one, and with no supervision, they have to navigate this new world and all that it provides: constant access to games and entertainment.
Learning seems to take a backburner in this situation. The sudden ability to play online games, to watch YouTube, and to stream movies is too tempting. Teaching during this can be a nightmare. Even though you tell them that they are not using their laptops, five minutes into your lesson you find that someone has opened their laptop and are now playing an online game. The addiction to technology is too great to ignore. The best thing to do is to embrace this need and use it to your advantage.
1. Classcraft
I’ve discussed the use of Classcraft before in my article, “Using Classcraft to appeal to your students’ need for competition.” Classcraft has been a lifesaver for me in my classroom. Not only do I use it to time our Independent Reading, but I also use the Noise Meter to allow students to gauge the level of talking in the room during Independent or Group work. Plus, the Formative assessments in the form of Boss Battles is a great way to constantly review concepts, vocabulary, and provide them with incentives to learn. The extra bonus to this is that once the learning activities are over, students get to go in and spend the gold that they’ve won on pets and clothing for their character.
2. Kahoot
Kahoot is an online trivia game that the kids can access from their laptops and compete for points. There are many Kahoot trivia games that are already created. You simply need to go in and search for your topic. Or you can go in and create your own questions. Many of our teachers use this as a review of concepts, and I’ve even seen the kids go in and do this on their own when they are bored just to challenge one another.
3. PowerPoints
Students can utilize features they already have on their computers. For some who have not taken a basic computer technology course, you may have to help them (in our school they do this in the 6th grade). PowerPoints allow them to be creative and express their learning in a way that they can then pass on to others. I have my students create PowerPoint storyboards for plot, to share their research, and even had one that used this as the platform to tell their short story.
4. Book Trailers
Book reports can be given using the iMovie creator on an iPad or have them use PowerPoint and save the PowerPoint as a movie format. Students enjoyed this. I even had some who created a script, filmed parts of it on the iPad, and then plugged it in to their Book Trailer. Some even went so far as to use their phones to film themselves acting it out and inserted that into PowerPoints. They enjoyed this much more than writing a plain old book report, and we even shared our book trailers.
5. Act it Out
When teaching character traits, I find it easier to have students act out character traits. Many identify certain traits such as nice, mean, or bad, but they lack the vocabulary necessary to identify other traits that may be identified in a text. I provide them with a list and have them define them before having them act them out. This provides them with the necessary skills needed to understand and identify traits when they are reading.
6. Poems
Have students respond to a text by creating a poem about the text or the character(s). For example, when teaching Romeo and Juliet, students wrote double voice poems to tell their story.
7. Board Games
Have students create board games to learn about a novel, vocabulary, or grammar. They can be as creative as they would like, and the game must be easily taught to others with a clear set of rules for the game. Students can use their drawing and thinking skills to create their board games.
8. Ball Toss Reviews
Sports is always in and when you teach a large number of boys, you will appreciate the students being able to stand up and toss a ball. It not only helps with concentration, but it provides them with a nice brain break. Toss a foam ball around as you ask a question. They love to be able to catch the ball to answer the question with the opportunity to toss the ball back.
9. Music
Find ways to incorporate music into learning. When teaching poetry, have students bring in the lyrics to their favorite (clean version only) songs. Students can decide what soundtrack would go best with a novel they are reading and provide the why. Of course, you can always go out on a limb and have students rewrite songs to go with whatever it is that you are teaching. I have even used that last one during the week before Christmas break when students are antsy. Students rewrite Christmas songs into Scrooge type carols. We have a lot of laughs on that day.
10. Chunk It
Sometimes subjects are much too difficult to sit through the entire thing. Chunk it into smaller parts and provide more transitions. Technology has given students the sense of immediate gratification. Often they will become bored with longer tasks. Instead of having them write in longer spurts, I have them write in shorter ones. I provide a timer. When the timer goes off, we transition to something new or we take a brain break. I’ll teach a mini-lesson, and then have them practice before repeating the process.
What about you? Do you use something in the classroom that always keeps the students engaged? Feel free to share in the comments below.
Did you use one of these strategies? If so, how did it turn out?
