Engaging Learners


The fifth grade teacher I work with uses different strategies to engage her classroom in learning. She uses technology, games, and hands on learning with different senses to help her students learn.

The teacher uses the smart board and other technology in different ways. For going over parts of speech, she handed out waterfall books and then showed the students several short videos about nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, conjunctions, and prepositions. After the students labeled their books with the different categories, she played and paused the videos as needed so the students could write definitions and examples down. She also has the students use Chromebooks to look up vocabulary words and they're allowed to work with partners so they can figure out the correct definitions. She also used the smart board for editing paragraphs. Students could come up and show the class where commas needed to be added or words needed capitalized. They had a hard copy at their desk but seeing the larger format and having it be more interactive as they participated helped them with their writing conventions. 

The teacher also uses technology for playing games. For instance, sometimes she creates a Kahoot game to review science terms or concepts that allows everyone to participate. They put a unique code into their Chromebook and a username that allows them to play in real time with the rest of the class. It really ends up being a more friendly competition because she reviews questions that maybe the whole class didn't get. The students really enjoy this game  and also Quizlet Live because they're trying to get the correct answer and are also rewarded for answering quickly. While Kahoot is each player answering on their own, Quizlet is played with teams so both are fun and engaging for the students. 

Since Provost is a Title 1 School, the students receive different fruits and vegetables twice a week in the afternoons to try each week. When the snack was tangerines, she helped up a tangerine and talked about how the fruit looked like Cuties or Halos that many students were familiar with. She also showed a short fact sheet on the smart board about where tangerines come from. Each student peeled their fruit and she pointed out that they smelled a little different from oranges and would taste a little different too. I thought it was great that instead of just giving them their snack, she discussed the tangerine, showed it to them, and asked what they thought was similar and different about other fruits they're familiar with. The students noticed the size, color, scent, and taste of the fruit so it was more memorable for those who had never eaten a tangerine.





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